3:20a
Therefore: There are three ways to interpret the Greek word here:
(1) It introduces an explanation or a reason here. For example:
because (New Century Version)
(English Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, New Living Translation (2004), NET Bible, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)
(2) It introduces a result. For example:
Therefore (New International Version)
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, King James Version)
(3) It introduces something loosely connected to 3:19. For example:
So then (New Jerusalem Bible)
(New Jerusalem Bible)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).
no one: The Greek is literally “not…all flesh.” Here “flesh” refers to people.
will be justified in His sight: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause here. For example:
that God/Jesus will justify
justified in His sight: The word justified indicates that God decides that a person is acceptable to him. He makes their relationship right. Here are other ways to translate this word:
put right in God’s sight (Good News Translation)
-or-
made right with God (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
declared righteous before him (NET Bible)
See how you translated the word justified in 2:13, where the Berean Standard Bible translates it as “declared righteous.”
in His sight: This phrase is a figure of speech that indicates here that God considers believers to be right with him. It does not refer to God looking at someone. Some languages must translate without this figure of speech or with a different figure of speech. For example:
by him/God
-or-
before him (NET Bible)
by works of the law: This phrase refers to a person’s own efforts to obey their laws. It probably refers to the Jews and the Laws of Moses. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
doing what the Law requires (Good News Translation)
-or-
with/by obeying the Laws ⌊of Moses⌋
3:20b
For: The Greek conjunction here is usually translated as For. Here it introduces information that supports what Paul said in 3:20a. For example:
since (English Standard Version)
the law merely brings awareness of sin: The law of Moses shows people that they are sinners because they know that they do not obey it fully. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
knowledge of sin comes by means of the law
-or-
The law…shows us how sinful we are. (New Living Translation (2004))
brings: There is no Greek verb here. A Greek clause with no verb usually implies the verb “is/be” in an English translation. Here the clause indicates that people hear or read the law and realize how many ways there are to sin. See the examples above.
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.