Because the law works wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
All Commentaries on Romans 4:15 Go To Romans 4
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
In order to show that no man can be justified before God by the law, nor can the promise be given through the law, Paul says that “the law brings wrath.” It was given in order to make transgressors guilty. But faith is the gift of God’s mercy, so that those who have been made guilty by the law may obtain forgiveness. Therefore faith brings joy. Paul does not speak against the law but gives priority to faith. It is not possible to be saved by the law, but we are saved by God’s grace through faith. Therefore the law itself is not wrath, but it brings wrath, i.e., punishment, to the sinner, for wrath is born from sin. For this reason Paul wants the law to be abandoned so that the sinner will take refuge in faith, which forgives sins, that he may be saved. Paul says that “where there is no law there is no transgression,” because once the guilty have been removed from the power of the law and given forgiveness, there is no transgression. For those who were sinners because they had transgressed the law are now justified. For the law of works has ceased, that is, the observance of sabbaths, new moons, circumcision, distinction of foods and the expiation by a dead animal or the blood of a weasel. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
