16. αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα
648 ΠΡΟΣ ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ γὰρ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα δουλείας πάλιν eis φόβον, ἁλλ᾽ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα ποτ ™ ροθεσίας, ἐν ᾧ κράζοµεν, ᾿Αββᾶ, ὁ πατήρ.
Eph.i' 5 * συμμαρτυρεῖ τῷ πνεύµατι ἡμῶν, ὅτι ἐσμὲν τέκνα Θεοῦ.
(ch. ix. 4). ς HM , nCh. ii 15; τέκνα, καὶ κληρονόμοι - 1X. 1. o 2 Tim. ii. Χριστοῦ . τη &
” , 9 Aika A εἴπερ συμπάσχοµεν, ἵνα καὶ ° συνδοξασθῶμεν.
17. εἰ δὲ
κληρονόμοι μὲν Θεοῦ, συγκληρονόµοι δὲ
18. Λογί-
ΡΟΝ. iii 26. ζομαι γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ aga τὰ παθήµατα τοῦ viv " καιροῦ προς τὴν
this cannot everywhere be urged in the π.δ
Ver. 15. Sons,ov yap ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα δουλείας. The aorist refers to the time of their baptism, when they received the Spirit. It was not the Spirit proper to slaves, leading them again to shrink from God in fear as they had done when under the law of sin and death, but πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας, a spirit proper to those who were being translated from the servile to the filial relation to God. vio- θεσία is a word used in the N.T. by Paul only, but ‘‘no word is more common in Greek inscriptions of the Hellenistic time: the idea, like the word, is native Greek”’(E. L. Hicks, quoted in S. and H.), see Gal. iv. 5, Eph. i. 5. The word serves to distinguish those who are made sons by an act of grace from the only- begotten Son of God: τὸν ἑαυτοῦ viov ver. 3, τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ ver. 32. But the act of grace is not one which makes only an outward difference in our position ; it is accomplished in the giving of a spirit which creates in us a new nature. In the spirit of adoption we cry Abba, Father. We have not only the status, but the heart of sons. k«pafopev (often with φωνῇ µεγάλῃ) is a strong word: it denotes the loud irrepressible cry with which the consciousness of sonship breaks from the Christian heart in prayer. The change to the first person marks Paul’s inclusion of himself in the num- ber of those who have and utter this consciousness; and it is probably this inclusion of himself, as a person whose native language was ‘‘ Hebrew” (Acts xxi. 40), to which is due the double form ᾿Αββα 6 πατήρ. The last word certainly interprets the first, but it is not thought of as doing so: ‘we cry, Father, Father ”’.
Ver. 16. The punctuation in W. and H. margin deserves notice. ‘In that we cry, Abba, Father, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit,” etc. Our own spirit tells us we are God’s children, but the voice with which it speaks is, as we know, prompted and inspired by the Divine Spirit itself. For similar distinctions Gifford. compares ii. 1§ andix.t. τέκνα θεοῦ: τέκνα, not viol,
is used with strict propriety here, as it is the reality of the filial nature, not the legitimacy of the filial position, which is being proved.
Ver. 17. Yet this last is involved, for “if children, also heirs’”’. Cf. Gal. iv. 7 where κληρονόμος is relative to vids ; and all the passages in which the Spirit is regarded as ‘the earnest” of an inheritance :*2 Cor. 1. 22,ν. ο pu. 1. 14. It is from God the inheritance comes, and we share in it with Christ (Mark. xii. 7). For what it is, see 1 Cor. ii. g f. The inheritance attached to Divine sonship is attained only on the condition expressed in the clause etwep συµπάσχοµεν ἵνα καὶ συνδοξασθῶμεν. On εἴπερ, see ver. ο. “' Rom. viii. 17 gains in pathos, when we see that the share of the disciples in the Master’s sufferings was felt to be a fact of which there was no question.” Simcox, Language of N.T., p. 171. Paul was sure of it in his own case, and took it for granted in that of others. Those who share Christ’s sufferings now will share His glory here- after ; and in order to share His glory hereafter it is necessary to begin by sharing His sufferings here.