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the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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Read the Bible

King James Version

Romans 4:15

Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Abraham;   Bigotry;   Catholicity;   Faith;   Justification;   Salvation;   Works;   Scofield Reference Index - Grace;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Law of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Type;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Law;   Promise;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Law;   Old Testament in the New Testament, the;   Sin;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Covenant;   Law;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Church;   Justification;   Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament;   Promise;   Romans, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Grace;   Hebrews, Epistle to;   Justification, Justify;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Anger;   Guilt (2);   Law;   Promise;   Punishment;   Romans Epistle to the;   Unity;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Law;   Sin;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Impute;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Accountability;   Hebrews, Epistle to the;   Law in the New Testament;   Pauline Theology;   Promise;   Retribution;   Transgression;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Antinomianism;   Saul of Tarsus;  

Parallel Translations

Simplified Cowboy Version
The Code is only to show you that you can't be perfect and must depend on faith and trust in God to save you.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.
Legacy Standard Bible
for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no trespass.
Bible in Basic English
For the outcome of the law is wrath; but where there is no law it will not be broken.
Darby Translation
For law works wrath; but where no law is neither [is there] transgression.
New King James Version
because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
Christian Standard Bible®
For the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
World English Bible
For the law works wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Weymouth's New Testament
For the Law inflicts punishment; but where no Law exists, there can be no violation of Law.
King James Version (1611)
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no Lawe is, there is no transgression.
Literal Translation
For the Law works out wrath; for where no law is, neither is transgression.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
for so moch as the lawe causeth but wrath. For where the lawe is not, there is also no transgression.
Mace New Testament (1729)
because the effect of the law is punishment: for if there had been no law, there could have been no transgression.
Amplified Bible
For the Law results in [God's] wrath [against sin], but where there is no law, there is no violation [of it either].
American Standard Version
for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
Revised Standard Version
For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Because the lawe causeth wrathe. For where no lawe is there is no trasgression.
Update Bible Version
for the law works wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
Webster's Bible Translation
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, [there is] no transgression.
Young's Literal Translation
for the law doth work wrath; for where law is not, neither [is] transgression.
New Century Version
because the law can only bring God's anger. But if there is no law, there is nothing to disobey.
New English Translation
For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either.
Berean Standard Bible
because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
Contemporary English Version
God becomes angry when his Law is broken. But where there isn't a law, it cannot be broken.
Complete Jewish Bible
For what law brings is punishment. But where there is no law, there is also no violation.
English Standard Version
For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For the Lawe causeth wrath: for where no Lawe is, there is no transgression.
George Lamsa Translation
For the law causes provocation; for where there is no law, there is no transgression.
Hebrew Names Version
For the law works wrath, for where there is no law, neither is there disobedience.
International Standard Version
for the law brings about wrath. Now where there is no law, neither can there be any violation of it.Romans 3:20; 1 Corinthians 15:56; 2 Corinthians 3:7,9; Galatians 3:10,19; 1 John 3:4;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
For the law is the worker of wrath. For where there is no law, there also is no transgression of the law.
Murdock Translation
For the law is a worker of wrath; because where no law is, there is no transgression of law.
New Living Translation
For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)
New Life Bible
God's anger comes on a man when he does not obey the Law. But if there were no Law, then no one could break it.
English Revised Version
for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
New Revised Standard
For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, the law, worketh out anger, but, where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For the law worketh wrath. For where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
Lexham English Bible
For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Because the lawe causeth wrath. For where no lawe is, there is no transgression.
Easy-to-Read Version
because the law can only bring God's anger on those who disobey it. But if there is no law, then there is nothing to disobey.
New American Standard Bible
for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.
Good News Translation
The Law brings down God's anger; but where there is no law, there is no disobeying of the law.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the lawe worchith wraththe; for where is no lawe, there is no trespas, nethir is trespassyng.

