whenever I should go to Spain; (for I hope to see you as I go through, and by you to be set forward thither, if first I shall have been in part filled with your company;)
Paul writes to a church he has never visited, and he tells them Rome is only a stop. His goal is Spain — which raises three questions: why the long delay, what did he want from these believers, and did he ever go?
Paul does not say he is coming to Rome. He says he hopes to see them as he passes through. One writer notes what that order shows, and what Paul's words about their company reveal:
The Master's aim through the apostle was now reached, so he had no more place in the East. His old longing to visit the believers at Rome, often blocked, came back when he planned to go on to Spain. Notice: Spain, not Rome, was the point he was aiming at, no doubt according to the measure of the rule God gave him. His eye was on the regions beyond. But on the way he hoped to see the Roman believers, and to be sent on there by them — "if I am first filled in part with your company." He will not allow that any length of time could exhaust his love for them, or his enjoyment of talking with them. So he says, if I am in part "filled with you."
The earlier verses explain the delay. Unreached places had first claim, and then something changed:
Rome, therefore, with its assembly already gathered, could not claim him while there were unoccupied places around. But now he found no more room, as he counted it, in the regions where he had been, and the far western country of Spain was calling him by its need. Here would be his chance to visit on the way those he had long wanted to see.
The words "helped on my journey" ask for something practical. Paul expects the Romans to do this for him, though they have never met him:
Those who have gone out for "His Name's sake" should have support and help on their way. Paul said he was confident that the believers at Rome would send him on his way to Spain (Rom. 15:24. See also 1 Cor. 16:6; 2 Cor. 1:16 and Titus 3:13). The phrase "bring forward on their journey" suggests that the saints would meet the financial needs of the Lord's servants.
Paul does not treat Rome as a supply depot. He wants their company first, and that tells us something about him:
It is touching to note how the heart of the apostle sought the comfort of the fellowship of the saints. He counted on their company to stir and encourage his soul for the work he was looking forward to in Spain.
Another writer sees the same trait in Paul:
He was a spiritual man, in close touch with God and dependent on Him. Even so, he was not above thanking God and taking courage from the love and fellowship of believers whose spiritual stature may have been far below his own.
Paul reached Rome — but not as he pictured it here:
His circumstances were very different from those he had pictured when he wrote ahead about what he planned to do (see Romans 15:22-32). But he did come to them with a measure of joy by the will of God, and he was marked by "the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." God's hand was still over him. Though a prisoner, he was allowed to live by himself under guard, and this gave him some liberty for service and testimony.
Was the plan a failure? One writer says no:
Our prayers are often answered in ways we do not know, and so it was with the apostle himself. But who shall say that they were not answered? Or that they were not answered in a way better in the sight of God — better for the gospel itself — than if all had gone according to his own thought?
Commentators differ, because Scripture never says. One writer is sure there was no such journey: "He was delivered, but as a prisoner… There was no journey into Spain either" (J. N. Darby). Others weigh early testimony and leave it open:
Some have thought that he did go to Spain right after his release. The main evidence comes from Clement, a fellow worker mentioned in Philippians 4:3. He speaks of Paul as having preached the gospel in the east and in the west, and as having gone to the far end of the west, meaning Spain. Clement was Paul's own disciple and fellow worker, so his testimony deserves our respect. Still, it is not Scripture, and so not conclusive by itself.
- Beyond. Spain, not Rome, was what Paul was aiming at; his eye was on the regions beyond, and Rome was a stop on the way.
- Room. He stayed away because unreached places had first claim. When the East was full, Spain's need called him west.
- Sent. "Helped on my journey" is a real ask. God's servants need support and supplies for the road ahead.
- Filled. He wanted their company as much as their help, counting on it to strengthen him for the work still in front of him.
- Different. He reached Rome as a prisoner, not as planned, yet with the fullness of the blessing. God answered better than his own plan. Whether Spain ever came, Scripture does not say.
but now I go to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints;
Near the end of Romans, Paul lays out his travel plans: Rome, then Spain. But he must go the other way first, to Jerusalem with money — which raises three questions: what was this service, why did an apostle carry it himself, and was the journey wise?
The trip west had to wait. Believers in Jerusalem were in hardship, and Paul meant to bring them help himself.
In the meantime he had another form of ministry to fulfil. There were saints at Jerusalem in poverty. The believers in Macedonia and Achaia were glad to make a contribution for them, and Paul was anxious to take it to Jerusalem... When he had finished this service, Paul planned to visit the saints at Rome.
The need had two roots, and the givers were not the wealthy ones.
The Philippians were poor compared with the Corinthians, yet they were far more liberal. They talked less and gave more. The Acts of the Apostles gives two explanations of how the need arose. There was a famine in those days. Sharing their goods at the beginning had also left the believers in Jerusalem especially poor. Yet their poverty gave the occasion for cementing practical bonds of Christian fellowship between Gentile and Jew.
Paul does not treat this money as charity. He treats it as something owed.
Meanwhile he had an errand of compassion in hand for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. The saints of Macedonia and Achaia had raised money to help their brothers and sisters. The apostle treats this as a debt of love rather than as a simple outflow of love. If the Gentiles shared in the spiritual privileges of the Jews, ought they not to remember their poor saints in material things?
Paul carried the money himself. Commentators read that choice in two ways. One sees an apostle who thought no service too small:
The apostle did not think a deacon's service beneath him. He was inspired to write of it all for our building up, sure of a fullness of Christ's blessing for the saints at Rome when he came.
Another looks at what pulled Paul toward Jerusalem:
We see that his heart turns to the Jews; they occupied his thoughts. He wanted to put the seal of performance on the grace this collection showed. Yet he was preoccupied with them as Jews, as those who had a claim. Perhaps this was a mixed feeling in one who was anxious to show that he did not forget them; for, in fact, he loved his nation. This service belonged properly to a deacon. Pleasing as it might be, we have to learn whether he was at the height of his mission as apostle in carrying it out.
Commentators differ here, and none treat it as settled. One sets the journey beside the warnings Paul was given, and finds his love for Israel blinding him to them:
The apostle is first told, plainly and unmistakably, not to go to Jerusalem. Then he is shown what going will cost him... Despite it all, the apostle sees nothing of the kind. There is a veil over his eyes, and it is a very solemn one. It is the veil of an impulse that holds him — his love for Israel, which he himself has recorded for us in the letter to the Romans. He wrote that letter with this very journey in view.
Another writer leaves the question open and looks at what came of the prayer Paul asked for.
Paul clearly considered this collection a very important matter, and he insisted on carrying the money himself. He was quite aware of the danger he ran... Whether he was right to go to Jerusalem has been much discussed. We need not try to answer that here. But we should note this: God answered the prayer he asked the Roman saints to join him in, though not in the way he hoped. He was delivered, but not as a free man.
Paul did reach Rome — in chains, not as the free traveller of these verses.
His circumstances were very different from the ones he had pictured when he wrote ahead about what he planned to do. But he did come to them with a certain measure of joy by the will of God, and "the fullness of the blessing of Christ" marked him. God's hand was still over him.
- Need. Famine and the early sharing of goods left the believers in Jerusalem poor. Their hardship became an opening for others to give.
- Gift. The money came from Macedonia and Achaia, and the poorer givers gave the most — they talked less and gave more.
- Debt. Paul treats the money as a debt of love. Those who received spiritual things owe material things in return.
- Bond. The collection cemented practical fellowship between Gentile and Jew. Paul knew the danger and still insisted on carrying the money himself.
- Result. Commentators still debate whether the journey was wise. God answered his prayer through imprisonment, and he reached Rome in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.