A Model of Grateful Prayer (Romans 1:8)
How did the gospel reach Rome before any apostle did? Romans 1:8 models grateful prayer for the power of the gospel — faith proclaimed worldwide.
Introduction
As a dad, a lot of what we do is be grateful when our kids are successful. I came across a phrase and concept that I hadn’t heard before: vicarious gratitude. This is when you are grateful for what someone else has accomplished or experienced. It strengthens your bond, increasesan “other-oriented mindset,” and boosts your own happiness.
As turn transition from Paul’s greeting the Roman Christians in verses 1–7 to his prayer for them in the form of a narrative, Paul expresses gratitude for them. He’s sort of a spiritual father, but what’s interesting is that he’s never met most of them! That’s vicarious gratitude!
Theme
Here in verse 8, Paul gives a model of grateful prayer for the power of the gospel in their lives.
The Apostle at Prayer
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. First and foremost, we learn here that prayer is rooted in thankfulness. Children: “Why do Christians need to pray?” Have you heard that question before? Prayer is the “chief part of the thankfulness which God requires of us” (HC 116). Paul is showing us that prayer is rooted in thankfulness. Secondly, note how his prayer is offered to God alone. We don’t pray to idols, saints, or ourselves. Third, there’s the idea here of prayer as a sacrifice. Note that it’s a sacrifice of thanks and praise through Jesus Christ the High Priest. (Origen, Romans, 77)
Let me offer a couple of applications.The pastor’s prayer life. For us pastors and those desiring to enter the office of the pastor: we need to be devoted to prayer. Paul’s words are also applicable to us all in showing us an expansive prayer life. Chrysostom gave an application that hit me this week:
Will any one of us be able to boast that, while he is praying in the privacy of his home, he includes in his petitions all the members of the Church? I do not think so. But Paul does not pray for one city only, but sends up his petitions to God on behalf of the whole world. He does this not once or twice or three times, but continually. And if a man bears someone in mind continually, it could not be from any motive other than deep love. Note well that keeping someone in your prayers is a mark of your whole concern and love. (Chrysostom, Romans, 26)
Note how Paul’s prayer for Christians he’d never met! We’re family. Pray for one another. Paul gives a model of grateful prayer for the power of the gospel in their lives.
Astonishment in Prayer
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all ofyou. When was the last time you prayed in thanks for someone because you were genuinely astonished at how God had been at work in their life?
What’s so astonishing about the Christian in Rome? When he wrote Romans towards the end of his third missionary journey (Acts 18:23–20:38), he communicated with an existing and established group of believers. How’d they come into existence if not by Paul’s ministry? I think this is something astonishing.
The background
Ancient sources give us the background with Jews in Rome before the coming of Christ. As early as 139bc, the Roman historian and rhetorician, Valerius Maximus, said that the praetor (elected magistrate) of Rome expelled the Jews from Rome for proselytizing. By 59bc, though, the Roman orator, Cicero, said the Jews were “a big crowd” that “stick[s] together,” were “influential…in informal assemblies” and rich enough to annually “send gold to Jerusalem.” (Cicero, Flaccus 28.66 [Lord, LCL])
In the first century, the Jewish scholar, Philo, said they lived on “the other side of the Tiber” (the area known as Trastevere). He said they were “brought as captives to Italy” under Pompey. Later they were “liberated by their owners” and called libertini. They also “were not forced to violate any of their native institutions” such as “houses of prayer” to “meet together… particularly on the sacred Sabbaths.” (Philo, Legat. 155, 156 [Colson, LCL])
Josephus noted that between 44–49bc, Julius Caesar gave several rights to the Jews for their support during his battle with Marc Antony: the right to free assembly and to retain national customs such as sending money to the temple in Jerusalem, kosher markets, and exemption from working on the Sabbath. Augustus upheld these rights, even offering an alternative doling out of the grain on a day when it conflicted with the Sabbath. Things changed under Emperor Tiberius. The Roman historian, Tacitus, said Tiberius took action against the Jews in ad19 and “shipped [some] to Sardinia.” (Tacitus, Ann. 2.85 [Jackson, LCL]) Inscriptions from Jewish catacombs attest to the existence of at least five synagogues (assemblies, not buildings) in Rome in the early first century, with possibly more. (Lee I. Levine, The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years [New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000], 264)
Christianity’s Presence
We then see Christianity’s presence in texts during the reign of Claudius (ad41–54). The Roman historian, Cassius Dio, wrote that Claudius also took action against the Jews. They increased so much that he couldn’t banish them from Rome, so instead, “ordered them, while continuing their traditional mode of life, not to hold meetings” (collegia). (Cassius Dio 60.6.6 [Cary, LCL]) These collegia were viewed as places of civil unrest. Most scholars agree that this was at the beginning of Claudius’s reign in ad41.
