ROMANS 1:8-15

Barclay entitles this section “The Courtesy of Greatness.” He explains that “Paul, in his 

humility, was always ready to receive as well as to give...Paul was the greatest thinker the Early

Church ever produced, and yet, when he thought of the people to whom he longed to preach, he

thought of himself not only as giving to them but receiving from them. It takes humility to teach

as it takes humility to learn.”

Paul follows the general structure of an ancient letter. Greeting, Prayer (1:7), Thanksgiving (1:8-9), Special Contents, and Closing Salutations and Personal Greetings. This particular section starts with a prayer of thanks and begins to introduce the body of the letter.

8. “First” is confusing since there is no “secondly.” It may mean “above all” or “at the beginning.”

“My God” is used by Paul elsewhere, but not that often; it was an OT term. Paul explains what he means in 9b.

“Through Jesus Christ” is the same as our saying “in Jesus' name” at the end of our prayers. It is often just a habit with us, but we should think about what we are saying: He is the intermediary who allows us to pray to God.

“All the world” = a figure of speech (hyperbole) referring to the Roman Empire.

He begins with a sincere compliment. This is a good policy, especially when dealing with those that we do not know well.

He rejoices that their faith is not a hidden faith but there for all to see.

9. Paul takes a solemn oath. This shows that all oath taking is not condemned (unlike the Jehovah Witnesses who take Jesus' teachings against swearing in God's name literally). It is only flippant oaths that take God's name in vain.

“Always” or “without ceasing” does not mean without interruption. In this case, it appears to mean whenever he prayed.

He prays for them even though he was not personally acquainted with most of them. Have you ever found out that someone had been praying for you for some time without you knowing it?

10. His prayer of thanks becomes a prayer of petition at this point.

Paul is more concerned to be following God's will than to fulfill his own agenda.

11. This probably does not refer to Paul imparting the gift(s) of the Holy Spirit on them by the laying on of hands, but to a general spiritual blessing (see Romans 15:27, the context of which is the fact that the Gentile churches had contributed money to the church in Jerusalem).

12. Mutual building up is a keynote in Paul's teachings. I have often said that one of the best qualifications for a teacher is someone who is himself teachable.

He will receive as well as give. This was fulfilled in Acts 28:14-15, but as with many of our prayers, the means of fulfillment was not exactly what he expected.

13. “I do not want you to be unaware” signals in Paul's writing an important subject.

This is the third reason for wanting to visit.

See Acts 19:21, which describe events that happened about the same time as the writing of Romans, for a parallel account of Paul's intentions.

He had been prevented although we know of no details in the NT. It could have been (1) a “supernatural” event such as in Acts 16:7 or (2) a more “natural” reason such as described in the parallel passage Romans 15:19-22. In fact, I don't like the terms natural and supernatural since all things that occur in the world are ultimately under God's control, not just the things we call miracles.

In any case, it would be several years more until he would visit them (as we read at the end of Acts).

14-15. “I am obligated” (lit. “I am a debtor”). This is not in the sense that he had already gained something from them and needed to repay it, but that he owed them a presentation of the Gospel.

According to one commentator, the parallelism equates Greeks with wise and barbarians (non-Greeks) with “foolish” using terminology current in the Roman Empire at the time. A Greek was one who understood the Greek language (as did many in the Roman Empire) and its culture. Other commentators deny that there is any such parallelism. One notes that there can be foolish Greeks and wise barbarians. And another notes that the first pair covers all the Gentiles while the second pair covers all humanity. Wise and foolish = educated and uneducated, respectively.

Final question: Why did he want to present the Gospel to those who already believed? (Preaching to the choir)

    1. Outsiders might be present in the church assembly,

    2. We all need to be reminded periodically of the basic Gospel, like going to a Billy Graham rally.

    3. Gospel (good news) includes many implications for the believers' lives that need to be pointed out and emphasized.