Romans 1:8-14--Longing to Go to Rome

Romans 1:8-14
English Standard Version

Longing to Go to Rome
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you 10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you-- 12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

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As we finish up Paul's introduction today, he tells the church in Rome that he thanks God through Jesus Christ for all of them because of their faith that is known and proclaimed everywhere he has gone.  It is common for Paul to start off his letters this way to tell them how much he loves them because he often jumps in delivering the things that are hard to hear first, and we're going to see that to be true here as well.

Paul also lets them know that not only is he thankful for them, but they are continually lifted up in prayer and he praises God for them regularly during his personal times of worship and prayer, so he calls upon God as his witness since there may not be any other witnesses to this.  Paul then adds that whenever he prayers for them, which we know is often, that he also prays that is may be God's will that he may succeed in making it to them to visit them.  We're going to see throughout this book that it's something he's always wanted to do, but that God has always led Paul away from this area to other areas where no one had heard the gospel first.

Why does Paul long to see them?  Unlike other churches, it doesn't seem like Paul is eager to visit because he hears they are falling into error and need correction, rather it seems that he wants to impart some spiritual gift to them (an interesting concept likely tied to Paul being an apostle) and wishes for them to be strengthened as they are in a time of great persecution and are in need of encouragement--and he wishes to be encouraged by them as well.

Paul then repeats that it has often been his plan to come and visit them and that he has tried on many occasions, but he has been prevented, as it was not the will of God for him to visit Rome yet.  There is a plan for Paul to visit Rome, but God's plan and Paul's plan may look very different from each other right now, though God will reveal His plan to Paul as time goes on and we'll see that in his later epistles like Philippians, that God has revealed more of His plan to Paul and exactly how and why Paul will visit Rome (we'll come back to studying the book of Acts later and will see these events unfold in Paul's life from chapter 7 with the stoning of Stephen to the end of the book of Acts when Paul finally does make it to Rome).

Paul says that the reason he has been prevented from coming was so that he could reap a harvest among the rest of the Gentiles as we see Paul travel through most of what was called Asia at that time (we would call it Asia Minor or Turkey today), but Paul would be prevented even from going to parts of Asia Minor that he wanted to visit, and God would instead send other apostles like Peter and John to these areas  We'll see that Paul will carry the gospel even to Europe, specifically to Greece and Macedonia.  Paul says that he has an obligation to these Gentiles whether civilized or uncivilized nations or literate or illiterate or wise or foolish to go to preach the gospel to them, for God has called him to be the apostle unto the Gentiles.