Romans 1:11-12
I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong - that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.

Paul longed to see the Romans so that he could strengthen their faith in Jesus. It was his deep desire to see others benefit by hearing the good news of light and easy Christianity. Jesus makes the burdensome light, and the difficult easy, by the kindness of His grace, when we simply and only trust Him to.
When someone serves God by sharing the gospel, he is imparting what is here called “a spiritual gift.” The supernatural gospel, when believed upon, is a regenerating, divinely ethereal gift, which is given by grace, through the Son of God and faith in His cross. The result of the gift of the gospel is steadfast strength. We are turned, resolutely, in a godly direction, when we willingly choose to believe the gospel. The gospel, simply put, is the good news of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is our simple faith in this news, and nothing more! The “more” comes later, when God sups with us and empowers us to be victorious in this life. Never mix the two, I.e. salvation by faith alone and sanctification by grace.
The words, “that is” in verse 12, prove that the spiritual gift Paul wanted to give the Romans was faith. Paul would also benefit by the strengthening of his own faith through the encouragement of the Roman Christians. We should encourage one another, not discourage. Too many sermons discourage the church. They are legalistic messages which come against the peace of grace.
The Greek word for “encourage” means, “to console jointly or comfort together.” Paul eased the grief of the Romans, just as they did for him. We are called to reduplicate this practice for one another. The primary way to accomplish this is the conveyance of the truth of grace through faith. The grace of God is Christ crucified and the salvation Jesus gives is acquired by faith. This message of hope will comfort, soothe, and ease every grief.
This peace, encouragement, and consolation is only found in the grace of God. As soon as our human effort is depended upon, we lose peace and turn into fools, see Galatians 3:1-3. We obey the truth when we receive the Spirit by hearing and believing, not by obeying the law. So often we base our peace upon our performance. This is wrong! We may as well be Muslims or Judaisers if we are trying to earn our way to heaven. Today, most of Christianity is legalistic. This means that lots of Christians are trying to earn their way to Heaven, like those other religions. But if Christianity is no different than other religions, then why did the Father have His Son crucified. When Jesus was crucified, this made Christ the only way. Otherwise the cross is a sham and God is a liar, for God told Jesus that there was no other way in the garden of Gethsemane.
Some would ask, “What about a holy life?” Our holy lives are God’s problem. He makes out of us His workmanship when we simply believe. He makes us good trees that bear good fruit, by grace. We cannot change our own natures. We can’t even make one hair black or white; how are we going to change our essence? We trust Jesus to save us. Let us also trust Him to change us. Our sole responsibility is to trust Jesus, that’s all. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
Let us know the encouragement of faith, which is the opposite of law. The simple message of faith in Jesus encourages. The hopeless message of works salvation will deprive us of inspiration, confidence and reliance upon Jesus. You see, faith looks up to Jesus, law looks to ourselves. Faith trusts Christ to bring us through, law is a confidence in the flesh. We are told to put no confidence in our flesh.
Is it a big deal if we kind of obey the law? How much of the law are we required to obey to earn salvation and keep from being cursed? Is the answer some, most or all? Gal. 3:10-14 reveals the answer. Cursed is everybody that does not do everything written in the book of the law. Clearly no one will be justified by the law. If we rely on observing the law, by law, I mean both the moral and ceremonial law, we are cursed. We are cursed because we have not done everything in the Torah. This clearly shows that no one will be justified before God by the law. We may be justified before men, but not before God, where it counts. This is because the righteous, those who are in right standing with God, will live by faith.
Those who remain at peace with God live by faith in what Jesus has done. Their faith is in what happened in the past. They trust in a 2000 year old event. This is what saves and keeps them. Their way of life is one of simple trust in Christ. Christians do not trust in self, law, or even how well they believe. Christians simply trust in their Savior, and He saves them. It’s as easy as that. It’s as freely liberating as that. This is the great paradox of Christianity. Those who try to please God by self merit only end up failing and becoming cursed. Those who admit their helplessness, and trust Jesus to bring them through, become the cleansed, forgiven children of God, with new natures and pleasing lives.
So be encouraged, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! Amen.