https://youtu.be/cKHgeK8oUuA
In our verse by verse study of Romans last time we were in Rom 7:6; on the phrase "slave" The active voice of "douleuo" (to slave) refers everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. The infinitive is the infinitive of intended result, when the result is indicated as fulfilling a deliberate objective-"so that we might serve."
Plus "en" (in) plus the locative of "kainotes" (newness) this is newness in the sense of something completely new and incorruptible. Even the law can be corrupted by human distortion, but our new counselor, God the Holy Spirit, is God and He is never corrupted because He is incorruptible.
So there is the principle of corruptibility that neutralizes the effectiveness of the Mosaic Law in its application by mankind but God the Holy Spirit's application can never be neutralized because He cannot be corrupted.
Then the ablative of means singular from "pneuma" (spirit), that does not have the article "ho" (the) making it anartharous so it indicates the highest quality of incorruptibility.
This expresses the means when the source is indicated so our expanded translation of the phrase is "that we might serve in a new marriage by means of (Holy) Spirit."
God the Holy Spirit will give us the information we need to make a positive decision when it should be positive or a negative decision when it should be negative provided that God the Holy Spirit has placed the doctrinal information into your soul from your positive volition to learn it under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
God the Holy Spirit only uses absolute doctrinal truth. But God the Holy Spirit as the marriage counselor does not go where He is not wanted so every time we commit a sin without rebound or when we become involved in good and evil and we are grieving and quenching the Spirit the Spirit does not control us.
The Holy Spirit is the marriage counselor for the new marriage to Jesus Christ. This means that the God the Holy Spirit through Bible doctrine provides the motivation, the inspiration, and the reality of our relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ.
"and not in oldness of letter" - the connective use of the conjunction "kai" (and) and the negative adverb "ou" (not), "and not." This tells us that we are finished with the Mosaic Law as old marriage counselor.
Then the locative singular of "palaiotes" (old), that is used as an adjective "and not in the old marriage." The means is "gramma" (letter) "by letter," referring to the Mosaic Law.
Expanded Translation Rom 7:6; "But now we have been released from the law as a marriage counselor, through having died to that by which we were bound (the 1st marriage to the OSN]); that we might serve in a new marriage by the Spirit, not in oldness of letter (the Mosaic Law).
Verses 7-14 explain the function of the Mosaic Law as a marriage counselor with the sin nature. They also explain some unusual things about the law and how it functioned as a marriage counselor. There is nothing wrong with the law, even though some people have distorted it into systems of legalism and ritualism.
Verses 7 and 8 explain how the law in exposes the evil of the old sin nature. Even the smartest unbeliever cannot discover the old sin nature with its trends toward sin, good, and evil.
Only God's revelation through His Word of truth provides the information. Revelation from God in God's Word, specifically the Mosaic Law, reveals the old sin nature as the sovereign of human life ruling humanity through spiritual death.
Satan is the sovereign of this world but the old sin nature is the sovereign of human life. Mankind is blind to the status quo of the first marriage apart from the function of and ministry of the Mosaic Law.
Specifically, then, the Mosaic Law is the marriage counselor indicating a bad first marriage and presenting the solution related to God's grace through Lord Jesus Christ. John 1:17;
Rom 7:7; "What shall we say then?" The nominative neuter singular from the interrogative pronoun "tis" (what), with the conjunctive particle "oun" (then), sets up an inferential formula idiom. Plus the future active indicative of the verb "lego" (say) that means to say or to speak. The future tense is a deliberative future, and a deliberative future starts out with a Greek debater's idiom.
Questions of uncertainty are always expressed by the future indicative. Such questions may be real, or as in this case asking for information, or they may be rhetorical instead of a direct assertion.
The active voice: Paul uses the rhetorical debater's idiom to refute a distortion that there is something wrong with the law. The indicative mood is an interrogative indicative in which the indicative assumes that there is an actual fact that may be stated and answered to the debater's idiom.
The rhetorical question in the Greek (not in the English) was used in debater's technique to introduce the a false assumption, a false inference, from the previous paragraph regarding the function of the Mosaic law as a marriage counselor of the first marriage.
Translated literally the phrase would be, "Therefore what shall we say?" But this is an idiom and idioms are not translated literally. The idiom actually means, "Therefore to what conclusion are we forced?"
Doctrinal teaching forces doctrinal conclusions that lead to correct inference, and there is always the danger of distorting the correct inference. So now comes the false conclusion, an erroneous inference from the previous paragraph. The false conclusion is the erroneous incorrect assumption that the Mosaic Law is no good.
"Is the law sin?" This is a rhetorical question stating a false conclusion in order to set it up as a straw man and knock it down. The nominative singular subject nomos refers to the Mosaic Law.
