One Welcome, a Wide Mission, and Unfinished Travel Plans

“Strong” is dynatoi, the able, and “infirmities” is asthenema, a word found only here. “Bear” is bastazo, to carry a load, the verb of Galatians 6:2, “Bear ye one another’s burdens”, and of Jesus “bearing his cross” in John 19:17. Paul counts himself among the strong with “we”.

“Please” is aresko, to accommodate someone, the verb of 1 Corinthians 10:33, “I please all men in all things”. “Neighbour” is plesion, the word of Leviticus 19:18 quoted in 13:9. Pleasing yourself and pleasing your neighbour are set up as the only two options.

Psalm 69:9, the psalm Paul already used at 11:9. Its first half, “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”, is quoted in John 2:17 at the cleansing of the temple. Christ speaks the second half, so “thee” is God: insults aimed at God landed on him.

“Aforetime” means written beforehand. “Learning” is didaskalia, instruction. “Comfort” is paraklesis, which also means encouragement and shares a root with the Paraclete of John’s gospel. 1 Corinthians 10:11 says the same of Israel’s wilderness years: “they are written for our admonition”.

God is named by the two qualities verse 4 gave to the Scriptures, patience and consolation, the same Greek words. It is the first of three such titles in the chapter: the God of hope (verse 13) and the God of peace (verse 33). “Likeminded” uses the thinking verb of 12:3 and 12:16.

“With one mind” is homothymadon, “with one accord”, the word Acts uses of the first believers praying and eating together (Acts 1:14; 2:46). “God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” is a formula Paul repeats at the head of 2 Corinthians 1:3 and Ephesians 1:3.

The verb is proslambano, the “receive” that opened the argument at 14:1, so the dispute is framed at both ends by welcome. The manuscripts divide between “received us” and “received you”; several of the oldest read “you”. “To the glory of God” may belong to Christ’s receiving or to the church’s.

“The circumcision” stands for the Jewish people, as in Galatians 2:7–9. “Confirm” is bebaioo, a legal term for guaranteeing a sale or warranting a title, found in business papyri. Christ is pictured as the guarantor who makes good the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The first quotation is Psalm 18:49, which also stands in 2 Samuel 22:50, David’s song on the day he was delivered from Saul. David vows to praise God “among the heathen”. Paul pairs the “truth” of verse 8 with the “mercy” of this one.

Deuteronomy 32:43, the last verse of the Song of Moses. Paul has drawn on that song twice already, for Israel’s jealousy (10:19) and for vengeance belonging to God (12:19). Here its closing line calls the nations to rejoice together with Israel.

Psalm 117:1, the shortest psalm, only two verses. Its second verse gives the reason: “his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever.” Mercy and truth are exactly the pair of verses 8 and 9.

Isaiah 11:10. Jesse was David’s father, and a root implies a stump sprouting after the tree is felled, as 11:1 has “a rod out of the stem of Jesse”. The Greek “he that shall rise” uses the verb of resurrection. The four quotations span the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms.

“Trust” in verse 12 is elpizo, to hope, so the “God of hope” picks up Isaiah’s last word. This prayer rounds off the letter’s long argument. “Abound” is perisseuo, to overflow, the verb of 5:15, where grace “hath abounded unto many”.

“I myself also” is emphatic, as in 7:25. “Admonish” is noutheteo, literally to put in mind, counsel with a warning in it. Having written fourteen chapters of instruction, Paul credits the Romans with the knowledge to instruct each other.

“In some sort” is apo merous, in part: some passages were bolder than others, such as the warning to the Gentile branch in 11:17–24. “Putting you in mind” is epanamimnesko, to remind again, a word used nowhere else in the New Testament.

The vocabulary is from the temple. “Minister” is leitourgos, the word 13:6 used of officials; “ministering” is hierourgeo, to do the work of a priest, found only here; and “offering up” is prosphora. Isaiah 66:20 pictures the nations bringing Israel’s brethren “for an offering unto the LORD”, a likely background.

“Glory” is kauchesis, boasting, which 3:27 said was “excluded”. Here it returns with a condition, “through Jesus Christ”. “Those things which pertain to God” is a priestly phrase; Hebrews 5:1 uses it of the high priest ordained “in things pertaining to God”.

