For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
Paul longed to see the believers in Rome in person and to visit them. That same longing is to impart some spiritual gift so that they may be established. He was thankful for the Roman believers whose faith was spoken of everywhere. His purpose in coming was to share spiritual help that would strengthen and establish them. That strengthening included witnessing for Christ there.
The visit was meant to bring mutual encouragement, so that he and they would be encouraged together through their shared faith. The planned visit would also prepare the Roman believers to cooperate with his wider missionary work. He did not expect to make the journey to Rome as a prisoner. When imprisoned, he feared that his long-held and long-expected hope of winning many people to the truth in Rome would be disappointed and left unfulfilled. His long-expected visit had been meant to serve them spiritually.
Being established is a benefit derived from obedience, for the right use of the physical, mental, and moral powers God has bestowed brings an eternal reward. As part of the whole first chapter of Romans, the verse presents a true experience as a warning and charge to families who claim to be sons and daughters of God, especially fathers and mothers. It exposes those who have their names on the church record yet are not laborers together with God, failing their accountability to be faithful, exemplary believers by failing to obey the truth in righteousness.
It calls fathers and mothers to awaken to responsibilities in home life strangely left out of religious experience, a work greatly neglected in the churches that cannot be neglected without guilt, and it shows a class who need to become cleansed from every kind of iniquity. Mere knowledge of the truth does not cleanse from iniquity without understanding the work to be done through sanctifying grace in the home. Practical, believed truth sanctifies the heart instead of being held as supposed belief while denied in works.
Paul longed to see the believers in Rome in person and to visit them. That same longing is to impart some spiritual gift so that they may be established. He was thankful for the Roman believers whose faith was spoken of everywhere. His purpose in coming was to share spiritual help that would strengthen and establish them. That strengthening included witnessing for Christ there.
The visit was meant to bring mutual encouragement, so that he and they would be encouraged together through their shared faith. The planned visit would also prepare the Roman believers to cooperate with his wider missionary work. He did not expect to make the journey to Rome as a prisoner. When imprisoned, he feared that his long-held and long-expected hope of winning many people to the truth in Rome would be disappointed and left unfulfilled. His long-expected visit had been meant to serve them spiritually.
Being established is a benefit derived from obedience, for the right use of the physical, mental, and moral powers God has bestowed brings an eternal reward. As part of the whole first chapter of Romans, the verse presents a true experience as a warning and charge to families who claim to be sons and daughters of God, especially fathers and mothers. It exposes those who have their names on the church record yet are not laborers together with God, failing their accountability to be faithful, exemplary believers by failing to obey the truth in righteousness.
It calls fathers and mothers to awaken to responsibilities in home life strangely left out of religious experience, a work greatly neglected in the churches that cannot be neglected without guilt, and it shows a class who need to become cleansed from every kind of iniquity. Mere knowledge of the truth does not cleanse from iniquity without understanding the work to be done through sanctifying grace in the home. Practical, believed truth sanctifies the heart instead of being held as supposed belief while denied in works.