KJV: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
YLT: The Spirit himself doth testify with our spirit, that we are children of God;
Darby: The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.
ASV: The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God:
αὐτὸ | Himself |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Nominative Neuter 3rd Person Singular Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
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Πνεῦμα | Spirit |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular Root: πνεῦμα Sense: a movement of air (a gentle blast. |
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συμμαρτυρεῖ | bears witness with |
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: συμμαρτυρέω Sense: to bear witness with, bear joint witness. |
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πνεύματι | spirit |
Parse: Noun, Dative Neuter Singular Root: πνεῦμα Sense: a movement of air (a gentle blast. |
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ἡμῶν | of us |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive 1st Person Plural Root: ἐγώ Sense: I, me, my. |
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ὅτι | that |
Parse: Conjunction Root: ὅτι Sense: that, because, since. |
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ἐσμὲν | we are |
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Plural Root: εἰμί Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present. |
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τέκνα | children |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Plural Root: τέκνον Sense: offspring, children. |
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Θεοῦ | of God |
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular Root: θεός Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities. |
Greek Commentary for Romans 8:16
The grammatical gender of πνευμα pneuma is neuter as here, but the Greek used also the natural gender as we do exclusively as in John 16:13 εκεινος ekeinos (masculine he), το πνευμα to pneuma (neuter). See also John 16:26 It is a grave mistake to use the neuter “it” or “itself” when referring to the Holy Spirit. [source]
See note on Romans 2:15 for this verb with associative instrumental case. See 1 John 5:10. for this double witness. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Romans 8:16
Perfect passive participle of δεω deō to bind, with the locative case. “Bound in my spirit” he means, as in Acts 19:21, from a high sense of duty. The mention of “the Holy Spirit” specifically in Acts 20:23 seems to be in contrast to his own spirit here. His own spirit was under the control of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:16) and the sense does not differ greatly. [source]
Rev., bearing witness with me. See on Romans 8:16. Concurring with my testimony. Morison remarks that Paul speaks of conscience as if it were something distinct from himself, and he cites Adam Smith's phrase, “the man within the breast.” [source]
In the full sense of this term. In Romans 8:16 we have τεκνα τεου tekna theou (children of God). Hence no great distinction can be drawn between υιος huios and τεκνον teknon The truth is that υιος huios is used in various ways in the New Testament. In the highest sense, not true of any one else, Jesus Christ is God‘s Son (Romans 8:3). But in the widest sense all men are “the offspring” (γενος genos) of God as shown in Acts 17:28 by Paul. But in the special sense here only those are “sons of God” who are led by the Spirit of God, those born again (the second birth) both Jews and Gentiles, “the sons of Abraham” (υιοι Αβρααμ huioi Abraam Galatians 3:7), the children of faith. [source]
From πνέω tobreathe or blow. The primary conception is wind or breath. Breath being the sign and condition of life in man, it comes to signify life. In this sense, physiologically considered, it is frequent in the classics. In the psychological sense, never. In the Old Testament it is ordinarily the translation of ruach It is also used to translate chai life, Isaiah 38:12; nbreath, 1 Kings 17:17. In the New Testament it occurs in the sense of wind or breath, John 3:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Hebrews 1:7. Closely related to the physiological sense are such passages as Luke 8:55; James 2:26; Revelation 13:15. Pauline Usage: 1. Breath, 2 Thessalonians 2:8. 