Ver. 18 f. All other boasting he de- clines. οὐ yap τολµήσω τι λαλεῖν ὧν οὐ κατειργάσατο δι ἐμοῦ 6 Χ.: in effect this means, I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ wrought through me. This is the explanation of ἔχω οὖν καύχησιν ἐν Χριστῷ Ιησοῦ. The things which Christ did work through Paul He wrought eis ὑπακοὶν ἐθνῶν with a view to obedience on the part of the Gentiles: cf. i. 5. This com- bination — Christ working in Paul, to make the Gentiles obedient to the Gos- pel—is the vindication of Paul’s action in writing to Rome. It is not on his own impulse, but in Christ that he does it; and the Romans as Gentiles lie with- in the sphere in which Christ works through him. λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ: λόγος tefers to the preaching, ἔργον to all he had been enabled to do or suffer in his calling. 2 Cor. x. 11, Acts vii. 22, Le. xxiv. 19. ἐν δυνάµει σηµείωγ- καὶ τερά- των. σημεῖον and τέρας are the words generally employed in the N.T. to desig- nate what we call miracle: often, tco, Svvapets is used as synonymous (Mark vi. 2). All three are again applied to Paul’s miracles in 2 Cor. xii. 12, and to similar works in the Apostolic age of the Church in Heb. ii. 4: all three are also found in 2 Thess. ii. 9, where they are ascribed to the Man of Sin, whose Parousia in this as in other respects is
16—21. ΠΡΟΣ ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ 713 ἐθνῶν, λόγω καὶ Epyw, IQ. ἐν δυνάµει σηµείων καὶ τεράτων, ἐν δυνάµει ‘l ὥστε µε ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ κύκλῳ µέχρι τοῦ 20, οὕτω δὲ
Πνεύματος Θεοῦ Ιλλυρικοῦ μμ ώρας; τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
φιλοτιμούμενον ”᾿ εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, οὐχ ὅπου ὠνομάσθη Χριστὸς, ἵνα μὴ 11 Cor
Jeno hyo / ες 17; ix. 16,
ἐπ᾽ ἀλλότριον θεµέλιον οἰκοδομῶ" 21. ἀλλὰ, καθὼς γέγραπται, “Οἷς 18! 2 Cor. 39 x. 16.
> > aN Δ > a 3ὃἩ 3 Va > > ό { οὐκ ανηγγέλη περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὀψονται : "καὶ οἱ οὐκ ἀκηκόασι, συνήσουσι
1θεου 1 Ῥ; αγιου ACD!*; om. B. ὮἙ certainly seems right here, though W. and H. put [αγιου] in text. Both θεου and αγιον seem interpolations to com- plete the expression.
2 drdoTipoupevoy ΑΟ Γ35Τ,, Orig.; Φιλοτιμουμαι BD! (gr.) FP. Edd. seem to regard the latter as a change made to simplify the construction, and the case is one of those in which the value of B may be lessened by Western influence ; hence they prefer, as a rule, the former reading. But Weiss reads Φιλοτιμουμαι because it is exegetically necessary, and says he is not aware of any such arbitrary change of
a participle into a finite verb.
3 oovrat before οις B; and so W. and H. and Weiss.
The order in received
text conforms to the LXX and the next clause.
regarded as counterfeiting that of Christ. τέρας is always rendered ‘‘ wonder” in the A.V., and, as though the word were unequal to the phenomenon, it is never used alone: in all the places in which it occurs σημεῖον is also found. The latter emphasises the significance of the miracle; it is not merely a sight to stare at, but is suggestive of an actor and a purpose. In this passage, “‘the power” of signs and wonders seems to mean the power with which they impressed the beholders: more or less it is an interpretation of ἔργῳ. So “the power” of the Holy Ghost means the influence with which the Holy Spirit accompanied the preach- ing of the Gospel: more or less it answers to λόγῳ: see 1 Thess. i. 5 and cf. the ἀπόδείξει πνεύματος κ. δυνάµεως, 1 Cor. ii. 4. ὥστε µε κ.τ.λ. ‘The result of Christ’s working through His Apostle is here stated as if the preceding sentence had been affirmative in form as well as sense’ (Gifford). ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλήμ: this agrees with Acts ix. 26-29, but this, of course, does not prove that it was bor- rowed from that passage. Even if Paul began his ministry at Damascus, he might quite well speak as he does here, for it is not its chronology, but its range, he is describing; and to his mind Jeru- salem (to which, if let alone, he would have devoted himself, see Acts xxii. 18- 22) was its point of departure. καὶ κύκλῳ;: most modern commentators have rendered this as if it were τοῦ κύκλῳ--- from Jerusalem and its vicinity, by which they mean Syria (though some would in- clude Arabia, Gal. i. 17): for this use of κύκλῳ see Gen. xxxv. 5, Judith i. 2.