The definite article makes it monadic and sets up a reference that can be used to point out an object to identity something has been previously defined in the context. Plus the predicate nominative singular subject hamartia (sin), translated "Is the law sin?"
The question represents the believer's failure to rightly divide God's Word of truth, and it also indicates a certain prejudice to dispense with the law as having no value.
The predicate nominative "hamartia" refers to the principle of sin, not the sin nature. The law is a gift from God; it is a tool that God created and gave to mankind to help mankind understand their situation of spiritual death and mankind's proclivity to sin in the devil's world.
"May it never be" (mh genoito). Literally, "Let it not be." The negative "mh" emphatically denies the idea.
"Genoito"(become) is the aorist active indicative of "ginomai" (to be). The aorist is for the absolute certainty of refuting a false allegation. The active voice: the assumption is false. A false assumption always produces false action. If you don't think right, you don't do right. "Let it not be" is an idiom that means "Emphatically not."
"but I would not have come to know sin, but by the law" the adversative conjunction "alla" (but) that sets up a contrast between two clauses is translated "On the contrary." Then the aorist active of the verb "ginosko" (know) plus the negative "ou" (not).
In this phrase Paul is saying there was a time when he was ignorant. Everyone starts in a state of ignorance. "On the contrary I did not know."
The aorist tense is a constantive aorist contemplating the action in its entirety. It takes the occurrence of Paul's ignorance of the old sin nature and regardless of the duration of that ignorance it gathers it up into one entirety or bucket.
He could not understand the sin nature until he had some doctrinal truth, the gospel, and the principle being that God the Holy Spirit takes gospel information and makes it understandable to us so that we can believe in Jesus Christ to be saved.
We don't have to understand the old sin nature to be saved but if we learn God's Word after we are saved we will eventually learn about it.
So the constantive aorist is used to cover the area of ignorance. The active voice: Paul as the human author produces the action of the verb by learning something and doing so represents every believer at various stages of spiritual growth.
The indicative mood is declarative for the fact that we have the reality that Paul worked this out under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit with the gift of apostle but we have to be taught the information from God's Word.
The accusative singular direct object of the verb with the definite article refers to what he was ignorant of. Not sin as personal sin but the sin nature "ho hamartia" (the sin) as the source of all personal sins, as well as human good and evil.
The word "alla" (but) doesn't occur here, it is "ei mh," a Greek idiom that means "except." Plus the prepositional phrase, "dia" (through) plus the genitive of "ho nomos" (the law) that refers exclusively to the Mosaic law because the article makes it monadic.
"for I had not known lust" lust is a system of thought that comes from the body. The genetically formed OSN is in the body and the brain has programmed all of us to lust that means to want something that is forbidden.
This is the postpositive conjunctive particle "gar" (for) used as an explanatory conjunction. It is translated in this case "for instance" because with it is the enclitic particle "te" (also). Then the pluperfect active indicative from "oida" (know) is used as an imperfect, so we deal with it as an imperfect rather than a pluperfect.
It is the imperfect of duration, indicating ignorance in the past up to the time denoted by the context. The fact that the process in the past time was completed is the implication of the pluperfect used as an imperfect. The active voice: Paul produces the action of the verb.
The indicative mood is declarative that represents the idea from the viewpoint of reality. Plus the accusative singular direct object from the noun "epithymia" (lust), with the generic use of the definite article "ho" that making it monadic so it describes a specific category of lust, the lust pattern of the old sin nature.
Lust must have a source, and the source of lust, the old sin nature that is genetically formed in the biological body so it is not in the soul.
"except the law says" the nominative singular of "nomos" (law) with the definite article "ho" making it monadic and indicating the previous reference to "the Mosaic Law", plus the imperfect active indicative of lego referring to the 10th commandment: "except the law says."
The imperfect tense is the imperfect of duration. The active voice: the law produces the action as the marriage counselor in the indicative mood so it is a dogmatic statement of a fact of reality.
The tenth commandment as literally translated from Exod 20:17. "You shall not lust for your neighbor's house; you shall not lust for your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor."
The tenth commandment not only deals with the subject of lust but it emphasizes the importance of human freedom in terms of property, privacy, and ones way of life. In other words, you have a right to your privacy, your property, and to a way of life that suits you. "You shall not covet"
Rom 7:7; the negative "ou" (not) the rejects the allegation of the reality of the alleged fact is here as a negative of prohibition with the future active indicative of "epithymeo" (lust) that means to lust. This is an imperative future tense in which the future tense expresses a command. The active voice: the reader of the law produces the action. The indicative mood describes a potential fact of reality.
Expanded Translation Rom 7:7; "Therefore to what conclusion are we forced? Is the law sin? Definitely not. On the contrary, I was not cognizant of the sin nature, except through the law: for instance, I did not understand the lust pattern, except the law kept on saying, You will not lust."