Jan Lambrecht, «The Line of Thought in Romans 7,15-20», Vol. 85 (2004) 393-398
The parallelism between Romans 7,14-17 and 18-20 as it has recently been put forward by O. Hofius is critically examined. It would seem that within this text Paul’s reasoning progresses from vv. 14b-16 to 17-20. The thesis of v. 14b ("I am fleshly, sold into the slavery under sin") gives way to the more sophisticated pronouncement of v. 17 ("as a matter of fact it is not I that do the evil, but the indwelling sin"). Each time motivations follow, vv. 15 and 18-19; finally a conclusion is drawn, vv. 16 and 20.
ANIMADVERSIONES
The Line of Thought in Romans 7,15-20
Within the passage 7,15-20 there is a striking parallelism, namely between
verses 15b-16a and 19a-20a:
15b For I do not do what I want 19a For I do not do the good I want
19b but the evil I do not want is what I do.
15c but I do the very thing I hate.
16a Now if I do what I do not want... 20a Now if I do what I do not want...
In his recent study “Der Mensch im Schatten Adams. Römer 7,7-25aâ€
Otfried Hofius detects a much more extended symmetry in verses 14-20 (1).
He suggests that two subunits appear to be symmetric; verses 14-17 and 18-
20 are “ganz parallel aufgebaut†(2). His presentation of the Greek text is as
follows (3):
14a Oi[damen ga;r o{ti Oi\da ga;r o{ti 18a
oJ novmo" pneumatikov" ejstin,
ejgw; de; savrkinov" eijmi oujk oijkei' ejn ejmoiv,
14b
pepramevno" uJpo; th;n aJmartivan. tou't∆ e[stin ejn th'/ sarkiv mou, ajgaqovn,
o} ga;r katergavzomai to; ga;r qevlein paravkeitaiv moi,
15a 18b
ouj ginwvskw: to; de; katergavzesqai to; kalo;n ou[: 18c
ouj ga;r o} qevlw tou'to pravssw, ouj ga;r o} qevlw poiw' ajgaqovn, 19a
15b
ajll∆ o} misw' tou'to poiw'. ajlla; o} ouj qevlw kako;n tou'to pravssw. 19b
15c
eij de; o} ouj qevlw tou'to poiw', eij de; o} ouj qevlw ejgw; tou'to poiw', 20a
16a
suvmfhmi tw'/ novmw/ o{ti kalov":
16b
nuni; de; oujkevti ejgw; oujkevti ejgw;
17a 20b
katergazomai aujto;
v katergazomai aujto;
v
ajlla; hJ oijkou'sa ejn ejmoi; aJmartiva. ajlla; hJ oijkou'sa ejn ejmoi; aJmartiva.
17b 20c
The verbs poievw, pravssw and katergavzomai are synonyms. Both units,
verses 14-17 and 18-20, begin with a thesis (see oi[damen ga;r o{ti in v. 14a
and oi\da ga;r o{ti in v. 18a). Then follows a double motivation: twice two
(1) O. HOFIUS, “Der Mensch im Schatten Adams. Römer 7,7-25aâ€, Paulusstudien
(WUNT 143; Tübingen 2002) II, 104-154. Of course, the structure of vv. 14-20 is but a
small item — though not without importance — in this lengthy theologically rich and
challenging study. For a similar symmetric arrangement see, e.g., J.-N. ALETTI, Israël et la
loi dans la lettre aux Romains (LD 173; Paris 1992) 138; “Rom 7.7-23 encore une fois:
enjeux et propositionsâ€, NTS 48 (2002) 358-376, esp. 366-367; S. ROMANELLO, Una lege
buona ma impotente. Analisi retorico-letteraria di Rm 7,7-25 nel suo contesto (SRivBib
35; Bologna 2000) 91-97.
(2) HOFIUS, “Der Mensch im Schatten Adamsâ€, 136
(3) Ibid. The punctuation is the same. For easier reference to the text we have specified
all individual clauses.
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