Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 7:25 - 7:25

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 7:25 - 7:25


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

25. χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ. An exclamation—not in construction. For the phrase cf. 1Co 15:57.

διὰ Ἰ. κ.τ.λ. Sc. ῥυσθήσομαι or ἐρρύσθην. Law being the bare declaration of right had no power to move the living springs of action: that power comes from and through the Risen Lord imparting His own new life to man. This thought is developed in c. 8.

ἄρα οὖν sums up the whole statement of the condition of man in the face of law on the one hand, and of sin on the other.

αὐτὸς ἐγὼ = I by myself and apart from any new or other power which may be available to change the balance of contending powers. It is important to remember that the whole section is an analysis of man’s state under law, definitely excluding, for the moment, from consideration all action of GOD upon man’s spirit except through the channel of communicated law. It has already been shown or assumed that there is such action, both in the case of Gentiles (Rom 2:14) and in Abraham’s case (c. 4) as typical of the pious Jew; here we are reminded that that action reaches its full and effective operation in the risen Lord. But it was necessary, by this analysis, to isolate, as it were, from these considerations, the case of man under law, in order to bring out the exact place of law in the moral and religious experience of man, and to show that more than law was needed by him and has been and is operative in him. See Additional Note on νόμος, p. 211.

τῷ μὲν νοῒ. The νοῦς is here used for the mind as capable of the knowledge of GOD and His Will. πνεῦμα seems to be avoided, because it definitely suggests the direct connexion with and dependence upon GOD as acting upon man’s spirit; and that thought is for the moment excluded. The use of the word is almost confined to S. Paul. Cf. 23, Rom 12:2; Eph 4:23; Col 2:18. Here it includes apprehension and inclination.

There is much to be said for Joh. Weiss’ suggestion (op. cit[150] p. 231 f.) that there has been here a primitive transposition of text, so that originally ἄρα οὖν αὐτὸς … ἁμαρτίας preceded ταλαίπωρος … ἡμῶν. The ταλαίπωρος clause would come most properly after the summary of the all but desperate situation in ἄρα οὖν κ.τ.λ. The last clause (χάρις κ.τ.λ.) would come naturally at the end of the whole discussion; it contains the name which has so often already been used, as a concluding refrain: and it marks the transition to Rom 8:1.

[150] op. cit. opus citatum