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, 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. 14For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 16Therefore 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, 17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Romans 4:15 word by word

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

• ·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 therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
• Romans 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
• Romans 3:19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
• Romans 5:13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
• Romans 7:7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
• Numbers 32:14And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Yhwh toward Israel.
• Deuteronomy 29:20Yhwh will not spare him, but then the anger of Yhwh and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and Yhwh shall blot out his name from under heaven.
• 2 Kings 22:13Go ye, enquire of Yhwh for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of Yhwh that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
• Jeremiah 4:8For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of Yhwh is not turned back from us.
• Lamentations 2:22Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of Yhwh's anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed.
• Ezekiel 7:19They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yhwh: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
• Zephaniah 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Yhwh's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
• John 3:36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
• John 15:22If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
• Acts 17:30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
• 1 Corinthians 15:56The sting of death is sin; and the strength 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