Romans 3:20

3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him ¹  by the works of the law, ²  for through the law comes ³  the knowledge of sin.

Romans 4:14-15

4:14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ⁴  4:15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression ⁵  either.

Romans 11:7

11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The ⁶  rest were hardened,

Galatians 3:10-11

3:10 For all who ⁷  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.” ⁸  3:11 Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. ⁹ 

Galatians 5:3-4

5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey ¹⁰  the whole law. 5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous ¹¹  by the law have been alienated ¹²  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace!

James 2:10-11

2:10 For the one who obeys the whole law but fails ¹³  in one point has become guilty of all of it. ¹⁴  2:11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” ¹⁵  also said, “Do not murder.” ¹⁶  Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law.

[3:20]  ¹ sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.

[3:20]  ² 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]  ³ tn Grk “is.”

[4:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “rendered inoperative.”

[4:15]  ⁵ tn Or “violation.”

[11:7]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[3:10]  ⁷ tn Grk “For as many as.”

[3:10]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “The one who is righteous by faith will live” (a quotation from Hab 2:4).

[5:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “keep”; or “carry out”; Grk “do.”

[5:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “trying to be justified.” The verb δικαιοῦσθε (dikaiousqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

[5:4]  ¹² tn Or “estranged”; BDAG 526 s.v. καταργέω 4 states, “Of those who aspire to righteousness through the law κ. ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ be estranged from Christ Gal 5:4.”

[2:10]  ¹³ tn Or “stumbles.”

[2:10]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “guilty of all.”

[2:11]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Exod 20:14 and Deut 5:18.

[2:11]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Exod 20:13 and Deut 5:17.