Romans 1:8-15

In this episode, as we launch off in Romans 1 verse 8, we see that the first thing Paul mentions is prayer and that’s part of the theme of this episode, Paul’s prayer.

He’s thanking God through Jesus Christ for all of those Roman Christians whose faith was spoken of throughout the whole world that being, of course, that whole Mediterranean area.

 

It’s not a prayer that we’d typically hear today where he’s constantly asking the Lord for a shopping list of blessings in the name of Jesus. Instead, he’s praying things according to the revelation of the mystery which Christ revealed to him about what God’s doing in this dispensation. The lesson for us is that if we’re going to interact with God and what he’s doing, prayer is the way, but we should know what he’s doing in this present age, or our prayers will be fruitless.

When we pray for things that God’s not doing today he’s simply not going to answer, and we know that from the scripture, so we need to follow Paul’s pattern in prayer.

 

So, to Romans 1:8 where we read,

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. 

Word got out throughout the empire that many people in Rome were turning to Christ, becoming Christians.

This move to Christianity disturbed the emperors and later, terrible persecution would begin against these Christians, especially under the reign of Nero, the Roman emperor who was infamous for his extreme cruelty and depravity, especially his brutal persecution of Christians, He made them scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD and subjected them to horrific tortures and executions, including crucifixion, burning, and being used as human torches or crucifying them along whole streets and setting them alight.

 

Nero’s reign was marked by political murders, including the killing of his mother, Agrippina, and his first wife, Claudia Octavia.

He was sadistic, enjoying torturing animals and people for entertainment.

His erratic behaviour included declaring himself a god and demanding to be worshipped as such.

His reign ended in rebellion and chaos and his suicide in 68 CE to avoid capture and execution by the Roman senate.

 

Paul mentions here that the faith of these Roman Christians was spoken of and known throughout the whole world, and as we said before, that’s from the perspective of those living in the Mediterranean area.

Paul thanks God through Jesus Christ for them.

He thanks God because it’s God Who revealed His word and sent His son and Who resurrected Christ from the dead, and, Who was working in these

people through their faith.

Faith comes by hearing the word of God, as Romans 10 verse 17 tells us, and these people did hear and in faith believed, so he thanks God for that first off. This is a great patten for our own prayer today.

Although Paul tells these people he thanks God for them, he’s actually going to pull apart much of what they believe and set up instead a firm foundation for them in the 16 chapters of this letter. He’s going to establish them in their faith and by extension us today.

 

To verses 9 and 10,

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, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.

 

Why does he say for God is my witness?

He’s simply calling on God as his witness because God’s the one he prays to.

He then says that he never ceases to pray for these people, making mention of them in his prayers.

In the Body of Christ that isn’t always the case. We hear often hear the words, “I’ll pray for you or you’re in my prayers” and you know that’s not often the case, but Paul says look, I’m thanking God for you and making mention of you in my prayers and God is my witness that what I’m saying is true.

Now, of course, to pray without ceasing here doesn’t mean a length of time. He’s not saying when you start never stop.

There are actual Ministries who interpret this verse as endless prayer. For example, the International House of Prayer takes this literally and they continue in prayerful worship all the time, 24/7.

How long people pray and how many words that they can get in becomes a sort of religious ritual where words of prayer is a lifestyle. Some will say, “I’m always in prayer.”

No, they’re not. When you’re talking to a person you’re not talking to God. There’s things we’re doing that are not praying and so praying without ceasing

is not saying that we just breathe every breath in prayer and once we start we should never stop.

It has to do with us not giving up with prayer and praying to God, thanking him and then also making requests to him which Paul does.

We look at Philippians 4:6-7,

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 

“The gospel of his Son”. In the first verse Paul called it “the gospel of God,” and later he’ll call it “my gospel”. It’s the same gospel, the one we spoke of in detail in the last episode. It’s the good news of how God is offering free grace to sinners in this dispensation of Grace in which we live in today and which began with the apostle Paul’s salvation and the giving, by Christ Himself, of his ministry to preach this gospel especially to the Gentiles.

In addressing these Roman Christians, Paul’s not rebuking them in any way. He’s not trying to correct anything. Instead, he thanked God for them, that they were letting their light shine brightly in the darkness and paganism that was the Roman empire. He prays God’s blessing upon them and that quote “in the will of God” he might be able to be with them.

Verse 10 starts off with “making a request”.

