3:12a

The law, however, is not based on faith: In 3:12, Paul developed his argument that a person who is righteous by faith will live. He did this by stating that faith and the law do not go together. Paul introduced this contrast between “faith” (in 3:11b) and the law (in 3:12) by beginning this verse with a Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as however. Here are some other ways to introduce this contrast:

But (English Standard Version)
-or-
Yet (New King James Version)

Some English versions, such as the New International Version and the New Living Translation (2004), do not explicitly show this contrast with a conjunction. In some languages, no conjunction will be necessary here either. Connect 3:12a to 3:11b in a way that is natural in your language.

The law…is not based on faith: The word law refers to “obeying/keeping the law in order to be made right with God.” So this clause means that obeying the law is not a matter of faith/believing/trusting in Jesus. As the next clause says, obeying the law is a matter of what a person “does.” The law focuses only on doing things. The law excludes faith.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

The law does not depend on faith (New American Bible)
-or-

?obeying? the law is not a matter of ?having? faith ?in God/Jesus? .
-or-
Belief does not go together with ?obeying? the law.
-or-
There is a difference between obeying the law and believing.

faith: See faith, Meaning 1 in the Glossary.

3:12b

on the contrary: There is a contrast between 3:12a and 3:12b–c. The contrast is between what the law is not (it is not of faith), and what the law is (it is doing/obeying the commandments). Languages have different ways to indicate this negative-positive type of contrast. Some of the ways are:

• With the conjunction “but.”

• With a conjunction other than “but.” This is a common way in English to show this type of contrast. For example:

rather (English Standard Version)
-or-
on the contrary (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version)
-or-
Instead (Good News Translation)

• With no conjunction. For example:

a The Law isn’t based on faith. c It promises life only to people who obey its commands. (Contemporary English Version)

In some languages, it may be necessary to include some implicit information to make this contrast more understandable. For example:

On the contrary, ?it is a matter of doing/obeying?
-or-
Instead ?of faith,? ? the law is based on? ?obedience to it?

3:12c

Verse 3:12c is a quote from Leviticus 18:5. In some languages, it may be good to make explicit that this is a quote from the Old Testament. For example:

as the scripture says (Good News Translation)

Paul quoted this Scripture to support his statement that obeying the law does not include faith. The law has always focused on what a person does.

The man who does these things will live by them: The phrase does these things means “does/obeys the commandments in the law of Moses.” The phrase will live by them means “will live well because of obeying these laws.” People who diligently obeyed all the laws of Moses would find a good life both here on earth and eternally.

Some other ways to translate this quote are:

He who does/obeys ?all? the commandments will have ?a good? life because he obeyed them.
-or-
Whoever does everything the Law requires will live. (Good News Translation)
-or-
A person who obeys these things will live because of them. (New Century Version)
-or-
If you wish to find life by obeying the law, you must obey all of its commands. (New Living Translation (1996))

The man who: This is a way to refer to people in general. You should use a natural way in your language to make a general statement.

Some possible ways are:

The person/people who
-or-
Anyone who
-or-
You who
-or-
He who

will live by them: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as will live by them means “will live well because of obeying these laws.” In the context of Leviticus, these words probably meant that people who diligently obeyed all the laws would find a good life here on earth. They would have peace within their community, and God would bless them. But this phrase could also refer to an eternal life with God.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

will live because of them (New Century Version)
-or-
will live because of the laws he obeys (God’s Word)
-or-
will have a good life because he did/obeyed all the laws

As with the words “will live” in 3:11b, languages have many ways to talk about will live here. Some other ways that languages may translate this phrase are:

will sit/stay well because he obeyed the laws
-or-
will walk well because of obeying the laws

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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.
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