“I will not dare” picks up the “more boldly” of verse 15, the same Greek root. “To make the Gentiles obedient” recalls “obedience to the faith among all nations” in 1:5, and 16:26 repeats it, so the phrase frames the letter. “Word and deed” is how Luke 24:19 describes Jesus.

Illyricum was the Roman province along the eastern Adriatic, roughly modern Albania to Croatia. Acts never places Paul there; he may have reached its edge when he went through Macedonia “over those parts” (Acts 20:2). “Round about” is kyklo, in a circle or an arc, tracing a curve from Jerusalem north and west.

“Strived” is philotimeomai, to make something one’s ambition, literally to love honour. Paul uses it only three times: here, in 2 Corinthians 5:9, and in 1 Thessalonians 4:11, “that ye study to be quiet”. The foundation image returns in 1 Corinthians 3:10, where he calls himself a wise masterbuilder.

Isaiah 52:15, the opening of the song of the suffering servant, whose next verse, 53:1, Paul quoted at 10:16. In Isaiah kings shut their mouths at what they had never been told. Paul takes the line as the charter for going where no one has preached.

“Hindered” is enkopto, to cut in on a road, block a way; 1 Thessalonians 2:18 uses it of Satan hindering Paul. The tense is imperfect: repeatedly hindered. Romans 1:13 said the same with an older English word, “was let hitherto”, where “let” meant prevented.

“No more place” is topos, no more room: the eastern field now has foundations. Luke records the same longing in Acts 19:21, where Paul at Ephesus resolves, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” The Greek word for desire is a strong one, a yearning.

Spain was the western edge of the known world. “Brought on my way” is propempo, the technical word for sending a missionary off with supplies and companions (Acts 15:3; Titus 3:13). Around AD 96, 1 Clement 5 says Paul reached “the limit of the west”, which some take to mean Spain.

“Minister” is a present participle: the journey itself is service. Acts 20–21 traces it, through Macedonia, Troas, Miletus, Tyre and Caesarea. Before Felix, Paul later said he “came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings” (Acts 24:17), the same errand.

“Contribution” is koinonia, fellowship: the collection is called a sharing. Macedonia means churches such as Philippi and Thessalonica, Achaia means Corinth. Galatia gave as well (1 Corinthians 16:1) but is not named. The Jerusalem leaders had asked Paul to “remember the poor” (Galatians 2:10).

“Carnal things” here carries no moral charge; sarkika simply means material goods, food and money, set against “spiritual things”. “Minister” is leitourgeo, public service with a sacred tone, the verb of the priestly vocabulary in verse 16. “Debtors” is the word of 1:14.

“Sealed” is sphragizo. Goods and sacks of grain were sealed to certify their contents and deliver them intact, and Paul speaks of the money as fruit, a harvest from the Gentile churches. “Performed” is epiteleo, to bring to completion.

Paul did reach Rome, about three years later, but as a prisoner after a shipwreck (Acts 27–28). “Of the gospel” came in later; the earliest copies end the phrase at “the blessing of Christ”. The confidence of the verse is about the blessing, not the route.

“Strive together” is synagonizomai, from agon, the contest or wrestling match; Colossians 4:12 describes Epaphras “labouring fervently” in prayer with the same root. “The love of the Spirit” is a phrase found nowhere else in Paul’s letters.

Acts shows both requests in play. The brethren in Jerusalem “received us gladly” (Acts 21:17), and about a week later Jews from Asia seized Paul in the temple (21:27). “Do not believe” is apeitheo, the disobedience of 10:21 and 11:30–31. “Delivered” is rhyomai, to rescue.

“Be refreshed” is synanapauomai, to rest together, used only here in the New Testament. The Greek Old Testament of Isaiah 11:6 uses it for the leopard lying down with the kid. “By the will of God” repeats the condition Paul set in 1:10.

“The God of peace” is Paul’s favourite closing title (16:20; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23). The earliest surviving copy of Romans, the papyrus P46 from about AD 200, places the closing doxology of 16:25–27 right after this verse.