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.
Working Together with Whom? 513
well. Someone or something is working together with someone else in a
synergistic fashion.
Sunergei' does intimate a collaboration among various agents, and this
tends to rule out the majority position that pavnta is the subject of sunergei'.
One of the problems with reading pavnta as the subject of the intransitive verb
is that sunergei' in the Pauline literature takes a personal subject, not an
impersonal one such as pavnta (11). Coupled with this is the loss of the
collaborative idea taking place contextually if one observes pavnta as the
subject. Also, the argument of Dodd, Knox, and Black against reading pavnta
as the subject because of the “evolutionary optimism†introduced by this
reading which is so foreign to the Pauline outlook is still found persuasive (12).
It would seem quite odd within the Pauline logic for “all things†to be
collaborating with themselves.
The reading of this verse that will be argued for here is rather simple. God
is the subject of sunergei' as in some witnesses (as attested in âˆ46, A, B, etc.)
or as the implied subject from v. 27a (the one searching the hearts) (13). This
reading is warranted either within the textual tradition or within the context of
the preceding and subsequent verses of Paul’s thought. Resultantly, pavnta, as
argued by Black (and others), is an accusative of respect (14). In this sense the
action of “working together†takes place with respect to “all things†(15). The
verse understood this way would state: “In all things God is working together
for the good of the ones loving himâ€.
*
**
——————
Gott und Mensch), sondern das Kompositum verstärkt die Aussage = ‘verhelfen,’
‘förderlich sein’â€. E. Lohse, Der Brief an die Römer (KEK IV/15; Göttingen 2004) 254 n.
48. As far as the comment about God working together with humanity, there is agreement.
Regarding the irrelevance of the sun, questions can be raised.
(11) Cf. Mark 16,20; 1 Cor 16,16; 2 Cor 6,1; see Mark 16,20. In Jas 2,22 sunergei' takes
a non-personal subject but is clearly operating with a cooperative idea, i.e., faith and works.
See FEE, God’s Empowering Presence, 588. Fee bolsters the argument by noting that Paul
never uses pavnta as the subject of an active verb. Likewise, when pavnta is used as the
object of a personal verb, it almost always precedes the verb. Fee (588) states, “These
factors of usage alone would seem to spell the death knell to the traditional reading, ‘all
things work together for good’â€.
(12) BLACK, “Rom viii 28,†168; cf. N.T. WRIGHT, “Romans†(NIB IX; Nashville 2004)
600. Wright acknowledges the sheer oddity of reading pavnta as the subject of sunergei'.
(13) See WRIGHT, “Romansâ€, 600; C.D. OSBURN, “The Interpretation of Romans 8:28â€,
WTJ 44 (1982) 109. Schreiner probably overstates the case when he argues that Oi[damen dev
o{ti is a paragraph indicator separating v. 28 from the preceding verses. Wright states, and
correctly in my estimation, that the introductory de; is not the “but†of opposition, but of
“logic†(WRIGHT, Romans, 600). In other words, Paul is continuing his argument from the
preceding verses. This also makes good sense in light of the referent of pavnta in vv. 18-27
(cf. FITZMYER, Romans, 522). Fee (God’s Empowering Presence, 589-90) understands the
Oi[damen dev as a direct response to the oujk oi[damen of v. 26 (see also, GIENIUSZ, Romans 8:18-
30, 253-54). In this light, Paul is specifically addressing the unveiled ignorance of vv. 26-27.
(14) See also BDAG, 969.
(15) S.E. PORTER, Idioms of the Greek New Testament 2nd Edition (JSOT; Sheffield
1994) 90.