Saturday, August 20, 2016

Romans 15: 14-21



Paul the Minister to the Gentiles
Rom 15:14  I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them.

Paul was writing to a church he had not founded. He had heard that they were mature Christians so he was writing to them in that context.

Rom 15:15  Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God's grace, Rom 15:16  I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit.

Here he is introducing himself. The most likely had heard of Paul be he was assuring them that he was a Disciple of Christ.

Rom 15:17  So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God.

This is not bragging Paul is very excited about his opportunity to work with the Roman church. He did not want them to think he is in anyway bragging about his accomplishments.

Rom 15:18  Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. Rom 15:19  They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God's Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.

Life Application New Testament Commentary:
15:18-19 Being proud of God’s work is not a sin—it is worship. Paul knew that all the glory for his ministry went to Christ alone, for it was Christ who was accomplishing the work of bringing the Gentiles to God. But Paul well understood that he was the vessel through whom God was working because the mission to the Gentiles was being accomplished by what Paul had said and done. Paul had, by the power of God’s Spirit, done miracles and signs to verify the authority of his words. Because of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, Paul had taken the Good News from Jerusalem to Illyricum. Also known as Dalmatia (see 2Ti_4:10), Illyricum was a Roman territory on the Adriatic Sea between present-day Italy and Greece. It covered much the same territory as present-day Yugoslavia.


Rom 15:20  My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. Rom 15:21  I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says, "Those who have never been told about Him will see, and those who have never heard of Him will understand."

In many ways Paul was the ultimate missionary. He wanted the whole world to know about Christ. Jew or Gentile it did not matter to Paul as long as he could preach. Imagine every Christian having that much zeal.

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