ROMANS i. 8-17
He has blessed the Roman Christians in the name of the Lord. Now he hastens to tell them how he blesses God for them, and how full his heart is of them. The Gospel is warm all through with life and love; this great message of doctrine and precept is poured from a fountain full of personal affection.
[Sidenote: Ver. 8.] =Now first I thank my God, through Jesus Christ, about you all.= It is his delight to give thanks for all the good he knows of in his brethren. Seven of his Epistles open with such thanksgivings, which at once convey the commendations which love rejoices to give, wherever possible, and trace all spiritual virtue straight to its Source, the Lord. Nor only here to "the Lord," but to "_my_ God"; a phrase used, in the New Testament, only by St Paul, except that one utterance of ELI, ELI, by his dying Saviour. It is the expression of an indescribable appropriation and reverent intimacy. The believer grudges his God to none; he rejoices with great joy over every soul that finds its wealth in Him. But at the centre of all joy and love is this--"_my_ God"; "Christ Jesus _my_ Lord"; "who loved _me_ and gave Himself for _me_." Is it selfish? Nay, it is the language of a personality where Christ has dethroned self in His own favour, but in which therefore reigns now the highest happiness, the happiness which animates and maintains a self-forgetful love of all. And this holy intimacy, with its action in thanks and petition, is all the while "_through Jesus Christ_" the Mediator and Brother. The man knows God as "_my_ God," and deals with Him as such, never out of that Beloved SON who is equally One with the believer and with the Father, no alien medium, but the living point of unity.
What moves his thanksgivings? =Because your faith is spoken of,= more literally, =is carried as tidings, over the whole world.= Go where he will, in Asia, in Macedonia, in Achaia, in Illyricum, he meets believing "strangers from Rome," with spiritual news from the Capital, announcing, with a glad solemnity, that at the great Centre of this world the things eternal are proving their power, and that the Roman mission is remarkable for its strength and simplicity of "_faith_," its humble reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ, and loving allegiance to Him. Such news, wafted from point to point of that early Christendom, was frequent then; we see another beautiful example of it where he tells the Thessalonians (1 Thess. i. 8-10) how everywhere in his Greek tour he found the news of their conversion running in advance of him, to greet him at each arrival. What special importance would such intelligence bear when it was good news from Rome!
Still in our day over the world of Missions similar tidings travel. Only a few years ago "the saints" of Indian Tinnevelly heard of the distress of their brethren of African Uganda, and sent with loving eagerness "to their necessity." Only last year (1892) an English visitor to the Missions of Labrador found the disciples of the Moravian Brethren there full of the wonders of grace manifested in those same African believers.
This constant good tidings from the City makes him the more glad because of its correspondence with his incessant thought, prayer, and yearning over them.
[Sidenote: Ver. 9.] =For God is my record, my witness,[6]= of this; the God =whom I serve,= at once, so the Greek (λατρεύω) implies, with adoration and obedience, =in my spirit, in the Gospel of His Son.= The "_for_" gives the connexion we have just indicated; he rejoices to hear of their faith, _for_ the Lord knows how much they are in his prayers. The divine Witness is the more instinctively appealed to, because these thoughts and prayers are for a mission-Church, and the relations between St Paul and his God are above all missionary relations. He "_serves Him in the Gospel of His Son_" the Gospel of the God who is known and believed in His Christ. He "serves Him in _the Gospel_"; that is, in _the propagation_ of it. So he often means, where he speaks of "the Gospel"; take for example ver. 1 above; xv. 16, 19 below; Phil. i. 5, 12; ii. 22. "He serves Him," in that great branch of ministry, "_in his spirit_" with his whole love, will, and mind, working in communion with his Lord. And now to this eternal Friend and Witness he appeals to seal his assurance of incessant intercessions for them; =how without ceasing,= as a habit constantly in action, =I make mention of you,= calling them up by name, specifying before the Father Rome, and Aquila, and Andronicus, and Junias, and Persis, and Mary, and the whole circle, personally known or not, =in my prayers;= literally, =on occasion of my prayers;= whenever he found himself at prayer, statedly or as it were casually remembering and beseeching.