Matthew 23:2-4

23:2 “The ¹  experts in the law ²  and the Pharisees ³  sit on Moses’ seat. 23:3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴  23:4 They ⁵  tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.

Romans 2:12-13

2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law ⁶  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. ⁷ 

Romans 2:17-29

The Condemnation of the Jew

2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law ⁸  and boast of your relationship to God ⁹  2:18 and know his will ¹⁰  and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law, ¹¹  2:19 and if you are convinced ¹²  that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 2:20 an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth – 2:21 therefore ¹³  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 2:22 You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor ¹⁴  idols, do you rob temples? 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ¹⁵ 

2:25 For circumcision ¹⁶  has its value if you practice the law, but ¹⁷  if you break the law, ¹⁸  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ¹⁹  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ²⁰  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ²¹  the written code ²²  and circumcision, transgress the law? 2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ²³  by the Spirit ²⁴  and not by the written code. ²⁵  This person’s ²⁶  praise is not from people but from God.

Romans 3:10-23

3:10 just as it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one,

3:11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

3:12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.” ²⁷ 

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ²⁸ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ²⁹ 

3:14 “Their mouths are ³⁰  full of cursing and bitterness.” ³¹ 

3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,

3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,

3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.” ³² 

3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ³³ 

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ³⁴  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 ³⁵  by the works of the law, ³⁶  for through the law comes ³⁷  the knowledge of sin. 3:21 But now ³⁸  apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) ³⁹  has been disclosed – 3:22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ ⁴⁰  for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Galatians 6:13

6:13 For those who are circumcised do not obey the law themselves, but they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your flesh. ⁴¹ 

[23:2]  ¹ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[23:2]  ² tn Or “The scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:2]  ³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[23:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “for they say and do not do.”

[23:4]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[2:12]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.”

[2:17]  ⁸ sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[2:17]  ⁹ tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.

[2:18]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the will.”

[2:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”

[2:19]  ¹² tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.

[2:21]  ¹³ tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).

[2:22]  ¹⁴ tn Or “detest.”

[2:24]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.

[2:25]  ¹⁶ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ¹⁷ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[2:27]  ²⁰ tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.

[2:27]  ²¹ tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.

[2:27]  ²² tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ²³ sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

[2:29]  ²⁴ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

[2:29]  ²⁵ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ²⁶ tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.

[3:12]  ²⁷ sn Verses 10-12 are a quotation from Ps 14:1-3.

[3:13]  ²⁸ tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”

[3:13]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.

[3:14]  ³⁰ tn Grk “whose mouth is.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:14]  ³¹ sn A quotation from Ps 10:7.

[3:17]  ³² sn Rom 3:15-17 is a quotation from Isa 59:7-8.

[3:18]  ³³ sn A quotation from Ps 36:1.

[3:19]  ³⁴ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”

[3:20]  ³⁵ sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.

[3:20]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ tn Grk “is.”

[3:21]  ³⁸ tn Νυνὶ δέ (Nuni de, “But now”) could be understood as either (1) logical or (2) temporal in force, but most recent interpreters take it as temporal, referring to a new phase in salvation history.

[3:21]  ³⁹ tn Grk “being witnessed by the law and the prophets,” a remark which is virtually parenthetical to Paul’s argument.

[3:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “faith in Christ.” A decision is difficult here. Though traditionally translated “faith in Jesus Christ,” an increasing number of NT scholars are arguing that πίστις Χριστοῦ (pisti" Cristou) and similar phrases in Paul (here and in v. 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Eph 3:12; Phil 3:9) involve a subjective genitive and mean “Christ’s faith” or “Christ’s faithfulness” (cf., e.g., G. Howard, “The ‘Faith of Christ’,” ExpTim 85 [1974]: 212-15; R. B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ [SBLDS]; Morna D. Hooker, “Πίστις Χριστοῦ,” NTS 35 [1989]: 321-42). Noteworthy among the arguments for the subjective genitive view is that when πίστις takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess 1:8; 3:2, 5, 10; 2 Thess 1:3; Titus 1:1; Phlm 6; 1 Pet 1:9, 21; 2 Pet 1:5). On the other hand, the objective genitive view has its adherents: A. Hultgren, “The Pistis Christou Formulations in Paul,” NovT 22 (1980): 248-63; J. D. G. Dunn, “Once More, ΠΙΣΤΙΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ,” SBL Seminar Papers, 1991, 730-44. Most commentaries on Romans and Galatians usually side with the objective view.

[6:13]  ⁴¹ tn Or “boast about you in external matters,” “in the outward rite” (cf. v. 12).