3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

Rom 15:30-32 (plans)
30 Παρακαλῶ δὲ ὑμᾶς [, ἀδελφοί,] διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ πνεύματος
συναγωνίσασθαί μοι ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, 31 ἵνα ῥυσθῶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπειθούντων ἐν τῇ
Ἰουδαίᾳ καὶ ἡ διακονία μου ἡ εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ εὐπρόσδεκτος τοῖς ἁγίοις γένηται, 32 ἵνα ἐν χαρᾷ ἐλθὼν πρὸς ὑμᾶς
διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ συναναπαύσωμαι ὑμῖν.
30 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in
earnest prayer to God on my behalf, 31 that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my ministry
to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed
in your company.
With this text from Romans, we now are dealing with Paul’s ministry during the three month stay in
Corinth mentioned in Acts 20:2-3. In addition to handling all the issues connected to the relief offering in Corinth,
along with the unrepentant church members who had to be publicly challenged in formal rebuke, Paul took time
to enlist the services of Tertius (16:22) to compose unquestionably the best and most polished grammatically of
all his letters.
In 15:22-32 of this letter, he sketches out plans to take the relief offering collected on this third journey
back to Jerusalem for distribution among τοὺς πτωχοὺς τῶν ἁγίων τῶν ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ, the poor of the saints in
Jerusalem (v. 26). Once this task has been completed his intention is to set out for Spain by way of Rome (v. 28).
He believes this to be the future blessing of Christ on his ministry (v. 29). This trip to Rome is not a last minute
plan, but rather is one that Paul had been wanting to make for a long time (vv. 22-24). And he hoped to spend
some time with them before traveling on to Spain (v. 24b). And this includes their support of him in this projection
of ministry in Spain: ὑφʼ ὑμῶν προπεμφθῆναι ἐκεῖ, v. 24. But the immediate objective in Corinth is Νυνὶ δὲ
πορεύομαι εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ διακονῶν τοῖς ἁγίοις, but now I will go to Jerusalem ministering to the saints.
What Paul already recognizes in Corinth is that substantial danger awaits him in Jerusalem: vv. 30-32. He
appeals to the Romans to join him in praying for God’s deliverance from his Jewish enemies in Jerusalem whom
he labels as τῶν ἀπειθούντων ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, unbelievers in Judea (v. 31). His second request for prayer is that ἡ
διακονία μου ἡ εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ εὐπρόσδεκτος τοῖς ἁγίοις γένηται, my ministry to Jerusalem may be pleasing to the
saints (v. 31). He sees this as then opening the door for the trip to Rome (v. 32).
This quick glimpse into some of Paul’s activity and thinking while in Corinth is instructive. Paul kept planning
going on well in advance through all of his missionary travels. Even while in Corinth tackling all the issues
and problems with the church, he was thinking ahead and seeking the Lord’s leadership for the future. And not
to be overlooked here is that such plans lay at least a year further down the road in Paul’s life. This is clear just
from the simple logistics of traveling from the eastern Mediterranean to Rome and on to Spain in the first century
world. We are not talking about a month or even six month plan of action here! Clearly from Acts 21 - 28 Paul
would eventually travel to Rome but in ways completely unknown to him at the time of the writing of this letter.
The one thing he did get correct was his apprehension about danger awaiting him in Jerusalem. His travel plans
were no blind leap into the unknown! He thought through them carefully and well in advance, out of seeking
God’s guidance in making them. One major lesson here is that planning for the future and faith in God’s leadership
are not contradictory to one another. Just the contrary, they belong together. And much better Christian
service grows out of combining them with one another.
Rom. 16:21-23
21 Ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς Τιμόθεος ὁ συνεργός μου καὶ Λούκιος καὶ Ἰάσων καὶ Σωσίπατρος οἱ συγγενεῖς μου . 22
ἀσπάζομαι ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ Τέρτιος ὁ γράψας τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐν κυρίῳ. 23 ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς Γάϊος ὁ ξένος μου καὶ ὅλης τῆς
ἐκκλησίας. ἀσπάζεται ὑμᾶς Ἔραστος ὁ οἰκονόμος τῆς πόλεως καὶ Κούαρτος ὁ ἀδελφός.
21 Timothy, my co-worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives.
22 I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother
Quartus, greet you.
Of particular interest in these references is the fact that these individuals are in Corinth at the time of the
writing of this letter and send their greetings to the church at Rome in this greetings section (vv. 3-16, 21-23) of
the lengthy conclusio of Romans (16:1-27). 172 The list of names is impressive with some of them being traveling
172 This very long section in Romans contains many common elements of the Conclusio sections of Paul’s other letters:
Element Romans Other Pauline Letters
Paul’s travel plans 15:14-29 1 Cor. 16:1-9
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