Lessons #19 and 20
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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Paul’s prayer on behalf of the Romans (Rom 1:8-10)
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.
The specific message of this section that is concerned with Apostle Paul’s prayer on behalf of the Romans is that Your prayer for fellow believers should involve thanksgiving and petition about their spiritual progress. In the introduction of this section, we indicated that the apostle’s specific prayer consists of two elements of the pattern prayer the Lord Jesus taught His disciples. The first element is thanksgiving directed to God on behalf of believers in Rome that we have considered in Romans 1:8. The second element of his prayer in verse 10 consists of petition to God to grant him the opportunity to see the Romans. But before the apostle gets to the second element of his prayer, he appealed to God as a witness to the fact of his prayer on behalf of the Romans in verse 9. It is with this appeal to God that we begin our study this morning.
The translators of the NIV and a handful of English versions did not indicate any direct connection between Romans 1:9 and verse 8 in that they did not use any connective to begin verse 9. However, the Greek text used a connective to the previous verse as reflected in many of our English versions that begin verse 9 with the word for. The word “for” found in many of our English versions is translated from a Greek conjunction (gar) that has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of inference with the meaning “so, then, by all means” or it can be used as a marker of cause or reason for something in which case it may be translated “for, because.” In our verse, it is used as a marker of brief, parenthetical, explanatory clause of the preceding verse so that it may be translated “you see, for.” The apostle could have continued to state the content of his petition without making the appeal to God as he did, for example, in his apostolic prayer for the Ephesians as recorded Ephesians 1:16–18:
16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
However, he did not do this in verse 9; instead, he appealed to God as his witness. Thus, what the apostle wrote in the first part of Romans 1:9 is something that he did not have to state in order to reveal that he prayed regularly for the Romans with specific petition to God. It is for this reason that we contend that verse 9 is parenthetical. Although what the apostle stated is parenthetical, he did so emphatically so there can be no doubt regarding what he was about to assert.
Be that as it may, the apostle appealed to God as the ultimate witness to his prayer on behalf of the Romans. He was concerned with God as his witness that his first word in the Greek of verse 9 is “witness.” This is not evident in the NIV because its translators did not follow the Greek order so that the verse reads God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you. However, literally, the Greek reads For my witness is God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that constantly I make mention of you. The order in the Greek, as we have stated and indicated in the literal translation, shows that the word “witness” is the first noun the apostle wrote in the Greek since the Greek word “for” is actually the second word in the Greek of our verse. Thus, the apostle wanted to emphasize the concept of “witness” and so that was the first word he wrote in the Greek.
The word “witness” is translated from a Greek word (martys) that may mean “witness,” that is, a person who testifies in legal matters as the word is used by Apostle Paul in his instruction to Timothy about how to handle accusations brought against an elder as we read in 1 Timothy 5:19:
Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.
The word may mean “witness” as one who can affirm or attest the truthfulness of something as the word is used to describe God as One that can affirm the truthfulness of Apostle Paul’s affection towards the Philippians as we read in Philippians 1:8:
God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
The word may mean “martyr,” that is, “one who witnesses at the cost of life” as the word is used by Luke to narrate Apostle Paul’s description of Stephen, the first to be killed for his witness for Christ as we read in Acts 22:20:
And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
In our passage of Romans 1:9, the word means “witness,” that is, “someone who sees an event and reports what happened.”
Apostle Paul being a Jewish rabbi knew the importance of witnesses in establishing the truthfulness of any declaration. This fact he conveyed as he quoted the OT Scripture in his second epistle to the Corinthians according to 2 Corinthians 13:1:
This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
Here the apostle quoted from Deuteronomy 19:15:
One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
It is because the apostle understood the necessity of two or more independent witnesses to an event that he instructed Timothy not to consider any accusation brought against an elder without two or three witnesses as stated in the passage we cited previously, that is, 1 Timothy 5:19:
Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses.
Anyway, the apostle is aware that the greatest witness to any event is God. Therefore, his appeal was to God when he wanted to establish the truthfulness of his declaration. Beside the passage we are considering in Romans 1:9, the apostle appealed to God in his epistles three other times. When he explained his reason for not returning to Corinth at a specific time, he appealed to God as his witness in 2 Corinthians 1:23:
I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.
