Mutually Encouraged

 Greeting everyone.  

We continue to look at Romans, as Paul greets the church:

8 First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, as your faith is being talked about all over the world. 9 I serve God in my spirit as I proclaim the gospel of his son. He is my witness of how I am constantly making mention of you. 10 I am always in prayer for you, asking that possibly, at last, I may succeed in coming to you, according to God’s will. 
11 I am eager to see you, so that I may give you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. 12  This is so that we can be mutually encouraged by one another’s faith.  13 I do not want you to be unaware , brothers and sisters, that I frequently planned to come to you, but so far I have been prevented from doing so. This has happened so that I may see fruit among you, just as I have among other nations. 
14 I am one who is under obligation to both Greek and non-Greek, to the wise and the foolish, 
15 Therefore, I am eager to proclaim the good news to those of you in Rome.

According to Douglas Moo, in Greek letters, it was fairly common to include an expression of thanks, and a petition to the gods on behalf of the reader.  (Moo, 56.) Paul adopts this custom here in verses 8-10:

He expresses his gratitude for them and their faith.  Even though he has no connection to them, unlike most of the people and churches Paul writes to, he begins his letter expressing his gratitude for them. Apparently they have shown themselves to be very faithful.  In verse 8, he says that “your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world. 

What an amazing thing to have someone say about you, that faith is being talked about all over. To have someone with the apostolic authority that Paul carried must have been encouraging indeed.  Paul follows this thought up in verse 9, stating that he always mentions them, and God would verify that, as his witness.  It is as though he is saying, “everyone is talking about your faith, particularly me,”  Paul is undoubtedly speaking in hyperbole, undoubtedly not everyone is talking about them, but, as Moo points out, the church in Rome, the seat of Roman power, is not bowing a knee to Caesar, but only to Jesus Christ.  They would at various points in time, face tremendous persecution for this, and their faith would encourage those who hear of it. (Moo, 57.) 

In verse 9, Paul tells them that “I serve God in my spirit.”  There is much talk about what that particular phrase means.  The explanation that makes the most sense to me is that when Paul talks about serving God in his spirit, he is referring to the deepest part of himself.  In other words, Paul is simply saying that he serves God with whole-hearted devotion. Then, as he serves God in his spirit, he proclaims the good news of Jesus. His bold proclamation of Jesus as God’s son springs out of whole-hearted devotion. 

Paul frequently prays for those in Rome.  Part of his frequent and constant prayer for the Roman church is that he will soon be able to see them.  He expresses a little later on that he has long desired to do this, but to this point has been prevented from doing so.  

In verse 11, Paul expresses that his motive behind wanting to see them so badly is so that he can give them some kind of spiritual gift to encourage and strengthen them, but that there also may be a mutual benefit It is not clear what spiritual gift Paul desires to give to the Romans, only that the gift would in some way strengthen them.  To me, it makes sense that he would want to lay his hands on them and give them some kind of miraculous gift, as it seems that no apostles were connected to the church in Rome.  

In verse 12, Paul continues his talk of being eager to see them, this time stating that they would be mutually encouraged.  He has something for them, (spiritual gift), but he would also receive something from them, encouragement, of course, but likely something more.  Perhaps, he seeks financial support to go to Spain. (Romans 15:24)  

To this point, Paul has already stated that he prays for them a lot and talks about them a lot. Now, in verse 13, he states that he has wanted to come see them, but so far, has been prevented from doing so.  

He doesn’t explain how he has been prevented. He does add that he wants to come to Rome to see fruit among, just like he has everywhere else. He has an obligation to preach the gospel to all and so he is all the more eager to preach it among those in Rome.    

Although Paul did not start the church in Rome, his missionary zeal is such that he still desires to go there for the purpose of spreading the gospel.  Since the church was already in place, he had dual objectives.  He can spread the gospel while strengthening and encouraging the church. Paul has an obligation to share the good news with everyone, whether Jew or Gentile,  wise or foolish.  This obligation that he feels makes all the more eager to join them in Rome, so that he can spread the good news there.