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Romans 4:15

because the effect of the law is punishment: for if there had been no law, there could have been 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

Christian Standard Bible®
because the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
King James Version (1611)
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no Lawe is, there is no transgression.
King James Version
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
English Standard Version
For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
New American Standard Bible
for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.
New Century Version
because the law can only bring God's anger. But if there is no law, there is nothing to disobey.
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].
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.
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.
Darby Translation
For law works wrath; but where no law is neither [is there] 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.
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.
Good News Translation
The Law brings down God's anger; but where there is no law, there is no disobeying of the law.
Lexham English Bible
For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
Literal Translation
For the Law works out wrath; for where no law is, neither is transgression.
American Standard Version
for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
Bible in Basic English
For the outcome of the law is wrath; but where there is no law it will not be broken.
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.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Because the lawe causeth wrath. For where no lawe is, there is no transgression.
English Revised Version
for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there 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.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the lawe worchith wraththe; for where is no lawe, there is no trespas, nethir is trespassyng.
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.
New English Translation
For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either.
New King James Version
because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
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.
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.
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.
Young's Literal Translation
for the law doth work wrath; for where law is not, 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.
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.

Contextual Overview

9 Is this happiness then for the circumcised only, or for the uncircumcised also? for we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 how was it then accounted? whilst he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? he was not then circumcised, but uncircumcised: 11 and he received the sign of circumcision, as a seal of the justification by that faith, which the uncircumcised have: that he might be the father of all those who believe, tho' they are uncircumcised, that it might be accounted to them also for righteousness: 12 and the father of the circumcised, that is of those who are not barely circumcised, but who imitate that faith which our father Abraham had, being yet uncircumcised. 13 Besides, the promise that he should possess the world, was not made to Abraham, or to his posterity in consideration of the law, but with regard to the righteousness by faith. 14 for if they only who are of the law have right of possession, faith is made useless, and the promise becomes of no effect. 15 because the effect of the law is punishment: for if there had been no law, there could have been no transgression. 16 therefore the inheritance is of faith, that it might be meerly of favour, to the end the promise might be assured to all his posterity, not to that part only who have the law, but to that also who have the faith of Abraham, the father of us all, as it is written,

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

Matthew 26:52
but Jesus said to him, put up your sword in its place: for all that take to the sword, shall perish by the sword.
Revelation 14:9
And a third angel followed them, crying with a loud voice, "if any man worship the beast, or his image, or receive his mark on his forehead, or in his hand,
Revelation 14:11
the smoke of their torment shall ascend for ever and ever: they who worship the beast or his image, they who receive the mark of his name, shall have no rest either day or night."

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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