Wednesday, June 13, 2018

The Best Intentions-Rom. 15:14-21


On this Father’s Day it is an appropriate time to give thanks for all the godly dads in our lives and for dads to reflect on their role as leader, encourager, supporter, and guide in their families. Interestingly, the apostle Paul, though he had no kids of his own, considered himself a spiritual father to people like Timothy. Paul also acted as a father-figure to the many churches he planted. Evidence of this is found in his letters where he provides leadership, encouragement, support, and much-needed guidance to spiritual children. The Epistle to the Romans is no different. As we move to the end of the letter, we really begin to see Paul’s paternal instincts when he reveals his intentions for writing the letter in the first place.  The two intentions he betrays in Romans 15:14-21 give us insight into Paul’s heart and ministry—a heart and ministry that stands as an example for us all to follow.



1. INTENTION #1: TO PROVIDE A REMINDER-15:14-16

In verse 14 of chapter 15, Paul begins providing his concluding remarks to the church in Rome. The second half of chapter 15 and the whole of chapter 16 work to summarize Paul’s comments and call for a response. Particular people are pointed out and Paul reserves some room to explain his intentions in sending the letter in the first place. This last element of Paul’s conclusion is what the reader receives first in Romans 15:14-21. The fist intention Paul gives for writing the letter involves an important reminder. The recipients of the reminder are identified first—“and concerning you, my brethren.” These “brethren” to which Paul wrote are fellow believers in the Lord Jesus Christ—Jew and Gentile alike. Though some could have assumed that brethren meant “fellow Jews,” this letter has corrected this assumption. ANYONE with faith in Jesus Christ is a brother or sister to Paul.

Concerning these “brethren” (particularly those in Rome) Paul says, “I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness” (15:14b). What could Paul mean by this? Is it flattery? Encouragement? Hyperbole? Perhaps courtesy is the best interpretation of the glowing report Paul gives of the church’s character in Rome (Cranfield, 1979, 752). By extending this courtesy, Paul assumes the spiritual maturity of these believers given there is no good reason to think otherwise (Schreiner, Romans, 765).  Generally, the church at Rome was full of goodness (what a compliment!).

Not only does Paul call the church in Rome “full of goodness” he continues by saying “filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish on another” (15:14c). With both these compliments Paul is not suggesting that the Romans are perfectly good and know everything exhaustively! He is saying that generally the church is filled with goodness and displays a comprehensive knowledge of the truth—so much so that its members are able to provide instruction and correct behaviors within its ranks.
If goodness, knowledge, and subsequently, maturity were staples of the church in Rome, consider for just a moment what people associate churches with today? I’ve had friends talk to me about visiting churches in the area and in reporting on their experience they’ve said things like “that church is all about money. The pastor preaches on tithing all the time!” “That church is shallow. Exciting, but shallow.” “This church is mission oriented; they are always out in the community doing great work.” What do you think people’s perception of our church is? If Paul was writing a letter to Crystal Spring Baptist, how would he characterize this place?

Perhaps Paul’s compliments and courtesies are given in part to soften the tone of the letter. After all, parts of the letter were fairly sharp and several of the corrections he calls for relatively pointed. Paul does not want the church to leave after reading his letter discouraged nor does he want to church to misinterpret what he has said. This is one potential reason why he provides this “attaboy” at the end, confirming that they are, in fact, getting an awful lot right.

That said, Paul does state his reason for writing this letter in no uncertain terms—“But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again” (15:15a). Paul wrote for the purpose of reminding the church of truths they already knew. This is a common practice of both Paul, Peter, and Jude.

1 Corinthians 4:17-“For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.”

2 Peter 1:12-“Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.”

Jude 5-“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after 
saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.”

The act of remembering things has been a mainstay for millennia. Not only does Paul encourage the church to remember what they already know in the first century, Paul’s ancestors were encouraging their people to do the same many years prior.

Deuteronomy 11:19-“You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.”

Being reminded of and remembering important truths is a discipline that is slowly being erased in our world today. Rather than remembering things ourselves, we have employed devices to do our remembering for us. As for history, we pick and choose what epochs of time we will study rather than appreciate the whole story (for political, personal, and/or religious reasons). If Paul valued the discipline of remembering truth in the brave new world that was the Roman empire, this practice ought to be even more necessary in the brave new world of the twenty-first century. This realization is made all the more important when one considers just how important truth being remembered in Romans is –the gospel of Jesus Christ!

