‘And I know that, when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.'

Paul feels that once he has delivered the contribution of the Gentiles to the Jerusalem church and has emphasised the love that the Gentile Christians have for the Jews, hoping thereby to have it reciprocated, he will have experienced ‘the fullness of the blessing of the Messiah', for it was ever the stress of Jesus that believers be as one (John 17:20), and to some extent it was a fulfilment of Scripture where the Gentiles were to contribute towards Jerusalem in material things (Isaiah 60:5). And in that fullness of blessing he will come to the Christians in Rome, hoping to find the same unity among them.

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