Romans 4:15

Romans 4:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
• New International Version (NIV)because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
• New King James Version (NKJV)because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

Context of Romans 4:15

13For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either. 16For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17(as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.

Romans 4:15 word by word

ὁ γὰρ νόμος ὀργὴν κατεργάζεται· οὗ δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν νόμος, οὐδὲ παράβασις.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Becauseγάρgar · forG1063
• the lawνόμοςnomos · lawG3551
• workethκατεργάζομαιkatergazomai · to workout/produceG2716
• wrathὀργήorgē · wrathG3709
• whereοὗhou · whitherG3757
• noοὐou · noG3756
• isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• noοὐδέoude · norG3761
• transgressionπαράβασιςparabasis · transgressionG3847

Cross-references for Romans 4:15

• Romans 1:17For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”
• Romans 2:5But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed!
• Romans 3:19Now 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 may be held accountable to God.
• Romans 5:13for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.
• Romans 7:7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
• Numbers 32:14Now look, you are standing in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinners, to increase still further the fierce wrath of the Lord against the Israelites.
• Deuteronomy 29:20The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger will rage against that man; all the curses written in this scroll will fall upon him and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory.
• 2 Kings 22:13“Go, seek an oracle from the Lord for me and the people – for all Judah. Find out about the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.”
• Jeremiah 4:8So put on sackcloth! Mourn and wail, saying, ‘The fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us!’”
• Lamentations 2:22As if it were a feast day, you call enemies to terrify me on every side. On the day of the Lord’s anger no one escaped or survived. My enemy has finished off those healthy infants whom I bore and raised.
• Ezekiel 7:19They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated like filth. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord’s fury. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs because their wealth was the obstacle leading to their iniquity.
• Zephaniah 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment. The whole earth will be consumed by his fiery wrath. Indeed, he will bring terrifying destruction on all who live on the earth.”
• John 3:36The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him.
• John 15:22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.
• Acts 17:30Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent,
• 1 Corinthians 15:56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

Commentaries on Romans 4:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15Because the law worketh wrath - For law , any law, or rule of duty. No law makes provision for the exercise of mercy, for it worketh wrath, , 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…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15Because 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…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-22Verses 13-22 The promise was made to Abraham long before the law. It points at Christ, and it refers to the promise, Ge 12:3. In Thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. The law worketh wrath, by showing that every transgressor is exposed to the Divine displeasure. As God intended to give men a title to the promised blessings, so he appointed it to be by faith, that it might be wholly of grace, to make it sure to all who were of the like precious…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15where there is no law, neither is there transgression: Paul always uses the word transgression to mean not obeying a plain commandment of God (see also 2:23; 5:14; Galatians 3:19; 1 Timothy 2:14). So, transgression can only exist where the law exists. This is why violating the law always brings punishment. The law that God gave to the Israelites had detailed requirements. This made the people more accountable for sin than before their law existed. When…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 13-1513-15. For the promise, &c.--This is merely an enlargement of the foregoing reasoning, applying to the law what had just been said of circumcision. that he should be the heir of the world--or, that "all the families of the earth should be blessed in him." was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law--in virtue of obedience to the law. but through the righteousness of faith--in virtue of his simple faith in the divine promises.Read the comment

Topics related to Romans 4:15

• Abraham
• Bigotry
• Catholicity
• Faith
• Justification
• Salvation
• Works

In the dictionaries

• Flesh
• Impute
• Quicken
• Raise
• Reckon
• Sin
• Stagger
• Unbelief
• Void
• Accountability

Commentaries on Romans 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings