Romans – A Treatise
Chapter One
MUTUAL ENCOURAGEMENT
Scripture Reading: verses 11-12
The largeness of both the heart and intellect of this great apostle is plainly set forth in Romans 1:11-12. Too often we think of Paul merely as a church dignitary, towering above his fellow believers in distant aloofness. The opposite is true. Like all large-hearted men of faith Paul was humble, yet he was not hesitant in setting forth the purpose for which the Lord had called him. In previous verses, he has been telling us that the regulation of his affairs are dependent on the will of God, who alone is Master of his life and destiny. However, Paul is not an automated, inanimate object moving about at the behest of his Master without any desire on his own part.
Christianity involves sovereignty of the Lord as well as fellowship. In other words, our own desires are brought into conformity to the will of God. So in these verses, Paul says, “for I greatly desire to see you.” In the truest sense, he was in fellowship with the Lord; he subjugated his own desire and brought his thoughts into obedience to Christ. This reminds us of our Lord’s own words in John 15:
Ye are my friends, if ye practice whatever I command you. I call you no longer bondmen, for the bondman does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all things which I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.
Even in our desires, we are, by the power of the Spirit, brought into intimacy of fellowship with the Lord. So, the Christian life is not a question of constantly surrendering what we want and being forced into what the Lord wants. On the contrary, Paul has the deepest desire to see his brethren although he is willing to be guided entirely by the will of the Lord. That is normal to Christianity. The Lord is not a dictator who keeps the purposes of His love hidden from us. He delights in making known His desires so that we can intelligently follow what He wants and be happy doing so. We see this reflected in Paul in this chapter. Notice the unselfishness of Paul’s purpose in desiring to see his Roman brethren. He does not want to see them in order that he might reveal his spiritual triumphs. There is a mutuality of purpose in his desire to be with them – “That I may impart to you some spiritual gift to establish you.” He then amplifies this: “that is, to have mutual comfort among you each by the faith that is in the other, both yours and mine.” There is something exceedingly exquisite in these two thoughts.
As already pointed out, Paul had no problem declaring the purpose for which God had called and sent him. After all, he was an apostle, a servant of Jesus Christ, and his definite purpose in coming to see the Christians at Rome was that he might impart some spiritual gift, that they might be established. There was nothing apologetic about the apostle in setting this forth – there was no feigned humility about Paul, the man. He knew God had called him; had given him a message for His people; and he knew that message was for their establishment in the faith of the Gospel. How good it would be if every servant of Christ would stand under the shadow of this great apostle. Too often there is often a lack of definiteness regarding our service for Christ. If the Lord has given and equipped us for a particular service in His vineyard, then the teaching of this passage would seem to indicate there is no need to hedge about the purpose of our movements. If the Lord has gifted us as soul winners, let not man or demon belittle our service, giving us an undue sense of incompetence. If God has gifted us as preaches of the Gospel, ministers of His Word, or in any other of a thousand ways has entrusted a definite service to our hands and equipped us for it, then let our procedure be definite, unashamed, humble but without apology, knowing that we serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had a great treasure in an earthen vessel, as he tells us in the Epistle to the Corinthians. It was his treasure, and he was unashamed of it; now he wants to come to his Roman brethren and impart to them a spiritual gift, sharing some of the treasure he has in his own heart, i.e., the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
Paul now further amplifies that impartation of gift, showing that it is not a one-way process, but that they might have “mutual comfort each by the faith which is in the other, both yours and mine.” In other words, Paul does not want to come into their midst as a great pulpiteer or lecturer in order to look down on them as if they were a congregation and he their head. Such was not Paul’s attitude nor should it be the attitude of any Christian minister. He wants to come into their midst like an enriched guest who will impart spiritual value and receive from them mutual encouragement. He says: “Each by the faith which is in the other.” Notice how lovingly the people of God are knit together, both abstractly and practically.
The service of Christ is a constant two-way system of impartation. If we impart something of the knowledge of God and the encouragement of the Lord Jesus Christ to other believers, they, by the very existence of faith in their hearts, will in turn encourage our heart. Again consider the Corinthian Epistle where Paul says: “Encourage one another with the encouragement wherewith ye yourselves have also been encouraged.” We are all treading a heavenward way. Though we each have different experiences, still, we encourage one another from day to day by the mutual exchange of our appreciation of Christ in the pilgrim pathway. The same thought is expressed in the Epistle to the Hebrews, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the custom is with some; but encouraging one another, and by so much the more as ye see the day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:25, Darby translation) Christians should get together as much as possible in order to encourage one another – “each by the faith that is in the other.” It all resolves itself to that fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which is the outflow and purpose of the Gospel of God concerning His Son, Jesus.
