Romans 1:8
Posted by Romans on Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Romans 1:8-15
(8) First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
(9) For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
(10) Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
(11) For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
(12) That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
(13) Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
(14) I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
(15) So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Paul made a practice of beginning his letters with a word of thanks to God, a specific prayer, and a personal message to the recipients. For the Romans he rejoiced that news of their faith had spread all over the world, a hyperbole meaning throughout the Roman Empire. His constant intercession for them (vv. 9-10) had the new note of petition for his projected visit, a heart-desire of long standing that finally was definitely on Paul’s agenda (v. 10; cf. 15:23-24). This visit would be mutually beneficial spiritually; he desired to minister for three purposes:
(a) to the strengthening of the Romans (1:11; to impart . . . some spiritual gift means either to exercise his own spiritual gift on their behalf or to bestow on them spiritual favors, i.e., blessings);
(b) to see some spiritual fruit (a harvest, v. 13) among them and, in turn,
(c) to be strengthened by them (v. 12). In this sense Paul’s ministry at Rome would be the same as in other centers of the empire.
As a result of his “apostleship” (v. 5) to the Gentiles Paul felt obligated (lit., “I am a debtor”) to the entire human race to proclaim God’s good news (vv. 14-15). The word translated non-Greeks is literally, “barbarians,” all other human beings from the viewpoint of the Greeks (cf. Col. 3:11). Parallel to it is the word foolish (anoētois; cf. Titus 3:3) in the next couplet, which has the significance of uncultured. Paul’s sense of debt to the Gentile world produced an eagerness (I am so eager, Rom. 1:15) to evangelize it, including Rome, capital of the empire.
