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Selected Verse: Romans 2:23 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ro 2:23	King James	Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Makest thy boast ... - To boast in the Law implied their conviction of its excellence and obligation, as a man does not boast of what he esteems to be of no value. Dishonourest thou God - By boasting of the Law, they proclaimed their conviction that it was from God. By breaking it, they denied it. And as actions are a true test of man's real opinions, their breaking the Law did it more dishonor than their boasting of it did it honor. This is always the case. It matters little what a man's speculative opinions may be; his practice may do far more to disgrace religion than his profession does to honor it. It is the life and conduct, and not merely the profession of the lips, that does real honor to the true religion. Alas, with what pertinency and force may this question be put to many who call themselves Christians!

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

Makest thy boast ... - To boast in the Law implied their conviction of its excellence and obligation, as a man does not boast of what he esteems to be of no value.

Dishonourest thou God - By boasting of the Law, they proclaimed their conviction that it was from God. By breaking it, they denied it. And as actions are a true test of man's real opinions, their breaking the Law did it more dishonor than their boasting of it did it honor. This is always the case. It matters little what a man's speculative opinions may be; his practice may do far more to disgrace religion than his profession does to honor it. It is the life and conduct, and not merely the profession of the lips, that does real honor to the true religion. Alas, with what pertinency and force may this question be put to many who call themselves Christians!

The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917]
breaking the law Sin (See Scofield) - (Rom 3:23).

The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917]

breaking the law

Sin

(See Scofield) - (Rom 3:23).

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]
Transgression (παραβάσεως) Trench remarks upon "the mournfully numerous group of words" which express the different aspects of sin. It is ἁμαρτια the missing of a mark; παράβασις the overpassing of a line; παρακοή the disobedience to a voice; παράπτωμα a falling when one should have stood; ἀγνόημα ignorance of what one should know; ἥττημα a diminishing of what should be rendered in full measure; ἀνομία or παρανομία non-observance of law; πλημμέλεια discord. The primary sense of the preposition παρά is beside or by, with reference to a line or extended surface. Hence it indicates that which is not on its true line but beside it, either in the way of falling short or of going beyond. Thus, in the sense of going beyond, Rom 12:3, to think more highly than he ought (παρ' ὃ δεῖ), where the sense of beyond is fixed by ὑπερφρονεῖν to think beyond or over." So Luk 13:2. In the sense of falling short, Thucydides, 3, 49: "Mitylene came near such peril" (παρὰ τοσοῦτο κινδύνου), as if parallel to the danger but not touching it. Hence παραβάσις differs from the Homeric ὑπερβασία transgression, in that the latter carries only the idea of going beyond or over. A mark or line as a standard is thus implied. Transgression implies something to transgress. With the law came in the possibility off transgressing the law. "Where there is no law there is no transgression" (Rom 4:15). Hence Adam's sin is called a transgression (Rom 5:14), because it was the violation of a definite command. Paul habitually uses the word and its kindred παραβάτης transgressor, of the transgression of a commandment distinctly given (Gal 3:19; Ti1 2:14, Rom 2:25, Rom 2:27). Hence it is peculiarly appropriate here of one who boasts in the law. It thus differs from ἁμαρτία sin (see on sins, Mat 1:21), in that one may sin without being under express law. See Romans 5. Sin (ἁμαρτία) was in the world until the law; i.e. during the period prior to the law. Death reigned from Adam to Moses over those who had not sinned (ἁμαρτήσαντας) after the similitude of Adam's transgression (παραβάσεως). The sin is implicit, the transgression explicit.

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]

Transgression (παραβάσεως)

Trench remarks upon "the mournfully numerous group of words" which express the different aspects of sin. It is ἁμαρτια the missing of a mark; παράβασις the overpassing of a line; παρακοή the disobedience to a voice; παράπτωμα a falling when one should have stood; ἀγνόημα ignorance of what one should know; ἥττημα a diminishing of what should be rendered in full measure; ἀνομία or παρανομία non-observance of law; πλημμέλεια discord.

The primary sense of the preposition παρά is beside or by, with reference to a line or extended surface. Hence it indicates that which is not on its true line but beside it, either in the way of falling short or of going beyond. Thus, in the sense of going beyond, Rom 12:3, to think more highly than he ought (παρ' ὃ δεῖ), where the sense of beyond is fixed by ὑπερφρονεῖν to think beyond or over." So Luk 13:2. In the sense of falling short, Thucydides, 3, 49: "Mitylene came near such peril" (παρὰ τοσοῦτο κινδύνου), as if parallel to the danger but not touching it. Hence παραβάσις differs from the Homeric ὑπερβασία transgression, in that the latter carries only the idea of going beyond or over. A mark or line as a standard is thus implied. Transgression implies something to transgress. With the law came in the possibility off transgressing the law. "Where there is no law there is no transgression" (Rom 4:15). Hence Adam's sin is called a transgression (Rom 5:14), because it was the violation of a definite command. Paul habitually uses the word and its kindred παραβάτης transgressor, of the transgression of a commandment distinctly given (Gal 3:19; Ti1 2:14, Rom 2:25, Rom 2:27). Hence it is peculiarly appropriate here of one who boasts in the law. It thus differs from ἁμαρτία sin (see on sins, Mat 1:21), in that one may sin without being under express law. See Romans 5. Sin (ἁμαρτία) was in the world until the law; i.e. during the period prior to the law. Death reigned from Adam to Moses over those who had not sinned (ἁμαρτήσαντας) after the similitude of Adam's transgression (παραβάσεως). The sin is implicit, the transgression explicit.

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