To assert to the Thessalonians of the purity of his approach to the gospel message and his teaching of the Christian faith, he appealed to God as his witness in 1 Thessalonians 2:5:
You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness.
In speaking of the purity of his life and that of those in his team, the apostle also appealed to the Thessalonians but ultimately to God according to 1 Thessalonians 2:10:
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.
Hence, the apostle was conscious that the ultimate witness to any event taking place on this planet is God and so he appealed to him to convey the truthfulness of what he states to the Romans regarding his prayer on their behalf. It is beneficial for us to recognize this truth that God is the ultimate witness to all that take place on this planet. Being conscious of this fact should help us to be careful in our conduct.
Be that as it may, Apostle Paul not only mentioned God as the ultimate witness to the truthfulness of his prayer on behalf of the Romans, but he went on to describe this God that he is personally acquainted with as he referenced in verse 8 in the phrase my God. He described this God in the clause whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son or literally whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son.
The apostle described the God he worshipped and served. You see, the word “serve” is translated from a Greek word (latreuō) that in our Scripture is used for service of God. Thus, the word means “to serve” to describe the activities of the priests in Israel’s worship under the Levitical priesthood as stated in Hebrews 8:5:
They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
The word may mean “worship” as it is used in connection with God as the word is used by Luke to narrate Apostle Paul’s defense before Governor Felix in Acts 24:14:
However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets.
In our passage of Romans 1:9, the word has the sense of “to worship.” Thus, the apostle not merely described God as the One he serves but the One he worships.
Worship of God is, no doubt, evident in obedience and service rendered to Him. Thus, the apostle first described where his worship of God occurs and then how he carries it out or demonstrates it outwardly. The “where” of his worship of God is given in the phrase of Romans 1:9 with my whole heart or literally from the Greek in my spirit. The problem is how to interpret the literal phrase in my spirit. The translation of the NIV is one of the ways of interpreting it. Nonetheless, let us consider the words used to help us in our interpretation of the phrase.
The word with of the NIV is translated from a Greek preposition (en) with various meanings. In our passage, it is used primarily with the meaning “within, inside” to indicate where this worship of God takes place. This takes place within the inner being of the apostle. We say this this because the expression “whole heart” is translated from a Greek word (pneuma) that may mean “wind”, as in the description by our Lord Jesus of the one that is born again in John 3:8:
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
The word may mean “breath” as Apostle Paul used it to describe the manner of the destruction of the future lawless one by the Lord Jesus in 2 Thessalonians 2:8:
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
The word may refer to the representative part of human inner life so that it may refer to the source and seat of insight, feeling, and will or as some prefer the “heart.” Thus, the word has the meaning “mind” in Apostle Paul’s description of lack of rest in his spirit because he could not find a member of his missionary team, Titus, as sated in 2 Corinthians 2:13:
I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
The phrase peace of mind is literally rest in my spirit. The word may mean “spirit” as that which animates or gives life to the body, as the word is used to indicate that without it the body is lifeless in James 2:26:
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
In our passage of Romans 1:9, the word means “spirit” in the sense of the inner being of a person where true worship of God takes place. Hence, the apostle wants his readers to know that his worship of God is not superficial as is with some individuals that merely go through the motion of worshipping God while inwardly, they are far from doing so. No! The apostle’s worship is carried out in his inner being certainly aided by the Holy Spirit since he sees himself as one of those who worship God by being enabled by the Holy Spirit as he conveyed to the Philippians as recorded in Philippians 3:3:
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
Truly, anyone who worships God in Christ Jesus the right way must be guided by the Holy Spirit and such an individual worships God in awe or reverence agreeing with what the Holy Spirit through the human author of Hebrews expects of those who are in genuine worship of God as stated in Hebrews 12:28:
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
In any event, the apostle tells the Roman believers and so to all of us that God he calls as his witness is the One he worships in his inner being with the implication that he does so sincerely.
