25    Ministering in the Will  of God (15:22-33)

For this reason I have often been hindered from coming to you; but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while—but now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain. And I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ.

Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. (15:22–33)

Paul wrote the major part of his letter to the Roman church to establish himself with them doctrinally. In this epilogue, he establishes himself with them personally, indicating his heart’s desire to minister to them and to fellowship with them.

Paul here makes additional comments about his ministry, especially his plans and hopes for future work in the Lord’s service. These personal expressions do reveal some truths which are more implicit than explicit and are general rather than specific. As Paul bares his heart to a group of believers, most of whom he has never met and who lived in a place where he had never been, he provides some valuable principles for all who read.

Underlying the surface of this very personal passage is the basic principle that was the foundation of Paul’s life, the principle that directed everything he thought, said, wrote, and did. He articulates that truth in verse 32: “by the will of God.” The rest of the passage leads up to that statement and reveals in an intimate and unique way the attitudes, perceptions, and purposes of a believer who lives wholly in the knowledge of God’s will.

Paul’s life was centered in obeying his divine calling “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles” (Rom. 15:16; cf. Acts 9:15; 26:17–18). As seen in the last commentary chapter, he ministered as a priest, a preacher, and a pioneer. Although he typically began his ministry in a new area by preaching to Jews, his ultimate purpose was to use that Jewish base to reach unbelievers in Gentile lands, in order that his “offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16).

Paul’s service was carefully focused exactly on God’s will worked out with precision. He sought to follow the example of his Lord, who said, “I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30). As well as being careful regarding those to whom he preached, he also was carefully focused as to where he ministered. His three missionary journeys covered much of the same territories, although the second and third expanded on the first by his going to Macedonia and Achaia, the general area of what is modern Greece. During the second journey, after ministering again in Galatia, he and Silas had planned to travel north “into Bithynia, [but] the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas,” where Paul had a vision of a man calling them to Macedonia, after which they “sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called [them] to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:6–10). Paul’s personal plans were continually subject to God’s direction and revision.

Paul knew from the beginning of his new life in Christ that following the divine call would lead him to endure suffering for his Lord (Acts 9:16). He told the elders from Ephesus that he was compelled to go to Jerusalem, not knowing exactly what would happen to him there, “except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me” (Acts 20:22–23). “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself,” he continued, “in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus” (v. 24).

The personal cost of his ministry was of no consequence, however. “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,” he wrote believers in Colossae, “and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God. … And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Col. 1:24–25, 29).

The faithful servant of God knows that true success in the Lord’s work can be attained only as he wholly accepts his divine calling and unstintingly commits his heart, his mind, his time, his abilities, and his spiritual gift to fulfilling that calling. Genuine success sometimes can fail as much from trying to do more than we are called to do as from doing less. Paul did not try to do the work of several apostles but only the work to which the Lord had specifically called him. He demonstrated the same kind of economy of effort as Jesus, whose ministry was strictly focused on His Father’s calling and will. He did not cure every illness in Palestine, nor did He attempt to preach to every Jew, much less every Gentile. Yet, after only three years of ministry, He could say to His Father in the Upper Room, “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do” (John 17:4), and could say on the cross before the world, “It is finished” (19:30).

Depth of ministry is always more important than breadth, thoroughness more significant than scope. God always demands depth of commitment, whether the field of service be large or small, constant or changing, public or private, and, in the world’s eyes, noble or ignoble.

In Romans 15:22–32, Paul demonstrates in his own life six characteristics, or elements, of his own ministry that should be evidenced in the life and ministry of every believer who is committed to doing God’s will. These may be categorized as providence (v. 22), planning (vv. 23–24), priority (vv. 25–28), prosperity (v. 29), purpose (v. 30a), and prayer (vv. 30b-32).

PROVIDENCE

For this reason I have often been hindered from coming to you; (15:22)

This reason refers to Paul’s fulfilling his divine calling as “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, … from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum,” in order that “they who had not news of Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand” (15:16, 19, 21). Faithfulness to his calling hindered him from doing many of the things he would like to have done, including, thus far, visiting the church at Rome.

