{"id":1446,"date":"2010-01-11T20:55:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T02:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1446"},"modified":"2010-01-11T20:55:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T02:55:00","slug":"romans-415-legal-wrath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-415-legal-wrath\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 4:15 – Legal Wrath"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 4:15<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law<\/span> there is<\/span><\/em> no transgression.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trying to keep the law causes God\u2019s wrath against us.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The words \u201cbrings about<\/span>\u201d are from the verb katergadzomai<\/span><\/em>, which is a compound word made up of kata<\/span><\/em>, used as an intensifier and ergadzomai<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto work.\u201d Hence, this word means \u201cto completely bring about\u201d or \u201cto carry out a task until it is finished.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWrath<\/span>\u201d is translated from the Greek word org\u0113<\/span><\/em>, which is based on the verb org\u0113omai<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201creaching forth with the mind or excitement of the mind.\u201d Hence, org\u0113<\/span><\/em> expresses a violent passion either for or against something. However, it is most often used to express extreme anger or wrath.<\/p>\n

The word translated \u201ctransgression<\/span>\u201d is the Greek word parabasis<\/span><\/em>, which is a made up of para<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cbeside\u201d or \u201cbeyond\u201d and a form of baino<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto go.\u201d So this word means \u201cto go beyond, to cross over, or to overstep.\u201d It is most often used to indicate an overstepping of a legal limit. Hence, it usually means \u201cto violate a law or regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul has just been talking about the fact that God credited righteousness to Abraham based on his faith, not on his keeping the Law. He even pointed out that Abraham\u2019s righteousness came well before the Law of Moses (more than three hundred years before) and about fifteen years before he was circumcised. So, it is very clear that his righteousness had nothing to do with obedience to the Law. Now he makes another observation about trying to obtain righteousness by obeying a set of rules or laws. He says that the Law brings about the wrath of God because the Law actually produces transgression (the overstepping of a rule or a law).<\/p>\n

Paul even goes on to say that where there is no law there can be no transgressing of the law. Adam and Eve are the perfect example. Before they were told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were free to eat of it, and doing so would not have caused them any consequence. But, as soon as God commanded them not to eat of it, not only was it now wrong for them to do so, but it became something that they suddenly wanted to do.<\/p>\n

As a result of transgression (violating or overstepping the boundaries of the law) God\u2019s wrath is produced because He cannot stand sin. Sin, and therefore anyone possessing sin, cannot remain in God\u2019s presence because as a Holy God He must judge sin.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Paul is saying in this verse; that without law there is no transgression and therefore, none of God\u2019s wrath. It\u2019s actually the Law that produces God\u2019s wrath.<\/p>\n

But why would God give something to mankind (the Law) that would cause His wrath against mankind? That doesn\u2019t seem to make sense, does it? Paul will answer this difficult question later in this letter.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It should be getting very clear by now that we cannot be right in God\u2019s eyes by obeying a set of rules. In fact, the mere attempt to do so creates sin in our lives, which brings about God\u2019s wrath. We can only stand in God\u2019s presence as his righteous children through faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \"\"(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 4:15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Truth to Learn Trying to keep the law causes God\u2019s wrath against us. Behind the Words The words \u201cbrings about\u201d are from the verb katergadzomai, which is a compound word made up of kata, used as an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[504,632,373],"class_list":["post-1446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-law","tag-transgression","tag-wrath"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-nk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}