Worship of God indeed reduces to the word “obedience.” This fact is evident in what Abraham said to his servants that he and Isaac were about to do at a mountain in Moriah as recorded in Genesis 22:5:
He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
The worship Abraham meant, was going up to the mountain to do what God had commanded him, which is to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham worshipped God in the sense that he obeyed God’s command in that he attempted to sacrifice Isaac until God stopped him. The animal that was sacrificed is not the worship but Abraham’s obedience. Obedience is more important than any kind of sacrifice of animals to God as Prophet Samuel conveyed to Saul when he indicated the reason he disobeyed God’s instruction was so he could offer animal sacrifice to Him as recorded in 1 Samuel 15:22:
But Samuel replied: Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Thus, it is clear obedience to God’s word is better than any sacrifice and so Abraham’s obedience is indeed what constituted his worship of God at the mountain where he attempted to sacrifice his son, Isaac. The point is that obedience is the best demonstration of worship. This being the case, worship in a sense would involve an activity that reflects obedience. Hence, Apostle Paul demonstrated his worship of God in his activity. This activity is his involvement with the gospel of Jesus Christ as he states in the phrase of Romans 1:9 in preaching the gospel of his Son or literally in the gospel of his Son. This is because the expression “preaching…gospel” is translated from a Greek noun (euangelion) that may mean “details relating to the life and ministry of Jesus,” hence means “good news of Jesus” as the word is used in the introduction of the book of Mark in Mark 1:1:
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The phrase beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ is more literally beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. The Greek word may mean “good news as a proclamation” and so means “gospel” as the word is used by Apostle Paul to describe the message he preached to Gentiles, as recorded in Galatians 2:2:
I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.
In our passage of Romans 1:9, the apostle used it in the sense of “good news,” that is, “positive information about recent and important events regarded as worthy of celebration.” So, the apostle meant to convey that his worship of God is demonstrated in the good news about the Son of God that he certainly preached. May I ask you; how do you demonstrate your worship? You can demonstrate it by first being truly devoted to His word in learning it. The application of His word should cause you to be a witness to Him by word and action. You see, anytime that you are controlled by the Holy Spirit, and you carry out any activity related to God’s word, you are worshipping Him. Thus, you don’t have to be in a building to worship God. You only have to be under the control of the Holy Spirt and carry out what God requires as that is worship.
In any case, the apostle having described the God he worshipped in his inner being aided by the Holy Spirit and having mentioned how he demonstrated his worship, proceeds to state what it is that God he appealed to, witnessed. He witnessed the truthfulness of his prayer on behalf of the Romans. It is this that is given in the last clause of Romans 1:9 how constantly I remember you or literally that constantly I make mention of you. This is because the word “how” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (hōs) that in our verse could be interpreted in one of two ways. It may be understood to be used as a marker of discourse content in which case it may be translated “that” as reflected in such English versions as the ESV, the NRSV, among others. The word may be understood as a marker indicating how something occurred so that it means “how” as in the NIV, the AMP, the NEB although the REB used the meaning “that.” Either meaning makes sense but perhaps the apostle meant to describe the content of what God is to be his witness than how he carried out what God is to be his witness.
The main action of the apostle that God witnessed is carried out regularly since the word “constantly” in Romans 1:9 is translated from a Greek word (adialeiptōs) that can mean “constantly, unceasingly, continuously.” It is a word that appears only in the epistles of Apostle Paul where he used it four times, all in association with prayer. Three of these are in his first epistle to the Thessalonians especially the command about prayer given in 1 Thessalonians 5:17:
pray continually;
The Authorized Version (KJV) translates this more literally as “pray without ceasing.” The idea of the Greek word translated “constantly” in Romans 1:9 how constantly I remember you is not that something should be done continuously without any intermission as that would be practically impossible as it relates to prayer. Instead, the idea is that something must be done constantly or regularly. The believer is to pray constantly and regularly. Prayer is something that we all should offer to God on a constant basis. Hence, what the apostle says that God witnesses to is something that he did regularly as it pertains to the Romans.
The thing the apostle called God to be his witness is his activity of praying regularly about the Romans as in the sentence of Romans 1:9 I remember you although literally the Greek reads I make mention of you. This is because the apostle used a verb and a noun. The word “make” in the literal translation is translated from a Greek word (poieō) that may mean “to do, make” with various nuances. For example, the word may mean “to produce” as it is used in the command of John the Baptist to those who came to him for baptism to show evidence of repentance in Luke 3:8:
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
The word may mean “to practice” as it is used by the men that stirred up trouble for Apostle Paul that landed him and Silas in jail in Philippi; by asserting, they were advocating customs that the Romans should not participate in as we read in Acts 16:21:
by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
The word may “to undertake or do something that brings about a state or condition” so that it is used with the meaning “to make” to describe the peace the death of Christ established between Jews and Gentiles as stated in Ephesians 2:15:
by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.
