This isn't true, according to Paul (Romans 2):
The consistent context of the matter:
Romans 2:14 is essentially saying, it is the spirit, not the letter, of the law which matters. So we are deferred to Romans 2:6, which then brings us back to the original question: what is good and what is bad?
Here's our context, we'll call them #7 and #8 for the following explanation:
7To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life:
8But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
All which does not proceed from faith is sin. The original lie was planted in unfaithfulness in this fashion: the serpent, satan, suggested to eve she did not have all she thought she did. Eve had a perfect God and a perfect provider, Adam, but did not completely reject the notion that God was holding out on her by misleading her about what would happen if she ate the fruit. Adam failed God and Eve by his own weak indifference, a standard of faith that has long been abandoned by men.
Had Eve been totally faithful, she would not have believed the lie(8), she would have rejected the notion that God was not totally good, loving, and generous, and that He was withholding something from her. She would have asserted for the 3rd time, the truth: that God said if we eat of the tree, we will surely die(7). She did not love the Lord her God with all her heart soul mind and strength.
Had Adam been totally faithful, he would have obeyed God instead of Eve's wishes and ate (8). He would have remained totally strong in his conviction of God's loving goodness and stood between his wife and the snake(7). He did not love the Lord her God with all his heart soul mind and strength.
So if sin is borne in the heart of unbelief (and the resulting behavior of unfaithfulness), then sure enough a man can do nothing considered good apart from believing God. They are not in disagreement, apart from a legalistic twisting of word and meaning.
In depth explanation:
Those who obey by the law will live by it. This is true. But the question is, can a man be justified by following the law? No, nobody can. The point is this, God is life, and the law is from God, so if you obey the law you'll enjoy the benefits of obeying the law... whether you have belief in God or not. But that would be a little foolish, no? To miss the life of the one who gave the law? This is the mistake the Pharisees make... they forgo relationship in favor of religion... they want to keep all the rules but take God out of the picture because then they can mix in a little of their own rules and make life nice and comfortable for themselves, but this is a great hipocricy! Remember when you were a kid and playing a new game, remember those kids who would make up rules in the middle of the game so they can win? That's the mindset of the pharisees for you.
The law is about the Lord Jesus, so the law of Moses and the law of love brought by Christ are the same law as God is righteous and does not contradict Himself... the law of love is merely the law fulfilled... it was nailed to the cross. It is good to follow the law because you love God, not because you think this will justify you before Him--is that not just a manifestation of the original lie? That by knowing good and evil we can be equal to God, yet without Him? To do the law for this reason is no better I assure you.
The law is not gone, as Jesus said not a single period will be removed from it. As if God had made a mistake and now would need to repeal the law... it was never so! The law of love is just the law fulfilled
by love, Jesus Himself, so that through Him all can be justified and come before God in prayer, the blood is sprinkled on the conscience and those who believe in Jesus are made clean.
THIS! is the true nature of right and wrong: with-God-agree conscience and God-apart conscience. The state of the conscience itself is where the mark of sin is found, because God is the creator of it all--yes your eternal soul and conscience too, which in sin, by birth in sin, are dirty, and must be washed by the eternal blood sacrifice of Christ. It is not a man made set of rules or behaviors although it manifests itself amongst men and a man's behavior. When you start to think of sin in the light of God, you'll see that it is a conscience which does not trust Jesus, which is love. Jesus is the same one who walked in the garden, all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:3).
You might ask, then, did Jesus make sin? No... sin is not a thing, but a lie and a departure from truth, trust, faith, love--the fallen conscience of those who are not saved. Sin is not a substance in itself that was created, it is a separation within a total loving relationship, the life Jesus has in the trinity, and the separation from his
own life he suffered on our behalf, to bring those who are being redeemed to a glorified state through Himself since alone we are all fallen short of God's glory. Those who justify themselves in their hearts by the law apart from Christ, are entirely without truth, for they claim perfection and yet remain fallen. And yet those who account themselves to Christ are perfect in God's eyes because the Father is well pleased in the Son, and faith in the Son is likewise pleasing to Him. We are being perfected from the very nature of sin in obedience, and shame in conscience. We strive to take hold of that for which God has taken hold of us.