What was Paul's gift in Romans 1:11?
Posted: Fri 04 May 04 2012 8:05 pm
Having looked at Rom 11:26 and how "karismata" does not always refer to the charismatic gifts, we want to look at another interesting verse where "karisma" is mentioned. Rom 1:11 is quite a well-known verse and is often used as the basis for teaching that spiritual/charismatic gifts can be "imparted". The question is whether this is what Paul was talking about.
Let's start with some background - of all the letters that Paul wrote, the epistle to the Romans stands out as the only Pauline epistle addressed to a church that Paul did not establish. For this reason, it comes with a slightly longer introduction, in which we find Rom 1:11 - which is part of that introduction. In this verse, Paul states the following:-
1. Paul wanted to meet the Romans
2. in order to "impart" some spiritual gift (singular)
3. so that they may be "established"
The three words of particular interest to us for understanding this verse are "impart", "karisma" (gift) and "established". On the surface, this verse seems to imply that spiritual gifts can be "imparted" by a person - for example, if I have a gift of prophecy, that I could somehow give some of that gift to you. This seems to be how some, though not all, understand this passage. We must therefore ask what this "spiritual gift" is that Paul is talking about here.
The first clue we get is that the gift is singular and not plural. That alone seems to suggest that Paul does not have the plethora of spiritual giftings in mind, but rather a specific gift. The word translated "impart" also means to "share". We further see that the effect of this gift when shared or imparted to the Romans was that it might "establish" them. This word "established" (Greek: "sterichthenai") means to "support, make firm, strengthen" (cf. Brown Driver Briggs lexicon). Okay, so far here's what we have in Paul's introductory salutation:-
1. Paul wanted to meet the Romans
2. in order to share a spiritual gift to them
3. so that they may be strengthened and made firm
Now we must ask - what gift is it that Paul was talking about? What will fit into the context and make perfect sense? Typically at this point, you'd look into the immediate context of Romans 1 but being that it is salutatory, you won't get a whole lot more obvious clues to the identity of that gift there other than the fact that Paul launches into talking about the "gospel of Christ" in Rom 1:15,16. Can this spiritual gift really refer to the gospel of Christ? Do we have more corroborating evidence for this reading?
Well, as it turns out we do. For that, though, we need to look at the closing remarks of Romans, starting from Rom 15:29 - there Paul says that he will go to Rome to see them "in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." While not completely conclusive in itself, this is adding to the consistency of Paul's message here. Paul then ends of the epistle in Rom 16:25 saying that God is able to "establish" them "according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ."
So we know that Paul, throughout the book of Romans, had this idea of bringing the "gospel of Christ" to the church in Rome, and his hope is that in so doing - the church may be strengthened or made firm, established, in that gospel. He says this in his introductory remarks, and repeats it in the closing remarks. Given these compelling evidences, it is quite safe to conclude that the "spiritual gift" that Paul had in mind in Rom 1:11 is no other than the "gospel of Christ" (singular), that great power of God to establish us, and not charismatic gifts as some may think.
Further to this - "impart" would be nothing more than to "share", as opposed to some kind of spiritual or metaphysical transferrence of some ability. That would be completely out of context given what Paul is saying about the gospel of Christ. Finally, is this a credible reading? I think so - as we read through Rom 1:15,16 and throughout the book where Paul directly refers to this gospel at least 13 times in 16 chapters.
We learn today that interpretation of texts cannot simply be lexical (based on word meanings) and that contexts can stretch throughout entire books.
Let's start with some background - of all the letters that Paul wrote, the epistle to the Romans stands out as the only Pauline epistle addressed to a church that Paul did not establish. For this reason, it comes with a slightly longer introduction, in which we find Rom 1:11 - which is part of that introduction. In this verse, Paul states the following:-
1. Paul wanted to meet the Romans
2. in order to "impart" some spiritual gift (singular)
3. so that they may be "established"
The three words of particular interest to us for understanding this verse are "impart", "karisma" (gift) and "established". On the surface, this verse seems to imply that spiritual gifts can be "imparted" by a person - for example, if I have a gift of prophecy, that I could somehow give some of that gift to you. This seems to be how some, though not all, understand this passage. We must therefore ask what this "spiritual gift" is that Paul is talking about here.
The first clue we get is that the gift is singular and not plural. That alone seems to suggest that Paul does not have the plethora of spiritual giftings in mind, but rather a specific gift. The word translated "impart" also means to "share". We further see that the effect of this gift when shared or imparted to the Romans was that it might "establish" them. This word "established" (Greek: "sterichthenai") means to "support, make firm, strengthen" (cf. Brown Driver Briggs lexicon). Okay, so far here's what we have in Paul's introductory salutation:-
1. Paul wanted to meet the Romans
2. in order to share a spiritual gift to them
3. so that they may be strengthened and made firm
Now we must ask - what gift is it that Paul was talking about? What will fit into the context and make perfect sense? Typically at this point, you'd look into the immediate context of Romans 1 but being that it is salutatory, you won't get a whole lot more obvious clues to the identity of that gift there other than the fact that Paul launches into talking about the "gospel of Christ" in Rom 1:15,16. Can this spiritual gift really refer to the gospel of Christ? Do we have more corroborating evidence for this reading?
Well, as it turns out we do. For that, though, we need to look at the closing remarks of Romans, starting from Rom 15:29 - there Paul says that he will go to Rome to see them "in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." While not completely conclusive in itself, this is adding to the consistency of Paul's message here. Paul then ends of the epistle in Rom 16:25 saying that God is able to "establish" them "according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ."
So we know that Paul, throughout the book of Romans, had this idea of bringing the "gospel of Christ" to the church in Rome, and his hope is that in so doing - the church may be strengthened or made firm, established, in that gospel. He says this in his introductory remarks, and repeats it in the closing remarks. Given these compelling evidences, it is quite safe to conclude that the "spiritual gift" that Paul had in mind in Rom 1:11 is no other than the "gospel of Christ" (singular), that great power of God to establish us, and not charismatic gifts as some may think.
Further to this - "impart" would be nothing more than to "share", as opposed to some kind of spiritual or metaphysical transferrence of some ability. That would be completely out of context given what Paul is saying about the gospel of Christ. Finally, is this a credible reading? I think so - as we read through Rom 1:15,16 and throughout the book where Paul directly refers to this gospel at least 13 times in 16 chapters.
We learn today that interpretation of texts cannot simply be lexical (based on word meanings) and that contexts can stretch throughout entire books.