Discovery BoxRomans 1:10-12 
Context1:10 and I always ask 1 in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God. 2 1:11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift 3 to strengthen you, 1:12 that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another’s faith, 4 both yours and mine.
1 tn Grk “remember you, always asking.”
2 tn Grk “succeed in coming to you in the will of God.”
3 sn Paul does not mean here that he is going to bestow upon the Roman believers what is commonly known as a “spiritual gift,” that is, a special enabling for service given to believers by the Holy Spirit. Instead, this is either a metonymy of cause for effect (Paul will use his own spiritual gifts to edify the Romans), or it simply means something akin to a blessing or benefit in the spiritual realm. It is possible that Paul uses this phrase to connote specifically the broader purpose of his letter, which is for the Romans to understand his gospel, but this seems less likely.
4 tn Grk “that is, to be comforted together with you through the faith in one another.”
