Leviticus 5:17

Unknown trespass

5:17 “If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated ¹  (although he did not know it at the time, ²  but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity ³ 

Acts 17:30

17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked ⁴  such times of ignorance, ⁵  he now commands all people ⁶  everywhere to repent, ⁷ 

Romans 2:12-16

2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law ⁸  will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. ⁹  2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, ¹⁰  who do not have the law, do by nature ¹¹  the things required by the law, ¹²  these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 2:15 They ¹³  show that the work of the law is written ¹⁴  in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend ¹⁵  them, ¹⁶  2:16 on the day when God will judge ¹⁷  the secrets of human hearts, ¹⁸  according to my gospel ¹⁹  through Christ Jesus.

Romans 2:1

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2:1 ²⁰ Therefore ²¹  you are without excuse, ²²  whoever you are, ²³  when you judge someone else. ²⁴  For on whatever grounds ²⁵  you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.

Romans 1:13

1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, ²⁶  brothers and sisters, ²⁷  that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. ²⁸ 

[5:17]  ¹ tn Heb “and does one from all of the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

[5:17]  ² tn The words “at the time” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[5:17]  ³ tn Heb “and he did not know, and he shall be guilty and he shall bear his iniquity” (for the rendering “bear his punishment [for iniquity]”) see the note on Lev 5:1.) This portion of v. 17 is especially difficult. The translation offered here suggests (as in many other English versions) that the offender did not originally know that he had violated the Lord’s commandments, but then came to know it and dealt with it accordingly (cf. the corresponding sin offering section in Lev 5:1-4). Another possibility is that it refers to a situation where a person suspects that he violated something although he does not recollect it. Thus, he brings a guilt offering for his suspected violation (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:331-34, 361-63). See also R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:561-62.

[17:30]  ⁴ tn Or “has deliberately paid no attention to.”

[17:30]  ⁵ tn Or “times when people did not know.”

[17:30]  ⁶ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[17:30]  ⁷ sn He now commands all people everywhere to repent. God was now asking all mankind to turn to him. No nation or race was excluded.

[2:12]  ⁸ 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.

[2:13]  ⁹ tn The Greek sentence expresses this contrast more succinctly than is possible in English. Grk “For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.”

[2:14]  ¹⁰ sn Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.

[2:14]  ¹¹ tn Some (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:135-37) take the phrase φύσει (fusei, “by nature”) to go with the preceding “do not have the law,” thus: “the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature,” that is, by virtue of not being born Jewish.

[2:14]  ¹² tn Grk “do by nature the things of the law.”

[2:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:15]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.

[2:15]  ¹⁵ tn Or “excuse.”

[2:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “their conscience bearing witness and between the thoughts accusing or also defending one another.”

[2:16]  ¹⁷ tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.

[2:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “of people.”

[2:16]  ¹⁹ sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.

[2:1]  ²⁰ sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27–30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).

[2:1]  ²¹ tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.

[2:1]  ²² tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).

[2:1]  ²³ tn Grk “O man.”

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”

[1:13]  ²⁶ sn The expression “I do not want you to be unaware [Grk ignorant]” also occurs in 1 Cor 10:1; 12:1; 1 Thess 4:13. Paul uses the phrase to signal that he is about to say something very important.

[1:13]  ²⁷ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:13]  ²⁸ tn Grk “in order that I might have some fruit also among you just as also among the rest of the Gentiles.”