26. His travel plans
Having shared with the Roman church his understanding of his special apostolic ministry, Paul now looks into the future and discloses his travel plans to the Romans. He specifies three destinations. First, he is about to sail from Corinth to Jerusalem, taking with him the collection which he has long been organizing. Second, he is intending to go from Jerusalem to Rome, even though he will only be ‘passing through’ (24) rather than settling down among them for an appreciable period. Third, from Rome he will travel on to Spain, determined to resume his pioneer evangelistic commitment. If he were to make all these journeys by ship, the first would be at least 800 miles, the second 1,500 and the third 700, making a minimum total of 3,000 miles, and many more if he were to travel some of the way by land rather than sea. When one reflects on the uncertainties and hazards of ancient travel, the almost nonchalant way in which Paul announces his intention to undertake these three voyages is quite extraordinary.
1. He plans to visit Rome (15:23–24)
Although Paul has so far been hindered from coming to Rome, now at last the time seems to be right for his long-awaited, long-postponed visit. A combination of three factors has enabled it to take place. First, his missionary service in the Eastern Mediterranean zone is complete. But now, he writes, there is no more place for me to work in these regions (23a). At first hearing, this is a most surprising statement, for undoubtedly there were still many areas into which the gospel had not penetrated, and still many people who were not converted. But we must read Paul’s words in verse 23 in the light of his policy explained in verse 20. He means that there is no more room in Greece and the surrounding area for his pioneer church-planting ministry, for that initial work has been done.
Second, Paul writes, I have been longing for many years to visit you (23b). He has written the same thing near the beginning of his letter: ‘I long to see you’ (1:11). He is not exaggerating. Nor is this a mere flash in the pan. It is a sustained, ardent desire over many years, which all the hindrances and frustrations have not been able to quench. It must surely come from God.
The third deciding factor in Paul’s mind is that he has come to see his visit to Rome as a stepping stone to Spain. I plan to do so [visit you] when I go to Spain (24a). This perspective helps him to keep his resolve not to build on somebody else’s foundation, for he will only be passing through. At the same time, he entertains a second hope: I hope to see you . . . and that you will assist me on my journey there [to Spain], after I have enjoyed your company for a while (24b). The verb translated assist (propempō) seems already to have become almost a technical Christian term for helping missionaries on their way. It undoubtedly meant more than good wishes and a farewell prayer. In most cases it also involved supplying them with provisions and money, and sometimes providing them as well with an escort to accompany them at least part of the way. So the dictionary definition of propempō is to ‘help on one’s journey with food, money, by arranging for companions, means of travel etc.’ (BAGD). Perhaps Paul hopes to establish a continuing relationship with the Christians in Rome, so that they will continue to support him, as other churches have done previously.
This coming together of three factors must have presented itself to Paul as evidence of the providential guidance of God. It has led him to make plans to go to Rome. But first, he explains, he has another journey to make.
2. He plans to visit Jerusalem (15:25–27)
Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there (25). The expression ‘I am on my way’ is an attempt to catch the present tense of the verb (poreuomai), meaning that his departure is imminent; it has even virtually begun. His purpose in going is to ‘serve the Lord’s people’ there, in this case the Jewish Christian community. To explain this to the church in Rome, he first gives the facts about the collection (26) and then draws out its significance (27).
The facts may be stated simply. For Macedonia and Achaia [that is, the churches of northern and southern Greece respectively] were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem (26). In order to understand this, we need to think first about the poor in Jerusalem, and then about the Christians of Macedonia and Achaia. First, no explanation is given of the cause of poverty in Jerusalem. It may have been caused partly by the ‘severe famine’ which Agabus predicted. But the plausible suggestion has also often been made that it was related to the economic sharing of the first church there. While applauding their generosity, some have questioned their wisdom, since they sold and gave ‘in the economically disastrous way of realizing capital and distributing it as income’. Second, Paul writes that the Macedonian and Achaian Christians were pleased to make a contribution for the Jerusalem poor. ‘Contribution’ is a translation of koinōnia, which means a ‘common share’ in anything, here in contributing to Paul’s collection. His statement that the Greek Christians were pleased to give (an expression he repeats in verse 27) is a forgivable euphemism. They did give freely and willingly, but only because Paul had urged them to do so!
Why then did Paul conceive and initiate this freewill offering project, this koinōnia? Clearly he saw great significance in it, as may be seen partly from the disproportionate amount of space which he devoted to it in his letters, partly from the passionate zeal with which he promoted it, and partly from his astonishing decision to add nearly two thousand miles to his journey, in order to present the offering himself. Instead of sailing directly west from Corinth to Rome to Spain, he has made up his mind to travel first in entirely the wrong direction, that is, to go to Rome via Jerusalem!
