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

13Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. 14If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless. 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!) 16So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. 17That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

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 1:17This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
• Romans 2:5But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
• Romans 3:19Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.
• Romans 5:13Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break.
• Romans 7:7Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”
• Numbers 32:14But here you are, a brood of sinners, doing exactly the same thing! You are making the Lord even angrier with Israel.
• Deuteronomy 29:20The Lord will never pardon such people. Instead his anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the Lord will erase their names from under heaven.
• 2 Kings 22:13“Go to the Temple and speak to the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah. Inquire about the words written in this scroll that has been found. For the Lord’s great anger is burning against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this scroll. We have not been doing everything it says we must do.”
• Jeremiah 4:8So put on clothes of mourning and weep with broken hearts, for the fierce anger of the Lord is still upon us.
• Lamentations 2:22“You have invited terrors from all around, as though you were calling them to a day of feasting. In the day of the Lord’s anger, no one has escaped or survived. The enemy has killed all the children whom I carried and raised.”
• Ezekiel 7:19“They will throw their money in the streets, tossing it out like worthless trash. Their silver and gold won’t save them on that day of the Lord’s anger. It will neither satisfy nor feed them, for their greed can only trip them up.
• Zephaniah 1:18Your silver and gold will not save you on that day of the Lord’s anger. For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a terrifying end of all the people on earth.
• John 3:36And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”
• John 15:22They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.
• Acts 17:30“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.
• 1 Corinthians 15:56For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.

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