Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 6:17 - 6:17

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 6:17 - 6:17


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17. χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ. The outburst of feeling is occasioned by the thought of the magnitude of the change which has been worked in them and in himself by GOD.

ἦτε δοῦλοι, really a μὲν clause, and to be translated ‘while you were’ or ‘though you were.’

ὑπηκούσατε δὲ ἐκ καρδίας, the expansion of ὑπακοή, Rom 6:16, as the effect of a deep heartwhole effort of self-surrender in response to the revelation of GOD: cf. exactly Rom 10:9-10, whence is seen the closeness of ὑπακοή as here used to πίστις. The aor. refers to the definite act of self-surrender made when they became Christians (contrast ἦτε).

εἰς ὃν παρεδόθητε τύπον διδαχῆς = τῷ τύπῳ τῆς διδαχῆς εἰς ὃν παρεδόθητε.

τύπον διδαχῆς, (1) not ‘a type of doctrine’ as some comm., e.g. the Pauline form of the Gospel as contrasted with the Judaistic: this is quite alien from S. Paul’s manner of thought and expression (2Ti 1:13 has quite a different meaning from that usually given), and also to the whole drift of the context: but (2) the model of conduct which they have been taught in the Gospel: cf. Eph 4:20, οὐχ οὕτως ἐμάθετε τὸν χριστόν.… The gen. διδαχῆς = ὃν ἐδιδάχθητε. The ‘model’ in question is ὁ χριστός: the new righteousness being GOD’s righteousness revealed in the character of the Christ: as Jesus ascended, He is here regarded not so much as the Master who claims, but as the personal Pattern who guides, the obedience of the surrendered life. This description of the object of obedience is therefore in line with the others (δικαιοσύνῃ, 18, 19, θεῷ, 22). For τύπος as a personal model for imitation cf. Php 3:17; 1Th 1:7; 2Th 3:9; 1Ti 4:12; Tit 2:7; 1Pe 5:3.

παρεδόθητε. The correct interpretation of τύπος makes the use of this verb natural—they had been handed over, in their Baptism (aor.), to a new kind of life; |[147] in thought to ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἰς Χριστόν, Rom 6:3. Cf. 2Co 4:11.

[147] | parallel to