Galatians 3:10

3:10 For all who ¹  rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.” ² 

Galatians 3:24

3:24 Thus the law had become our guardian ³  until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous ⁴  by faith.

Romans 3:19-20

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ⁵  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him ⁶  by the works of the law, ⁷  for through the law comes ⁸  the knowledge of sin.

Romans 4:15

4:15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression ⁹  either.

Romans 5:20

5:20 Now the law came in ¹⁰  so that the transgression ¹¹  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more,

Romans 7:7-11

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ¹²  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ¹³  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ¹⁴  7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. ¹⁵  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 7:10 and I died. So ¹⁶  I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! ¹⁷  7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. ¹⁸ 

Romans 7:14

7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. ¹⁹ 

Romans 7:22-23

7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.

Romans 8:2

8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit ²⁰  in Christ Jesus has set you ²¹  free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 10:4-5

10:4 For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.

10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.” ²² 

[3:10]  ¹ tn Grk “For as many as.”

[3:10]  ² tn Grk “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them.”

[3:24]  ³ tn Or “disciplinarian,” “custodian,” or “guide.” According to BDAG 748 s.v. παιδαγωγός, “the man, usu. a slave…whose duty it was to conduct a boy or youth…to and from school and to superintend his conduct gener.; he was not a ‘teacher’ (despite the present mng. of the derivative ‘pedagogue’…When the young man became of age, the π. was no longer needed.” L&N 36.5 gives “guardian, leader, guide” here.

[3:24]  ⁴ tn Or “be justified.”

[3:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”

[3:20]  ⁶ sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.

[3:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “because by the works of the law no flesh is justified before him.” Some recent scholars have understood the phrase ἒργα νόμου (erga nomou, “works of the law”) to refer not to obedience to the Mosaic law generally, but specifically to portions of the law that pertain to things like circumcision and dietary laws which set the Jewish people apart from the other nations (e.g., J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC], 1:155). Other interpreters, like C. E. B. Cranfield (“‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 89-101) reject this narrow interpretation for a number of reasons, among which the most important are: (1) The second half of v. 20, “for through the law comes the knowledge of sin,” is hard to explain if the phrase “works of the law” is understood in a restricted sense; (2) the plural phrase “works of the law” would have to be understood in a different sense from the singular phrase “the work of the law” in 2:15; (3) similar phrases involving the law in Romans (2:13, 14; 2:25, 26, 27; 7:25; 8:4; and 13:8) which are naturally related to the phrase “works of the law” cannot be taken to refer to circumcision (in fact, in 2:25 circumcision is explicitly contrasted with keeping the law). Those interpreters who reject the “narrow” interpretation of “works of the law” understand the phrase to refer to obedience to the Mosaic law in general.

[3:20]  ⁸ tn Grk “is.”

[4:15]  ⁹ tn Or “violation.”

[5:20]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “slipped in.”

[5:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “trespass.”

[7:7]  ¹² sn Romans 7:7-25. There has been an enormous debate over the significance of the first person singular pronouns (“I”) in this passage and how to understand their referent. Did Paul intend (1) a reference to himself and other Christians too; (2) a reference to his own pre-Christian experience as a Jew, struggling with the law and sin (and thus addressing his fellow countrymen as Jews); or (3) a reference to himself as a child of Adam, reflecting the experience of Adam that is shared by both Jews and Gentiles alike (i.e., all people everywhere)? Good arguments can be assembled for each of these views, and each has problems dealing with specific statements in the passage. The classic argument against an autobiographical interpretation was made by W. G. Kümmel, Römer 7 und die Bekehrung des Paulus. A good case for seeing at least an autobiographical element in the chapter has been made by G. Theissen, Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie [FRLANT], 181-268. One major point that seems to favor some sort of an autobiographical reading of these verses is the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in the struggle described in Rom 7:7-25. The Spirit is mentioned beginning in 8:1 as the solution to the problem of the struggle with sin (8:4-6, 9).

[7:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”

[7:7]  ¹⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.

[7:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “covetousness.”

[7:10]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate the result of the statement in the previous verse. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[7:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and there was found in/for me the commandment which was for life – this was for death.”

[7:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or “and through it killed me.”

[7:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “under sin.”

[8:2]  ²⁰ tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”

[8:2]  ²¹ tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B {F which reads σαι} G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, hleuqerwsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.

[10:5]  ²² sn A quotation from Lev 18:5.