Romans 1:8-15

One thing to remember about the New Testament epistles is that they are epistles, they are letters. They are not theological treaties written to be put into libraries--they are correspondence. (Ephesians, and to some extent Hebrews are exceptions to this rule.) This is very clear at the end of Romans where Paul spends almost an entire chapter just giving personal greetings. And it shows in the same way here, where Paul, before entering into the body of his letter, gives a few personal remarks.

What you have to remember in reading this passage was the fact that Paul was a stranger to the Romans. He had never been to Rome at the time of this writing. The Roman church had not been founded by Paul or one of Paul's companions. Most likely, it had been founded before Paul even became a Christian. They had heard of him, of course, but he had no personal connection to them. For that reason, Paul couldn't dive headfirst into his topic the way he does in Galatians. These first several verses are Paul's way of establishing a connection with his readers. This is a verbal platform on which they could meet.

Paul begins by thanking God for them; they were a strong church and had a reputation throughout the whole world--either to Christians across the world or even beyond the confines of the church. Paul is going to have some warnings and exhortations later on, but he once to establish from the beginning that he isn't trying to tear down or criticize the church. The Roman church was a good church, even if it had some problems and dangers.

And this is a parenthesis, but one thing that sticks out to me the more I study Paul's letters is how much thanksgiving plays in his thoughts. Gratitude and praise seem to permeate his writing and occasionally burst out in places they have no business being. Paul experienced more than a normal share of suffering and sadness. He was never afraid to show his scars or his tears. He often speaks stern and stringent warnings. Yet through it all there runs this continual river of thanksgiving. G. K. Chesterton wrote that “Praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul” and that seems to have been the case with Paul. And I think for Paul it was because he was so much aware of God and God's working so that in all things he could trace the hand of God and of Christ.

So, the first thing Paul says is that he thanked God for the Romans. The second thing is that he prayed for them. He calls God for his witness, in effect putting himself under oath, to the fact that he constantly prayed for them. You may remember that Paul told the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing and now we see that Paul lived out his own teaching. Obviously, this doesn't that every second of his life was spent in prayer for the Roman church--if that were true, he couldn't have prayed for anyone else--but it means that prayer for them formed a constant and continual part of his life. It wasn't just that he prayed for them every once and a while. And it wasn't just a general prayer for their wellbeing. Paul specifically wanted to come to them if it was God's will. 

It is worth pointing out that Paul had apparently been praying for this opportunity for some time and, up to this point, his prayer had not been answered. It would later be answered though not exactly in the way that Paul had envisioned. Paul was a man of faith, a man in close connection with God, and here he was praying for something, and for years his prayer was not answered. God answers prayer, but always in the way and time that He sees best. At this point, God has not answered Paul's prayer and had in fact prevented Paul from going to Rome--that seems to be the meaning of the phrase “was let (or hindered) hitherto” in verse 13. God had not given Paul the go-ahead to go to Rome because he still had work to do elsewhere and God was preparing a journey to Rome in his own time.

Paul thanked God for the Romans, he prayed for them, and he longed to see them. (v. 11) He said he wanted to impart some spiritual gift that would help them be established. Perhaps we should understand that, in lieu of his personal presence, the words of this epistle were aimed at establishing them. Certainly, that idea of being established, strengthened, set in a course makes sense in the context of Romans. This is not a call to return to the Gospel, like Galatians, but rather an exhortation to remain firm and go deeper in the gospel.

Paul wanted to give but also to take. He wanted to help the Romans and also to receive something from them. Though it is true to one sense that we should seek to be givers and not takers, it is also true that we need one another. None of us has enough in ourselves that we can give and never take. Verse 12: “That I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me” summarizes an important part of the church. That is why Christian fellowship is important--that by the sharing of our mutual faith we may comfort each other. 

Paul wanted the Romans to understand that he wanted and had planned to visit them, even though he had never made it. He wanted to head off any critique who would say: “If you care that much about us why have you never come before?” He had wanted to, but had been prevented by his other work and, ultimately, by the leading of God. But note the reason why Paul wanted to go to Rome--that he might have fruit among them. Rome was a Gentile city and much of the church was Gentile. Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, longed to have some fruit among this fertile Gentile field.

In verse 14 Paul expresses his personal mission statement. He felt that he was under obligation to every, he had a debt to discharge to everyone in the world--both the Greeks and the Barbarians. Barbarian means someone who doesn't speak Greek. Greek was the cultivated language of the world then and even most people in Rome spoke Greek, so much that some Romans writers complained that Latin was neglected. Rome ruled Greece politically, but Greece ruled Rome culturally. Latin culture was very much dominated by the culture of Greece, so much that you could use the word Greek to refer to all those who were cultured and well-educated, while Barbarian meant those who were not cultured, those who were on the outside. But Paul didn't care whether people were cultured or uncultured, whether they were smart or stupid. He had a duty, a commission to preach to all of them. And for that reason, so far as Paul was concerned, he was ready to preach the gospel to the people of Rome just as much as he had preached it elsewhere.