Enkoptō (hindered) literally means to cut into or cut out. It was used of deep trenches that sometimes were dug across a road to impede an enemy army. It came to be used metaphorically of any hindrance or impediment. The imperfect tense of the Greek verb indicates continuation, and its being passive indicates that the cause was from the outside. Because of God’s plan and control, Paul was providentially and continually prevented from coming to the church at Rome.

God has changed the natural course of events by direct, miraculous intervention, such as in opening the Red Sea for Israel to cross safely and then closing it on the pursuing Egyptian army. But God also—and most often, as far as our human understanding can perceive—controls men and events in non-miraculous and indirect ways that we cannot observe or be aware of. This is providence—God’s sovereign control of everything exercised not through the miraculous, but through ordering all the complex natural events so that they accomplish His will. Even Paul, the most prominent of the apostles, who was used as a human instrument for recording much of God’s Word in the New Testament, did not presume to fully understand the Lord’s working in his life. But God’s providence was a crucial element in achieving the intended purposes for Paul’s service.

In the circumstance mentioned above, God did not explain to Paul His reason for not allowing him to minister in Bithynia. Somehow, Paul knew only that it was “the Spirit of Jesus [who] did not permit them” (Acts 16:7). And it was not until he and his companions had travelled on to Troas that their ultimate destination became clear.

The classic Old Testament illustration of God’s indirect control to accomplish His will is found in the story of Joseph. During the time the events were unfolding, neither Joseph, his brothers, nor his father Jacob knew God’s purpose in allowing the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery. It was many years later that Joseph’s high position in Egypt was used by the Lord to save His chosen people from famine. As Joseph later realized and explained to his repentant brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen. 50:20). In a somewhat similar way, the Lord caused King Ahasuerus to choose Esther as his queen and thereby enabled her to intercede on behalf of her fellow Jews and save them from annihilation.

Jeremiah declared, “I know, 0 Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). From Proverbs we learn that “the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9), and that “many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand” (19:21). Paul reminded believers at Philippi that “it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

God effected His will in Paul’s life by providentially controlling all the intricate circumstances around him.

PLANNING

but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while—(15:23–24)

A second element for a believer who faithfully fulfills his divine calling is care in making plans for ministry. Contrary to how it may seem on first thought, sensible and careful planning by God’s people does not necessarily indicate lack of trust in His providence. Waiting on the Lord’s providence does not preclude personal planning.

Jesus asked rhetorically, “Which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? … Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:28, 31). In this instance, Jesus was speaking of the cost of discipleship (v. 33), but the principle of planning is also valid in regard to the way we fulfill our discipleship.

The prerequisite in every case, of course, is that our planning, no matter how carefully and sincerely made, be constantly and completely subject to the Lord’s control and alteration—just as were Paul’s plans to minister in Bithynia and to visit Rome.

He believed there was no further place for him in these regions where he had been ministering, and he had for many years a longing to come to Rome whenever he went to Spain. He did not claim that God was calling him to minister either in Rome or in Spain, but he strongly hoped for and planned for both ministries.

Spain included the city or region referred to in the Old Testament as Tarshish, the place to which Jonah sought to flee (Jonah 1:3) and from which ships brought King Solomon “gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks” every three years (1 Kings 10:22).

Spain was on the far western side of the continent and had become a major center of commerce and culture, made accessible by way of the renowned Roman roads. Ruins of impressive Roman architecture still exist there today. That province had produced such outstanding men as Martial, famous for his epigrams; the poet Lucan; the notable orator Quintilian; and the greatest Spaniard in the Roman Empire, Seneca, the notable statesman and Stoic philosopher who tutored Nero and was prime minister of the Empire. Yet, from the most reliable historical and archaeological evidence, Spain was not evangelized until the middle of the third century.

