[B-Greek] Ro 7.7-25: autobiography or speech in character?

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Mar 8 01:31:40 EST 2003


Thanks, Anthony, for quoting this insight from Wallace.
>
> On this passage Wallace (GGBB p392) says, "The issues here are quite
> complex and cannot be resolved at the grammatical level.  But suffice to
> say that (1) Rom 7:7-25 is an extraordinarily difficult passage
> exegetically; none of the standard views can claim at all points normal
> or routine syntax for itself; (2) if the "I" of vv7-13 is the same as
> the "I" in vv14-25, then it is almost certainly used in a universal
> sense, for v9. can hardly refer to Paul in his pre-conversion state,
> while v14. does not seem to be able to handle him after his conversion.
> A universal notion would focus on humanity's (whether believers or
> unbelievers) inability to please God by subjecting oneself to law.
> Thus, even though the use of the first person in a universal sense is
> quite rare, it is the only one that consistently interprets "I"."
>
> You may also want to look at his comments on the use of the present
> tense in the same passage on pp531-532.
>
> Yours in the gospel of His grace,

So, Wallace is saying that the Greek EGW has the capacity to point to
someone else than the speaker. Because of the context of v. 9 and 14,
Wallace rules out both Paul's pre-conversion state and post-conversion state
as a possible reference.
But, I would say that the context of the letter to the Romans rules out the
"universal sense" that Wallace suggests. The letter to the Romans was not
written to just anybody in the whole world, but to a mixed congregation made
up of Gentile and Jewish Christians in a non-Christian Gentile and Jewish
environment. They were clearly struggling with how to reconcile Jewish
tradition with the grace of Christ and the new freedom, as are the
Christian/Messianic Jews in Israel today.
I always find it instructive to look at the beginning and end of a passage,
because in the beginning you often get a setting in terms of place, time,
participants and/or theme, whereas the end often has a summary.
Following this guideline, I notice that in 7:1 Paul specifically says that
he is speaking to those brothers who know the law, that is, the Jews in his
audience. This knowledge is not just academic knowledge, but as Paul says in
Rom 2:12 and 3:19, those who are EN (TWi) NOMWi. The NOMOS (Torah) is the
center for their whole life. Paul also says that Jewish Christians are not
hUPO NOMON (6:14,15) and have been released from the law as in 7:6 NUNI DE
KATHRGHQHMEN APO TOU NOMOU APOQANONTES EN hWi KATEICOMEQA.
At the very end of the chapter, Paul summarizes the state of the person he
is describing by "I" by saying that this person is serving the law with his
mind, but serving sin with his "flesh", and apparently he has not fully
experienced the freedom of the Spirit that Paul then goes on to talk about
immediately after.

So, my point is that the reference of EGW in this chapter is not Paul (as
Wallace has accepted), but it is not just any universal person, either. It
must be the Christian Jew who has not realized that he is dead to the law,
but still tries to serve the law with his mind. Actually, it seems to me
that Paul is not focusing on a mature Christian Jew - like himself -, but
rather refers to a Jew who has some profession of Christianity, but in fact
still considers himself fully EN NOMWi and hUPO NOMON as before.
The passage is clearly hortatory, starting with a rebuke: Don't you know?
or: Are you ignorant AGNOEITE  of the fact that the law no longer has
authority over you - hO NOMOS KURIEUEI...

By the way, there is in interesting textual problem in 8:2. The problem is
whether the text says SE as the NA27 and UBS text has it or ME as many
important mss have. It is a very difficult choice. If he had said ME, he
would refer back to that same person described by "I" in chapter 7. If he
had said SE, he would emphasize the person he is speaking to, now using
direct 2. person since the tone is positive rather than negative. In any
case, the pragmatic reference is the same as in the beginning of chapter 7:
you Jewish brothers in Rome.

Iver Larsen



More information about the B-Greek mailing list