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His reference to his readers led the apostle to words concerning them, and his relation to them, full of personal interest. His threefold attitude toward them is revealed in the key sentences of this paragraph. It was that of thankfulness, of prayer, and of desire.

That the Church of Rome was victorious in its Christian life is evidenced by the fact that the apostle spoke of its faith as proclaimed throughout the whole world. In that sentence, moreover, we have a revelation of a mental attitude full of suggestiveness. This man was a Roman citizen, and he knew how the eyes of the world were upon Rome, and therefore how testimony borne there must inevitably exert its influence over the widest area.

All that he had heard of the disciples in Rome had filled him with thankfulness, and with earnest desire that they might fulfill their responsibility. He had served them unceasingly by prayer, although he had never seen them. His praying had been particular and definite along one line at least, that of his desire to visit the imperial city. That desire was not created by a passion for pleasure, nor was it promoted by the curiosity of the student. He knew that Rome was the centre of the world-movements of his time, and consequently a strategic centre from which to carry the Gospel message to the most distant places. His desire to come to them was that there might be mutual strengthening in all fitness for the service of the Lord. He would fain impart to them some spiritual gift, and receive from them the enrichment and comfort of his own ministry.

In stating the reason of his letter the apostle wrote those ever-memorable and illuminative words which declared him to be a "debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.'' In the light of what he had said concerning the double issue of his coming to Rome, that of giving and receiving, there is clear explanation of what he meant by being debtor. He considered that the Gospel which had made him, and those to whom he wrote what they were, was a deposit which he held in trust for all such as were in the same conditions of need. The gift bestowed upon him was also intended for the Greeks and the Barbarians, for the wise and the foolish. He looked upon all these as being his creditors. So long as they were without the Gospel message which he possessed, and which was a trust committed to him not for himself only, but for them also, he was their debtor.

He was conscious also of the fact of his ability to discharge that debt. The sense of debt was the inspiration of service; and the consciousness of the power of the Gospel was in itself equipment for service. There is the evidence of limitation in the words "as much as in me is," but they are also characterized by absolute lack of reservation.