What Paul’s doing here, along with you and me when we make a request of God, is praying in Hope.

Why else would we make a request unless we have some hope. We remember that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, as Hebrews 11 verse 1 tells us, so you can see how prayer is connected to this. When we pray and make a request we’re praying in the hope that the One Who we’re making our request to can make that request possible and accomplish it.

If there’s no hope that’s ever going to happen why would we ask for such a thing. You see, there’s a connection.

Hope isn’t just a wish we have. Hope is something defined by God. It’s not just anything we desire and wish in our heart.

Romans 8:24 says this,

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?

 

We’re saved in hope. We’re not saved by hope. We’re saved by faith when we believe in the word of God. Faith comes by hearing the word of God but we’re talking about something in the future that we don’t see yet. That’s hope and we can hope for it because we’re believing it’ll be what God said it’ll be in His Word.

Paul also says in Romans 15:4,

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

We see here that hope is produced from the scriptures and the comfort or the strength it provides.

So, we’re reading the Bible, and we see where God intervenes or His promises and prophecies are fulfilled, and this gives us strength knowing that the God that we’re believing in actually can do and wants to do, and has a will to do what He says, and that gives us patience and strength.

Hopelessness is a terrible state to live in and even unbelievers look for something in this world to hope for in order to stay sane.

 

So now in verse 10 Pauls making requests to God and he says that often.

For example, we just read Philippians 4:6,

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

Paul’s making requests as an example in his prayer and what is the request? Is it Lord, enable me to have a prosperous journey and the donkeys I travel with never get hungry or tired and may we never hit any problems along the way and please increase my wealth by the time I get there.

He’s not praying for so called traveling mercies that Christians often pray for in the hope of safe travels. Paul’s not praying for that.

Instead, he prays “if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.”

 

This journey’s not going to be dependent on his physical condition and we know that to be true because Paul will not eventually end up in Rome without frustration and persecution. He’s going to be in chains when he goes there. When writing this Romans epistle he hasn’t yet been put in those chains but he’s going to be.

In fact, he’s going to go to Jerusalem first and in Acts 20 where he was talking to the elders in Ephesus after he wrote this epistle and before he goes to Jerusalem, he says the Holy Spirit testified to him that he’s going to be bound there.

Paul’s not praying, “Well even though the Holy Spirit is testifying this is going to happen to me, I’m praying it won’t”.

It’d be nice if it didn’t, but he still had the desire to go to Jerusalem and to go to Rome and whether he was persecuted or not didn’t matter to him.

He’d already been thrown in prison previously and he’d been stoned and beaten.

If Paul’s been making requests for physical protection and prosperity then he’s been frequently failing in his prayers. Do we see Paul praying for physical health?

In second Corinthians 12 he prays three times that the messenger of Satan that buffeted him would go away and God’s reply is, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 

No, his prayer is that the will of God be done in his journey to see the Romans.

So, to Paul, whatever happens whether he’s abased or bound and thrown in prison or not is not the issue.

It’s that the will of God can be done.

We see here that the will of God is not concerned with our safety in our travels. We should definitely be safe in our travel but there’s not going to be an angel following us making sure we don’t fall asleep at the wheel and drive off the road. We should simply get more sleep. That’s wisdom. Bad things happen to Christians just as much as to anybody. We get sick, we have catastrophes, and we die too.

Paul’s not looking for a hedge of protection, he’s looking for the success of God’s word working in these Romans.

So, let’s move on to Romans 1:11-12 where Paul writes,

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established— that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. 

 

He longed to see them for mutual blessing.  Here we’ve got an illustration of Christian fellowship.

He has a desire, a zeal and a passion and a purpose to see them that he may, quote, “impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established.”

He’d wanted to come to them in Rome, but He was hindered however, in that hinderance, the Spirit of God inspired Paul to publish this invaluable Epistle; to present to the Church, the Body of Christ right down through the ages to today as a gift. A gift beyond human value in fact.

 

The standard of the success of his journey or the prosperity of his journey is defined by these two verses, 11 and 12.

This’s why he wants to go. This’s why he prays.

He wants to communicate something to them for their sake. He wants to give them a spiritual gift.

This is where some Christians say he wants to lay hands on them so they can speak in tongues or so they can heal people with some spiritual power. However, there’s many reasons why this’s not what he’s saying, not the least of which is that he said a spiritual gift, which means it’s not going to be a physical thing.

