22 For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you. 23 But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, 24 whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while. 25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. 26 For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. 27 It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things. 28 Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain. 29 But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. 30 Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Commentary
Vs. 22 "For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you."
Vs. 22 "For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you."
The Apostle Paul's being hindered from coming to the Christians at Rome was out of service to the Gospel of God to the many geographic locals in Asia Minor where the Gospel had previously not been preached.
Vs. 23-24 23 But now no longer having a place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you, 24 whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.
And so the Apostle Paul having preached the Gospel through Asia Minor and the regions of Greece and having no place left to preach the gospel where it was not already being declared, the Apostle now sees it as the time to fulfill a long held desire, and that was to visit and strengthen the believers he had been told so much about in Rome and had been writing too in this epistle to the Romans. Now the Apostle links his visiting the Romans to his journeying onto Spain. Thus Paul's ongoing ministry work would not be supplanted by his desire to see them all. Instead while fulfilling that duty he would come to them as his travels would bring him near to their local. And being brought near them the Apostle Paul anticipated being hospitably received by them, being as he says, "helped on my way there by you." That is after their visit and fellowship (and thus the Apostle enjoying their company, and them his) they would send him on his way, providing whatever necessities were needed for him to complete his mission in Spain. Which then would've taken him to some of the farthest western regions of the Roman Empire.
Vs. 25 "But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints."
Though the Apostle Paul was greatly anticipating his journey onto Rome. His immediate itinerary had Jerusalem as his destination. His purpose for going back to Jerusalem was to minister to the saints. That is to bring material relief to those Christians there who were enduring severe hardships and persecutions by both the Jews as well as the Romans. And so this would begin Paul's journey that would eventually bring him to Rome (see Acts 21:1-28:31).
Vs. 26-28 26 For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. 27 It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things. 28 Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.
The believers mentioned here from Macedonia and Achaia are those believers which we read the Apostle Paul's exhortations to in (1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 8-9) on this very duty (also see Gal 2:10). A duty which entails our ministering to each other in our times of need (consider 1 John 3:17-18). And so the Gentile Christians are as the Apostle Paul states here debtors to their Jewish brethren. For having partaken of their spiritual things their duty then is to minister to them in material things.
Therefore the Apostle Paul says when he has "sealed to them this fruit", that is fulfilled this service on their behalf that they will be rewarded eternally for, he will come to the believers in Rome by way of Spain.
Vs. 29 "But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ."
The Apostle Paul now anticipates his coming to the brethren at Rome "in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." That is he fully expects to bring a Spiritual blessing to them through the Gospel, and to be a blessing to them (see Rom 1:11-13).
Vs. 30-33 30 Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
The Apostle Paul begins this section with a earnest request for our brethrens prayers, making an appeal to them for this through the Lord Jesus Christ to whom he was His ambassador to them, as well as through the love of the Spirit, which binds each and every believer's heart to each other. And so Paul asks that they strive together with him in prayers to God for himself so that he may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe. Likely meaning the Jews whom he was constantly under assault by ever since he turned from dead works to the living God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (vs. 30-31). As well the Apostle Paul requested that they strive together with him in prayers so that his service to the saints (i.e. believers) in Jerusalem to whom he was carrying gifts of relief for would be "acceptable to the saints" (i.e. well-pleasing to them, or well received by them). Finally the apostle coveted their prayers to God on his behalf so that he could come to them in joy, and all by the will of God, and thus they both could be refreshed together (vs. 32). And yet as we know from the historical account in the Book of Acts God had another plan by which He would bring Paul not just to Rome but to the echelons of power within it, to Caesar himself to be His witness to him as well. Though that was still in Paul's future, and at the time of his dictating this epistle to Tertius (16:22) he did not know any of that then. Having then requested their striving together with himself in prayers the Apostle Paul concludes with a prayer for them all, and that is that the God of peace be with them (and us) all, amen.
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Additional Resources Consulted
Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible Knowledge
Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.
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