Romans 3:19-20

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹  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 ²  by the works of the law, ³  for through the law comes ⁴  the knowledge of sin.

Romans 4:15

4:15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression ⁵  either.

Romans 5:13

5:13 for before the law was given, ⁶  sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin ⁷  when there is no law.

Romans 5:20

5:20 Now the law came in ⁸  so that the transgression ⁹  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more,

Romans 7:5-13

7:5 For when we were in the flesh, ¹⁰  the sinful desires, ¹¹  aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body ¹²  to bear fruit for death. 7:6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died ¹³  to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. ¹⁴ 

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ¹⁵  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 ¹⁶  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ¹⁷  7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. ¹⁸  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 ¹⁹  I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! ²⁰  7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. ²¹  7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

Galatians 3:10-13

3:10 For all who ²²  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.” ²³  3:11 Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. ²⁴  3:12 But the law is not based on faith, ²⁵  but the one who does the works of the law ²⁶  will live by them. ²⁷  3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming ²⁸  a curse for us (because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) ²⁹ 

[3:19]  ¹ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”

[3:20]  ² sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.

[3:20]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Grk “is.”

[4:15]  ⁵ tn Or “violation.”

[5:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “for before the law.”

[5:13]  ⁷ tn Or “sin is not reckoned.”

[5:20]  ⁸ tn Grk “slipped in.”

[5:20]  ⁹ tn Or “trespass.”

[7:5]  ¹⁰ tn That is, before we were in Christ.

[7:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “sinful passions.”

[7:5]  ¹² tn Grk “our members”; the words “of our body” have been supplied to clarify the meaning.

[7:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “having died.” The participle ἀποθανόντες (apoqanonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[7:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

[7:7]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”

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

[7:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “covetousness.”

[7:10]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and there was found in/for me the commandment which was for life – this was for death.”

[7:11]  ²¹ tn Or “and through it killed me.”

[3:10]  ²² tn Grk “For as many as.”

[3:10]  ²³ tn Grk “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them.”

[3:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “The one who is righteous by faith will live” (a quotation from Hab 2:4).

[3:12]  ²⁵ tn Grk “is not from faith.”

[3:12]  ²⁶ tn Grk “who does these things”; the referent (the works of the law, see 3:5) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:12]  ²⁷ sn A quotation from Lev 18:5. The phrase the works of the law is an editorial expansion on the Greek text (see previous note); it has been left as normal typeface to indicate it is not part of the OT text.

[3:13]  ²⁸ tn Grk “having become”; the participle γενόμενος (genomenos) has been taken instrumentally.

[3:13]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 21:23. By figurative extension the Greek word translated tree (ζύλον, zulon) can also be used to refer to a cross (L&N 6.28), the Roman instrument of execution.