Romans 15:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you.

NIV: This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

NASB: For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you;

CSB: That is why I have been prevented many times from coming to you.

NLT: In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places.

KJV: For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.

NKJV: For this reason I also have been much hindered from coming to you.

Paul is nearing the end of his long letter to the Christians in Rome. He has just revealed that his mission from God has been to take the gospel to people who have never heard about Christ. His particular quest is to introduce the gospel to regions where Christ has never been preached. In that way, Paul saw his work as a fulfillment of ancient prophecies.

This prior commitment to his work is the reason Paul refers to in this verse. That is why, he now writes, he has not yet been able to travel to Rome to visit with the Christians there. He kept finding new territories in his part of the world where the gospel had not yet been preached. He had to fulfill his mission to introduce each region to Christ. This hindered or prevented him from traveling to Rome, since a group of believers had already been established there by the work of others.

Romans 15:22–33 describes Paul's plan to visit the Christians in Rome on his way to preaching the gospel in Spain. He has longed to see them for years. Before he comes, he must deliver a gift of financial aid from Gentile Christians to the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem. He asks his readers to wrestle with him in prayer about this trip. Paul especially hopes to be delivered from the unbelieving Jewish religious leaders who want to kill him, and that the Christian Jews will receive the gift he is bringing.

Romans 15 begins with Paul's encouragement to those strong in faith: to please other Christians before themselves so the church can be unified. Christ came to fulfill God's promises to Israel and about the Gentiles. Paul is satisfied with the faith and practice of the Roman Christians. His work of taking the gospel to unreached regions of Gentiles in his part of the world is completed, and he longs to come see them. First, he must deliver financial aid to Jerusalem, a trip about which he asks them to pray along with him.

Romans 15 concludes Paul's teaching that those strong in faith ought to sacrifice their own desires to live in harmony with other believers. Paul shows that God always planned to welcome the Gentile nations, and his mission is to introduce Gentiles to the message of salvation by faith in Christ. He longs to visit the Christians in Rome and plans to do so as soon as he delivers financial aid to poor Christian Jews in Jerusalem. He begins Romans 16 by greeting many friends and acquaintances in Rome by name, as part of a drawn-out ending to this letter.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.

Accessed 11/24/2024 6:23:04 AM