Romans 15.32-The Ultimate Purpose Of Paul's Two Requests In Romans 15.31 Is That He Would Find Rest In The Company Of The Romans
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday July 22, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:32-The Ultimate Purpose Of Paul’s Two Requests In Romans 15:31 Is That He Would Find Rest In The Company Of The Roman Believers
Lesson # 540
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:30.
In Romans 15:32, Paul expresses the ultimate goal of his two requests in Romans 15:31, namely that when he enters into the company of the Roman believers he will find rest for himself.
Romans 15:30, “Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me 31, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints 32 so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company.”
Romans 15:32 is a purpose clause that does not present two more requests that parallel the two in Romans 15:31 but rather they express the ultimate goal of the two requests in Romans 15:31.
This interpretation is indicated by Paul’s statements in Romans 15:24-28, which reveal that Paul would not go to Rome until he delivered the offering from the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia to the poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
“I may come” is the nominative masculine singular aorist active participle form of the verb erchomai (ἒρχομαι) (air-koe-meh), which is capable of a wide variety of meanings through the addition of various prefixes and is a general word expressing motion.
As was the case in Romans 15:22, the verb erchomai in Romans 15:32 means “to enter” since it is used with the prepositional phrase pros humas, which speaks of Paul being “in the company of” the Roman believers.
Thus, this verse speaks of Paul “entering” into the company of the Roman believers after delivering the contribution from the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia to the poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
The word functions as a temporal participle, which answers the question as to when Paul will find refreshment, namely “when” he enters into to the company of the Roman believers.
“To you” speaks of a personal intimate fellowship between them and Paul and denotes his coming into the company of or into the presence of the Roman believers.
“By the will of God” is composed of the preposition dia (διά) (thee-ah), “by” and the genitive neuter singular form of the noun thelema (θέλημα) (thel-ee-mah), “the will” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “to God.”
The noun thelema refers to the geographical will of God for the apostle Paul. It refers to the will of the Father from the perspective of what geographical location that the Father wants him to be in.
The noun theos refers to the Father since Ephesians 1:1-14 teaches that the Father is the author of the plan of salvation for the believer’s life and in addition He is the author of the divine decree.
The noun thelema is the object of the preposition dia and together they express intermediate agency indicating that the Father’s sovereign will is the intermediate agency that the Father employs to determine when Paul arrives in Rome.
“In joy” is composed of the preposition en (ἕν), “in” and the dative feminine singular form of the noun chara (χαρά) (ha-rah), “joy.”
The noun chara means “joy” and refers to the apostle Paul experiencing the joy of the Lord by means of fellowship with the Holy Spirit when he enters into the company of the Roman believers.
The believer experiences the joy of God by experiencing fellowship with the Spirit, which is accomplished by exercising faith in the Spirit’s teaching in the Word that they have died with Christ and have been raised with Him.
This in turn enables the Holy Spirit to produce a joy that is divine in quality and character and is not based upon outward circumstances or what one possesses.
Romans 15:32, “So that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company.”
“Find refreshing rest in your company” is composed of the first person singular aorist middle subjunctive form of the verb sunanapauomai (συναναπαύομαι) (see-nano-pow-owe-meh), “find refreshing rest” and the dative second person plural personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), “in your company.”
The verb sunanapauomai means “to relax in someone’s company” or “to find rest in someone’s company” and is used of course of Paul “finding rest in the company” of the Roman believers.
The middle voice of the verb is an indirect middle meaning that the subject acts for himself indicating that when Paul enters into the company of the Roman believers with joy by the will of the Father, he will find rest for himself in the company of the Roman believers.
The personal pronoun su is used of the Roman believers in a corporate sense.
It functions as a dative of place indicating Paul will relax when he enters “into the company of” the Romans.
To summarize, Romans 15:32 is a purpose clause that does not present two more requests that parallel the two in Romans 15:31 but rather they express the ultimate goal of the two requests in Romans 15:31.
This interpretation is indicated by Paul’s statements in Romans 15:24-28, which reveal that he would not go to Rome until he delivered the offering from the Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia to the poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
So the apostle Paul in Romans 15:32 expresses the ultimate goal of his two requests in Romans 15:31, namely that when he enters into the company of the Roman believers he will find rest for himself in their company.