you really don't think it's self-evident from the universe that sin is a spiritual problem, not a physical problem? that there's something 'wrong' and tho it expresses itself in doing and non-doing it is fundamentally a non-material thing?
i mean, a man kills another by suffocating him unnecessarily and with full knowledge that he's doing it, doesn't have justifiable cause to do it, and that he shouldn't be doing it. what is the real problem here - the tangible acts of violence or the evil in the heart and spirit that does something like this?
i think plenty of people outside of Judaism / Christianity have come to the conclusion that 'righteousness' exists and that is an intangible, spiritual quality whose expression is outward but whose substance is inward. it's this very realization that drove Siddhartha Gautama, isn't it? just from experiencing life.
if a person can become aware of a righteousness apart from works just by the manifest characteristics of God in His creation, then they can also be convicted of sin against that righteousness, likewise apart from works. the verse we are discussing, after all, does say of those without the knowledge of the law, their consciences both accuse and approve them.
