Romans 1

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. Wesley: in the very entrance of this one epistle are the traces of all spiritual affections; but of thankfulness above all. My God—this very word expresses faith, hope, love, and consequently all true religion. Through Jesus Christ—the gifts of God all pass through Christ to us; and all our petitions and thanksgivings pass through Christ to God.

Wesley’s heirs hear thanksgiving for a living faith the Romans actually exercised. God is thanked because every good gift comes through Christ; that does not turn their believing into a non-act. Their faith is public, spoken of everywhere—the fruit of grace-enabled trust, not a private deposit they never made. Thank God for believers; do not erase the believers.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. Calvin: the first thing worthy of remark is that he so commends their faith that he implies that it had been received from God. We are here taught that faith is God’s gift; for thanksgiving is an acknowledgment of a benefit. He who gives thanks to God for faith confesses that it comes from him.

Paul thanks God, not the Romans, as the giver of their faith. The faith proclaimed throughout the whole world is a benefit received. This is not a slight on their believing; it is the confession that believing itself is from God. The same “through Jesus Christ” that Wesley loves is, here, the channel of a gift God actually gave.

For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you. Wesley’s “My God” (v. 8) already named faith, hope, and love; the witness clause is the apostle’s oath that the thanks are not a flourish. Service is in the Good News of his Son, with the spirit, not a mere office.

Arminian interpreters hear unceasing mention as pastoral love, the same affection that will make him a debtor to Greeks and barbarians. God is witness because the prayers are not imaginary. The Good News of his Son is the field of the service, matching the errand of 1:5—that the nations embrace the faith.

For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you. Calvin has just taught that faith is God’s gift because Paul thanks God for it. The unceasing mention is of a people whose faith he has already traced to God.

Service with the spirit in the gospel is not a second source of their faith; it is the apostle’s labor under the same God he thanks. God is witness to the prayers. The Good News of his Son is the place of the service. Without ceasing matches a pastor who knows the faith he names is a benefit from above.

Always in my prayers, requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you. The longing is submitted: somehow, by God’s will, at last. Wesley’s later word (v. 14) will say why the coming matters—he is bound by his divine mission to preach the Good News to them.

Arminian readers hear a petition that can be delayed without being a fiction. God’s will governs the journey; the apostle still asks. Coming to Rome is for the gospel’s sake, not tourism. Both camps refuse a Paul who would force the door. The will of God is named; the prayer is persistent.

Always in my prayers, requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you. Calvin’s debtor of v. 14 will still wait on this will. The apostle who traces faith to God’s gift also traces the journey to God’s will.

Somehow and at last are the language of providence, not of chance. Paul asks; God disposes. The coming, when it comes, will be by that will. Both camps must say this together: the missionary does not appoint his own roads. Prayer is the form of the longing.

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you. The longing has a purpose: a gift, for strengthening. Wesley: the gifts of God all pass through Christ to us (v. 8). What Paul would impart is not his private stock; it is a spiritual gift meant to confirm them.

Classical Arminians hear a sincere pastoral desire. Strengthen you is the aim, not a display of office. The gift is spiritual, for their good. V. 12 will immediately humble the sentence: the strengthening is mutual. Longing is love, not patronage.

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you. Calvin has already said faith is God’s gift; any spiritual gift Paul would impart would be of the same fountain, not an addition from the apostle’s own purse.

Imparting is ministry, not manufacture. The gift is spiritual; the end is strengthening. Paul longs as a servant of the gospel of the Son (v. 9). The next verse will keep him from sounding like a benefactor who has nothing to receive. God gives; the apostle is a channel.

That is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. Paul will not let v. 11 stand as if Rome only received. Wesley’s thankfulness for their faith (v. 8) is here returned as a faith that can encourage even an apostle.

The note struck is mutual encouragement as the honest traffic of living faith. Yours and mine: the Romans are not empty; Paul is not above being helped. Faith encourages faith. The debtor of v. 14 still expects to be comforted by those to whom he is bound to preach.

That I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. Calvin: he who gives thanks to God for faith confesses that it comes from him. The mutual comfort is still comfort in a gift—theirs and his, both from God.

Mutual encouragement does not make faith a human product they trade. It means the God who gave them faith uses their faith to strengthen the apostle, and his theirs. Both yours and mine keeps the apostle from a one-way pulpit. The gift remains God’s; the encouragement is shared.

I don’t desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you (and was hindered so far), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. The intention was often; the prevention was authentic. Wesley’s debtor (v. 14) is already at work: Rome is not a side visit but a Gentile harvest among the rest.

Here the reader meets a sincere mission delayed, not a secret unwillingness. Fruit among you also, even as among the rest: the field is the nations, and Rome is inside it. Prevention does not nullify the errand of 1:5—that all nations may embrace the faith. The brothers are told the truth: he meant to come.

I often planned to come to you (and was hindered so far), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. Calvin’s heavenly mandate (v. 14) still meets prevention. The harvest is among Gentiles; the timing is not Paul’s.

Intended and prevented can sit together under the will of v. 10. The harvest he seeks is the fruit of the gospel destined and offered, not a crop he can schedule. Also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles keeps Rome from becoming a unique prize. God prevents; God will also open.

I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish. Wesley: he includes the Romans under the Greeks; so that this division comprises all nations. I am a debtor to all—I am bound by my divine mission to preach the Good News to them.

Arminian readers hear a debt to all kinds of people. The mission binds him; no culture, polish, or rusticity cancels the obligation. Debtor is not a metaphor for a secret list. He owes the gospel to Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, because he was sent. All nations of v. 5 are here named in two pairs.

I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish. Calvin: two things are to be considered—that the gospel is by a heavenly mandate destined and offered to the wise, in order that the Lord may subject to himself all the wisdom of this world; and then that the unlearned are by no means to be driven away from this school. All teachers have a rule: modestly and kindly to accommodate themselves to the capacities of the ignorant and unlearned.

Obligation is the heavenly mandate, not Paul’s mood. The gospel is destined and offered to the wise; the unlearned are not driven off. Both camps must say this together: no class of hearer is beneath or above the word. Kind accommodation is the teacher’s rule. The debt is to preach.

So as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome. The so follows the debt. Wesley: I am a debtor to all—I am bound by my divine mission to preach the Good News to them. Eagerness is the affection of that bond, not a tourist’s curiosity about the capital.

Arminians catch a sincere eagerness to preach in Rome as in every other Gentile field. You also: Rome does not get a different gospel, and it is not skipped because its faith is already proclaimed (v. 8). Paul remains a debtor who still wants to preach. The thesis of 1:16–17 will say why he is not ashamed to do it there.

So as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome. Calvin’s heavenly mandate has named wise and unlearned; Rome holds both. Eagerness is the apostle’s, under that mandate. The faith he thanked God for (v. 8) does not make preaching needless.

You also keeps Rome inside the same offer destined for Greeks and barbarians. Eager is not self-confidence; it is readiness to serve with his spirit in the Good News of the Son (v. 9). The next sentences will eulogize that gospel as the power of God. Both camps refuse an apostle too refined, or too proud, to preach at Rome.