It therefore is understandable why Paul’s plan was to minister in Spain. And he strongly desired to see the believers at Rome in passing. Because the church in Rome was well established and mature, Paul did not want, as he had already explained, “to preach the gospel … where Christ was already named, that [he] might not build upon another man’s foundation” (v. 20). But, although his intended layover in Rome was to be brief, it was of great personal importance to Paul. While visiting that church, he hoped to be helped on his way there (Spain), after he had first enjoyed the company of the Roman believers for a while.

To be helped is from the verb propempō, which, in the New Testament, is used in a rather specific and technical sense. It was always used of the custom in the early church of furnishing an escort, as well as supplies, for someone being sent out to minister in a distant field. After returning to the church in Antioch, which had originally commissioned and sent them out (Acts 13:2–3), Paul and Barnabas again were “being sent on their way [propempō] by the church” (15:3). The term is used of the Ephesian elders’ “accompanying [Paul] to the ship” that would take him to Jerusalem. It is translated “escorted” in Acts 21:5; “send … on [the] way” in 1 Corinthians 16:6, 11 and 3 John 6; and “help … on [the] way” in Titus 3:13.

It was not that the churches in which he already had ministered were perfect, that they needed no more pastoral care, or that every professing believer was true or mature. As he had expressed in the opening comments of this epistle, his great hope was that, “perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. And I do not want you to be unaware, brethren,” he continued, “that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles” (Rom. 1:10–13).

Paul expressed other such personal plans, none of which compromised his still greater desire to fully obey God’s will. He told the Thessalonian believers, “But we, brethren, having been bereft of you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan thwarted us” (1 Thess. 2:17–18). Satan did not, of course, thwart God’s plan, but God, for His own purposes, allowed Satan to thwart the plans of Paul.

Making sensible and careful plans for serving God does not conflict with reliance on His providence, and reliance on His providence does not excuse failure to plan.

But personal plans, no matter how unselfish and spiritually motivated, must be subject to God’s plan. Paul’s desire to visit Rome was strong, but his desire to obey God was stronger still. He had the self-discipline and steadfast dedication to fulfill what God had given him to do, setting his personal dreams aside until, and if, the Lord brought them to pass.

PRIORITY

but now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain. (15:25–28)

Paul illustrates a third element characteristic of a believer who faithfully fulfills his calling, namely that of setting clear priorities. Planning for future ministry must never cause a present ministry to suffer.

Before Paul would be free to go to Rome, much less Spain, it was necessary for him to go about a thousand miles in the opposite direction to Jerusalem, in order to serve the saints there.

His taking that journey seems to contradict his calling “to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named” (15:20). The church was born in Jerusalem, and no city in the first century had more direct ministry by the apostles and other church leaders. But at the time Paul wrote this letter, probably in A.D. 58, the church in Jerusalem was suffering not only great persecution but great poverty. There was a famine throughout Palestine, and because of persecution by unbelieving Jews, many Christian men lost their jobs and many others were put in prison, making bad conditions still worse for their families. In addition to that, many foreign Jews who were visiting Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost were converted to Christ and decided to remain in the city, usually as guests of believers who lived there.

Because of that great need, Paul had made an appeal to the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, who were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. During their previous trip to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas had been extended “the right hand of fellowship” by James, Peter, and John, “that we might go to the Gentiles,” Paul had written to the Galatians some years earlier, “and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do” (Gal. 2:9–10). This was part of assuring that the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, broken down in Christ (Eph. 2:14), was not rebuilt.

In his first letter to Corinth, which was in the province of Achaia, Paul wrote, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also” (1 Cor. 16:1). In his second letter to Corinth, he rejoiced in the generosity of the churches of Macedonia. “In a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints” (2 Cor. 8:2–4).

During this period there still was considerable animosity and distrust between Jewish and Gentile believers. The contribution from the primarily Gentile churches of Macedonia and Achaia, who, for the most part, were also poor, was a powerful gesture of love and reconciliation to the impoverished saints in Jerusalem, who were primarily Jewish. Paul was committed to taking that offering, along with representatives of the Gentile churches who gave it, in order to promote harmony in the Body of Christ.

