Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 2 Study # 5
Lincolnton, NC
April 27, 2004
(029)
1769 Translation:
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
1901 ASV Translation:
11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
12 that is, that I with you may be comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.
Textual Issues:
There are no textual variants between the Textus Receptus and the Nestle/Aland 26.
Notes:
- I. In these two verses Paul explains the roots of his prayer as a desire to be involved in the greater development of true spirituality.
- A. He uses "development of spirituality" terms...
- 1. He desires to "impart a grace gift that is spiritual".
- 2. He desires to "stabilize" the faith of the Romans.
- 3. He desires to "be encouraged together" with the Romans in respect to "faith".
- B. His focus on "faith" assumes that the deeper issues of "love" have already been settled and what needs to happen now is that those who are now on the proper "love" track will develop a better grasp of the "faith" track.
- II. The first issue is Paul's "longing".
- A. This word is used consistently throughout the New Testament to refer to a deep desire that has the ability to generate significant emotional results [see Philippians 1:8 and 2:26 as examples].
- 1. This term, used in this paragraph, dovetails with Paul's concept of "prayer" as the expression to God of significantly important issues. This addresses, once again, the difference between the carnal "practice of spiritual disciplines" and actual "life by the spirit". For the carnal, "life" is by "procedures"; for the spiritual, "life" is, apparently, by the interaction between God and His child regarding the significant issues of the heart and mind.
- 2. For Paul, who had "lived by the rules" for most of his life, there was nothing more deadly than "living by the rules". For him, "life" was by the Spirit, so there was nothing more "life-giving" than the process of imparting "spiritual" grace-gifts and receiving the impact of the same.
- B. The fact that Paul interacted with God over "longings" indicates how important it is for us to not become emotionally dead by stuffing our longings into the "do not entertain" bag.
- 1. There is a huge temptation among men to either push for the fulfillment of their longings until they get them, or to stifle all longings so that there is no "pain" in the lack of fulfillment. Both of these are intensely selfish and attribute no "life-giving properties" to the process of taking the longings to God and having His input determine what to do about them.
- 2. For Paul, there is "life" in both "receiving" the fulfillment of an expressed "longing" and in "being better instructed" in respect to the denial of fulfillment of an expressed "longing". He exulted in having his prayers answered the way he prayed; and he rejoiced in grasping the greater understanding he gained from having his prayers denied the way he had asked.
- 3. The point here is this: there is a hierarchy of "longings" and the undergirding one is the longing to become everything God wants us to be. Into this end all other "longings" are to be bent and all responses from God are to be folded.
- a. There is a constant "war" that goes on within us between the undergirding longing and the carnal longing to have everything go our way.
- b. This on-going "war" is generally not presented to our consciousness in clear terms; normally the conflict shows up in the petty arguments and resistance that we sense between us and our God-controlled circumstances. The tendency we will have when these petty issues arise will be to not take them to God, but, instead, stew over them. Our equilibrium can be reestablished by prayer and deliberately returning to the bottom line: the desire to become everything God would have us be.
- III. The Second Issue is Paul's Perceived Methodology.
- A. He wishes to be in their midst so that the interactive flow of spiritual gifts might encourage all.
- 1. He says, on the one hand, that he wishes "to impart" something in the nature of a spiritual grace-gift.
- 2. Then, on the other hand, he turns right around and explains what he means: he wants there to be a "mutual encouragement" between himself and them by means of the expression of faith that each has to offer the other.
- a. That he originally expressed the desire to be involved in "imparting some spiritual gift" indicates that he considered the expressions of faith to flow along the lines of the exercise of spiritual gifts. [Note 12:6 where he deliberately ties that "flow" to the "faith" which has been distributed by God to His child.]
- b. The obvious implication is that each believer needs to be focused upon "living out" the daily reality of what God has imparted to him/her as a spiritual gift so that the daily contact between believers will have the intended result of mutual encouragement.
- B. The most obvious implication, then, is that as there is encouragement from the flow of the gifts, thus also is there a real discouragement from the absence of such flow.
- 1. The spiritual boost to a person's life and faith that is caused by obedience is real. [Note III John 1:4.]
- a. How many times do we come together with an initially "down" attitude and have that turned around by rubbing shoulders with the saints?
- b. How many times are we heartened by the godly comments that come out of the mouths of our brethren?
- 2. The spiritual drag upon a person's life and faith that is caused by disobedience is also real. [Note Paul's persistence with Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:14 and 2 Timothy 1:6 and corollate with Paul's painful letters to the Corinthians.]
- a. How many times do we have to hear of all of the conflicts and carnality before we realize that people can destroy each other by the refusal to walk in their gifting?
- b. How many times do we experience the "down" that comes from rubbing shoulders with a person who claims to be a believer but is obviously not walking in the light before we come to grips with just how crucial it is for us to make sure we are walking in the light?