Romans 7:6: The KJV correct, most other versions wrong
Jan 10, 2014 9:51:17 GMT
Post by Colossians on Jan 10, 2014 9:51:17 GMT
This material is for the teaching of the Body of Christ, however the author reserves copyright over it.
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ROMANS 7:6: THE KJV CORRECT, MOST OTHER VERSIONS WRONG
The issue
Here is the KJV, contrasted with the ESV (which is representative of most other versions). We have underlined the section in focus.
KJV
“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Non-KJV (represented by the ESV)
“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
Analysis
What the English of the KJV is actually saying
The common belief amongst commentators is that the word "that" in the KJV which begins our "that being dead...." phrase, is being used as a demonstrative with referent "the law", thus introducing the erroneous notion that the law is itself dead. On this basis such commentators naturally dismiss the KJV rendering.
But the KJV is in fact not using the word as a demonstrative at all, but rather as the mere unaccented conjunction /ðət/, with result:
"that (we) being dead wherein we were held",
and with sense:
"seeing that we were dead wherein we were held"
and reminding us of an earlier statement in the same epistle that we were formerly "without strength" (see Rom 5:6).
So the commentators simply misunderstand the now-archaic form of English that the KJV uses at this point in the text.
With this in mind, we now begin to analyse the text.
Discourse analysis
The non-KJV supposes that the death being spoken of at v6 is the same as that which is spoken of at v4, which verse we reproduce immediately below (from the KJV):
[4] “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
That is, at v6 the non-KJV supposes that Paul is once again (in addition to v4) reminding us of the mechanism by which we have been set free from the law, to wit, our having died to the law.
But already at v5 Paul has rather moved on to amplify the resultant “fruit unto God” he has just mentioned at the tail end of v4, by way of contrasting it with our former “fruit unto death”, in the process also explaining that such former fruit was in fact invoked by the very law that prohibited it:
[5] “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” 1
1 It is primarily by virtue of Rom 7:5 that Paul has (finally) explicated his statement of Rom 6:14 where he has told us that the reason that sin shall not have dominion over us is that we are not under the law: he has revealed to us here at Rom 7:5 that sins are themselves invoked by the law.
In the verse (6) which immediately follows then, the KJV is correct because it has Paul appropriately capping off the notion of such former fruit unto death, with an explanation of the spiritual state which produced such fruit: it was because we were in fact (spiritually) dead:
[6] “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
That is, the immediate context (in particular the shift in focus at v5) would tell us that Paul is less likely to be about reiterating v4’s mechanism by which we are made free from the law (our having died to the law), than about moving to the very reason we had to be delivered from the law in the first place.
Which is in fact in accord with his statement only three verses later where he (re)affirms that sin and death are brought about by the law:
[9] “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”
Grammar
Although the Greek of v4 explicitly states that we have become dead “to the law”, at v6 the elements are merely a [verb participle] which speaks to our dying and/or being dead, and an [adjunct] which tells us where such dying and/or being dead took place:
[“dying” and/or "being dead"] + [“in which we were held”].
That is, the grammar tells us that Paul is not at v6 speaking of a death to that which held us, but a death "in" (within) that which held us, and therefore a death which was concurrent with the law's dominion over us rather than a death which severed us from the law's dominion.
Summary
The non-KJV supposes at v6 that Paul is reiterating the mechanism by which we are delivered from the law, which mechanism is explained at v1-4 in detail and which requires no repeating.
Such versions have therefore by virtue of yet an additional instance of the notion of dying, simplistically projected the theology of v1-4 onto v6, ignoring the progression of topic at v4b and v5: they have ignored the immediate context and instead re-referenced the chapter’s introductory widowhood-remarriage paradigm.
The KJV, by contrast, has Paul summarily providing the fundamental reason for the (our former) fruit unto death he has just mentioned in the preceding verse (5): it was because we were spiritually dead, and that by virtue of our being held under the law.
Paul is concerned at v6 not with the mechanism by which we were delivered from the law (which he has already related at v1-4), but with the very reason we needed to be delivered from the law in the first place.
