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I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong Romans 1:11

Paul had a reason for wanting to visit Rome and it had nothing to do with an interest in architecture.

Although Rome was the seat of power, culture and of trade, none of these facts were uppermost in the mind of this brilliant and educated man. Instead, his reason for wanting to visit Rome was to meet with the Christian believers who lived there. And when he did visit, Paul was full of expectation that he would do them some good. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong.

To many people (especially on my side of the Atlantic!), such a bold claim appears at first sight to be presumptuous. We find Paul's confidence a bit much for our refined tastes! No-one likes a big-head.

Paul's confidence, of course, had nothing to do with his upbringing, education or his brilliant intellect. He refers to such privileges in another letter as "rubbish". Paul would have been the first to attribute his confidence to the effect of God's grace upon his life. "I am what I am by the grace of God", he writes to the church in Corinth.

Grace had changed Paul from an arrogant legalist, a man who looked down upon the pagans of his day as religiously and spiritually inferior, to a humble servant who knew that in Christ "there is neither Jew nor Gentile." The gospel had made the legalist into a servant.

It was this deep awareness that he had been called to be a servant and an apostle that gave Paul the confidence to say that when he visited the church in this city he would “impart� something of spiritual value to them.

Paul makes a similar statement at the end of this great letter: I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ. (Romans 15:29).

Paul understood that if God had called him to do a work, that same God would also enable him to carry it out - effectively. This was the basis for his confidence and is the basis for our own if we have been called by God.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong Romans 1:11

Posted in apostle Paul | Christian ministry | Christian servi ce | effectual calling More Important Than Anything | | | | 305 reads