In the previous verse Paul has concluded that all men, both Jews and Gentiles, are equal before God. However, there is one evident difference: the Jews possess the Law, and the Gentiles do not. Paul deals with this problem in verses 12-16. He points out that God has spoken to all men, some through the Jewish Law and some through the law of conscience, and so all men must answer to him. The Greek text of this verse reads literally: “Whoever sinned without having the law will be lost without having the law; and whoever sinned in the law will be judged by the law.” But most commentators agree that Paul is contrasting the Gentiles who do not have the Law of Moses (see also New English Bible) with the Jews who have the Law, and this information is made explicit in the Good News Translation.

They sin translates an aorist tense in Greek, and it is best taken as the expression of a truth that is valid for all times, rather than as an action that is past (“they sinned”).

The logical connections in thought between the various clauses of verse 12 are not always easy to specify. In reality, do not have the Law of Moses is a nonrestrictive attributive to the Gentiles—for example, “the Gentiles, who do not have the Law of Moses, sin and are lost apart from the Law.” This type of involved nonrestrictive clause is made a complete sentence in the Good News Translation, the Gentiles do not have the Law of Moses. The expression they sin constitutes the temporal setting for the final part of this clause are lost apart from the Law—for example, “when they sin they are lost apart from the Law.” In some languages this first half of verse 12 may be rendered as “whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the Law of Moses, sin, they are lost apart from the Law.”

The phrase apart from the Law is difficult to express in some languages. In certain cases the closest equivalent is “even though they do not have the Law.” But in some languages it is difficult to express concession implied by the conjunctive phrase “even though.” The closest equivalent may be some adversative expression introduced by a conjunction such as “but”—for example, “they are lost, but the Law does not apply to them.”

The expression the Law of Moses must be made somewhat more specific in some languages, as “the Law that came through Moses” or “the Law that was given by means of Moses.” In order to indicate clearly that in the rest of this passage the same Law is being spoken of, one may use such phrases as “this same Law,” “this Law,” or even in some contexts the repetition of the entire phrase “the Law that came through Moses.”

The second half of verse 12 may be rendered as “whenever the Jews who have the Law, sin, they are judged by the Law.” However, in many languages one cannot speak of “being judged by Law.” One can only “be judged by God on the basis of the Law,” “be judged by what is written in the Law,” or “be judged on the basis of what is written in the Law.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .