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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 3:20 - 3:20
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20. διότι explains how law produces this effect. This sentence, while having particular reference to the Jew, is thrown into the most general form, so as to bring the Jew into line with the Gentile, and then to sum up in one conclusion Rom 1:18 to Rom 3:19.
ἐξ ἔργω ν., put in the most general form: if works done in obedience to law are taken as the basis of judgment.
οὐ δικαιωθήσεται, forensic. Cf. Gal 2:16, as ὑπόδικος; will not be acquitted when judged. Qu. Psalms 143 (142) 2.
ἐπίγνωσις. See n. on Rom 1:28. Realisation of sin as sin is the specific effect of law. Law is therefore educational, cf. Gal 3:24, but not in itself a moral or spiritual force, cf. Rom 1:32. The sentence here is not strictly wanted for the argument, but crops up as an element in S. Paul’s view of law. It anticipates and is developed in c. 7 It is important to observe that in Rom 1:19 to Rom 3:20 S. Paul bases his assertion of the universality of sin and the consequent universal need of man, not upon theory but on observation—his experience of human life, both in Jewish and Gentile circles, generalised by the help of history. It is a historical justification of the need of the Gospel, confirmed by the testimony of scripture and by general experience. In c. 7 he reaches the same conclusion by the searching analysis of his own inner experience, treated as typical—what may be called the psychological justification. Cf. Giff. on Rom 3:18 ad fin.