Romans 1:13

And I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I might have some fruit in you also, even as in the rest of the Gentiles. [He had desired to visit Rome that he might glorify Christ by making many converts in Rome (John 15:8; John 15:16), just as he had in other Gentile cities. "That," says Meyer, "by which Paul had been hitherto hindered, may be seen at Romans 15:22; consequently it was neither the devil (1 Thessalonians 2:18), nor the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6). Grotius aptly observes: "The great needs of the localities in which Christ was unknown constrained him." But the word at Romans 15:22; and also at 1 Thessalonians 2:18; is egkoptoo, and the word here, and at Acts 16:6; is kooluoo, which, primarily, means to forbid, and implies the exercise of a superior will. The whole context here indicates that the divine will restrained Paul from going to Rome, and this in no way conflicts with the statement that the needs of the mission fields hindered him. God's will forbade, and the needs co-operated to restrain; just as in the instance in Acts, the Holy Spirit forbade to go any way save toward Europe, and the visionary cry from Europe drew onward. Two causes may conspire to produce one effect. Paul's entire will was subject to the will of Christ. As a free man he formed his plans and purposes, but he always altered them to suit the divine pleasure.]