Romans 15:28-29

“ When, therefore, I have accomplished this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by you unto Spain. Now I know that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ. ”

The term σφραγίζεσθαι, to seal, has been understood here in many ways. Erasmus explained it thus: “when I have delivered to them this money well enclosed and sealed.” This meaning is grammatically impossible, and the idea is rather vulgar. Theodoret thought Paul was alluding to the duly signed and sealed receipt which should be given him by the receivers to be transmitted to the donors. But the αὐτοῖς, to them, can only apply to the former, while in this sense it would require to refer to the latter. Hofmann applies the idea of the seal to the signed and sealed deed by which the churches of Greece charged Paul to take to Jerusalem the deputies who were bearers of the collection. But how could all that be included in the simple expression: to seal? The term σφραγίζεσθαι is frequently taken in a metaphorical sense: to keep closed, to keep secret, attest, confirm, consent. It is in this wide sense that it must be explained here. The word denotes the delivery officially and in due form of the sum collected. We can see, Acts 21:18, how Paul, arrived at Jerusalem, repaired to the assembly of the elders called together in the house of James, as to a solemn reception. It was then no doubt that the letter of commission from the churches was communicated, with the sums accompanying it, and that a receipt duly signed was given by the elders.

Paul declares that this formality once accomplished, he will haste to take up his project of a journey to the west (Romans 15:29); and if things can be so brought about, he is perfectly sure of the happiness he will enjoy among his brethren of the church of Rome. Would a forger, writing in the apostle's name in the second century, have made him pen a plan of the future so different from the way in which things really fell out?

The Greco-Latin reading πληροφορία, instead of πληρώματι (fulness), is evidently erroneous; for this word signifies only “fulness of conviction,” a meaning which does not suit the context. The words τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ, of the gospel of (Christ), in the Byz. documents, must be regarded as an interpolation, unless we choose to explain their omission in the other Mjj. by the four terminations in ου which follow one another consecutively.

The more assured the mind of the apostle is when it is turned to Rome, the more does disquiet take possession of his heart when he thinks of Jerusalem.