We think of things not in the abstract elements of the things themselves, but in connexion with, and in language which presupposes, other things.
The attempt of Seeck to date the synod 316 presupposes that the emperor was present in person, which is highly improbable.
This of course presupposes the recognition of the right of the slave to his peculium; and the same is implied in Cicero's statement that a diligent slave could in six years purchase his freedom.
He presupposes a nation of Yahweh-worshippers, whose religion has its centre in the temple and priesthood of Zion, which is indeed conscious of sin, and needs forgiveness and an outpouring of the Spirit, but is not visibly divided, as the kingdom of Judah was.
I-II ought undoubtedly to be read in immediate connexion with chap. vii.; it presupposes the alliance of Syria and northern Israel, whose destruction it predicts, though opening a door of hope for a remnant of Israel.