Contribution translates koinōnia, which has the basic idea of sharing and is most commonly rendered as “fellowship” or “communion.” But here, as in 2 Corinthians 9:13, the context gives it the connotation of financial sharing, a gift. It seems that Paul’s concern was to strengthen the koinōnia of spiritual fellowship between Jew and Gentile by means of the koinōnia of material support. Central to his ministry was proclaiming the truth that “now in Christ Jesus you [Gentiles] who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups,” Jews and Gentiles, “into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall” (Eph. 2:13–14). God had given him special “insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (3:4–6).

Believers in Macedonia and Achaia not only were willing to give generously, but were pleased to do so. They gave because the saints in Jerusalem were brothers and sisters in Christ and also because they realized that, as Jesus told the woman of Sychar, “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). Isaiah prophesied that “the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isa. 2:3).

On the human level, all Gentile Christians owe their spiritual lives to the Jewish apostles, prophets, teachers, and evangelists who first proclaimed the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. Therefore the Gentiles who contributed to the saints in Jerusalem acknowledged they were indebted to those Jews. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, Paul continues to explain, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things (money).

Leitourgeō (to minister) is the Greek term from which we get “liturgy.” It was often used of priestly service, to which Paul had referred in 15:16. Even their giving of material things was an act of spiritual service.

It was not that the Gentiles’ being spiritually and materially indebted to the Jews made their generosity any less meaningful or loving. Duty does not exclude willing and joyful compliance. Even the most demanding duty or indebtedness can be fulfilled out of love. And the Macedonian and Achaian Christians fulfilled their duty and acknowledged their indebtedness in joyful willingness, not out of compulsion. As already noted, the letter of Romans was written in Corinth, a major city of Achaia, and believers there doubtless had heard many times the admonition Paul wrote to them in his second letter: “Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Many of them had become cheerful givers and thereby pleased God.

They were also pleasing to Paul. Therefore, when I have finished this, he said, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain. Paul was overjoyed with the generous gift that he and the delegation from those Gentile churches were bringing to Jerusalem. He wanted to put his seal on this fruit of theirs, confirming, both as a Jew and as an apostle, the genuine love and gratitude those Gentile representatives must have expressed as they presented their conciliatory contribution to the suffering Jewish saints in Jerusalem.

Paul mentioned again (see v. 24) his plan to visit the Roman church on his way to Spain. But his present priority was to demonstrate Gentile love toward Jewish believers by delivering the offering of the Gentile churches to the church in Jerusalem. It was this offering about which Paul wrote in his second letter to Corinth, assuring believers there that “the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry they [the Jewish saints in Jerusalem] will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all” (2 Cor. 9:12–13). News of this forthcoming gesture of love apparently had already reached the Jerusalem church, because, Paul goes on to say, “they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you” (v. 14). That unselfish offering was further evidence to Jews that God’s saving grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ did, indeed, extend to the Gentiles.

PROSPERITY

And I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ. (15:29)

A fourth element characteristic of a person who faithfully fulfills his divine calling is spiritual prosperity. Paul’s saying I know reflects his absolute assurance that when he came to Jerusalem it would be in the fulness of the blessing of Christ. Because he lived continually in obedience to the Lord, his life was always blessed. Obviously, that blessing did not exclude physical hardships and afflictions, as he mentions in verse 31 and in many of his other letters. But nothing physical could rob him of the fulness of that spiritual blessing.

What is often referred to as the “health and wealth gospel” was the furthest thing from Paul’s mind. His obedience to Christ cost him dearly in both of those areas. Because of his service to Christ, he suffered imprisonments, beatings, stonings, dangers from Gentiles as well as Jews, and a host of other hardships (see 2 Cor. 11:23–27). But none of those outward problems could rob him of his inner blessing. To the contrary, he wrote, “my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and … most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. … In every way, … Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice” (Phil. 1:12–14, 18).

Paul’s hardships gave him greater opportunity “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles” and to offer them as an offering to God, “acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16) and thereby receive the blessing that only such selfless service to the Lord can bring. He knew “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension”; he knew “how to get along with humble means” and “how to live in prosperity”; and God supplied all his “needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7, 12, 19).

