Romans 7:23

I see [β λ ε π ω]. See on John 1:29. Paul is a spectator of his own personality.

Another [ε τ ε ρ ο ν]. See on Matthew 6:24.

Warring against [α ν τ ι σ τ ρ α τ ε υ ο μ ε ν ο ν]. Only here in the New Testament. Taking the field against.

The law of my mind [τ ω ν ο μ ω τ ο υ ν ο ο ς μ ο υ]. Nouv mind, is a term distinctively characteristic of Paul, though not confined to him. See Luke 24:45; Revelation 13:18; Revelation 17:9.

Paul's usage of this term is not based, like that of spirit and flesh, on the Septuagint, though the word occurs six times as the rendering of lebh heart, and once of ruach spirit.

He uses it to throw into sharper relief the function of reflective intelligence and moral judgment which is expressed generally by kardia heart. The key to its Pauline usage is furnished by the contrast in 1 Corinthians 14:14-19, between speaking with a tongue and with the understanding [τ ω ν ο ι], and between the spirit and the understanding (ver. 14). There it is the faculty of reflective intelligence which receives and is wrought upon by the Spirit. It is associated with gnwmh opinion, resulting from its exercise, in 1 Corinthians 1:10; and with krinei judgeth in Romans 14:5.

Paul uses it mainly with an ethical reference - moral judgment as related to action. See Romans 12:2, where the renewing of the nouv mind is urged as a necessary preliminary to a right moral judgment (" that ye may prove, " etc.,). The nouv which does not exercise this judgment is ajdokimov not approved, reprobate. See note on reprobate, Romans 1:28, and compare on 2 Timothy 3:8; Titus 1:15, where the nouv is associated with the conscience. See also on Ephesians 4:23.

It stands related to pneuma spirit, as the faculty to the efficient power. It is "the faculty of moral judgment which perceives and approves what is good, but has not the power of practically controlling the life in conformity with its theoretical requirements." In the portrayal of the struggle in this chapter there is no reference to the pneuma spirit, which, on the other hand, distinctively characterizes the christian state in ch. 8. In this chapter Paul employs only terms pertaining to the natural faculties of the human mind, and of these nouv mind is in the foreground.

Bringing into captivity [α ι χ μ α λ ω τ ι ζ ο ν τ α]. Only here, 2 Corinthians 10:5, and Luke 21:24. See on captives, Luke 4:18. The warlike figure is maintained. Lit., making me prisoner of war.

Law of sin. The regime of the sin - principle. sin is represented in the New Testament as an organized economy. See Ephesians 6.

The conflict between the worse and the better principle in human nature appears in numerous passages in the classics. Godet remarks that this is the passage in all Paul's epistles which presents the most points of contact with profane literature. Thus Ovid : "Desire counsels me in one direction, reason in another." " I see and approve the better, but I follow the worse. "Epictetus :" He who sins does not what he would, and does what he would not. "Seneca :" What, then, is it that, when we would go in one direction, drags us in the other? "See also the passage in Plato (" Phaedrus," 246), in which the human soul is represented as a chariot drawn by two horses, one drawing up and the other down.