Longing to Go to Rome
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Rom 1:8
whole known world... The Roman empire (note, Luke 2:1).
It appears that long before Paul goes to Rome there are many Christians there. It seems they are so zealous for the Lord that it is common knowledge.
This spreading of this information to the world just means that Rome is a trade center and people who come there to sell or buy have heard of the Christian movement in Rome. As the center of the Roman Empire and the inhabited world, whatever happened in Rome became known universally.
This visit would be mutually beneficial spiritually; he desired to minister for three purposes: (a) to the strengthening of the Romans (Rom. 1:11; to impart… some spiritual gift means either to exercise his own spiritual gift on their behalf or to bestow on them spiritual favors, i.e., blessings); (b) to see some spiritual fruit (a harvest, Rom. 1:13) among them and, in turn, (c) to be strengthened by them (Rom. 1:12). In this sense Paul’s ministry at Rome would be the same as in other centers of the empire.
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