Then we read in the Roman historian, Suetonius, that “since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, [Claudius] expelled them from Rome.” (Suetonius, Claud. 25.4 [Rolfe, LCL]) Turn with me to Acts 18:2. Luke records that Paul “found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently [προσφάτως] arrived from Italy with Priscilla his wife, on account of Claudius commanding all the Jews to leave Rome.” Most scholars hold that these were two different events by Claudius, with the second around ad49. Suetonius said it had to do with “disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.” Chrestus is best understood as referring to “Christ.” A large-scale disruption among Jews over the claims of Christ is consistent with events in Acts in Jerusalem, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Corinth. When Paul met Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth around ad49, his immediate cooperation with them suggests they already believed in Jesus (Acts 18:3). Paul also doesn’t mention baptizing Aquila or Priscilla (1 Cor 1:14–16).
Christianity’s Presence in Romans
From the time Paul met Aquila and Priscilla around ad49 to the time he wrote Romans between ad55–57, Christianity is present in Rome. He said in 15:23, “I have longed for many years to come to you.” In 16:7, he says “Andronicus and Junia… were in Christ before me.” “Prisca [Priscilla]and Aquila” had returned to Rome by the time Paul wrote and had a “church in their house” (16:3, 5). Romans 16:14–15 describes at least two more gatherings of Christians in the city: “Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them” and “Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.” In fact, perhaps all the references to individuals are separate house churches.
Where did the Christians come from?
All this helps us see the astonishing thing Paul is giving thanks for: the gospel did not come to them through him, but it was no less apostolic and a work of grace! How did the good news of Jesus travel from Jerusalem to Rome? Look at Acts 2:10, which mentions “visitors from Rome” in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. These pilgrims to Jerusalem most likely took the gospel back to Rome. (Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans [NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996], 4) The spread of the gospel would have been accelerated as persecutions erupted in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1). Since the ancient sources say there was not Jewish controlling authority to definitively oppose the gospel in Rome, Christians would have had relatively unhindered access in the synagogues, leading to “disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.” From the time of Pentecost sometime ad30–33 to the time Paul met Aquila and Priscilla around ad49 to the time he wrote Romans around ad55–57, there were several small communities connected in Rome. In the decade after, by the time of Emperor Nero’s fires in ad64, there were enough Christians to be identified as a scapegoat.
Note whom isn’t mentioned in Romans or any other first century document as founding the church in Rome: Peter. The fourth century theologian, Ambrosiaster, said this about how the church in Rome began:
“It is established that there were Jews living in Rome in the times of the apostles, and that those Jews who had believed [in Christ] passed on to the Romans the tradition that they ought to profess Christ but keep the law…One ought not to condemn the Romans, but to praise their faith; because without seeing any signs or miracles and without seeing any apostles, they nevertheless accepted faith in Christ.”
One would expect that the memory of a prominent founder like Peter or Paul would not likely be forgotten if one they had indeed established the church. Again, when was the last time you prayed in thanks for someone because you were genuinely astonished at how God had been at work in their life?
Paul gives a model of grateful prayer for the power of the gospel in their lives.
Acclamation in Prayer
Paul also gives acclamation in prayer because of their worldwide testimony: because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. Their faith had spread from Jewish synagogues to the Roman agoras and to the kosmos. This is normally translated “world,” but clearly here Paul means many places throughout the Empire. (Origen, 77.) The astonishing reality that there were Christians in Rome had reverberated throughout the Empire. How? Chrysostom said, “So mighty was the power of the Crucified One that it [the preaching of lowly men] carried His message to every corner of the earth.” (Chrysostom, 25)
I just want you and I to observe and take in this reality: they had no Christian prince, no Christian congress, no Christian culture, and no laws favoring Christianity. Yet still, your faith in Christ is proclaimed in all the world because Christ is powerful to save! As he’s going to say, “the gospel is the power of God for salvation” (1:16). Beloved, we desire and pray for leaders to be godly Christians. We pray for just laws that reflect God’s moral laws. God may bless us or he may curse us. But what do we hear from the so-called “Christian Nationalists?” The mirror opposite of far-left progressivism. In the mirror is homogenous Marxist society only to be reflected back as a social and cultural gospel that looks like the segregated South. In the mirror is an almighty government that can tell you what to think, what lightbulbs you can use, etc. In the mirror is a divine right “prince” as they call him.
Note also here what the Roman Christians were known for: the gospel. When he says your faith he means your faith in Christ. In midst of the center of the world as the Romans saw it, a tiny minority existed because Jesus and his gospel is powerful!
I say as your pastor, instead of whining about the culture, start winning hearts and minds. Instead of decrying the invasion by foreign hordes, start making friends that will lead to evangelism. Instead of power politics, start trusting in God through praying for revival in your heart, in your church, in the church generally, and then in the community and country and world!
If you’re here today and have yet to embrace Jesus… The Romans’ faith [was] proclaimed in all the world, but there was and is still so many people and places that needs to hear! “Go to all the world and make disciples” (Matt. 28:19).”
Conclusion
Paul gives a model of grateful prayer for the power of the gospel in their lives.