2. The spirit or mind of man; the inward, self-conscious principle which feels and thinks and wills (1 Corinthians 2:11; 1 Corinthians 5:3; 1 Corinthians 7:34; Colossians 2:5). In this sense it is distinguished from σῶμα bodyor accompanied with a personal pronoun in the genitive, as my, our, his spirit (Romans 1:9; Romans 8:16; 1 Corinthians 5:4; 1 Corinthians 16:18, etc.). It is used as parallel with ψυχή souland καρδία heartSee 1 Corinthians 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 2:17; and compare John 13:21and John 12:27; Matthew 26:38and Luke 1:46, Luke 1:47. But while ψυχή soulis represented as the subject of life, πνεύμα spiritrepresents the principle of life, having independent activity in all circumstances of the perceptive and emotional life, and never as the subject. Generally, πνεύμα spiritmay be described as the principle, ψυχή soulas the subject, and καρδία heartas the organ of life. 3. The spiritual nature of Christ. Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 15:45; 1 Timothy 3:16. 4. The divine power or influence belonging to God, and communicated in Christ to men, in virtue of which they become πνευματικοί spiritual - recipientsand organs of the Spirit. This is Paul's most common use of the word. Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 2:13; Galatians 4:6; Galatians 6:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:8. In this sense it appears as: a. Spirit of God. Romans 8:9, Romans 8:11, Romans 8:14; 1 Corinthians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 2:11, 1 Corinthians 2:12, 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 7:40; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Ephesians 3:16. b. Spirit of Christ. Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 3:17, 2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 4:6; Philemon 1:19. c. Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Ephesians 1:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:8, etc. d. Spirit. With or without the article, but with its reference to the Spirit of God or Holy Spirit indicated by the context. Romans 8:16, Romans 8:23, Romans 8:26, Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:4, 1 Corinthians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 12:4, 1 Corinthians 12:7, 1 Corinthians 12:8, 1 Corinthians 12:9; Ephesians 4:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:13, etc. 5. A power or influence, the character, manifestations, or results of which are more peculiarly defined by qualifying genitives. Thus spirit of meekness, faith, power, wisdom. Romans 8:2, Romans 8:15; 1 Corinthians 4:21; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 1:17; 2 Timothy 1:7, etc. These combinations with the genitives are not mere periphrases for a faculty or disposition of man. By the spirit of meekness or wisdom, for instance, is not meant merely a meek or wise spirit; but that meekness, wisdom, power, etc., are gifts of the Spirit of God. This usage is according to Old Testament analogy. Compare Exodus 28:3; Exodus 31:3; Exodus 35:31; Isaiah 11:2. 6. In the plural, used of spiritual gifts or of those who profess to be under spiritual influence, 1 Corinthians 12:10; 1 Corinthians 14:12. 7. Powers or influences alien or averse from the divine Spirit, but with some qualifying word. Thus, the spirit of the world; another spirit; spirit of slumber. Romans 11:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Samuel 16:14-16,; Ephesians 2:2; 2 Timothy 1:7. Where these expressions are in negative form they are framed after the analogy of the positive counterpart with which they are placed in contrast. Thus Romans 8:15: “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage, but of adoption. In other cases, as Ephesians 2:2, where the expression is positive, the conception is shaped according to Old-Testament usage, where spirits of evil are conceived as issuing from, and dependent upon, God, so far as He permits their operation and makes them subservient to His own ends. See Judges 9:23; 2 Corinthians 11:4 1 Samuel 16:23; 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Kings 22:21sqq.; Isaiah 19:4. Spirit is found contrasted with letter, Romans 2:29; Romans 7:6; 2 Corinthians 3:6. With flesh, Romans 8:1-13; Galatians 5:16, Galatians 5:24. It is frequently associated with the idea of power (Romans 1:4; Romans 15:13, Romans 15:19; 1 Corinthians 2:4; Galatians 3:5; Ephesians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:7); and the verb ἐνεργεῖν , denoting to work efficaciously, is used to mark its special operation (1 Corinthians 12:11; Ephesians 3:20; Philemon 2:13; Colossians 1:29). It is also closely associated