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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - Romans 7:15 - 7:15
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Rom 7:15. Ὁ γὰρ, for that which) He describes slavery in such a way as not to excuse himself, but to accuse the tyranny of sin, and to deplore his own misery, Rom 7:17; Rom 7:20. Γὰρ, for, tends to strengthen the word sold. The slave serves an unworthy master, first, with joy, then afterwards, with grief, lastly, he shakes off the yoke.-οὐ γινώσκω, I do not acknowledge [allow]) as good; ([γινώσκω] the same as to consent to it, that it is good, Rom 7:16, which forms the antithesis); its opposite is I hate.-θέλω, I would, [wish]) he does not say, I love, which would imply more, but I would, intending to oppose this [I would] to, I hate, following immediately after.-πράσσω-ποιῶ) There is a distinction between πράσσω and ποιῶ commonly acknowledged among the Greeks;[74]-the former implies something weightier than the latter. The former is put twice in the present tense, first in a negative assertion, and then in an affirmative assertion, οὐ πράσσω I practise not, the thing is not put in practice; ποιῶ I do, refers to action both internal and external. These words are interchanged, Rom 7:19; Rom 13:3-4; and this interchange is not only not contrary to the nature of the discourse which is gradually rising to a climax, but it even supports and strengthens it; for at Rom 7:15, the sense of the evil is not yet so bitter, and therefore he does not so much as name it, but by the time he reaches Rom 7:19, he is now become very impatient [takes it exceedingly ill] that he should thus impose evil on himself. The farther the soul is from evil, the greater is its distress [torture], to touch even the smallest particle of evil with so much as one finger.
[74] See my previous note. Πράσσω is ago. Ποιέω, facio. Ἐργαζομαι, operor.-ED.