Contextual Overview

9 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: 12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. 13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Because: Romans 1:17, Romans 2:5, Romans 2:6, Romans 3:19, Romans 3:20, Romans 5:13, Romans 5:20, Romans 5:21, Romans 7:7-11, Numbers 32:14, Deuteronomy 29:20-28, 2 Kings 22:13, Jeremiah 4:8, Lamentations 2:22, Ezekiel 7:19, Zephaniah 1:18, John 3:36, John 15:22, Acts 17:30, Acts 17:31, 1 Corinthians 15:56, 2 Corinthians 3:7-9, Galatians 3:10, Galatians 3:19, Ephesians 5:6, Colossians 3:6, 1 John 3:4, Revelation 6:16, Revelation 6:17, Revelation 19:15

where: Romans 2:12, Romans 2:13, Romans 5:13

Reciprocal: Exodus 19:24 - lest 2 Chronicles 34:21 - great Acts 13:39 - from which Romans 1:18 - the wrath Romans 7:5 - which Romans 7:8 - sin Romans 9:31 - hath 2 Corinthians 3:6 - for Galatians 2:19 - through

Cross-References

Genesis 4:24
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.
Leviticus 26:18
And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Leviticus 26:21
And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
Leviticus 26:24
Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
Leviticus 26:28
Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
1 Kings 16:7
And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the Lord against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord , in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him.
Psalms 59:11
Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
Psalms 79:12
And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
Proverbs 6:31
But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
Ezekiel 9:4
And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Because the law worketh wrath,.... Not the wrath of man, though that is sometimes stirred up through the prohibitions of the law, to which the carnal mind of man is enmity, but the wrath of God the law is so far from justifying sinners, that it curses and condemns them; and when it comes into the heart and is let into the conscience of a sinner, it fills with terrible apprehensions of the wrath of God, and a fearful looking for of his judgment and fiery indignation:

for where no law is, there is no transgression; לא מצוה ולא עבירה

שאינו r; a sort of a proverbial expression: had the law of Moses not been given, there was the law of nature which sin is a transgression of; but the law of Moses was added for the better discovery and detection of sin, which would not have been so manifest without it, and which may be the apostle's sense; that where there is no law, there is no knowledge of any transgression; and so the Ethiopic version reads the words, "if the law had not come, there would have been none who would have known sin"; but the law is come, and there is a law by which is the knowledge of sin, and therefore no man can be justified by it; since that convinces him of sin, and fills him with a sense of divine wrath on account of it.

r Caphtor, fol. 10. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Because the law - All law. It is the tendency of law.

Worketh wrath - Produces or causes wrath. While man is fallen, and a sinner, its tendency, so far from justifying him, and producing peace, is just the reverse. It condemns, denounces wrath, and produces suffering. The word “wrath” here is to be taken in the sense of punishment. Romans 2:8. And the meaning is, that the Law of God, demanding perfect purity, and denouncing every sin condemns the sinner, and consigns him to punishment. As the apostle had proved Romans 1:0; Romans 2:0; Romans 3:0 that all were sinners, so it followed that if any attempted to be justified by the Law, they would be involved only in condemnation and wrath.

For where no law is ... - This is a general principle; a maxim of common justice and of common sense. Law is a rule of conduct. If no such rule is given and known, there can be no crime. Law expresses what may be done, and what may not be done. If there is no command to pursue a certain course, no injunction to forbid certain conduct, actions will be innocent. The connection in which this declaration is made here, seems to imply that as the Jews had a multitude of clear laws, and as the Gentiles had the laws of nature, there could be no hope of escape from the charge of their violation. Since human nature was depraved, and people were prone to sin, the more just and reasonable the laws, the less hope was there of being justified by the Law, and the more certainty was there that the Law would produce wrath and condemnation.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Romans 4:15. Because the law worketh wrath — For law νομος, any law, or rule of duty. No law makes provision for the exercise of mercy, for it worketh wrath, οργην, punishment, for the disobedient. Law necessarily subjects the transgressor to punishment; for where no law is - where no rule of duty is enacted and acknowledged, there is no transgression; and where there is no transgression there can be no punishment, for there is no law to enforce it. But the Jews have a law, which they have broken; and now they are exposed to the penal sanctions of that law; and, if the promises of pardon without the works of the law, do not extend to them, they must be finally miserable, because they have all broken the law, and the law exacts punishment. This was a home stroke, and the argument is unanswerable.


 
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