Romans 4:15
in Romans 4because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.
KJV
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
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This verse in Romans 4
Commentary
15 notes on this verseBut now, in this place where he says, "For the law works wrath," it must be considered more carefully to which law this saying seems to look; and likewise that which follows, "For where there is no law, neither is there transgression." But before a fuller explanation is required of us, let us reply briefly to those objections which the heretics are accustomed to raise against us from this passage. For they say: "See how the Apostle says that the law of Moses works wrath, and that where that law has not been, there neither will there be transgression."
This site's exposition
heir of the world
on Romans 4:13-15
The promise that Abraham would inherit the world came through the righteousness that comes by faith. If the law made the heirs, faith is useless and the promise worthless, since law brings wrath. Without law there is no transgression to count.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
In order to show that no man can be justified before God by the law, nor can the promise be given through the law, Paul says that "the law brings wrath." It was given in order to make transgressors guilty. But faith is the gift …
This applies to the second state of man, when he is under the law.
Paul said this because God's wrath is more severe toward a transgressor who knows sin by the law and still commits it.
But without law it is impossible there should be transgression, as saith the Apostle: For where there is no law there is no transgression, and Without the law sin is dead. So that the angels themselves in every way want to obtain freedom from the …
Now if it worketh wrath, and renders them liable for transgression, it is plain that it makes them so to a curse also. But they that are liable under a curse, and punishments, and transgression, are not worthy of inheriting, but of being punished and rejected. What then happens? faith comes, drawing on it the grace, so that the promise comes into effect. For where grace is, there is a remitting, and where remitting is, there is no punishment. Punishment then being removed, and righteousness succeeding from faith, there is no obstacle to our becoming heirs of the promise.
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
Then when he says for the law he proves the conditional statement through the effect or result of the law. First, he proposes the effect or result of the law; second, he proves it, at for where there is no law. He proves the conditional …
Now he proves in what way "the promise is made of none effect." With the law, he says, transgression is joined, and transgression of the law produces wrath and subjects one to the curse and punishment. How then, one asks, is the one guilty of …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Because the law - Considered apart from that grace, which though it was in fact mingled with it, yet is no part of the legal dispensation, is so difficult, and we so weak and sinful, that, instead of bringing us a blessing, it only worketh wrath; it becomes to us an occasion of wrath, and exposes us to punishment as transgressors.
Or, rather, it points at Christ, the seed here mentioned; compare Gal. iii. 16 , To thy seed, which is Christ. Now Christ is the heir of the world, the ends of the earth are his possession, and it is in him that Abraham was so.
Because the law worketh wrath,....
How the law works wrath he shows very concisely in the latter part of the verse: Where no law is there is no transgression, an acknowledged maxim, which implies, Where there is a law there is transgression and that transgression is provoking, and so the law worketh wrath. Why the promise was made to him by faith; for three reasons,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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. Rom 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.
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.
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γὰρ | gar | For | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| νόμος | nomos | law | G3551 → | 192 times |
| ὀργὴν | orgen | wrath | G3709 → | 36 times |
| κατεργάζεται· | katergazetai | brings; | G2716 → | 22 times |
| οὗ | hou | where | G3757 → | 24 times |
| δὲ | de | now | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | no | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἔστιν | estin | there is | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| νόμος, | nomos | law, | G3551 → | 192 times |
| οὐδὲ | oude | neither [is] | G3761 → | 141 times |
| παράβασις. | parabasis | transgression. | G3847 → | 7 times |
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
γὰρFor
garG1063 →1039 times
νόμοςlaw
nomosG3551 →192 times
ὀργὴνwrath
orgenG3709 →36 times
κατεργάζεται·brings;
katergazetaiG2716 →22 times
οὗwhere
houG3757 →24 times
δὲnow
deG1161 →2765 times
οὐκno
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἔστινthere is
estinG1510 →2333 times
νόμος,law,
nomosG3551 →192 times
οὐδὲneither [is]
oudeG3761 →141 times
παράβασις.transgression.
parabasisG3847 →7 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Galatians 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:26
‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Romans 8:7
because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- Romans 3:19–20
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
- Deuteronomy 11:26–28
See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—
- Jeremiah 11:3
You must tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,
- Deuteronomy 27:26
Through
Romans 5:13For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 15:56
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
- 1 Corinthians 15:56
Through
1 Corinthians 15:56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
it leads to
- Galatians 3:10–13
All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Galatians 3:10–13
Where this verse is studied
About Romans
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Augustine of Hippo, AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 23; Augustine of Hippo, GRACE AND FREE WILL 10.22; Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 2; John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans VIII; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; Robert Haldane, Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Romans and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans.