Romans – A Treatise
Chapter One
PROSPERED BY THE WILL OF GOD
Scripture Reading: verses 8-12 (Darby translation)
FIRST, I THANK MY GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST FOR YOU ALL, THAT YOUR FAITH IS PROCLAIMED IN THE WHOLE WORLD. FOR GOD IS MY WITNESS, WHOM I SERVE IN MY SPIRIT IN THE GLAD TIDINGS OF HIS SON, HOW UNCEASINGLY I MAKE MENTION OF YOU, ALWAYS BESEECHING AT MY PRAYERS, IF ANY WAY NOW AT LEAST I MAY BE PROSPERED BY THE WILL OF GOD TO COME TO YOU. FOR I GREATLY DESIRE TO SEE YOU, THAT I MAY IMPART TO YOU SOME SPIRITUAL GIFT TO ESTABLISH YOU; THAT IS, TO HAVE MUTUAL COMFORT AMONG YOU, EACH BY THE FAITH [WHICH IS] IN THE OTHER, BOTH YOURS AND MINE.
As in the previous passage, the central theme of this Epistle is continued in these verses. It is “the Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” Even in these personal salutations of Paul to the Christians at Rome, he maintains this as the focal point of their spiritual contact together. In verse 9 He says, “whom I serve in my spirit in the glad tidings of His Son.”
We cannot emphasize too much the fact that the Gospel concerns God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the great magnetic Center around which every Divine purpose rotates. Even in our personal relations one with another as Christians our personal attachment to the Lord Jesus Himself must be the bond that unites our hearts. As Paul says in the first chapter of First Corinthians, “we have been called into the fellowship of God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” This striking point of similarity between the two Epistles enforces on our hearts the tremendous importance of having “God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord” as the epicenter of every divine relationship into which we have been brought through the grace of God. Thus Paul says in verse 8: “First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” The universality of the Name of Christ is presented in verse 5, where Paul says his apostleship is “in behalf of His name, for obedience of faith among all the nations.” So, in Paul’s thanksgiving on behalf of the personal faith of these brethren at Rome, he is careful to express it to God through Jesus Christ, and the reason for his thankfulness is that their faith is known or proclaimed in the whole world. What a splendid testimony for the Lord, that there in the center of the vortex of Rome’s adamant power, a company of the Lord’s people should so conduct themselves that the fame of their faith in God should be spread abroad throughout the known world. It is a happy reminder of the universality of the Name of Christ. The fame of the Lord Jesus takes wings and spreads itself across the world in the proportion to which each individual Christian lives in accordance with the will of God.
Unlike the Christians at Corinth, the believers at Rome did not seem to be unduly laden with spiritual gifts, yet their testimony spread abroad. It was probably not attributable to their preaching, but rather to their manner of life. They were living in the midst of a realm where military might was the accepted symbol of dominance. On the international scene of that day, Rome was the great world dictator; the very mention of the power of Rome made nations tremble. However, here was a company of people in the city of Rome itself who had been emancipated from the so-called glory of the tyrannous regime of the Roman Empire and brought into a kingdom of which God’s Son Jesus Christ is the Sovereign Name. Their hearts had become so subjugated to their new Lord that His fame in turn was spread abroad throughout the realm and their faith in the Living God through Christ burned like a brilliant torch amid the darkness of the Roman world. We cannot begin to estimate the mighty power of a living faith in God through Christ. A man who fears God and believes in the sovereign authority of the Lord Jesus is more to be reckoned with than any other man in the world. The Lord Jesus is the universal Sovereign, God over all, blessed forever, and he who places his confidence in Him will find that he can walk humbly superior to every other force and authority in the world, for Christ Himself is the Head of all principalities and powers.
Paul goes on in this passage to indicate his personal yearning to see these Roman brethren face to face. He says in verse 9,
For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the glad tidings of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, always be-seeching at my prayers, if any way now at least I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.
Paul is not outlining the difficulties that stood in the way of him reaching Rome. In that day, the Roman Empire represented all that was contrary and opposed to the Gospel of Christ. The Cæsars were pretenders to the throne of the world – universal dominion their aim. All other empires had been subjugated before them. The only competing power that now battered against the citadel of Roman supremacy was the power of the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul was conscious of it. However, he was not shouting in defiance against the Roman Empire or anything it placed in his way. He took his stand before God as One whom he served in spirit, in the glad tidings of His Son and as such he was subject only to one power – the will of God.
How many Christians in this age truly realize that the power of God’s will is the only power with which we must reckon. We are living in a world of surging influences that flow and ebb in the confusion of everyday life, yet the Christian may stand serenely in the midst of it all, knowing that no power in heaven, earth, or hell will present the slightest opposition unless permitted by the Lord Jesus Christ according to the will of God. That is one reason why it is so vital for each of us to see that we are in the path of God’s will. This will not make dreamers out of us. On the contrary, it will help us put our hand to the service of Christ wherever we might find it and, being found diligent in that service, we shall be daily waiting on the Lord Himself to give direction. He is the One who opens and no man shuts; He shuts and no man opens. Paul stood face to face with the power of Rome. Power that humanly speaking had the authority to direct his every movement; but he bent his knee, not to Cæsar, but to the Person whom he called “My God.” Why did he do this? Because he had in his soul and spirit the consciousness that he served Almighty God in the glad tidings of His Son. It is as we are found consciously in the service of Christ – whether in public or private, on the preaching platform, in the office, at the bench, in the kitchen, or anywhere – that we can rely on the direction of our Lord according to His will. He “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” (Eph. 1:11)
