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 7:5-11

7:5 For when we were in the flesh, ⁴  the sinful desires, ⁵  aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body ⁶  to bear fruit for death. 7:6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died ⁷  to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. ⁸ 

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ⁹  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 ¹⁰  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ¹¹  7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. ¹²  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 ¹³  I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! ¹⁴  7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. ¹⁵ 

Acts 13:39

13:39 and by this one ¹⁶  everyone who believes is justified ¹⁷  from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify ¹⁸  you. ¹⁹ 

Galatians 3:21

3:21 Is the law therefore opposed to the promises of God? ²⁰  Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. ²¹ 

Hebrews 7:18-19

7:18 On the one hand a former command is set aside ²²  because it is weak and useless, ²³  7:19 for the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Hebrews 10:1-10

Concluding Exposition: Old and New Sacrifices Contrasted

10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. ²⁴  10:2 For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have ²⁵  no further consciousness of sin? 10:3 But in those sacrifices ²⁶  there is a reminder of sins year after year. 10:4 For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. ²⁷  10:5 So when he came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.

10:6 “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.

10:7 “Then I said, ‘Here I am: ²⁸  I have come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book – to do your will, O God.’” ²⁹ 

10:8 When he says above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you did not desire nor did you take delight in them” ³⁰  (which are offered according to the law), 10:9 then he says, “Here I am: I have come to do your will.” ³¹  He does away with ³²  the first to establish the second. 10:10 By his will ³³  we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:14

10:14 For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.

[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.”

[7:5]  ⁴ tn That is, before we were in Christ.

[7:5]  ⁵ tn Or “sinful passions.”

[7:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “our members”; the words “of our body” have been supplied to clarify the meaning.

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

[7:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

[7:7]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”

[7:7]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.

[7:8]  ¹² tn Or “covetousness.”

[7:10]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and there was found in/for me the commandment which was for life – this was for death.”

[7:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or “and through it killed me.”

[13:39]  ¹⁶ sn This one refers here to Jesus.

[13:39]  ¹⁷ tn Or “is freed.” The translation of δικαιωθῆναι (dikaiwqhnai) and δικαιοῦται (dikaioutai) in Acts 13:38-39 is difficult. BDAG 249 s.v. δικαιόω 3 categorizes δικαιωθῆναι in 13:38 (Greek text) under the meaning “make free/pure” but categorizes δικαιοῦται in Acts 13:39 as “be found in the right, be free of charges” (BDAG 249 s.v. δικαιόω 2.b.β). In the interest of consistency both verbs are rendered as “justified” in this translation.

[13:39]  ¹⁸ tn Or “could not free.”

[13:39]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” The passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation, with “by the law of Moses” becoming the subject of the final clause. The words “from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you” are part of v. 38 in the Greek text, but due to English style and word order must be placed in v. 39 in the translation.

[3:21]  ²⁰ tc The reading τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou, “of God”) is well attested in א A C D (F G read θεοῦ without the article) Ψ 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy co. However, Ì⁴⁶ B d Ambst lack the words. Ì⁴⁶ and B perhaps should not to be given as much weight as they normally are, since the combination of these two witnesses often produces a secondary shorter reading against all others. In addition, one might expect that if the shorter reading were original other variants would have crept into the textual tradition early on. But 104 (a.d. 1087) virtually stands alone with the variant τοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou Cristou, “of Christ”). Nevertheless, if τοῦ θεοῦ were not part of the original text, it is the kind of variant that would be expected to show up early and often, especially in light of Paul’s usage elsewhere (Rom 4:20; 2 Cor 1:20). A slight preference should be given to the τοῦ θεοῦ over the omission. NA²⁷ rightly places the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

[3:21]  ²¹ tn Or “have been based on the law.”

[7:18]  ²² tn Grk “the setting aside of a former command comes to pass.”

[7:18]  ²³ tn Grk “because of its weakness and uselessness.”

[10:1]  ²⁴ tn Grk “those who approach.”

[10:2]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the worshipers, having been purified once for all, would have.”

[10:3]  ²⁶ tn Grk “in them”; the referent (those sacrifices) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:4]  ²⁷ tn Grk “for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

[10:7]  ²⁸ tn Grk “behold,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).

[10:7]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 40:6-8 (LXX). The phrase a body you prepared for me (in v. 5) is apparently an interpretive expansion of the HT reading “ears you have dug out for me.”

[10:8]  ³⁰ sn Various phrases from the quotation of Ps 40:6 in Heb 10:5-6 are repeated in Heb 10:8.

[10:9]  ³¹ tc The majority of mss, especially the later ones (א² 0278^vid 1739 Ï lat), have ὁ θεός (Jo qeo", “God”) at this point, while most of the earliest and best witnesses lack such an explicit addressee (so Ì⁴⁶ א* A C D K P Ψ 33 1175 1881 2464 al). The longer reading is a palpable corruption, apparently motivated in part by the wording of Ps 40:8 (39:9 LXX) and by the word order of this same verse as quoted in Heb 10:7.

[10:9]  ³² tn Or “abolishes.”

[10:10]  ³³ tn Grk “by which will.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.