In our passage of Romans 1:9, the word has the sense of “to make” in connection with prayer.
The thing associated with prayer, as we stated previously, is given in the NIV of Romans 1:9 in the sentence I remember you that literally reads I make mention of you. This is because the word “remember” is used to render the literal verbal phrase make mention that as we indicated consists of a verb and a noun. The noun “mention” is translated from a Greek word (mneia) that may mean “remembrance, memory” as the word is used to describe the pleasant recollection of Apostle Paul and his team by the Thessalonians as stated in 1 Thessalonians 3:6:
But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.
The word may mean “mention, mentioning” as Apostle Paul used it to bring up to God the Thessalonians in his prayer as we read in 1 Thessalonians 1:2:
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
In our passage, the word has the sense of “mention,” that is, a remark made about a person that one recalls, especially during prayer.
That the mention of the Romans by the Apostle Paul could have taken place any time but here he is specific that the mention he had in mind takes place during his prayer as conveyed in the first phrase of Romans 1:10 in my prayers at all times. To leave no doubt that the apostle was concerned to convey to the Romans that the mention of them he had in mind was during his prayers, we could translate the phrase in my prayers at all times as in the time of my prayers at all times. This is because the Greek preposition (epi) translated “in” in the NIV in our verse has the sense of “in the time of.” The point is that the apostle, while not denying that he could mention the Romans at any other time but here he wanted them to know that it was during his prayers that he mentioned them.
The word “prayers” is translated from a Greek word (proseuchē) that may mean “a place for prayer”, as the word is used to describe the place of prayer Apostle Paul sought out in Philippi, as we read in Acts 16:13:
On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.
However, the Greek word in the NT commonly means “prayer” as the apostle used it in his instruction to believers in Colosse to devote themselves to prayer in Colossians 4:2:
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
In Romans 1:10, the word means “petition,” that is, “a request made to a deity.” The apostle used the plural in the Greek to indicate that his mention of the Romans occurred several times and during the petition phase of his prayer. The apostle could not have meant that his petition to God concerned only the Romans since he petitioned God for other believers, especially those in the local churches he founded. For example, the apostle and his team petitioned God regularly to grant them the opportunity to visit the Thessalonians as we read in 1 Thessalonians 3:10:
Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
Thus, our point is that the apostle would have petitioned God on several occasions during the petition phase of his prayer on behalf of the Romans as he did for others.
Be that as it may, once the apostle conveyed that he prayed regularly to God on behalf of the Romans, he then specified a specific petition that he directed to God concerning them in the clause of Romans 1:10 and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. That Apostle Paul petitioned or begged God concerning the Romans is given in the sentence I pray. The word “pray” is translated from a Greek word (deomai) that may mean “to plead” as the word is used to describe the urgent request of the Macedonians churches to participate in the contribution for believers in Judea as Apostle Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 8:4:
they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.
The word may mean “to ask” as it is used in the instruction of the Lord Jesus to His disciples about requesting God to send those who preach His word in this world as reported in Luke 10:2:
He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
In our passage of Romans 1:10, the word means “to pray” in the sense of “to ask for something pleadingly.” Hence, the apostle begged or requested God several times for something specific as it pertains to the Romans.
Apostle Paul is aware something some of us forget sometimes during our petition to God, which is that our petition will not be granted unless it is agreement with His will for us. The Scripture is clear that God answers our petition to Him when it aligns with His will as the Holy Spirit informs us in 1 John 5:14:
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
The apostle was not only aware of the necessity of the will of God when it comes to prayer, but he recognized that a believer should have the mindset of subjecting himself to God’s will. In other words, a believer should be governed by the understanding that his operation and function on this planet are dependent on God’s will. No wonder the apostle subjected his promise to the Ephesians of coming back to them to God’s will as Luke narrated in Acts 18:21:
But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
His promise to the Corinthians of visiting follows the same pattern as stated in 1 Corinthians 4:19:
But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have.
