Romans 4:15

4:15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression ¹  either.

Romans 7:12

7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Romans 7:7

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ²  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 ³  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ⁴ 

Romans 5:20

5:20 Now the law came in ⁵  so that the transgression ⁶  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more,

Romans 7:14

7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. ⁷ 

Romans 2:14

2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, ⁸  who do not have the law, do by nature ⁹  the things required by the law, ¹⁰  these who do not have the law are a law to themselves.

Romans 7:1

The Believer’s Relationship to the Law

7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters ¹¹  (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person ¹²  as long as he lives?

Romans 8:2

8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit ¹³  in Christ Jesus has set you ¹⁴  free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 3:19

3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under ¹⁵  the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

[4:15]  ¹ tn Or “violation.”

[7:7]  ² 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]  ³ tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”

[7:7]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.

[5:20]  ³ tn Grk “slipped in.”

[5:20]  ⁴ tn Or “trespass.”

[7:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “under sin.”

[2:14]  ⁵ sn Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.

[2:14]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Grk “do by nature the things of the law.”

[7:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[7:1]  ⁷ sn Here person refers to a human being.

[8:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “for the law of the Spirit of life.”

[8:2]  ⁸ tc Most mss read the first person singular pronoun με (me) here (A D 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa). The second person singular pronoun σε (se) is superior because of external support (א B {F which reads σαι} G 1506* 1739*) and internal support (it is the harder reading since ch. 7 was narrated in the first person). At the same time, it could have arisen via dittography from the final syllable of the verb preceding it (ἠλευθέρωσεν, hleuqerwsen; “has set free”). But for this to happen in such early and diverse witnesses is unlikely, especially as it depends on various scribes repeatedly overlooking either the nu or the nu-bar at the end of the verb.

[3:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “in,” “in connection with.”