Paul’s first coin to the Romans comes immediately after the salutation ends. Thus, verse eight is to be understood as his selling of himself, the main verb being eucharistô, I am giving thanks. Paul signals the coin by placing men (μεν) before “I give thanks”, and we find the de (δε) in verse 12.

Flip sides in literature

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.” (Romans 1:8, NASB)

“that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.” (Romans 1:12, NASB)

By his coins the writer may confront the reader with flip sides of his views or experience, etc. The head and the tail of Paul ‘s coin are his thanksgiving and his joint comfort regarding the Roman believers.

Head and tail

• THANKS that their faith in Christ is a witness to the whole world (verse 8)
• Joint COMFORT that the faith is common (verse 12)

This type of sentence relationship is often the source of profound insight. We can forget the idea that faith has national and cultural character. The reluctance of Peter, for example, to have fellowship with Gentiles (Acts 10 and 11:1-2) is the furthest thing from Paul’s mind. He says he had been always prayng to visit the Roman believers (verse 10), and there is no mistaking his earnest desire (epipotheô) to see them (verse 11).
We can see that men and de are not always purely opposite in contrast. To be jointly comforted – sumparaklēthēnai – and giving thanks are both positive experiences. The second is received, the first is given. Taking this coin to the bank I discover that my thanksgiving over other believers’ value can play out in a fellowship of Holy Spirit’s help. Let’s put our thanksgiving out there!