Romans 8:25

This verse is not, as Meyer thinks, a deduction fitted to close the first reason of encouragement. In this case an οὖν, therefore, would have been necessary rather than δέ, now, or but. The meaning but (Osterv., Oltram.) well suits the contrast between the ideas of hoping (Romans 8:25) and seeing (Romans 8:24). Yet it seems to me that the meaning now is preferable. It is not a conclusion; it is a step in the argument intended to prove the painful state of waiting attaching even to believers. The emphasis is on the words δἰ ὑπομονῆς, with perseverance, and the general meaning is this: “Now, obliged as we yet are to hope without seeing, waiting necessarily takes the character of perseverance. ” To understand this thought, it is enough to recall the etymological meaning of the word ὑπομένειν : to hold out under a burden. We wait with perseverance amounts therefore to saying: “It is only by holding out under the burden of present sufferings that we can expect with certainty the hoped-for future.” The conclusion is this: We are not therefore yet in our normal condition; otherwise why endurance?