Roma 3:20

3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him ¹  by the works of the law, ²  for through the law comes ³  the knowledge of sin.

Roma 3:27-28

3:27 Where, then, is boasting? ⁴  It is excluded! By what principle? ⁵  Of works? No, but by the principle of faith! 3:28 For we consider that a person ⁶  is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law. ⁷ 

Roma 4:2

4:2 For if Abraham was declared righteous ⁸  by the works of the law, he has something to boast about – but not before God.

Roma 9:11

9:11 even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election ⁹  would stand, not by works but by ¹⁰  his calling) ¹¹  –

Roma 9:16

9:16 So then, ¹²  it does not depend on human desire or exertion, ¹³  but on God who shows mercy.

Roma 11:6

11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Roma 11:1

Israel’s Rejection not Complete nor Final

11:1 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

Kolose 1:29

1:29 Toward this goal ¹⁴  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ¹⁵  works in me.

Kolose 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹⁶  brothers and sisters ¹⁷  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ¹⁸  from God our Father! ¹⁹ 

Titus 1:9

1:9 He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught, ²⁰  so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching ²¹  and correct those who speak against it.

Titus 3:3-5

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. 3:4 ²²  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

¹ sn An allusion to Ps 143:2.

² 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 tn Grk “is.”

⁴ tn Although a number of interpreters understand the “boasting” here to refer to Jewish boasting, others (e.g. C. E. B. Cranfield, “‘The Works of the Law’ in the Epistle to the Romans,” JSNT 43 [1991]: 96) take the phrase to refer to all human boasting before God.

⁵ tn Grk “By what sort of law?”

⁶ tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is used in an indefinite and general sense (BDAG 81 s.v. ἄνθρωπος 4.a.γ).

⁷ tn See the note on the phrase “works of the law” in Rom 3:20.

⁸ tn Or “was justified.”

⁹ tn Grk “God’s purpose according to election.”

¹⁰ tn Or “not based on works but based on…”

¹¹ tn Grk “by the one who calls.”

sn The entire clause is something of a parenthetical remark.

¹² sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

¹³ tn Grk “So then, [it does] not [depend] on the one who desires nor on the one who runs.”

¹⁴ tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”

¹⁵ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

¹⁷ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

¹⁸ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

¹⁹ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

²⁰ tn Grk “the faithful message in accordance with the teaching” (referring to apostolic teaching).

²¹ tn Grk “the healthy teaching” (referring to what was just mentioned).

²² tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA²⁶/NA²⁷. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.