Romans 1:8-15

8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith [your trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness] is being proclaimed in all the world.

9For God, whom I serve with my spirit by preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how continuously I mention you

10in my prayers; always pleading that somehow, by God’s will, I may now at last come to you.

11For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift, to strengthen and establish you;

12that is, that we may be mutually encouraged and comforted by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

13I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that many times I have planned to come to you, (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some fruit [of my labors] among you, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles.

14I have a duty to perform and a debt to pay both to Greeks and to barbarians [the cultured and the uncultured], both to the wise and to the foolish.

15So, for my part, I am ready and eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.