 Paul offers this reminder to the church in Rome “because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God…” (15:5b-16). Paul had received special grace from God to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. As such, he was uniquely equipped to be a minister of Jesus to the Gentiles. Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles was mostly preoccupied with what he refers to as “ministering the gospel”—proclaiming the message of salvation of Jesus Christ to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. In so doing, Paul fulfills the call of Israel to be a royal priesthood by whom the knowledge of God is conveyed to Gentiles (or a nation that God had chosen to bless the world).

Ultimately, Paul reveals that his intention for ministering to the Gentiles is “so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (15:16b). As a “priest” (at least as this context determines) Paul understood his role as bringing saved Gentiles as an offering to God. He probably believed that he played a small part in what was prophesied in Isaiah 66:18-20.

Isaiah 66:20-“’Then they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as a grain offering to the Lord, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,’ says the Lord, ‘just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.’”

What Paul sees (potentially) in Isaiah 66 and does in his ministry emphasizes his divine commission to bring people of all nations to the Lord –people who have been “sanctified by the Holy Spirit,” or set apart as a result of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. INTENTION #2: TO COMPLETE HIS MISSION-15:17-21

The second reason that Paul writes to the church in Rome is to complete his mission. Paul understood the writing of this letter as part of his mission to the Gentile world. Paul holds little back when he describes his excitement and alacrity over the mission saying, “Therefore, in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God” (15:17). Notice where and about what Paul finds his boasting.  His boasting is contained in Christ and directed toward the things of God. In other words, Paul does not boast in his own human abilities. After all, it is God and His grace that saved him, commissioned him as the apostle to the Gentiles, and ordained that his offering of the Gentiles would be pleasing in His sight (Schreiner, Romans¸ 767).

Paul reveals that his role in this whole equation has been secondary at best—“For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me,…” (15:18a). Paul boasts only of those things that Christ has accomplished in him and through him. In making this clear, Paul directs any and all attention the growing church might garner to the God who is making it all happen, not the servants in His employ. Oh that the church and its leaders would follow this example!
The outcome of the work that God accomplished through Paul’s ministry is identified in the rest of verse 18 and in verse 19. First, the great work among the Gentiles resulted “in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit” (15:18c-19a). That the Gentiles were really being changed by God in Paul’s ministry is evidenced in the obedience witnessed (as people do not obey what they don’t really believe in) and in the signs and wonders the Spirit was performing.

Not only were lives being changed and Gentiles being converted, but the gospel message was spreading far and wide—“so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyrium I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (15:19b). In Micah 4:1-4, a prophecy is given which indicates that the “word of the Lord” has its inception in Jerusalem. However, Paul is not known to have had a large Gentile ministry in Jerusalem. That said, a specific preaching ministry to Gentiles in Jerusalem is not demanded, for Paul is probably thinking generally of the area extending from Jerusalem to Illyrium (roughly the area of modern day Albania and former Yugoslavia) (Schreiner, Romans, 769). Though the language “fully preached” might suggest that Paul had thoroughly evangelized this entire geographic area, the apostle had done little more than preach in a number of the larger cities int his area.  Therefore, he is probably saying that he has accomplished what he, the apostle of the Gentiles, was called to do. He had preached in carefully chosen populous areas and established churches therein. (Morris, Romans, 514).

In all of this, Paul “aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named” (15:20a). Paul was, in other words, a pioneer evangelist sent to those places where Christ had not yet been named (confessed, acknowledged).

By going to such places, Paul had the unique opportunity to plant churches where churches didn’t exist—“so that I would not build on another man’s foundation,…” (15:20b).

Paul’s insistence on building on virgin land is in keeping with what is revealed in Isaiah 52:15—“they who had no news of Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand” (Rom. 15:20:21). Part of the impetus of writing this letter to Rome involves Paul’s hope that the gospel mission would be extended even further to new people who haven’t heard in new places where churches didn’t exist.

So What?

The heart of Paul is on full display here in this passage, providing us with a brilliant example to follow in our own lives today. Paul was a man who understood the power of reminding people of and being reminded himself of the truth of God—the same truth that provides much needed knowledge for living and eternal salvation. Paul was also a man who boasted of nothing in himself, only the opportunity to be used of God to spread the gospel message to those who haven’t yet heard. Is the truth of God something that you are fascinated by, take time to remember, and remind others of? Do you relish the opportunity God has given you to spread the gospel message to those around you who haven’t heard? This Father’s day, let us take a cue from a spiritual forefather’s example and endorse these qualities so that as a church we might be known as full of goodness and knowledge, able to admonish one another.

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