The significance of the offering (the solidarity of God’s people in Christ) was primarily neither geographical (from Greece to Judea), nor social (from the rich to the poor), nor even ethnic (from Gentiles to Jews), but both religious (from liberated radicals to traditional conservatives, that is, from the strong to the weak), and especially theological (from beneficiaries to benefactors). In other words, the so-called ‘gift’ was in reality a ‘debt’: They were pleased to do it [to make their contribution], and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings (27).
The nature of this debt Paul has already set out in chapter 11. Although indeed it is through Israel’s transgression that ‘salvation has come to the Gentiles’ (11:11), he has argued, yet the Gentiles must be careful not to get boastful or arrogant (11:18–20). Instead they must remember that they have inherited from the Jews enormous blessings to which they have no automatic right. In themselves they are nothing but a wild olive shoot. But having been grafted into God’s ancient olive tree, they ‘now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root’ (11:17). It is right therefore for Gentiles to acknowledge what they owe to the Jews. When we Gentiles are thinking of the great blessings of salvation, we are hugely in debt to the Jews, and always will be. Paul sees the offering from the Gentile churches as a humble, material, symbolic demonstration of this indebtedness.
3. He plans to visit Spain (15:28–29)
Having explained the facts and the significance of the offering, Paul now looks beyond its presentation in Jerusalem, and hopefully its acceptance, to the long westward journey which he plans then to undertake to Spain via Rome. So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution [literally ‘have sealed to them this fruit’, this expression of solidarity], I will go to Spain and visit you on the way (28).
Some two years previously Paul told the Corinthians that, in keeping with his pioneer mission policy, he was hoping to ‘preach the gospel in the regions beyond you’. Perhaps he already had his eyes on Spain. We know from the Old Testament that for centuries before Christ the seafaring Phoenicians from Tyre and Sidon had engaged in commerce with Spain, their ‘ships of Tarshish’ being perhaps so called because they plied trade with Tartessus. The Phoenicians also established colonies there. By the time of the Emperor Augustus ‘the whole Iberian peninsula had been subjugated by the Romans and organized in . . . three provinces’, with many flourishing Roman colonies. Did Paul possibly look beyond Spain to the edges of the Empire, to Gaul and Germany, and even to Britain?
Whether he reached and evangelized Spain we shall probably never know. The nearest thing we have to evidence is the statement by Clement of Rome in his first letter to the Corinthians (usually dated ad 96–97) about Paul’s ‘noble renown’ as a herald of the gospel: ‘To the whole world he taught righteousness, and reaching the limits of the West he bore his witness before rulers.’ It may be, then, as has often been surmised, that Paul was released from his confinement in Rome, in which Acts leaves him, and that he then resumed his missionary travels, including a visit to Spain, before being re-arrested, imprisoned and finally beheaded during the persecution in the time of the Emperor Nero.
As Paul mentally prepares for his visit to Rome, however, he is full of assurance. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ (29). There is no need to detect a trace of arrogance in this statement. Paul’s confidence is not in himself but in Christ. That he is not trusting in himself is evident from his request for their prayers which immediately follows. He knows his weakness, his vulnerability. But he also knows the blessing of Christ.
4. He requests prayer for his visits (15:30–32)
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me (30). Towards the beginning of his letter Paul assured the Roman Christians that he was constantly praying for them (1:9f.). So it is entirely appropriate that he should now ask them to pray for him. Besides, he and they are brothers and sisters in the family of God. He is also able to appeal to them by our Lord Jesus Christ (our common Lord) and by the love of the Spirit (our common love being the Holy Spirit’s fruit).
He goes on to refer to prayer as a struggle. Readers who are familiar with the Old Testament may recall the occasion when Jacob ‘wrestled’ with God. But there is no suggestion here of such a struggle with God. It is more likely that Paul is thinking of our need to wrestle with the principalities and powers of darkness. In point of fact, however, the apostle does not specify any enemy with whom we are to strive. It may be, therefore, that he is simply representing prayer as an activity demanding great exertion, a struggle in fact with ourselves, in which we seek to align ourselves with God’s will.
For what, then, does Paul ask their prayers? It concerns his visits to Jerusalem and to Rome. With regard to Jerusalem, he mentions two topics for their prayers, which relate to believers and unbelievers respectively. The first concerns the opposition of unbelievers. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea (31a). He is aware that he has many enemies among the unbelieving Jews, who will doubtless plot and scheme for his downfall, even his death. He knows he is in danger, even for his life. He will shortly say, when on his way to Jerusalem, ‘I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ But he asks the Romans to join him in prayer for his protection and deliverance from his opponents.