Paul deeply believed the truth expressed in the sixteenth-century missionary Francis Xavier’s beautiful hymn:

PURPOSE

Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, (15:30a)

A fifth implied characteristic of a person who faithfully fulfills his divine calling is that of having a clear purpose in his service for the Lord. The preposition by has the sense of “on behalf of,” or “with regard to.” Now I urge you introduces the exhortation to the readers to pray for his protection and ministry. Before giving that exhortation, Paul declared unequivocally that the overriding purpose for his request was to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. He told the believers at Corinth, “I do all things for the sake of the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:23), which is to say for Christ’s sake, the source and power of the gospel. “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (10:31).

In a following letter to Corinth Paul declared, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord. … For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:5, 11). “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses,” he confessed, “with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake” (12:10). In his closing remarks to the Galatian churches Paul wrote, “From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus” (Gal. 6:17). And to the Philippians he said, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

The faithful Christian witnesses for the sake of those who need the Lord and he serves for the sake of those who need help, but his supreme motive always should be to serve His Lord and Savior, in whose name and by whose power he ministers to others.

Paul rejoiced in the fact that, if he succeeded in reaching Jerusalem with the contribution of the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, Christ would be glorified, within the church and before the onlooking world. The Lord would be glorified by the willing and loving generosity of the Gentile contributors as well as by the grateful reception of the gift by the Jews to whom it was sent. Christ is always honored and glorified when His church is unified in His name and in His service.

Not only did Paul minister on behalf of the glory of Christ but also for the sake of the love of the Spirit. This phrase and the idea it expresses are not found elsewhere in Scripture. Some have interpreted this phrase as meaning the Holy Spirit’s love for Paul. As part of the Godhead, the Spirit certainly has the same love for the world as a whole and for believers in particular as do the Father and the Son. The context, however, seems to indicate that Paul was speaking of his love for the Spirit, rather than the Spirit’s love for him. Paul’s great love for God obviously included love for the Holy Spirit as well as for God the Father and God the Son. David expressed a similar sentiment when he wrote, “Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God; let Thy good Spirit lead me on level ground” (Ps. 143:10, emphasis added). In both instances the Holy Spirit is praised and, by implication, is loved.

Devotion to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and love for His Holy Spirit should be the foremost and ultimate motive for all Christian living and service. In gratitude for the divine grace by which Christ saved us and for the divine power of the Holy Spirit who indwells us, everything we think, say, and do should express our love for them and bring them glory and honor.

PRAYER

to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. (15:306–32)

Perhaps the cardinal characteristic of a person who faithfully does the will of God is prayer. And Paul now urges his fellow believers in Rome to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.

Sunagōnizomai (to strive together) is an intensified form of agōnizomai, which means to struggle or fight and is the term from which we get the English “agonize.” The word was originally used of athletic events, especially gymnastics, in which contestants, such as wrestlers or boxers, struggled against each other. Jesus used the word when He told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting [agōnizomai]” (John 18:36).

Prayer is often a battle. Sometimes the “opponent” is our old self, which continues to wage “war against the law of [our] mind, and [makes us] a prisoner of the law of sin which is in [our] members” (Rom. 7:23). Prayer is always, in one way or another, a struggle against sin and evil, whether in us or around us. Sometimes, as Isaiah attests, it is necessary to arouse ourselves, as it were, and “take hold of” God (Isa. 64:7). Although we do not wrestle with the Lord in the way that Jacob did (Gen. 32:24), the spiritual struggle of prayer may sometimes be equally intense. Paul’s struggle on behalf of believers at Colossae and Laodicea doubtless included many hours of agonizing prayer on their behalf, that they would be rightly taught “a true knowledge of God’s mercy, that is, Christ Himself,” and would be protected from those who wanted to delude them (Col. 2:1–4). Near the end of that letter, Paul sent greetings from Epaphras, who was from their fellowship, and who was “always laboring earnestly for [them] in his prayers, that [they might] stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God” (4:12).

