THE WISH-PRAYERS IN ROMANS

A continuation of our study of the main Pauline wish-prayers brings us from the comparatively slight Thessalonian document to the profound and complex theological treatise which the apostle addressed to the important church in the capital city of Rome. So we turn now to four intercessory wish-prayers found in the Roman letter: 15: 5f., 15: 13, 15: 33, 16: 20a. These all contribute to an extended liturgical pattern (in chapters 15 and 16) that would be adequate to bring this weighty epistle to a close. What are the functions of these passages? Do they, like the ones in the Thessalonian letter, express real prayer arising out of the immediate circumstances and concerns of the letter? Do they, too, fulfil other purposes?

Background and purpose of the letter

We must begin, then, with the epistolary situation for which the letter was composed. The unusual nature and content of the letter as we have it force the question upon the reader: was Paul mainly concerned to introduce his own missionary plans and the central elements of his own gospel to an unknown church, or was he responding to a particular situation which he believed to be present at Rome, and which the letter was designed to alleviate?