Paul’s second concern for his Jerusalem visit relates to the believers, the Jewish Christian community: Pray . . . that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favourably received by the Lord’s people there (31b). He realizes that it may be difficult for them to accept the offering, not in the general sense that we all find it hard to receive gifts which place us in other people’s debt, but in a much more specific sense. In accepting the gift from Paul, Jewish Christian leaders would be seen to endorse Paul’s gospel and his seeming disregard of Jewish law and traditions. Yet if his offering were to be rejected, this could cause the rift between Jewish and Gentile Christians to widen irreversibly. So Paul longs that Jewish–Gentile solidarity in the body of Christ may be strengthened by the Jewish Christians’ acceptance of its tangible symbol. That is why he asks the Romans to pray both that the believers will accept the gift and that unbelievers will not be able to prevent either the giving or the receiving of it.
Paul now requests prayer also for his visit to Rome. Indeed he sees the two visits to be inseparably connected. Only if his mission in Jerusalem succeeds will his voyage to Rome be possible. So he asks the Romans to pray that he may be protected and his gift accepted in Jerusalem, not only because these things are important in themselves, but also so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed (32). Whatever reception he is given in Jerusalem, he anticipates that afterwards he will be in need of the joy and refreshment which fellowship with the Roman Christians will bring. This time he does not mention his further plan to go on to Spain.
Paul’s reference to the will of God in relation to prayer is very significant. He has prayed earlier that ‘now at last by God’s will the way may be opened’ for him to come to Rome (1:10). Here he again prays that by God’s will he may come to them. His use of this qualifying clause throws light on both the purpose and the character of prayer, on why and how Christians should pray.
The purpose of prayer is emphatically not to bend God’s will to ours, but rather to align our will to his. The promise that our prayers will be answered is conditional on our asking ‘according to his will’. Consequently every prayer we pray should be a variation on the theme, ‘Your will be done.’
What about the character of prayer? Some people tell us, in spite of Paul’s earlier statement that ‘we do not know what we ought to pray for’ (8:26), that we should always be precise, specific and confident in what we pray for, and that to add ‘if it be your will’ is a cop-out and incompatible with faith. In response, we need to distinguish between the general and the particular will of God. Since God has revealed his general will for all his people in Scripture (e.g. that we should control ourselves and become like Christ), we should indeed pray with definiteness and assurance about these things. But God’s particular will for each of us (e.g. regarding a life work and a life partner) has not been revealed in the Bible, so that, in praying for guidance, it is right to add ‘by God’s will’. If Jesus himself did this in the garden of Gethsemane (‘yet not my will, but yours be done’), and if Paul did it twice in his letter to the Romans, we should do it too. It is not unbelief, but a proper humility.
So what happened to Paul’s three prayers, in which he asked the Romans to join him, namely that he might be rescued from unbelievers in Jerusalem, that his gift might be accepted, and that he might succeed in reaching Rome? Were they answered or unanswered? Regarding the middle of the three prayers we do not know, since surprisingly Luke does not refer to the offering in his Acts narrative, although he knows about it, because he accompanied Paul to Jerusalem and records Paul’s statement (when on trial before Felix) that he had come to Jerusalem ‘to bring my people gifts for the poor’. The probability is that the gifts were accepted.
What, then, about the other two petitions? Both received a qualified ‘Yes’: the first ‘Yes and no’, the second ‘Yes but’. Was Paul delivered from unbelievers in Jerusalem? ‘No’, in the sense that he was arrested, tried and imprisoned, but also ‘yes’ because he was three times rescued from lynching, once from flogging and once from a plot to kill him. Then did he reach Rome? Yes indeed, as Jesus had promised him he would, but neither when nor how he had expected, for he arrived about three years later, as a prisoner, and after an almost fatal shipwreck.
So prayer is an essential Christian activity, and it is good to ask people to pray for us and with us, as Paul did. But there is nothing automatic about prayer. Praying is not like using a coin-operated machine or a cash dispenser. The struggle involved in prayer lies in the process of coming to discern God’s will and to desire it above everything else. Then God will work things out providentially according to his will, for which we have prayed. That is why I have called this concluding section ‘The providence of God in the ministry of Paul’.
Paul ends this part of his letter with a third blessing, in which, having asked for their prayers, he prays for them again: The God of peace be with you all. Amen (33). That he chooses this time to call God the God of peace or reconciliation, that peace (shalom) is a central Jewish concern, and that he deliberately writes not ‘with you’ but with you all are three suggestive pointers. They seem to indicate that Paul’s mind is preoccupied to the end with Jewish–Gentile unity. As Professor Dunn has aptly put it, ‘Paul the Jew, who is also apostle to the Gentiles, says the Jewish benediction over his Gentile readers.’