We’ve seen that Romans is an establishment book, a foundational work inspired by the Holy Spirit, written by Paul to establish the body of Christ.

Without the book of Romans, we’re missing a huge chunk of the foundational doctrine of the body of Christ which you and I are if we’ve believed the Gospel of Salvation.

However, in the first century Paul had already been communicating these truths to people.

He spoke these things to the Corinthians to the Ephesians and the Galatians. He’d speak these truths everywhere.

Today, we have these recorded letters so we can know what he taught as well.

So again, the Holy Spirit did give gifts to establish the church, but this verse here is not Paul saying I want to come there to lay my hands on you that you might have some supernatural ability. Actually, the people in Rome already have that!

Look at Romans 12 remembering that Paul’s not been there as yet.

Neither had Peter or the 12 apostles been there. Yet in Romans 12:3 we read,

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 

Now, why would they think higher of themselves than someone else? A couple of reasons. One reason might be because Paul had just told them what a high position they had in Christ but secondly look at verses 4 to 8,

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

 

You see the gifts here are spiritual gifts. Some may say, “Well these are just people’s individual strengths.” Some people are better at some things than others. We all have different strengths but he’s talking about gifts given here from God.

Now verse 12 says,

that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. 

This spiritual gift Paul wants to give them will establish them and allow them to have a mutual Faith with him.

Because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, this gift must include the word of God given to them. It requires Doctrine so that they may be established.

With this, Paul looks forward to being comforted or encouraged by his and their mutual faith.

 

We know from Ephesians 4:13 that God wants the whole body of Christ to quote,

“come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”

Many people push that into the future, and they say that speaks of Heaven because nobody’s perfect now and there’s never been unity in the church but in heaven we’ll all be united around common belief and we’ll all be a perfect man up there.

However, verse 14 of Ephesians 4, the very next verse, says that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.

Here’s that foundation again. The foundation’s being laid by Paul so we’re all on that same Foundation, so that we’re not tossed to and fro. There’s a foundation with pillars and a framework that we can grab onto, so we’re not tossed around by every wind of doctrine.

This is for the here and now not later in heaven. It’s ridiculous to think that in heaven we could be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, believing one thing today and something different the next.

 

Today, through Paul, the Body of Christ has a firm foundational doctrine. Individual, organised churches disagree with each other, of course, but the problem is ours not God’s.

There’s a foundation that’s been laid and it’s right here in the scripture and particularly in the book of Romans. The body of Christ has had that for two thousand years. It’s up to us to know it and stand on the firm foundation it builds, just as the Romans did.

 

Now we go on to Romans 1:13,

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.

 

Paul wants to go to Rome, but he’s been hindered from coming to them. He says he desires that he might have some fruit among them.

He wants some fruit and to create fruit takes work.

It means tilling the ground, planting the seed, watering and then waiting for

Growth.

We can’t make fruit come out of plans. We need create the environment and put the right things there that’s needed for fruit to grow, and this’s what Paul is praying for that he might have fruit in Rome.

That means he has to till the soil, plant the seed, do some watering and then wait see if it takes effect to see if their faith in response to God’s word will produce fruit.

But he wants that fruit so he’s going to do that work.

Colossians 1:5-6 says this,

because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; 

 

What is this fruit Paul desires so from these people?

More than likely, this fruit refers to not just the further spreading of God’s Word, the gospel, but also to the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of believers which is defined in Galatians 5:22-23,

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 

 

That fruit comes by hearing the word of the truth of the Lord, the truth of God and bearing fruit first requires established faithful believers to do the work to produce the fruit.

You can’t raise a child if you’re a child. You have to grow up.

You can’t plant the garden unless you know what you’re going to get from the garden, and then you need to know how to till and how to plant and water.

It requires established faithful Believers to do this work of bearing fruit spiritually because that fruit of the spirit only comes from the Word of God.

 

In 1 Corinthians 3:6 Paul says this,

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 

We do the work Paul says, but the increase comes from God and that’s because he’s the one who delivered the words and He’s the one that has to be believed, not the teacher.

God’s the source of the fruit, the farmer prepares the ground and plants the seed.

Paul wants some fruit in Rome.

He says he wants some fruit among them also, just as among the other Gentiles. This speaks of the fact that he’s ministering to gentiles.

He’s also ministering to Jews as well as gentiles as we’ve already seen, but he refers here to the other gentiles. He’s been ministering to gentiles.

There would have been some Jews among those gentiles there in Rome as well.

