Study notes on Romans 1:8-15

Other notes in this series:

• Study notes on Romans 1:1-7
• this blog post
• Study notes on Romans 1:16-17
• Study notes on Romans 1:18-23

⁸First, I [truly] thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is [being] proclaimed in all the world.

    ⁹For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I mention you

        ¹⁰always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

    ¹¹For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you -

        ¹²that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

¹³I 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.

¹⁴I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

¹⁵So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Romans 1:8-15

Summary Statement - True Christian fellowship longs to come alongside believers, rejoicing with them for their growth in grace.

My Outline

• Rejoicing, 8
• Longing, 9-13
• Desire to Encourage, 14-15

Notes from Former Pastor's Sermons

Outline

1. Gospel Longing, 8-10
2. Gospel Encouragement, 11-14
3. Gospel Preaching, 15

Quotes

• Don't be too quick to look at the differences with other Christians; think first on the similarities. We have the same Father, same Brother, same Blood, same Baptism, same food! ❤️

Wallace's Greek Grammar Notes

• 1:11
  • 472, ἵνα is a purposeful ἵνα, indicating that the reason Paul wants to see them is to encourage them with the Spiritual gift
• 1:13
  • 558, σχῶ is Aorist Active Subjunctive - should be viewed as a consummative Aorist
• => 1:11 and 1:13 are parallels - Paul's desire to impart a spiritual gift to them, to encourage them (v 12), is the same as reaping a harvest among them in v 13

Luther's Notes

• "Christian love manifests itself in this that it rejoices at every good thing that it sees in others, especially at their spiritual blessings, and thanks God for them."
  • 🤲 May I see the good growth of Christlikeness in other believers, tell them that I see it, and thank You for it, my Triune One. How kindly You grow Your saints.

My Notes ¹

Rejoicing and Longing to Encourage in the Gospel

• Outline (preliminary)
  • Rejoicing, 8
  • Longing, 9-13
  • Desire to Encourage, 14-15
• Observations
  • General
    • What year did Nero turn on the Christians?
      • IIRC it was about 10 years before. the epistle written in 57 AD, Nero turned in 69?
    • Paul sends this letter ahead of seeing the Roman church in person - maybe to stir the bonds of fellowship before he gets there?
      • I know it's also to make them aware of his desire to aid the churches in Jerusalem financially
    • Paul rejoiced at their faith, and wanted to encourage them in the Spirit to bring it to full fruition, "bringing holiness to completion" (2 Corinthians 7:1).
  • v 8
    • their faith "is being proclaimed", καταγγέλλεται is in the present tense
      • It is a joy to other believers when my faith is vibrant to the world, either as a fragrance of life to life or death to death!
    • Who was proclaiming the faith of the Roman church? The world, probably
    • How big was "all the world" when Paul wrote this letter?
      • Spain was the farthest westward of the known world, says the google
  • v 9 -
    • What's the 'for' in v 9 there for?
    • Almost seems like Paul is bending over backwards to vouch for his own character, no? He has never visited this church before, so it's probable..
  • v 10-
    • Paul longs to come to the Roman church.
      • 🤲 May I long to be with God's people too, my Lord. Thank You for Your Sabbath, and the opportunities to gather with the saints at Acacia.
  • v 11 -
    • Paul longs to impart a χάρισμα πνευματικὸν, a "spiritual grace-gift"
      • We know from 1:15 that this gift is imparted by the preaching of the gospel. And we see that this gift is a spiritual grace.
      • Excursus - Paul the Gift-giver
        • Paul, like the risen ascended Lord Jesus, was a giver of gifts (Ephesians 4:11-16).
          • His gifts were spiritual, of the Spirit (Romans 1:11-12)
          • He received his giftings from the Lord (Romans 1:5)
          • He encouraged others to gift fellow Christians (Philippians 4:16).
  • v 12 -
    • We should long to be with one another.
    • συμπαρακληθῆναι == 'that I may be encouraged together with you' contains parakaleō, the word for the ministry of the Spirit
      • Paul wants to come alongside the Roman church and be encouraged by them, and wants his faith to be an encouragement to them. This is surely because the Spirit is working this desire in Paul!
        • This is a sweet thought!
      • And this verb is in the passive mood - who does the encouraging? The Spirit!
        • On our own we can do nothing, but we have the promised that when we are gathered together, the LORD is in our midst by His Spirit ❤️
      • this encouragement is the fruit of the longing we should already possess in our hearts ahead of visiting other believers.
    • the work of the church planter involves much sorrow, but also encouragement in and with other believers.
      • 🤲 Father, please bring ______ and _____ and other church planters in our denomination to my mind, so that I might pray for them continually! What a joy to meet one of them some of these days, and tell them that I've been praying for them for years.
  • v 13 -
    • Why was Paul prevented from visiting them?
      • 15:22 - "This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you." The paragraph prior explains that he wanted to found new churches as a first priority, and he had just finished that work.
      • John 4:38 - "I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
      • Calvin - "The LORD frequently upsets the purposes of His saints, in order to humble them, and by such humiliation to teach them to regard His Providence, that they may rely on it"
        • Paul thanks God for their faith, implying that it was a gift of God
          • 🤲 Thanks be to the Lord for His indescribable gift! Thank You for the gift of faith, earned by Your perfect Son, my Father.
        • We could say that the Lord was working on Paul's humility while he wanted to visit and work with the Romans.
      • The Lord Jesus must have received great joy at their faith! The faithfulness of a denomination, or church, or family is always cause for thanksgiving to the Lord. ❤️
      • This church, like a group of living stones, was being brought up and built into a holy habitation for God the Spirit
    • It seems like Paul did not desire to go to Rome until he had finished his missionary travels from "Jerusalem to Illyricum" (15:19)?
      • The prevention he describes must have been one of necessity - he wanted to preach to the Romans, but also wanted to build where Christ was not named.
    • "in order that I may reap some harvest [fruit] among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles"
      • why is Paul doing the reaping? Is he alluding to Jesus's parables about the harvest? I am confused by this. Might as well bring in Philippians 4:16 too... Jesus's parables dealing with harvesting fruit are all eschatological. Is Paul's preaching an eschatological activity???!?!?!
      • What about Paul being the reaper? Only Jesus is the reaper, right?
        • no, see John 4:38 above
      • Why does the ESV translate this as 'reap...harvest' instead of 'obtain...fruit'? Is it that Paul is casting seed by his preaching, and entrusting this preaching-seeding to bear fruit at the end?
      • Calvin - Jesus's call to the Apostles was that "[He] has chosen [them], that [they] may go and bring forth fruit, and that [their] fruit may remain." John 15:16
  • v 14 -
    • Paul's high calling as an Apostle by no means meant more convenience, or luxury or ease. To the layman, he commanded that we owe one another only a debt of love. He, on the other hand, was obligated to everyone, to preach to them.
  • v 15 -
    • Paul believes that preaching the gospel to Christians will bear fruit.

¹ I use the 🤲 emoji to denote inline prayers.