What Does Romans 7:22 Mean in the King James?
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The inward person meets God’s instruction as a source of delight.
THE MEANING
You can find real delight in God’s instruction at the level of your inward self. That response remains real even when other impulses leave you feeling divided.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that struggle means your deepest inward self rejects what is good: the verse names delight in God’s instruction within a person who is still struggling.
THE ROOT
συνήδομαι
synēdomai
GROWS FROM
ἡδ- (hēd-), joined with συν- (syn-, with)
Pleasure; taking pleasure in what is pleasing.
The verb combines the sense of “with” and “take pleasure,” giving this delight a participatory quality. The same verb describes sharing another person’s joy, while a related noun can describe desires that become turbulent; pleasure is a force that can shape a person’s inner life in different ways.
ALSO GROWS
synēdomai: Rejoice with; share in another’s joy.
συνήδομαι
Romans 12:15 uses this same verb for rejoicing with those who rejoice, showing that its pleasure can involve shared participation.
hēdonē: Pleasure; desire.
ἡδονή
James 4:1 uses this related word for “lusts” that war within a person, showing another direction this pleasure-family can take.
THE PATTERN
God’s instruction becomes an inwardly received source of delight and orientation.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:THE THREAD
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.Both verses use the Greek expression ἔσω ἄνθρωπος (esō anthrōpos, “inward person”). Romans locates delight in this inward person; Corinthians says that person is renewed day by day, describing an inner life that continues to change.
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