Mark S. Gignilliat, «Working Together with Whom?
Text-Critical, Contextual, and Theological Analysis of
sunerge1= in Romans 8,28», Vol. 87 (2006) 511-515
Who is actually working together with whom in Romans 8,28? The overall sense
of the text is rather straightforward. For the ones loving God, good is the ultimate
end of all things. The clarity stops here, however, as exegetes wrestle with the
actual syntactic understanding of the verb and subject of sunerge1=. This short note
advances an argument which seeks to show God as the subject of the intransitive
verb sunerge1= with an understanding of the Spirit of Romans 8,26-27 as the one
with whom God is working.
AN I MADVE R S I O N E S
Working Together with Whom?
Text-Critical, Contextual, and Theological Analysis of
sunergei' in Romans 8,28
Romans 8,28 is nestled within Paul’s larger theological discourse on
adoption, suffering and the future security of God’s people in Christ. English
translations of this verse leave little doubt as to the sense of the passage,
namely, under the careful watch of God’s providence, good is the telos of all
things in the life of those known by Christ. And, with good reason, matters
could be left at that (1). When one, however, looks at the Greek text alongside
the secondary literature on this verse, its enigmatic nature rises to the surface.
While the general idea of the verse is typically agreed upon, the specifics of
the verse are debated. The following is not a full-orbed exegesis of Rom 8,28
and its surrounding context. Rather, it is a modest proposal for a reading
making good contextual, grammatical and theological sense.
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The first puzzling question is the acting agent of the sunergei'. Is it pavnta,
qeo", or the pneu'ma of vv. 26-27? Coupled with this textually elusive question
v
is the equally perplexing understanding of the verb itself. Is sunergei' a
transitive or intransitive verb? Are persons or things working together for
something (intransitive) or causing things to work together (transitive). These
are the typical questions asked of this verse and this verb in particular. The
general options presented by most commentators, for which Fitzmyer will
serve our purposes, are 1) qeov" is the subject of the intransitive verb sunergei',
therefore, God works together with all things (2). 2) qeov" is the subject of the
transitive verb sunergei' and pavnta is functioning as the direct object. “God
works all thingsâ€. 3) qeov", which is the better reading is omitted, and pavnta
is the subject of the intransitive verb. “All things work together for good†(3).
Or 4) the pneu'ma is the subject with an intransitive verb. “The Spirit works
with all things for those who love God†(4).
(1) Though recognizing the text-critical complexity of this verse, Wilckens states, “Der
Sinn des Satzes ist auf jeden Fall auch in der kürzen LA der gleiche; ohne Gott kann nichts zum
Guten verhelfenâ€, U. WILCKENS, Der Brief an die Römer (EKK; Neukirchen 1987) II, 163.
(2) J.A. FITZMYER, Romans. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
(AB 33; New York 1992) 523.
(3) One can safely say this is the majority opinion. To name a few: Morris, Barrett,
Cranfield, Hendriksen, Fitzmyer, Schreiner, Michel, Lohse.
(4) G.D. FEE, God’s Empowering Presence. The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul
(Peabody 1994) 587-591 and M. BLACK, “The Interpretation of Rom viii 28â€,