Romans 2:12

2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law ¹  will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

Romans 7:8-9

7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. ²  For apart from the law, sin is dead. 7:9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive

Romans 7:1

The Believer’s Relationship to the Law

7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters ³  (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person ⁴  as long as he lives?

Colossians 1:21

Paul’s Goal in Ministry

1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your ⁵  minds ⁶  as expressed through ⁷  your evil deeds,

¹ sn This is the first occurrence of law (nomos) in Romans. Exactly what Paul means by the term has been the subject of much scholarly debate. According to J. A. Fitzmyer (Romans [AB], 131-35; 305-6) there are at least four different senses: (1) figurative, as a “principle”; (2) generic, meaning “a law”; (3) as a reference to the OT or some part of the OT; and (4) as a reference to the Mosaic law. This last usage constitutes the majority of Paul’s references to “law” in Romans.

² tn Or “covetousness.”

³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

⁴ sn Here person refers to a human being.

⁵ tn The article τῇ (th) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

⁶ tn Although διανοία (dianoia) is singular in Greek, the previous plural noun ἐχθρούς (ecqrous) indicates that all those from Colossae are in view here.

⁷ tn The dative ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς (en toi" ergoi" toi" ponhroi") is taken as means, indicating the avenue through which hostility in the mind is revealed and made known.