We all should learn to think like the apostle in that when we make a promise to someone, we qualify it that we will fulfill it subject to God’s will. This, of course, echoes the instruction of the Holy Spirit through James as recorded in James 4:13–15:
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
Anyhow, it is because the apostle was aware of this truth that granting our petition is subject to God’s will that he referenced God’s will before presenting his actual petition as we read in the phrase of Romans 1:10 now at last by God’s will. The phrase reveals first the apostle knows that we do not determine the time in which God acts but whenever He acts that is the right time in His plan. This fact is implied in the phrase now at last that is translated from a Greek idiom that consists of two words. The first word (ēdē) may refer to “a point of time prior to another point of time, with implication of completion,” hence means “now, already, by this time.” The second word (pote) pertains to “generalization of time” with the meaning “at some time or other.” The two words together literally translates “already sometime” that means “now at last” or “now at length.” Thus, the apostle anticipates that at the proper time God will act in accordance with His will pertaining to his request as in the phrase of Romans 1:10 now at last by God’s will.
The word “will” is translated from a Greek word (thelēma) that basically means “will” that can be used either in objective sense of what one wishes to happen or in a subjective sense of desiring something. In the objective sense, it can mean God’s will as Apostle Paul used it in Romans 2:18:
if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law;
Another objective sense of the word refers to what one wishes to bring about by the activity of others, to whom one assigns a task. It is in this sense that the apostle used it to describe God’s perfect will in Romans 12:2:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Still another objective sense of the word refers to what one wishes to bring about by one’s own action, since one has undertaken to do what one has willed. It is in this sense that the word is used in connection with salvation plan and work of God in Ephesians 1:9:
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
There is nothing about salvation that is left to man, so God carried it out to ensure that what He willed with respect to salvation comes into fruition. In a subjective sense, the word relating to God refers to what He purposes or has purposed, what He regards, or does, as good. It is in this sense that Apostle Paul used the word in describing his plan to come to the Roman believers in Romans 15:32:
so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.
It is also in this sense of what God purposes or has purposed that the Apostle Peter used our Greek word in connection with suffering of believers in 1 Peter 3:17:
It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
The conditional clause if it is God’s will is more literally if the will of God wills. The literal word “wills” suggests doubt that believers would suffer and that it is God’s will but, in truth, believer’s suffering is God’s will in accordance with His plan. So, Joseph suffered in Egypt because it is in conformity with God’s will so that God’s plan will be manifested through him. The Greek word may mean “desire” as it is used in describing the state of unbelievers in terms of their conduct in Ephesians 2:3:
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
In our passage of Romans 1:10, the word has the meaning “will” in the sense of “act of willing or desiring.”
Anyway, the specific petition of the apostle to God concerning the Romans is to visit them as in the clause of Romans 1:10 by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. Literally, the Greek reads I shall succeed by the will of God to come to you. The expression “the way may be opened” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (euodoō) that originally meant “to have a happy/successful journey,” and was then more widely applied to success in business so that it means “to have things turn out well,” hence means “to prosper, succeed.” It is with the meaning “to prosper” that the word is used in the Septuagint to describe what would not happen to an individual that ignores sins in the person’s life as we read in Proverbs 28:13:
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
The word may have the sense of “to become prosperous financially” although the translators of the NIV used the meaning of “income” to translate the word in Apostle Paul’s instructions to the Corinthians about the special collection of Gentile churches for believers in Jerusalem as we read in 1 Corinthians 16:2:
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
The phrase in keeping with his income is more literally “whatever if anything he has been prospered.” The word may mean “to go well with” as it is used in the NIV in Apostle John’s prayer for his friend Gaius as recorded in 3 John 2:
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
In our passage of Romans 1:10, the word has the sense of having things turn out well, that is, “to succeed.” Of course, here the apostle meant “being caused to have a good journey.” For if the apostle intended to speak of open door for preaching the gospel, he probably would have used a different Greek word (anoigō) that he used to describe such an event as when he described the fact that God opened door for him for great ministry in Ephesus as he informed the Corinthians as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:8–9:
8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
It is the same Greek word that he used to describe the opportunity to preach the gospel at Troas as we read in 2 Corinthians 2:12:
Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,
The point is that the apostle’s petition is for God to grant him the opportunity to travel and successfully visit Rome. Eventually, God granted the apostle the opportunity to visit Rome at the appropriate time. Anyway, as we end the apostle’s prayer on behalf of the Romans, let me remind you of the message we considered which is Your prayer for a fellow believer should involve thanksgiving and petition about their spiritual progress.
06/07/24