Romans 15.24a-Paul Confidently Expects To Visit Roman Believers While Passing Through Whenever He Is Allowed To Travel To Spain
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 24, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:24a-Paul Confidently Expects To Visit The Roman Believers While Passing Through Whenever He Is Allowed To Travel To Spain
Lesson # 525
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:14.
This evening we will note Romans 15:24a and in this verse the apostle Paul writes that he confidently expects to visit his readers in Rome while passing through whenever he is permitted by the Holy Spirit to travel to Spain.
Romans 15:14, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another. 15, But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God. 16, To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17, Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. 18, For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed. 19, In the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20, And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation. 21, But as it is written, ‘THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.’ 22, “For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you. 23 But now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you. 24 Whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while.”
“Whenever I go to Spain” is an indefinite temporal clause and is connected to the statement “I hope to see you in passing,” which indicates that Paul is expressing his desire to see the Roman Christians in passing whenever he goes to Spain.
The ESV translation interprets it this way.
Romans 15:23, “But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, 24 I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.” (ESV)
The indefinite temporal clause “whenever I go to Spain” is connected to the statement “I hope to see you in passing” and not to the previous causal clause at the end of Romans 15:23 since the latter statement is connected to the two causal participial clauses in Romans 15:23 forming a complete thought.
“I go” is the first person singular present passive subjunctive form of the verb poreuomai (πορεύομαι) (poe-eh-vah-meh), which is used literally of going from one place to another and means “to travel.”
The present tense of the verb is a futuristic present used to describe the apostle Paul’s certainty that he will travel to Spain.
The passive voice is a “divine passive” indicating Paul will travel to Spain when he is permitted by the Spirit and the will of God as indicated by the prepositional phrase “by the will of God” that appears in Romans 15:32.
“Spain” is a large peninsula in southwestern Europe known since Roman times as Hispania.
Tradition ascribes the evangelization of Spain to Paul and James.
However, the earliest record of Spanish organization of Christianity is a letter of Cyprian in 254 A.D.
Christianity spread throughout the peninsula by the end of the third century as attested by the martyrdoms of Spanish Christians in the persecution under Diocletian.
Romans 15:24, “Whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while.”
“I hope” is the first person singular present active indicative form of the verb elpizo (ἐλπίζω) (el-pee-zoe), which means, “to confidently expect” thus indicating that Paul “confidently expects” to see the Roman believers while passing through whenever he is permitted by the Spirit and the will of the Father to go to Spain.
“To see” is the aorist middle infinitive form of the verb theaomai (θεάομαι) (thay-ah-owe-meh), which means “to visit” the Roman believers in the sense of going to see them in person on the basis of their friendship and with helpful intent, which is mentioned in Romans 1:11-12.
“In passing” is the nominative masculine singular present middle participle form of the verb diaporeuomai (διαπορεύομαι) (thee-ah-poe-ehv-er-meh), which means “to travel around through an area with the implication of both extensive and thorough movement throughout an area.” (Louw and Nida, 15.21).
Therefore, the word indicates that Paul confidently expects to see the Roman believers while “traveling” or “passing through” Rome on his way to Spain.
The question that many scholars ask is did Paul go to Spain? The answer is yes.
This is indicated by the fact that Paul wrote Romans 15:24a like he did the rest of the Roman epistle while under the inspiration and guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.
The language used in the verse makes clear that Paul did eventually go to Spain.
The verb elpizo expresses his Spirit inspired confident expectation that he would see the Romans while on his way to Spain.
The futurist present tense of the verbs elpizo, poreuomai and diaporeuomai emphasize Paul’s certainty that he will see the Roman believers face to face while passing through Rome whenever the Spirit and the will of the Father permit him to travel to Spain.
Again, the indefiniteness of the construction is not due to Paul being uncertain as to whether or not he will visit Rome but rather the uncertainty is due to the fact that he does not know how long it will take him to finish with his task in Jerusalem.
Paul was released from his first Roman imprisonment since in Philippians 1:25 he expresses his confidence that he will remain on the earth for the benefit of the spiritual progress of the Philippian church.
He died in his second Roman imprisonment, which took place in 68 A.D.
Thus, he had six years to go to Spain since he was released from his first imprisonment in Rome in 62 A.D.