Romans 1:8-13

Paul's Longing to Visit Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you.

11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.


Dig Deeper
Professional sports draft events have always been a curious thing to me. Young men who have never played a minute of the professional sport into which they are about to be drafted, are chosen by teams, usually guaranteeing them millions upon millions of dollars. Usually these young players are drafted and given more money without ever having proven themselves than much older, much more experienced players get, players who have proven their ability and their worth. It’s really an even more amazing thing to see one of these newly drafted players holding out and refusing to sign a contract because they want even more money than the team is willing to offer them. Simply put they have the nerve to ask for the rewards of something that they haven’t even earned yet. They are getting something that should come much later. They want the rewards of the future to come to them in the present.

For Paul, the gospel was no less an announcement of the future coming forth into the present. The coming of a Messiah was no big surprise for any thoughtful Jew in the first century. Nor was the idea of resurrection. Most Jews were waiting for both events, and thought that they would come closely together at the end of the present age. When the Messiah came, he would restore Israel to their rightful place, end Israel’s long exile from the presence of God, and usher in God’s age to come complete with the resurrection of all those declared by God to be faithful to the Covenant. This was the shock of the Christian gospel, the declaration that the Messiah had overcome death and was the rightful ruler of the world. The gospel demanded that the beliefs of the Jews regarding these topics be radically reconfigured. The Messiah had come asserted the Christian gospel, but he was Israel’s single representative. The exile would be ended through him and the resurrection had come to only him in the middle of time. The resurrection began with a single representative and would be made available to those who entered into the family of God by dying to selves and entering into the life of the Messiah through baptism. The resurrection enthroned the Messiah but it did not bring the expected time of judgment. Israel did not enter into the blessing of the age to come in the way or at the time that they expected. The claim of resurrection and the rule of the Messiah in the kingdom of God during the present age was a major stumbling block for Jews. In the Jewish mind, the resurrection of Jesus alone, made the problem of God being faithful to his covenant in this new narrative even more problematic. Was God not capable of delivering and rewarding his people as he seemed to have promised?

Of course Paul believes that God is quite capable and has shown himself absolutely faithful to his covenant. He has done this by doing what the law could not, which Paul won’t explain here but he will get to that all. For now, he is simply satisfied to celebrate the Jew and Gentile coming together as God’s people in the very seat of power of the pagan world.

Among many other things, Paul was a thoughtful pastor. He had genuine concern for people but he also had extremely sharp relational discernment skills. He knew when to deal with a situation head on and he knew when the situation called for a bit more tact. The fact is that Paul did not plant the church in Rome as he did most of the other churches to whom he wrote. The Christians of the second century reported that Peter left Jerusalem after the incidents of Acts 12 and planted the church in Rome at that time before returning to Jerusalem. So Paul is in a delicate position. He wants to encourage the church, help it grow, and prepare it as a base for future operations into Spain (Rom. 15:24) but he does not want to give the impression that they are deficient in some way or that he is condemning Peter’s work.

He was also writing to a church that had been left as a solely Gentile church for five years (see discussion on Rom. 1:1-7). It would have been easy for them to begin to take on the attitude that God had left the Jews behind and take a rather negative view of the rules and restrictions of the law with all of it’s holy days, dietary restrictions, and Sabbath regulations. The Jews had had their time and now God had moved on to a new thing. Christianity was a Gentile religion, or so they may have assumed. But then, just that quick, the Jews returned to Rome and the Jewish Christians, some of whom knew Paul well, returned. Those close to Paul probably shared his view of freedom in Christ and its relationship to the law but other Jewish Christians were much more strict about their adherence to the old Jewish laws (a position that Paul always accepted as long as no one tried to bind those practices to other Christians). This variety of deeply held beliefs and convictions could quickly turn from suspicion about one another to openly creating factions. Paul will get to that, but first he lays out his genuine gratitude for them and the common ground that they share.

Paul is grateful for this small band of house churches (Rom. 16 gives a little snapshot of what the church in Rome looked like) that probably totaled no more than a hundred Christians at the time of this letter (just because the first Christians found it necessary and convenient to meet in house churches due in part to their inability to purchase public buildings, we should not, as some do without any Scriptural mandate, deem that meeting in house churches exclusively in our society is either commanded or even necessary). Their faith was being reported all over the world, by which Paul, no doubt, means in somewhat hyperbolic language, the Christian world.

This church is no afterthought for Paul or the rest of the Christian world and the God who Paul serves in his spirit, the deepest part of his person, his will, and his heart, will attest to that. Paul and the rest of the Christian world were thankful not only that the gospel was being advanced but for the incredibly powerful symbolic value of having a thriving church in Rome itself. The gospel had advanced right into Caesar’s own backyard, and that was no small thing. Nor are they on the back burner of Paul’s mind simply because he didn’t plant this church. No, he prays for them at all times, by which Paul is likely referring to his regular prayers at certain times throughout the day. Paul’s prayers are not for their continued spiritual growth as we might expect, he evidently is quite confident that this is happening already as they build on Peter’s foundation of Christ that he built in Rome. Paul’s prayers are that God will open the door so that he might come and encourage them.

Paul’s explanation in verses 11 and 12 of his reasons for wishing to come to them is a beautiful example of his relational tact and skill as a pastor. He longs to see them so that he may impart some spiritual gift to make them strong, true enough. Yet, Paul knows that if he simply leaves it at that it could be taken as an implication that the church is lacking in some important element or that he feels that Peter built a shoddy foundation. Paul clarifies that he means nothing more by that than to say that they can be mutually encouraged and grow from one another’s faith. It is possible that Paul is referring, in verse 11, to a specific gift in which he would lay his hands on some of the new Christians and impart one of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (cf. Acts 8:18), but Paul seems to indicate in verse 12 that he is talking of the simple act of encouraging and strengthening one another in the way that only face-to-face visits can do.

Again, in verse 13, Paul makes it clear that they are not an afterthought. The rest of the Christian world has not forgotten them, nor has the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul has wanted to come see them for a long time. In fact, he has been planning it on several occasions but had been prevented. Whether Paul thinks it was just the course of events themselves or the work of the Holy Spirit that has prevented his coming, he is not clear. He has thought about them, prayed about them, and he will, God willing, come to them so that he can help them to grow even more than they have both spiritually and numerically. Paul might sound confident but the confidence of his results lies solely in the grace of God working through him (1 Cor. 15:10).


Devotional Thought
Paul made a practice of telling other churches that he was constantly thinking of and praying for them. Do you have that same heart? How often do you think about and fervently and consistently pray for churches around the world? Perhaps you could “adopt” a handful of churches other than your own and make a commitment to pray constantly for them.