⁵ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

² tn Or “The scribes” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

² tn Or “some of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

² tn Or “of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

² tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

¹ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

¹ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

⁴ sn According to the commandment. These women are portrayed as pious, faithful to the law in observing the Sabbath.

² tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 4:5.

⁴ tn BDAG 769 s.v. παρανομέω has “παρανομῶν κελεύεις in violation of the law you order Ac 23:3.”

² tn Or “and some scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 4:5.

³ tn Grk “against the law of the Jews.” Here τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων has been translated as an attributive genitive.

² tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.

² tn Grk “being witnessed by the law and the prophets,” a remark which is virtually parenthetical to Paul’s argument.

¹ tn The phrase “this law” is not in the Hebrew text, but English style requires an object for the verb here. Other translations also supply the object which is otherwise implicit (cf. NIV “who do not know this law”; TEV “who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God”).

² sn Paul’s example of the married woman and the law of the marriage illustrates that death frees a person from obligation to the law. Thus, in spiritual terms, a person who has died to what controlled us (v. 6) has been released from the law to serve God in the new life produced by the Spirit.

¹ sn Law. There is no definite article (“the”) with this word in Greek and so the inherent quality of the OT law as such is in view. But the OT law is still in mind, since the types of sinful people surveyed in vv. 9b-11a follow the general outline of sins prohibited in the Decalogue.

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.

² sn The law refers to the law of Moses. It elaborates the nature of the blasphemy in v. 11. To speak against God’s law in Torah was to blaspheme God (Deut 28:15-19). On the Jewish view of false witnesses, see Exod 19:16-18; 20:16; m. Sanhedrin 3.6; 5.1-5. Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 may indicate why the temple was mentioned.

⁴ 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.