 

Now we go to Romans 1:14,

I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. 

 

Debtor is not an archaic word.

Countries and individuals are more in debt now than we’ve ever been in history, so to be a debtor is something that people understand. We owe something. That’s what Paul’s saying. He’s a debtor to both the Greeks and Barbarians, the wise and the unwise and to all of them I preach the gospel, he says.

What Paul preaches is not exclusive to one group. He was sent to all and so are we.

Greek is a language, and Barbarian has to do with someone who didn’t speak the scholarly language of the Greeks, so those up north where Britain would eventually be were called barbarians.

They didn’t speak Greek, and they didn’t speak Latin, and they didn’t speak Hebrew.

Barbarians had their own language. So, if you were Greek you spoke Greek or you spoke Latin then if you were more sophisticated and scholarly but if you didn’t speak those languages you were a Barbarian.

You were a miserable sort of soul compared to those of the Greek, Latin or Hebrew languages and you were seen as not having much value. Not much has changed today either in the way the world sees other people. If you’re not in “the group” you’re an outsider and shunned.

However, the gospel changes that perception completely.

In Galatians 3:28-29 we read,

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. 

The bottom line is he’s a debtor to all.

How did Paul become indebted?

It wasn’t because he run up bill on his credit card that he couldn’t pay.

He had a personal transaction with Jesus Christ which put him in debt to every man, because the grace of God had been so bountifully bestowed upon him. Paul was in debt to a lost world.

He goes to all, to the wise and the unwise which means he’s teaching the wisdom of God, not men, because there are wise men in the world and there’s unwise men in the world and he’s going to both of them.

To qualify as being established in the Word of God does not rely on our wisdom according to the world.

Paul’s not teaching some special access to those who are, quote, “in the know”.

That’s what Gnosticism is.

Gnostics believed that secret knowledge (gnosis) was the key to spiritual enlightenment and salvation. This knowledge often related to the nature of God, the universe, and the self.

They often viewed the material world as corrupt and inferior, and created by a lesser deity and believed that a divine spark lives within certain individuals, which can be awakened through knowledge and spiritual practices.

It’s a varied set of beliefs and practices and different Gnostic groups had different teachings.

It’s sort of like people today talking about being woke. Being woke has to do with you being quote, “in the know”. This new woke thing is where there’s a new teaching or ideology and you aren’t privileged to it?

It’s almost like high school kids knowing what’s cool and you don’t.

Gnostics will usually have their own secret language and knowledge that goes back to ancient religions where they had a secret knowledge that no one could know.

Paul is saying, “I’m preaching and communicating a message, a doctrine and a gospel that will save you all and I’m a debtor to all have so he’s not preaching something secret.

The mystery has now been revealed as he says in Ephesians 3 verses 1 to 7 using his talent for cramming information into sentences,

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 

 

 

To verse 15 now,

So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.

As much as in me.

What’s in Paul? Jesus Christ, Faith, Grace, apostleship his longing, his prayers, thanksgiving, the gospel. These are all in Paul. He says as much as in me, I’m ready to preach the gospel.

That phrase. “as much as is in me” is removed from some of the newer translations, but it’s a good example of our King James bible being perfectly preserved to prevent the ever learning and never coming to knowledge the truth, as 2 Timothy 3:7 describes.

“As much as in you” means that if we know the gospel and we know Christ working in us, we can preach and we can teach. We can communicate and edify the body of Christ, even if we don’t know everything yet.

2 Timothy 3:7 describes a mentality, a certain perfectionism that’s always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

Paul’s saying I’m establishing you people having mutual faith and as much as in me means that even though God’s still laying that foundation through Paul and the book of Romans at this time, that dispensation of Grace that’s as vital for the foundation of the Body of Christ today as it was 2000 years ago, Paul says I’m ready to preach it. And he’s ready not just with Doctrine but because he’s prayed, and he longs for it. He has a zeal for it. He’s going to go there and he’s going to preach the Gospel according to the revelation of the mystery that we see so crystal clear in Ephesians 3:3-6,

how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 

And in Romans 16:25-26,

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— 

 

And in Colossians 1:25-27,

of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

That’s what Paul’s going to do, and we’ll talk about that gospel next episode when we dive into verse 16.

Until then, try and find the time to read the book of Romans for yourself at least chapters 1 to 8. It’ll set that vital foundation all who are the Body of Christ today. May God bless you richly.