Romans 4:15

Romans 4:15. For. The statement that faith and the promise would be ignored, if the inheritance is through the law, must be true, for this reason.

The law, the Mosaic law, as in the entire discussion.

Worketh wrath. The wrath of God is meant, else the next clause would have little pertinence; moreover, ‘wrath,' in the New Testament, in the vast majority of cases refers to God's wrath against sin. The law does, indeed, stir up the wrath of man against God, as is set forth in chap. Romans 7:5, etc., but the train of thought in that chapter is distinct from that found here. Because the law brings about wrath, it cannot be the ground of promise (Romans 4:13).

But where there is no law, neither is there transgression. ‘For' was substituted by the early transcribers, to bring out the connection of thought. Strictly speaking, this part of the verse is a general negative statement, implying the positive truth, that where there is a law, there is transgression of it, thus producing a more pronounced form of sin, upon which God's wrath is visited; thus the law ‘works wrath.' The negative form is probably due to the character of the main thought, the promise was independent of law (Romans 4:13). ‘Transgression,' the infraction of known law, is one form of sin, but does not include all sin. ‘Sins without positive law (chap. Romans 5:13), are likewise, and, indeed, on account of the natural law (chap. Romans 2:14), objects of the divine wrath (see Romans 1:18; Ephesians 2:3); but sins against a given law are, in virtue of their thereby definite quality of transgression, so specifically and specially provocative of wrath in God, that Paul could relatively, even, deny the imputation of sin when the law was non-existent. See on chap. Romans 5:13 ' (Meyer).