Roma 2:13-16

2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. ¹  2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, ²  who do not have the law, do by nature ³  the things required by the law, ⁴  these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 2:15 They ⁵  show that the work of the law is written ⁶  in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend ⁷  them, ⁸  2:16 on the day when God will judge ⁹  the secrets of human hearts, ¹⁰  according to my gospel ¹¹  through Christ Jesus.

Roma 2:25-29

2:25 For circumcision ¹²  has its value if you practice the law, but ¹³  if you break the law, ¹⁴  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ¹⁵  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ¹⁶  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ¹⁷  the written code ¹⁸  and circumcision, transgress the law? 2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ¹⁹  by the Spirit ²⁰  and not by the written code. ²¹  This person’s ²²  praise is not from people but from God.

Roma 3:20

3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him ²³  by the works of the law, ²⁴  for through the law comes ²⁵  the knowledge of sin.

[2:13]  ¹ tn The Greek sentence expresses this contrast more succinctly than is possible in English. Grk “For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.”

[2:14]  ² sn Gentile is a NT term for a non-Jew.

[2:14]  ³ tn Some (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:135-37) take the phrase φύσει (fusei, “by nature”) to go with the preceding “do not have the law,” thus: “the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature,” that is, by virtue of not being born Jewish.

[2:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “do by nature the things of the law.”

[2:15]  ⁵ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Or “excuse.”

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “their conscience bearing witness and between the thoughts accusing or also defending one another.”

[2:16]  ⁹ tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.

[2:16]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “of people.”

[2:16]  ¹¹ sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.

[2:25]  ¹² sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ¹³ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[2:27]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.

[2:27]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.

[2:27]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ¹⁹ sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

[2:29]  ²⁰ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

[2:29]  ²¹ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ²² tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.

[3:20]  ²³ sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.

[3:20]  ²⁴ tn Grk “because by the works of the law no flesh is justified before him.” Some recent scholars have understood the phrase ἒργα νόμου (erga nomou, “works of the law”) to refer not to obedience to the Mosaic law generally, but specifically to portions of the law that pertain to things like circumcision and dietary laws which set the Jewish people apart from the other nations (e.g., J. D. G. Dunn, Romans [WBC], 1:155). Other interpreters, like C. E. B. Cranfield (“‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 89-101) reject this narrow interpretation for a number of reasons, among which the most important are: (1) The second half of v. 20, “for through the law comes the knowledge of sin,” is hard to explain if the phrase “works of the law” is understood in a restricted sense; (2) the plural phrase “works of the law” would have to be understood in a different sense from the singular phrase “the work of the law” in 2:15; (3) similar phrases involving the law in Romans (2:13, 14; 2:25, 26, 27; 7:25; 8:4; and 13:8) which are naturally related to the phrase “works of the law” cannot be taken to refer to circumcision (in fact, in 2:25 circumcision is explicitly contrasted with keeping the law). Those interpreters who reject the “narrow” interpretation of “works of the law” understand the phrase to refer to obedience to the Mosaic law in general.

[3:20]  ²⁵ tn Grk “is.”