Romans 9:31-32

9:31 but Israel even though pursuing ¹  a law of righteousness ²  did not attain it. ³  9:32 Why not? Because they pursued ⁴  it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. ⁵  They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ⁶ 

Isaiah 57:12

57:12 I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, ⁷ 

but they will not help you.

Isaiah 64:6

64:6 We are all like one who is unclean,

all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. ⁸ 

We all wither like a leaf;

our sins carry us away like the wind.

Luke 10:29

10:29 But the expert, ⁹  wanting to justify ¹⁰  himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Luke 16:15

16:15 But ¹¹  Jesus ¹²  said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, ¹³  but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized ¹⁴  among men is utterly detestable ¹⁵  in God’s sight.

Luke 18:9-12

The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

18:9 Jesus ¹⁶  also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down ¹⁷  on everyone else. 18:10 “Two men went up ¹⁸  to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee ¹⁹  and the other a tax collector. ²⁰  18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ²¹  ‘God, I thank ²²  you that I am not like other people: ²³  extortionists, ²⁴  unrighteous people, ²⁵  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ²⁶  18:12 I fast twice ²⁷  a week; I give a tenth ²⁸  of everything I get.’

Galatians 5:3-4

5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey ²⁹  the whole law. 5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous ³⁰  by the law have been alienated ³¹  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace!

Philippians 3:9

3:9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness ³²  – a righteousness from God that is in fact ³³  based on Christ’s ³⁴  faithfulness. ³⁵ 

Revelation 3:17-18

3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, ³⁶  and need nothing,” but ³⁷  do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, ³⁸  poor, blind, and naked, 3:18 take my advice ³⁹  and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me ⁴⁰  white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness ⁴¹  will not be exposed, and buy eye salve ⁴²  to put on your eyes so you can see!

[9:31]  ¹ tn Or “who pursued.” The participle could be taken adverbially or adjectivally.

[9:31]  ² tn Or “a legal righteousness,” that is, a righteousness based on law. This translation would treat the genitive δικαιοσύνης (dikaiosunh") as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89-91).

[9:31]  ³ tn Grk “has not attained unto the law.”

[9:32]  ⁴ tn Grk “Why? Because not by faith but as though by works.” The verb (“they pursued [it]”) is to be supplied from the preceding verse for the sake of English style; yet a certain literary power is seen in Paul’s laconic style.

[9:32]  ⁵ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (א² D Ψ 33 Ï sy), read νόμου (nomou, “of the law”) here, echoing Paul’s usage in Rom 3:20, 28 and elsewhere. The qualifying phrase is lacking in א* A B F G 6 629 630 1739 1881 pc lat co. The longer reading thus is weaker externally and internally, being motivated apparently by a need to clarify.

[9:32]  ⁶ tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”

[57:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “I, I will declare your righteousness and your deeds.”

[64:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and like a garment of menstruation [are] all our righteous acts”; KJV, NIV “filthy rags”; ASV “a polluted garment.”

[10:29]  ⁹ tn Grk “And he”; the referent (the expert in religious law, shortened here to “the expert”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:29]  ¹⁰ tn Or “vindicate.”

[16:15]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[16:15]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “before men.” The contrast is between outward appearance (“in people’s eyes”) and inward reality (“God knows your hearts”). Here the Greek term ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used twice in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, but “men” has been retained in the text to provide a strong verbal contrast with “God” in the second half of the verse.

[16:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “exalted.” This refers to the pride that often comes with money and position.

[16:15]  ¹⁵ tn Or “is an abomination,” “is abhorrent” (L&N 25.187).

[18:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “He”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and despised.” This is a second parable with an explanatory introduction.

[18:10]  ¹⁸ sn The temple is on a hill in Jerusalem, so one would go up to enter its precincts.

[18:10]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[18:10]  ²⁰ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

[18:11]  ²¹ tn Or “stood by himself and prayed like this.” The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτόν (pros eauton, “to/about himself”) could go with either the aorist participle σταθείς (staqeis, “stood”) or with the imperfect verb προσηύχετο (proshuceto, “he prayed”). If taken with the participle, then the meaning would seem at first glance to be: “stood ‘by himself’,” or “stood ‘alone’.” Now it is true that πρός can mean “by” or “with” when used with intransitive verbs such as ἵστημι ({isthmi, “I stand”; cf. BDAG 874 s.v. πρός 2.a), but πρὸς ἑαυτόν together never means “by himself” or “alone” in biblical Greek. On the other hand, if πρὸς ἑαυτόν is taken with the verb, then two different nuances emerge, both of which highlight in different ways the principal point Jesus seems to be making about the arrogance of this religious leader: (1) “prayed to himself,” but not necessarily silently, or (2) “prayed about himself,” with the connotation that he prayed out loud, for all to hear. Since his prayer is really a review of his moral résumé, directed both at advertising his own righteousness and exposing the perversion of the tax collector, whom he actually mentions in his prayer, the latter option seems preferable. If this is the case, then the Pharisee’s mention of God is really nothing more than a formality.

[18:11]  ²² sn The Pharisee’s prayer started out as a thanksgiving psalm to God, but the praise ended up not being about God.

[18:11]  ²³ tn Here the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used as a generic and can refer to both men and women (NASB, NRSV, “people”; NLT, “everyone else”; NAB, “the rest of humanity”).

[18:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “swindlers” (BDAG 134 s.v. ἅρπαξ 2); see also Isa 10:2; Josephus, J. W. 6.3.4 [6.203].

[18:11]  ²⁵ sn A general category for “sinners” (1 Cor 6:9; Lev 19:3).

[18:11]  ²⁶ sn Note what the Pharisee assumes about the righteousness of this tax collector by grouping him with extortionists, unrighteous people, and adulterers.

[18:12]  ²⁷ sn The law only required fasting on the Day of Atonement. Such voluntary fasting as this practiced twice a week by the Pharisee normally took place on Monday and Thursday.

[18:12]  ²⁸ tn Or “I tithe.”

[5:3]  ²⁹ tn Or “keep”; or “carry out”; Grk “do.”

[5:4]  ³⁰ tn Or “trying to be justified.” The verb δικαιοῦσθε (dikaiousqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

[5:4]  ³¹ 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.”

[3:9]  ³² 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 Rom 3:22, 26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Eph 3:12) 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.

[3:9]  ³³ tn The words “in fact” are supplied because of English style, picking up the force of the Greek article with πίστει (pistei). See also the following note on the word “Christ’s.”

[3:9]  ³⁴ tn Grk “based on the faithfulness.” The article before πίστει (pistei) is taken as anaphoric, looking back to διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ (dia pistew" Cristou); hence, “Christ’s” is implied.

[3:9]  ³⁵ tn Or “based on faith.”

[3:17]  ³⁶ tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (ploutew, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.

[3:17]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:17]  ³⁸ tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.

[3:18]  ³⁹ tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”

[3:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.

[3:18]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainothti zwh") in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).

[3:18]  ⁴² sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).