Romans 4.15-The Law Brings About Wrath But Where There is No Law, There is No Violation of Law
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday January 31, 2008
Romans: Romans 4:15-The Law Brings About Wrath But Where There is No Law, There is No Violation
Lesson # 127
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 4:1.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans 4:13-17, in which Paul proceeds to point out to his Jewish audience that the Lord’s promises to Abraham that he would be heir of the world preceded the giving of the Law.
Paul teaches in Romans 4:13 that the promises of the Abrahamic covenant were received by Abraham through faith and not by obeying the Law.
These promises collectively imply that Abraham would inherit the earth and those who like him exercise faith in the Lord.
Last evening we noted Romans 4:14 in which Paul teaches us that if the inheritance was based upon obedience to the Law, then faith is useless and the promise of inheriting the earth is meaningless.
This evening we will study Romans 4:15 in which Paul teaches that the purpose of the Law was to bring about wrath but where there is no law, there is no violation.
Romans 4:1, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?”
Romans 4:2, “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.”
Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
Romans 4:4, “Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.”
Romans 4:5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”
Romans 4:6, “just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.”
Romans 4:7, “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.”
Romans 4:8, “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”
Romans 4:9, “Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, ‘FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
Romans 4:10, “How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.”
Romans 4:11, “and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them.”
Romans 4:12, “and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.”
Romans 4:13, “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.”
Romans 4:14, “For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified.”
Romans 4:15, “for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”
Romans 4:16, “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”
Romans 4:17, “(as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.”
Let’s look at verse 15 in detail.
Romans 4:15, “for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”
“For” is the “explanatory” use of the post-positive conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a statement that “explains the reason” for Paul’s statement in Romans 4:14.
Therefore, the conjunction gar “explains the reason why” the principle of faith is rendered useless and the promise meaningless if those who obey the Law are heirs.
The reason is that the Law brings about God’s wrath, i.e. His righteous indignation since the presence of the sin nature in man makes it absolutely impossible for man to be perfectly obedient to the Law, which the Law requires.
“The Law” is the noun nomos (novmo$) (nom-os), which refers to the Mosaic Law (the Pentateuch) since in context Paul is emphasizing with his Jewish audience that the promise to Abraham that he would inherit the earth preceded the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.
In fact, Paul makes clear in Galatians 3:16-18 that the promises of the Abrahamic covenant preceded the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai by four hundred and thirty years.
“Brings about” is the verb katergazomai (katergavzomai) (kat-er-gad-zo-my), which means, “to produce” and is used in relation to the noun orge, “wrath, righteous indignation.”
Therefore, the word denotes that the Mosaic Law “produces” righteous indignation from God since the purpose of the Law was to reveal man’s sinfulness and God’s holiness and the infinite gulf between the two.
The fact that the Law makes man aware of sin in his life is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:6 that the “letter kills.”
The fact that the Law makes man aware of sin in his life is why he says in 1 Corinthians 15:56 that the power of sin is the Law.
In Romans 7:1-13, the apostle Paul develops this concept in greater detail that one of the purposes of the Law was to make man aware of or conscious of the sin nature in his life.
In Galatians 3:19-25, Paul reveals a four-fold purpose of the Law, i.e. the Old Testament Scriptures.
Galatians 3:19-25, “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”
In Galatians 3:19, Paul teaches that the Law reveals sin for what it was until the Promised Seed Jesus Christ should come.
Then, in Galatians 3:22, he teaches that the Scriptures shut up all men under the sin nature so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Next, in Galatians 3:23, the Law kept the human race in custody until men could put their faith in the coming Savior.
Lastly, the Law was a tutor to lead the human race to Christ according to Galatians 3:24.
The consummate purpose therefore, for the Law was to reveal to men they are sinners in need of a Savior and to lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The Jews had distorted the purpose of the Law in that they approached the Law as a system of merit, shifting from a faith basis to a works basis (Exodus 19:8; Romans 10:3) when the purpose of the Law, i.e. the Old Testament Scriptures was never intended to commend a man before God, but to condemn him.
The Law demanded perfect obedience, which sinful mankind did not have the capacity to render, thus the Law served to condemn men.
As J. Hampton Keathley Jr. states, “Like the blood alcohol test is designed to prove men are drunk, so the Law is designed to prove men are sinners, under the wrath of God.”
The Law provided a standard of righteousness, not that men could ever attain such human righteousness, but to demonstrate they are in¬capable of doing so and must find a source of righteousness outside themselves.
Romans 4:15, “for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”
“Wrath” is the noun orge (o)rghv) (or-gay), which refers to God’s attitude of “righteous indignation” in response to any thought, word, or action of mankind and angels, that is opposed to His holiness and manifests itself in actions that judge and punish the guilty.
The only way to avoid God’s righteous indignation is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
The noun orge is used of God’s settled opposition to and displeasure against sin meaning that God’s holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form whatsoever.
“Violation” is the noun parabasis (paravbasi$) (par-ab-as-is), which is used in the context of a hypothetical circumstance in which an individual is under the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law and thus means, “violation.”
The adversative clause “but where there is no law, there is also no violation” means that even though sin would still exist, it could not be identified as the specific transgression of a particular prohibition or command in the Mosaic Law (Compare Romans 5:13; 7:7-11).
Romans 5:12-14, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Romans 7:1-13, “Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COVET.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.”
Wuest writes, “The word parabasis when used of human conduct, indicates a violation of the rights of others, or of limitations imposed upon one. This word Paul uses (in Gal 3:19 where Paul writes ‘Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions (parabasis), having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made’) to indicate the purpose of the giving of the law. Before the law was given by Moses to Israel, the wrong doing of man was recognized as hamartia, sin, a deviation from the course of right conduct. But when the law was given, sin was seen to be, not merely the following of evil impulses, but the violation of explicit law. Thus, the exceeding sinfulness of sin was recognized by the human race, which otherwise might not have been evident. The law therefore was not given because of the existence of transgressions, but to show hamartia (sin) in its true light, an overstepping of what is right into the realm of what is wrong. This revelation of the true nature of sin, would cause man to fear God’s wrath, which in turn would give strength to the weakness of man’s moral sense and thus educate his conscience and make it more sensitive to sin. The particular phase of the Mosaic Law here as well as throughout all of the Galatian letter is the purely mandatory statues of ‘Thou shalt,’ and ‘Thou shalt not.’ The law was given therefore to set the stamp of positive transgression upon already existing sin. It was not to give the knowledge of sin as sin, but to show that it was a violation of God’s commandments.” (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament: Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)