| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with pepeismai {Πέπεισμαι | Pé-peis-mai} ‘I am convinced’, a perfect tense verb that emphasizes a settled, ongoing state of confidence. The conjunction de {δέ | dé} introduces a gentle transition from the preceding material. The vocative adelphoi mou {ἀδελφοί μου | a-del-phoí mou} ‘my brothers’ uses familial address to communicate warmth and solidarity. The intensive combination autos ego {αὐτὸς ἐγὼ | au-tós e-gṓ} ‘I myself’ heightens Paul’s personal involvement and responsibility in the assessment he is about to give. The prepositional phrase peri humon {περὶ ὑμῶν | pe-rí hu-môn} ‘about you’ marks the congregation in Rome as the focus of this confidence. The clause introduced by hoti {ὅτι | hó-ti} provides the content of that confidence: kai autoi mestoi este agathosunes {καὶ αὐτοὶ μεστοί ἐστε ἀγαθωσύνης | kaí au-toí mes-toí e-ste a-ga-thō-sý-nēs} stresses that they themselves, not only others, are ‘full of goodness’, with the genitive agathosunes functioning as a genitive of content. The participial phrase pepleromenoi pases gnoseos {πεπληρωμένοι πάσης γνώσεως | pe-plē-rō-mé-noi pá-sēs gnṓ-se-ōs} further characterizes them as ‘having been filled with all knowledge’; the perfect participle pepleromenoi presents this as a completed action with abiding results, while the genitive gnoseos again expresses content, modified by the adjective pases to indicate comprehensiveness. Finally, the circumstantial participle dunamenoi {δυνάμενοι | du-ná-me-noi} ‘being able’ plus the infinitive nouthetein {νουθετεῖν | nou-the-teîn} ‘to admonish’ expresses their ongoing capability or suitability to admonish, and the reciprocal pronoun allelous {ἀλλήλους | al-lḗ-lous} underscores the mutual, one-another nature of this ministry. The English renderings follow this progression from Paul’s confidence to the Romans’ moral character, their knowledge, and their competence, while arranging the clauses into a natural subject–verb–object order for clarity. |