Romans 15.29-Paul Knew For Certain He Would Enter Into The Company Of The Romans Possessing Abundant Blessing Which Is Produced By Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 13, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:29-Paul Knew For Certain He Would Enter Into The Company Of The Romans Possessing Abundant Blessing, Which Is Produced By Christ
Lesson # 534
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:22.
This evening we will study Romans 15:29, which reveals that Paul knew for certain that when the Holy Spirit permitted him to enter into the company of the Roman believers, he would enter in the state of possessing abundant blessing, which is produced by Christ through him by the power of the Spirit.
Romans 15:22, “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. 25 But now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. 28 Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain. 29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.”
Romans 15:29 advances upon and intensifies Paul’s statement in Romans 15:28 in that it says more about his visit to Rome because it expresses his confidence that he will enter into their company possessing abundant blessing, which is produced by Christ through him.
“I know” indicates that Paul was certain that visiting Rome was in the will of the Father for him and that he was being assured by the Holy Spirit that he would in fact visit Rome.
“When I come” is the nominative masculine singular present passive participle form of the verb erchomai (ἒρχομαι) (air-koe-meh), which means “to enter” since it is used with the prepositional phrase pros humas, which speaks of Paul being “in the company of” the Roman believers.
The futuristic present tense of the verb is used to describe the apostle Paul’s certainty that when he does enter into the company of the Roman believers, he will come with the fullness of Christ’s blessing.
The verb erchomai is a “divine passive” meaning that Paul will go to Rome when he is “permitted by the Holy Spirit” to do so (cf. Romans 15:32).
“To you” speaks of a personal intimate relationship between the Roman believers and Paul and denotes his entering “into their company of” or “into their presence.”
“I will come” is the future middle indicative form of the verb erchomai (ἒρχομαι) (air-koe-meh), which once again means “to enter.”
The future tense is a predictive future indicating that it will come to pass or take place that when Paul enters into the company of the Roman believers, he will come in the fullness of Christ’s blessing.
The middle voice is an indirect middle meaning that the subject acts for himself indicating that Paul will benefit from entering into the company of the Roman believers and in fact, speaks of being encouraged by them (See Romans 1:11-12).
“In the fullness of blessing of Christ” is composed of the preposition en (ἕν), “in” and the dative neuter singular form of the noun pleroma (πλήρωμα) (plea-roe-mah), “the fullness” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun eulogia (εὐλογία) (ev-low-yee-ah), “of the blessing” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun Christos (Χριστός) (cree-stoce), “Christ.”
The noun eulogia means “blessing” in the sense of a spiritual benefit that is bestowed upon the Roman believers and is used here to describe that which the gospel produces.
The gospel would be a spiritual benefit to the Roman believers in that it would endue them with divine power when Paul communicates it to them in a face to face manner and when applied would reproduce the character of Christ in their lives, i.e. fruit of the Spirit.
The word is synonymous with the noun charisma in Romans 1:11, which speaks of Paul communicating the gospel to the Roman believers.
Romans 1:11-12, “For I have been and continue up to the present moment to earnestly desire to visit all of you that I might impart a spiritual blessing to all of you with the result that all of you might be stabilized and strengthened. Namely, that is, in order that it might cause me to be encouraged while among all of you by means of each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” (My translation)
Although the Roman believers would be blessed or receive a spiritual benefit when Paul communicates the gospel to them, it would also produce blessing for Paul in that it would produce fruit for him in the sense of rewards, which is implied by the indirect middle voice of the verb erchomai and mentioned by Paul in Romans 1:13.
Romans 1:13, “Now, I absolutely do not want all of you to be ignorant spiritual brothers that I have often planned in order to come to all of you and was prevented so far in order that I might also produce some fruit among all of you.”
The noun pleroma refers to that which is beyond measure and should be translated with the English adjective “abundant,” which is indicated by the fact that the noun eulogia, “blessing” functions as an attributive genitive.
Therefore, the head noun pleroma is functioning as an attributive adjective and can be converted to an adjective describing the noun eulogia indicating that Paul will enter into the company of the Roman believers possessing that which produces abundant blessing or spiritual benefit, i.e. the gospel.
The noun pleroma functions as a dative of thing possessed, which means that Paul possesses this abundant blessing of Christ.
So he is saying that when he enters into the company of the Roman believers, he will enter as one who possesses the abundant blessing of Christ.
The word is the object of the preposition en, which functions as a marker of state or condition indicating that when Paul enters into the fellowship of the Roman believers, he will enter in the state of possessing the abundant blessing of Christ.
The noun Christos is a technical word designating the humanity of our Lord as the promised Savior for all mankind who is unique as the incarnate Son of God and totally and completely guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father.
It functions as a “genitive of production” meaning that this abundant blessing, or spiritual benefit that the Roman believers will receive when Paul communicates the gospel to them will in actuality be “produced by” Christ Himself (See Romans 15:18).
Romans 15:18, “For you see, I would absolutely never presume at any time to speak of anything except with respect to those things which Christ accomplished for Himself through me resulting in the Gentiles obeying, by word and action.” (My translation)
Therefore, in Romans 15:29, Paul is conveying this idea of Christ working through him when he communicates the gospel by the power of the Spirit with the noun Christos functioning as a genitive of production.
Romans 15:29, “Indeed, I know for certain that when I am permitted to enter into the company of each and every one of you, I will for my own benefit enter in the state of possessing abundant blessing, which is produced by Christ.” (My translation)
To summarize, Romans 15:29 reveals that Paul knew for certain that when the Holy Spirit permitted him to enter into the company of the Roman believers, he would enter in the state of possessing abundant blessing, which is produced by Christ through him by the power of the Spirit.