Vincent's NT Word Studies
7. Desiring (qelontev). The participle is explanatory and confirmatory of the preceding statement: since they desire.Teachers of the law (nomodidaskaloi). o P. It occurs in Luke v. 17 and Acts v. 34. Nomov is, apparently, the Mosaic law. These teachers may have been arbitrary interpreters of that law, but in what way, cannot be shown.
Understanding (noountev). Better, though they understand.
What they say - whereof they affirm (a legousin - peri tinwn diabebaiountai). The latter expression is an advance on the former, as appears not only from the verbs themselves, but from the different pronominal expressions. They know not what they say, nor what kind of things they are of which they speak so confidently. The compound diabebaiouswai to affirm, Past o . Comp. Tit. iii. 8. The false teachers announce their errors with assurance.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
1:7 {Teachers of the law} (nomodidaskaloi). Compound only in N.T. (here, #Lu 5:17; Ac 5:34) and ecclesiastical writers. {Though they understand} (noountes). Concessive participle of noew, old verb (#Eph 3:4,20). {Neither what} (mete ha). Relative ha (which things). {Nor whereof} (mete peri tinwn). Here the interrogative tinwn used in sense of relative h"n. It may be regarded as the use of an indirect question for variety (Parry). {They confidently affirm} (diabebaiountai). Present middle indicative of the common _Koin_ compound, in N.T. only here and #Tit 3:8.