with life, Romans 8:2, Romans 8:6, Romans 8:11, Romans 8:13; 1 Corinthians 15:4, 1 Corinthians 15:5; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Galatians 5:25; Galatians 6:8. It is the common possession of the Church and its members; not an occasional gift, but an essential element and mark of the christian life; not appearing merely or mainly in exceptional, marvelous, ecstatic demonstrations, but as the motive and mainspring of all christian action and feeling. It reveals itself in confession (1 Corinthians 12:3); in the consciousness of sonship (Romans 8:16); in the knowledge of the love of God (Romans 5:5); in the peace and joy of faith (Romans 14:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:6); in hope (Romans 5:5; Romans 15:13). It leads believers (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18): they serve in newness of the Spirit (Romans 7:6) They walk after the Spirit (Romans 8:4, Romans 8:5; Galatians 5:16-25). Through the Spirit they are sanctified (2 Thessalonians 2:13). It manifests itself in the diversity of forms and operations, appearing under two main aspects: a difference of gifts, and a difference of functions. See Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:3, Ephesians 4:4, Ephesians 4:30; Philemon 2:1; [source]
Better, ye are all sons of God. Note 1. The change of person, ye are. Comp. we, our, us, Galatians 3:23, Galatians 3:24, Galatians 3:25. He now addresses the Galatians, who were mostly Gentiles, and includes all Christians, Jewish and Gentile. 2. The emphasis is on sons of God rather than on all; for his object is to show that, after the coming of faith, they are no more under the care of a guardian. Ὑιοὶ signifies sons of full age (comp. Galatians 4:1) who have outgrown the surveillance of the guardian; so that sons is emphasized as against children. Paul describes Christians both as τέκνα θεοῦ childrenof God (Romans 8:16, Romans 8:21; Romans 9:8; Philemon 2:15), and υἱοὶ θεοῦ sonsof God (Romans 8:14, Romans 8:19; Romans 9:26). Both τέκνον and υἱός signify a relation based on parentage. The common distinction between τέκνον as emphasizing natural relationship, and υἱός as marking legal or ethical status, should not be pressed. In lxx both words are applied ethically to Israel as God's beloved people. See Isaiah 30:1; Wisd. 16:21; Joel 2:23; Zechariah 9:13; and Isaiah 63:6; Deuteronomy 14:1; Wisd. 9:7; 12:19. John never uses υἱός to describe the relation of Christians to God; but he attaches both the ethical relation and that of conferred privilege, as well as that of birth, to τέκνον . See John 1:12; 1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:10; John 1:13; John 3:3, John 3:7; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 5:1, 1 John 5:4, 1 John 5:18. Paul often regards the Christian relation from a legal point of view as υἱοθεσία adoptiona word used only by him. See Romans 8:14, Romans 8:17, we have both υἱοὶ and τέκνα , and both in the ethical sense. In Romans 9:8; Ephesians 5:1, the ethical sense. 3. In Christ Jesus. Const. with faith. The article before πίστεως faithmay point back to the faith previously mentioned, or may have, as so often, a possessive force, your faith. [source]
The Holy Spirit who inspires our faith. Not as Lightfoot, spiritually. The words πνεύματι ἐκ πίστεως are not to be taken as one conception, the Spirit which is of faith, but present two distinct and coordinate facts which characterize the waiting for the hope of righteousness; namely, the agency of the Holy Spirit, in contrast with the flesh (comp. Romans 7:6; Romans 8:4, Romans 8:15, Romans 8:16; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 2:22), and faith in contrast with the works of the law (comp. Galatians 3:3, and see Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:3; Romans 1:17; Romans 3:22; Romans 9:30; Romans 10:6). [source]
For ὅτι in this sense at the beginning of a clause see Romans 9:7; 1 Corinthians 12:15; John 15:19; John 20:29. The emphasis is on sons. The spirit would not be given is ye were not sons. Others take ὅτι as demonstrative, as a proof that ye are sons; but examples of such usage are wanting. It is not a proof of the fact of sonship that the apostle is giving, but a consequence of it. Comp. Romans 8:16, where the witness of the Spirit attests the sonship. [source]
See on John 3:33; see on Revelation 22:10. Sealed with the assurance of the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:16; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Timothy 2:19. [source]