Re: Rom. 8:27

David Moore (dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com)
Sat, 11 May 1996 15:17:46 -0700

Carlton L. Winbery wrote:
>
> David Moore responds;
> >>The genitive TOU PNEUMATOS modifies TO FRONHMA. You could see it
as a
> >>subjective genitive if you take FRONHMA as "thinking." You would
then
> >>translate it, "He who searches the heart knows what the Spirit is
> >thinking,
> >>because (I take hOTI to be causal) he intercedes for the saints
> >according
> >>to God's [will]."
> >
> >About the causal hOTI:
> >
> > If we are talking about God the Father as "He who searches
the
> >hearts," is the *reason* He knows the mind of the Spirit _because_
the
> >latter intercedes for the saints according to God's will? Or is it
> >that, knowing the hearts...of all, He also knows what the Spirit is
thinking and
> >knows that He intercedes for the saints according to God's will.
>
> The object of OIDEN if the relative clause introduced by TI. If the
hOTI
> is the object of OIDEN (thus indirect discourse then "that" would be
the
> translation. If the hOTI clause is in apposition to the TI clause
(as the
> punctuation in the N-A27 might imply) then it is also appropriate to
> translate hOTI as "that."

It would be the latter of these that I had in mind. The hOTI
clause seems to me to explain what is referred to by TI TO FRONHMA TOU
PNEUMATOS.

> > The first construction seems difficult logically and
> >theologically. If hOTI were to be taken as causal, could we say
that
> >the Father would not know what the Spirit was thinking if He didn't
so
> >intercede for the saints? A causal "because" would imply as much.
> >
> I see no such implication in taking the hOTI clause as causal. It
simply
> explains the confidence we can have in our relation to God through
the
> Spirit which is present with us. (so also ASV, RSV, NASV). The RSV
has
> "because" in the text but gives "that" in the footnote. The CEV
makes the
> hOTI seem temporal or at least similtaneous, "as the Spirit prays for
God's
> people." Again I see no theological problem here.

It appears that you are taking the hOTI clause as not relating
to the very immediate context but to the clause at the beginning of v.
26, "In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness." This
might be so, but it seems to reach a long way. If the hOTI clause is
interpreted in relation to its immediate context and taken as causal,
the implication seems inescapable that it is saying that the Father
knows the mind of the Spirit *because* the latter intercedes for the
saints according to God's will.

--
David L. Moore                             Director
Miami, Florida, USA                        Department of Education
dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com                     Southeastern Spanish 
District
http://www.netcom.com/~dvdmoore            of the Assemblies of God