Romans 1:9
Serving God in the gospel of his Son
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
for God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you,
내가 그의 아들의 복음 안에서 내 심령으로 섬기는 하나님이 나의 증인이 되시거니와 항상 내 기도에 쉬지 않고 너희를 말하며
내가 그분의 아들의 복음 안에서 내 영으로 섬기는 하나님께서 내 증인이 되시거니와 내가 기도할 때에 언제나 너희에 관하여 끊임없이 말하며
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Rom 1:8-15 as a whole
We must show love for our friends, not only by praying for them, but by praising God for them. As in our purposes, so in our desires, we must remember to say, If the Lord will, Jas 4:15. Our journeys are made prosperous or otherwise, according to the will of God. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Rom 1:9
God, whom I serve - As an apostle. In my spirit - Not only with my body, but with my inmost soul. In the gospel - By preaching it.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Verses 8–15 are the letter's thanksgiving and Paul's longing to visit. He thanks God that the Romans' faith is being proclaimed all over the world, and he wants them to know that he has long meant to come. To show that this is no empty wish, he calls God to witness: "God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you" (Romans 1:9). He greets a number of them by name in chapter 16, but most of the church in Rome were people he had never seen.
The gospel word is in the dative, after ἐν, "in": the gospel is the sphere in which Paul's service is done. In verse 1 it was the gospel of God; here it is the gospel of God's Son. It is one gospel. It is God's, because he sent it; it is the Son's, because it is about him. Verse 3 has already said that the gospel is "regarding His Son" (Romans 1:3).
The verb Paul chooses is , the word the Greek Old Testament uses for the worship and service of God. He names his work of preaching with a word of worship. It is done with his spirit: not only outwardly, with tongue and feet, but from within. And it is present tense, the steady work of every day.
Here the English versions differ more than usual. The King James Version keeps the Greek's plain phrase, "in the gospel of his Son", which leaves the reader to ask what serving in a gospel means. The BSB answers by translating "in preaching the gospel of His Son": the service is the preaching. The LSV has "in the good news of His Son". Each choice is honest. The BSB says what the phrase means in Paul's life; the KJV and the LSV keep the wider phrase, which can also hold the prayers and labours that go with the preaching.
Wesley reads it as the BSB does. He glosses "In my spirit" with "Not only with my body, but with my inmost soul" Wesley, and "In the gospel" with "By preaching it" Wesley. Matthew Henry hears in the passage a lesson about love: "We must show love for our friends, not only by praying for them, but by praising God for them" Matthew Henry. He adds that our journeys "are made prosperous or otherwise, according to the will of God" Matthew Henry, and in the next verse Paul asks exactly that, that "by God’s will" he may at last succeed in coming (Romans 1:10).
Paul counted even his prayers for believers in Rome he had never seen as service rendered in the gospel of God's Son. The prayers of anyone who has received the gospel, for a church far away, belong in the same place.