Our finite minds cannot reconcile the power of prayer with God’s absolute sovereignty. As with the Trinity, and many other clearly revealed but humanly unfathomable teachings of Scripture, we simply acknowledge their absolute truth. Any seeming inconsistencies are due to the limits of our human comprehension. We know from His own Word that God is sovereign and immutable. Yet we also know from that same Word that “the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16). We have our sovereign Lord’s promise that “everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened” (Luke 11:10). Any theology that belittles the power of prayer or intensity in prayer is heresy.

Although he asks for protection while in Judea, in this present passage Paul is not speaking primarily about struggling in prayer against the forces of evil. His emphasis here is rather on earnestly struggling along with his brethren in Rome in their prayers to God for him. He makes many similar requests in his letters. “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit,” he counsels the Ephesians, “and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf” (Eph. 6:18–19). During his first imprisonment in Rome, he implored the Colossians, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well” (Col. 4:2–3). In his second letter to Thessalonica, he said, “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified” (2 Thess. 3:1).

At the beginning of the letter to Rome, Paul assures believers there that “God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers” (1:9–10). Now he asks those brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for him: for his safety in Judea when he visits Jerusalem (15:31a), for success in his ministry to the saints there (v. 31b), and for personal satisfaction, as he anticipates fellowship with his readers when he eventually reaches Rome (v. 32a, c).

SAFETY

that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, (15:31a)

Disobedient is from apeitheō, which carries the basic idea of being obstinate and unpersuadable. In this context it refers to Jews who obstinately refused to believe the gospel and therefore were disobedient to God, whose Son, the Messiah, they rejected. It is therefore rendered “do not believe” in the King James Version. The same verb is translated “disbelieved” in Acts 14:2 (NASB), referring to Jews who “stirred up the minds of the Gentiles, and embittered them against the brethren,” specifically, Paul and Barnabas (see 13:50).

From the time that he first “began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God’” (Acts 9:20), Paul was marked for death by Jewish leaders in Damascus (v. 23) and shortly afterwards by Jews in Jerusalem when he began preaching the gospel there (v. 30). By the time he wrote the letter to Rome, he already had endured ridicule, imprisonments, lashings, beatings, and even stoning by Jews who fiercely opposed him and the gospel he preached (see, e.g., 2 Cor. 11:23–25; Acts 14:19; 18:12; 20:3, 19).

Paul’s request to be delivered was not for the purpose of his being spared further persecution or even death. He unselfishly wanted to be delivered only to the extent necessary for him to complete the ministry the Lord had given him. Long before he arrived in Judea, he knew that trouble awaited him. While his ship laid over at Miletus, he told the elders from Ephesus who came out to meet him, “Now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself,” he continued, “in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:22–24).

When Paul and his companions reached Caesarea, they stayed a few days at the house of Philip the evangelist. While there, “a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us,” Luke reports, “he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, ‘This is what the Holy Spirit says: “In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles”’” (Acts 21:10–11).

Paul’s prayer request to be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea was therefore answered positively, to the extent that the unbelieving Jews in Judea were not allowed to take his life. He was beaten and imprisoned, but his life was divinely spared. While being held under guard by the Romans in Jerusalem, “the Lord stood at his [Paul’s] side and said, ‘Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also’” (Acts 23:11).

SUCCESS

and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; (15:316)

Paul’s second prayer request was that, regardless of what dangers might befall him, his service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints. In other words, he wanted his ministry to benefit the Lord’s people there, at the birthplace of the church. He was not concerned for what might be called professional success. He once warned the Galatian believers that, “Even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. … For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:8, 10).

Because he and his Gentile companions from Macedonia and Achaia were bringing a financial contribution to the church at Jerusalem, which was still largely Jewish, the service which Paul mentions doubtless referred, at least in part, to that offering. He wanted the saints in Rome to pray with him that the gift would not offend Jewish believers in Jerusalem but rather would prove acceptable to the saints there. He wanted it to be received with loving gratitude for what it was, a gesture of brotherly love and conciliation.

