Romans 2:7: does this verse deal with those who have not heard the gospel? How do these verses fit in with the issues of God’s wrath and the wreckage of Adam’s sin?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ’ (1994).

'To those who by persistence in doing good, seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life.' (Romans 2:7)

Well, there is great division of opinion amongst the Christian commentators on the point and purpose of these verses. Some say that they do apply to the vast millions that have never heard the gospel, never known even the law of God as enunciated on Sinai, and that, therefore, God looks at their hearts. And if he sees that, in their heart, like the Corneliuses of this world, they're genuinely trying to please God the best they can, then God will have mercy on them, and save them; not because of their perfection of behaviour, but because of the work of Christ. And he takes their genuine attempt to do the best they can and please God as an evidence of their faith that if they'd heard the gospel, they would have believed. So that's one interpretation. I personally think that that is not exactly what Paul is arguing here in this chapter. Here, the drift of chapter 2 is to show that it is not enough to know the law, like a Jew would. If you want to be without charge before God, you must keep it. Secondly, it's not enough to preach the law to others, and then break it yourself. To keep the externals of the law is not good enough. You can be circumcised as a Jew, but unless you keep the law, the circumcision counts for nothing. And in the course of his argument, it seems to me he brings in these other people to show that sometimes Gentiles have behaved better than Jews have done. For it's not merely having the law that counts, but actual practice that counts; but all that within this context of showing, as he comes to the conclusion in chapter 3, that all have sinned. There are none that haven't sinned and stand guilty before God. They can be saved, therefore, not by their works but only by their faith. And understanding it as such seems to me to better fit in with the flow of the argument.