The KJV’s “that being dead wherein we were held”, is manifestly correct.
Amen.
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ROMANS 7:6: THE KJV CORRECT, MOST OTHER VERSIONS WRONG
The issue
Here is the KJV, contrasted with the ESV (which is representative of most other versions). We have underlined the section in focus.
KJV
“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Non-KJV (represented by the ESV)
“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
Analysis
What the English of the KJV is actually saying
The common belief amongst commentators is that the word "that" in the KJV which begins our "that being dead...." phrase, is being used as a demonstrative with referent "the law", thus introducing the erroneous notion that the law is itself dead. On this basis such commentators naturally dismiss the KJV rendering.
But the KJV is in fact not using the word as a demonstrative at all, but rather as the mere unaccented conjunction /ðət/, with result:
"that (we) being dead wherein we were held",
and with sense:
"seeing that we were dead wherein we were held"
and reminding us of an earlier statement in the same epistle that we were formerly "without strength" (see Rom 5:6).
So the commentators simply misunderstand the now-archaic form of English that the KJV uses at this point in the text.
With this in mind, we now begin to analyse the text.
Discourse analysis
The non-KJV supposes that the death being spoken of at v6 is the same as that which is spoken of at v4, which verse we reproduce immediately below (from the KJV):
[4] “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
That is, at v6 the non-KJV supposes that Paul is once again (in addition to v4) reminding us of the mechanism by which we have been set free from the law, to wit, our having died to the law.
But already at v5 Paul has rather moved on to amplify the resultant “fruit unto God” he has just mentioned at the tail end of v4, by way of contrasting it with our former “fruit unto death”, in the process also explaining that such former fruit was in fact invoked by the very law that prohibited it:
[5] “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” 1
1 It is primarily by virtue of Rom 7:5 that Paul has (finally) explicated his statement of Rom 6:14 where he has told us that the reason that sin shall not have dominion over us is that we are not under the law: he has revealed to us here at Rom 7:5 that sins are themselves invoked by the law.
In the verse (6) which immediately follows then, the KJV is correct because it has Paul appropriately capping off the notion of such former fruit unto death, with an explanation of the spiritual state which produced such fruit: it was because we were in fact (spiritually) dead:
[6] “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
That is, the immediate context (in particular the shift in focus at v5) would tell us that Paul is less likely to be about reiterating v4’s mechanism by which we are made free from the law (our having died to the law), than about moving to the very reason we had to be delivered from the law in the first place.
Which is in fact in accord with his statement only three verses later where he (re)affirms that sin and death are brought about by the law:
[9] “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”
Grammar
Although the Greek of v4 explicitly states that we have become dead “to the law”, at v6 the elements are merely a [verb participle] which speaks to our dying and/or being dead, and an [adjunct] which tells us where such dying and/or being dead took place:
[“dying” and/or "being dead"] + [“in which we were held”].
That is, the grammar tells us that Paul is not at v6 speaking of a death to that which held us, but a death "in" (within) that which held us, and therefore a death which was concurrent with the law's dominion over us rather than a death which severed us from the law's dominion.
Summary
The non-KJV supposes at v6 that Paul is reiterating the mechanism by which we are delivered from the law, which mechanism is explained at v1-4 in detail and which requires no repeating.
Such versions have therefore by virtue of yet an additional instance of the notion of dying, simplistically projected the theology of v1-4 onto v6, ignoring the progression of topic at v4b and v5: they have ignored the immediate context and instead re-referenced the chapter’s introductory widowhood-remarriage paradigm.
The KJV, by contrast, has Paul summarily providing the fundamental reason for the (our former) fruit unto death he has just mentioned in the preceding verse (5): it was because we were spiritually dead, and that by virtue of our being held under the law.
Paul is concerned at v6 not with the mechanism by which we were delivered from the law (which he has already related at v1-4), but with the very reason we needed to be delivered from the law in the first place.
The KJV’s “that being dead wherein we were held”, is manifestly correct.
Amen.