Paul’s prayer for success in Jerusalem also was answered. “When we had come to Jerusalem,” Luke says, “the brethren received us gladly. … And after [Paul] had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it they began glorifying God” (Acts 21:17, 19–20).

SATISFACTION

so that I may come to you in joy … and find refreshing rest in your company. (15:32a, c)

This is Paul’s most personal prayer request of the three. Looking forward to the time when he finally would be able to come to the church in Rome, he hoped that he might do so in joy. He already had told them, “I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while” (15:24).

In the closing comments of his first letter to Corinth, he said, “I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus; because they have supplied what was lacking on your part. For they have refreshed my spirit and yours” (1 Cor. 16:17–18). He rejoiced in the blessings and joy of others. “Besides our comfort,” he later wrote to the same church, “we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all” (2 Cor. 7:13).

Paul’s personal desire to minister in Spain was never realized, but he did reach Rome and found the joy and refreshing rest in their company for which he longed. When he and his companions arrived in Rome, “the brethren, when they heard about us, came from there as far as the Market of Appius and Three Inns to meet us; and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage” (Acts 27:15).

Again we note that above all else, Paul was committed unalterably to the will of God. Soon after he and Barnabas were sent out by the Holy Spirit from the church in Antioch of Syria (Acts 13:2–3), Paul preached in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch (v. 14), in Asia Minor. Twice he referred to David’s obedience to God’s will. Quoting 1 Samuel 13:14, he reminded his Jewish audience of the Lord’s word concerning this greatest king of Israel: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will” (v. 22). Later in that sermon he noted again that “David … had served the purpose of God in his own generation” (v. 36). From the moment of his conversion—whether as priest, prophet, or pioneer (see Rom. 15:14–21)—Paul sought to do nothing but the will of God, in order that, like David, he also might be a man after the Lord’s heart.

Throughout his letter to the church at Rome, the apostle attests to that desire. As in the present text, he makes clear that his hope to visit Rome in person was qualified by its being in “the will of God” (Rom. 1:10). He previously has declared that one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to intercede “for the saints according to the will of God” (8:27), and urges believers, “by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God,” and to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is” (12:1–2). He praised believers in Macedonia because they “gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God” (2 Cor. 8:5). He cautioned believers in Ephesus not to “be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17), and admonished slaves to be “obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (6:5–6).

In the opening verses of his two letters to the church at Corinth, his letters to the churches at Ephesus and Colossae, and his second letter to Timothy, Paul acknowledges that he was “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” The supreme focus of his personal life and of his public ministry was always the will of God.

When the believers at Caesarea begged Paul not to continue on to Jerusalem because of the dangers he would face there, he responded, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13; cf. 20:24). What happened to him was unimportant, as long as he was following the Lord’s will in doing the Lord’s work.

When he testified about his conversion and calling before a large crowd of Jews in Jerusalem, he recounted the words of Ananias, who had said to him, “The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear an utterance from His mouth” (Acts 22:14).

As Paul has already testified in Romans 15, because of his ministering in the will of God, he knew spiritual triumph and could say with perfect humility, “In Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed” (vv. 17–18). By ministering solely in the will of God he experienced the supernatural power “of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit” and could claim “that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (v. 19).

BENEDICTION

Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. (15:33)

Before extending personal greetings to various friends in Rome and giving a final warning to be on guard against those who caused dissensions for their own selfish purposes, Paul gives this short but touching benediction.

In this chapter, he has spoken of “the God who gives perseverance and encouragement” (v. 5) and “the God of hope” (v. 13). Now he asks that the God of peace be with you all, that is, all believers in Rome.

God is the source of all true peace, the peace “which surpasses all comprehension” (Phil. 4:7). In fact, “He himself is our peace, who made both groups,” Jews and Gentiles, “into one” (Eph. 2:14; cf. vv. 11–13).

On the human level, Paul’s life as an apostle was far from peaceful. As far as outward particulars were concerned, he lived in uncertainty and often turmoil. He was under almost continual threat against his physical safety and life. But he knew intimately the God of peace, and he lived himself in the peace and settled tranquillity that God gives to those who faithfully abide in His will. Amen.