Paul

Romans 1: 8- 17: A Picture of Paul, the Overcomer

Why Paul was an overcomer?

In this section, we see nine spiritual qualities which the Holy Spirit had developed in Paul. These spiritual characteristics formed the basis of Paul's life as an overcomer. In this passage, we learn that Paul experienced the "victorious" Christian life not in body, but in soul. We know that he suffered much, from rejection, to loneliness to imprisonment and assault. In this study we will focus on those qualities...

Paul says;" 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,
10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.
11 For I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;
12 that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.
13 And I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
15 Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith."

Why was Paul able to overcome?
How can we apply this to us?

1) Paul had the spirit of thankfulness.
Verse 8
"First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world."
Everywhere Paul went, as he traveled throughout the Roman Empire, the Christians he met were all aware of the power that was being demonstrated in the church at Rome. Paul pointed this out to the Romans, to encourage them, but he is careful to thank God for that fruit he was seeing in their lives. So, Paul had a thankful spirit - in addition,

2) he had a prayerful spirit:
Verse 9
"For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you..."

Why was Paul always praying? Was he trying to convince God to do certain things, to sway His will? Or, was he trying to force God's hand? No, in fact, when Paul prayed, he was doing the opposite of this. When Paul prayed, his desire was not to align God's will with his, but to align his will with God's.
That is one example of the fact that:

3) Paul had a spirit of submission:
Verse 10
"always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you."
{Another reading of this verse is:} "always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may have a prosperous trip."
So Paul certainly hoped that he would be able to go to Rome. He longed to go to Rome, and had yearned for this for years - but he wanted to go only according to God's will. He was totally submissive to God's providential care.
And he did get to Rome, didn't he? And would we say that the manner in which Paul came to Rome represented a "prosperous trip"?
He finally arrived in Rome three years after he wrote this epistle
During those three years, he was imprisoned twice.
The journey to Rome was traumatic, including a shipwreck, and being bitten by a poisonous snake.
He arrived in Rome as a prisoner, in chains.
If we had been there and asked Paul, "Do you consider your journey to have been a prosperous one?", there can be no doubt that he would have answered "yes". Yes, for Paul, that journey was prosperous, because the Lord was with him constantly during that trip, and he was finally in Rome!
So Paul was an overcomer, because:
1) he was thankful
2) he was prayerful
3) he was submissive to God's providential care, and

4) his desire was to serve God by ministering to others:
Yes, he certainly wanted to go to Rome. But why did he so long to go there? Was it to see the impressive buildings and monuments? No, Paul wanted to go to Rome, so he could serve the believers at Rome:
Verse 11
"For I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established."
We recall that Paul began this passage by commending the Romans for their faith. Now he says that he wants to make sure that they are established. He is obviously writing them so that they will not drift away from the strong faith that they already have. So, this letter was intended to be a preventative.
Some years ago, during the Vacation Bible School at my church, helium balloons were released from the front yard. Each of the balloons contained a Gospel tract, and so the message of the Gospel was spread at least throughout our neighborhood. One of the balloons came to rest at the front door of the church. The lesson was obvious - even in a church which still preaches the Gospel, the Gospel must continually be proclaimed so that that church will no drift away from it!
So Paul tells the Romans of his desire to impart spiritual truth to them. Does this mean that considered himself to be "better" than they? No, in fact, the fifth reason that Paul was an overcomer, is that:

5) he had a spirit of humility:
Verse 12
"that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine."
As we have clearly seen, Paul had a deep desire to see the believers in Rome. Now we see here that he wants to go for their benefit. We have also seen that he wanted to go to Rome only according to God's timing.
Furthermore, if God's timing did not coincide with Paul's timing, he would still trust in God's plans as being superior to his own. So, the sixth reason that Paul was an overcomer was that:

6) he trusted God:
Verse 13
"And I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles."
So we see that, not only had he wanted to go to Rome, he had tried to get there, but had always "been prevented" through various circumstances.
Now, why did God delay Paul's coming to Rome? And, why did He delay the trip for three years? No one knows with certainty, of course. But we do know what happened during this three year interval. During this time, Paul made contact with many diverse people throughout the Empire. Making these contacts no doubt equipped Paul so that, when he did finally get to Rome, he was able to interact with the extremely heterogeneous population of the city.
Also, during this time, Paul learned to be led "negatively". He learned to be guided by "closed doors". During his second missionary trip, God directed him to Europe by blocking his way as he traveled across Asia (Turkey). And Paul was not at all upset by this "negative" directing - he trusted God!
One reason for Paul's great confidence in God's leading was that Paul and God shared the same concern:

7) Paul was burdened for the lost world around him:
Verse 14
"I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. "
Let us begin by identifying the people for whom Paul felt burdened: "the Greeks" and "the barbarians".
"The Greeks" were, of course, those inhabitants of the Roman Empire who were Greek by culture and language.
"The barbarians" were .......... everyone else!
Paul also says that he is under obligation to "the wise" and to "the foolish".
By "wise", Paul means "the educated people"
By "foolish", Paul means "the uneducated people"
So Paul is saying simply that he is under obligation to everyone! The phrase "under obligation" could be better translated as "indebted". Now, obviously, Paul did not mean that was in debt to anyone, in the normal sense of the word. He meant that God had entrusted the Gospel to him, so that he could deliver the message to the Gentiles.
And Paul could not contain that message. Every time Paul saw another human being, he felt that he "owed" that person the presentation of the Gospel. And, since Paul carried this "debt" with him, it stands to reason that he was anxious to present this Gospel in Rome. In fact, this is yet another reason that Paul was an overcomer:

8) he was eager to tell people about the "Good News":
Verse 15
"Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. "
What could be more natural for a Roman citizen, God's messenger to the Gentiles, than to want to see the Gospel proclaimed in Rome, the capital of the Empire! A Christianized Rome meant a Christianized world. So obviously, Rome was strategic for the Gospel.
On the other hand, Rome was also a place where it could be embarrassing to preach the Gospel. For, in Rome, the cornerstone of the society was class structure. The population of the city at this time was approximately 2 million, half slaves and half free. And the free people were extremely class conscious. Furthermore, one did not violate one's "caste".
So, we can easily imagine what it would be like to come to this cosmopolitan center and bring the "word of eternal life" which originated from a carpenter from Nazareth and was propagated by fishermen and poor people.
This could have been an embarrassing message in Rome! In fact, we know exactly how the Christian message was received by some in Rome. A certain "Celsus", a scientist and essayist, writing around 100 AD, gives his perception of Christianity:
This new religion draws to it the dregs of the population: peasants, beggars and slaves. The Christian teachers are woolworkers, cobblers and fullers - the most illiterate and vulgar of mankind."
So this is the way that many Romans would have perceived Christianity - a religion of the lowest of mankind. Yet Paul was proud to bring the Gospel of Christ to Rome. This represents the ninth reason that Paul was an overcomer:

9) Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel.
In fact, he confronts the issue of embarrassment head-on:
Verse 16
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Here Paul crystallizes the theme of Romans. In everything that follows, he is working out the theme of salvation - of justification by faith.
So Paul says that he is not ashamed of the Gospel. That is a statement that is easy to say, but Paul proved it.
Let us recall where was Paul's previous stop prior to arriving in Corinth (from where he wrote Romans). That would have been Athens. Athens was the cultural center of the world, the center for Greek philosophy and learning. It was here that Paul confronted the Stoics and Epicureans, on Mars Hill. What was their response at hearing Paul? They laughed at him, ridiculed him. But Paul boldly presented the Gospel there - and he presented it boldly.
In Paul's mind, how could anyone be embarrassed about a message that embodies the very power of God? How could anyone be ashamed of presenting the words of the living God?
So, Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel, because:
it is the power of God
the source of the Gospel is God Himself
the goal of the Gospel is salvation
the Gospel is impartial:
"...it { i.e., the Gospel} is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. "
This means that the Gospel is available to both Jew and Gentile (the Jews received the Gospel first by chronology, not by priority), Greek and barbarian, educated and uneducated. The Gospel is available to all, but effective only for those "who believe".
So the Gospel is the message of God which can save all kinds of people, if they only believe. But it is very important to realize that God saves no one on the basis of his/her own merits. This is because God cannot accept the "righteousness" of men. All He can do is to grant men His righteousness, as a free gift:
Verse 17
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'But the righteous man shall live by faith' "
Here Paul quotes from Habakkuk 2:4, in order to demonstrate once again that the Gospel is not a new novelty, but was always the message of salvation.