Romans 7:21 hEURISKW ARA TON NOMON, TWi QELONTI EMOI POIEIN TO KALON, hOTI
EMOI TO KAKON PARAKEITAI
Zerwick translates TWi QELONTI EMOI "when I want". I don't know if I
understand the grammar well enough to follow this. Can I think of this as
"to me, [who is] wanting to do good", or is there something else I should
understand here?
How is this as an idomatically-literal translation: "Now I find this law: to
me, wanting to do good, in me evil is present."
Incidentally, after reading lots of stuff on nouns with and without the
article, I find it amusing that most translations translate this as "a law"
rather than "the law", despite the article:
Roma 7:21 (KJV) I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is
present with me.
Roma 7:21 (LUT) So finde ich mir nun ein Gesetz, der ich will das Gute tun,
daß mir das Böse anhangt.
Roma 7:21 (NASB) I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the
one who wishes to do good.
The ASV finds a perfectly good way to translate it with "the law":
Roma 7:21 (ASV) I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is
present.
But is "the law" in ASV really any different from "a law" in KJV? I suspect
that the sense of the Greek may be accurately conveyed by either, and maybe
we shouldn't get too hung up about the English words used to convey
it...opinions?
Jonathan
***************************************************************************
Jonathan Robie
POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C., 27703
Ph: 919.598.5728 Fax: 919.598.6728
email: jwrobie@mindspring.com, jonathan@poet.com
http://www.poet.com <--- shockwave enabled!
***************************************************************************