I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
Paul concluded the main section of his letter (Romans 1.18-15.13) with his prayer-wish, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. He now concludes his missive with some personal comments. While it is evident from the body of the letter that Paul’s own life is powerfully affected by the doctrinal content of his belief system (e.g., 1.8-16; 7.7-25; 8.38-39; 9.1-4; 10.1; 11.1), it is in his personal closing comments that Paul models what it means to be a believer who is completely devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. “Beginning with 15:14 Paul becomes intensely personal. In a very natural—one might almost say unintentional—manner he shows us, by his own example, what kind of a person he, this justified-by-faith individual, has become. In reading even the opening verses of this conclusion we are arrested by his tact, modesty, prudence, humility, and concern for the feelings of others” (William Hendriksen, Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, p. 481).
A BOLD REMINDER (15.14-16)
Paul’s letters are often something a balance between direct, some would say abrasive, confrontational and avuncular affirmations designed to both instruct and encourage the reader in his or her faith. Timidity is certainly not an attribute one would assign to Paul. The history of his travels throughout the Roman empire in Acts and his own account of his ministry (e.g., much of 2 Corinthians) gives testimony to a man of extraordinary courage and conviction. At no point could one legitimately claim that Paul’s letters were written to ingratiate himself with his readers. Indeed, the majority of his letters were written to confront either doctrinal error or sin. Even when this was not the primary reason for writing (as in the case of the letter to Rome), Paul is bold to set forth the core of the gospel and to offer instruction about proper Christian conduct. Nevertheless, Paul was never reticent to encourage and offer meaningful praise to his readers. Such praise, though at times amplified when it was given, was grounded in the evidential work of the Spirit in their lives. Knowing Paul’s penchant for candor, one would imagine that his readers would receive his affirmations as a proper measure of the Spirit’s work in their lives.
The Roman epistle contains some weighty things and Paul was forthright in laying these things before the church. This is not to say that he considered his readers to be deficient in either the content of their faith nor in its execution. But as an apostle to the Gentiles (cp. Romans 11.13; Acts 9.15) he accepted responsibility for the purity of the gospel in the Gentile church. This would be particularly important for the church at the heart of the Roman empire. So while he boldly sets forth the content of the gospel and how that gospel should look in the church, he also commends their faith and action. Paul opens his letter with an affirmation (1.8); in his concluding remarks he offers this encouragement: I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourself are full of goodness and filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. It is interesting to observe that Paul’s praise of the Corinthian church was decidedly restrained; for example, unlike the Romans he did not endorse their ability to instruct themselves. It is clear that he did not seek to ingratiate himself with any church. He is an overseer of the Gentile churches. So while he reinforces good behavior, he is not given to empty flattery (cp. 2 Timothy 3.1-9; 4.3). Paul had been commissioned by God’s grace as an apostle to the Gentiles, a fact that would have been known and appreciated by the church in Rome. But Paul is writing for yet another reason: he intends to invite them to participate in the advancement of the gospel by helping to underwrite the expenses of his missionary endeavors to Spain (15.22-32).
Paul speaks of his ministry to the Gentiles metaphorically as a priestly function. The image of the Gentiles offering themselves up to God as a living sacrifice (Romans 12.1) fits well with this metaphor. While the imagery is unusual for the New Testament, it does emphasize the sacredness of the proclamation of the gospel. As a fitting aside Leon Morris makes a noteworthy observation regarding Romans 15.16: “We ought to notice here the way the three Persons of the Trinity are introduced. This is not yet the full doctrine of the Trinity, but it was from such expressions as these that the church in due time came to formulate this doctrine” (Leon Morris, Romans, p. 511).
THE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY OF PAUL (15.17-21)
Paul acknowledges that the Spirit of God is at work in believers and that they ought to be responsive to his promptings, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2.12-13; cp. 2 Corinthians 10.17). If Paul boasts, it is only in the Spirit who is at work within him to bring many Gentiles into the obedience of faith by word and deed (cp. Romans 1.5; 16.19, 26). Paul’s understanding of salvation is not limited to a faith devoid of works, but like James who is best known for his emphasis on works (cp. James 2.14-26), so too Paul makes it clear that true faith is most evident in obedience. As an apostle to the Gentiles, Paul can claim that he has been a faithful servant. There is ample evidence of a great outpouring of God’s grace on the many towns and cities where Gentiles had come to faith. All that has happened – by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders – has happened by the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Signs and wonders” is standard biblical phraseology for miracles, the former term connoting the purpose of the miracle and the latter its marvelous and unusual character. The phrase occurs especially often in descriptions of the miracles at the time of the Exodus and in the history of the early church. Paul may then choose to illustrate his apostolic work with this phrase in order to suggest the salvation-historical significance of his own ministry. For Paul is not just another apostle; he is the apostle to the Gentiles, the one chosen to have a unique role in opening up the Gentile world to the gospel. (Douglas Moo, Romans, p. 893)
Paul, clearly cognizant of his unique role, obsessively fixated all his energy on propagating the gospel among the Gentiles. I suppose a modern day psychiatrist might seek to have him institutionalized. He considered himself to be a vessel through whom the Holy Spirit was at work to bring about the salvation of the Gentiles. Moreover, he made every effort to enlist everyone else in the same cause (cp. Philippians 3.8-17). Also consider these samples excerpted from his Thessalonian letter: And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers (1 Thessalonians 2.13), and For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy (2.19-20). This passion for lost souls is the very thing that is greatly absent in the contemporary church. Ponder Ray Ortlund’s prayer based on Romans 15.14-21.
O Lord God, we modern Christians can be so self-absorbed. We look with condescension and boredom on the missionary enterprise—when we think of it at all. God, forgive us. We worship your Son in church on Sunday morning, we sing our choruses with a euphoric joy, and we think we have honored him. But what do we know of honoring Christ, when we remain content to let whole nations and peoples and tribes around the world live and die without ever bowing to the One whose name is above every other name? We have privatized our faith. We have trivialized it as a merely personal benefit, like a favorite television show or a hobby. We do not hear the gospel as a war cry, as a summons to righteousness-taking, as a command to see the Lord Jesus Christ honored in our own hearts as we exert ourselves toward his being honored in others’ hearts. O God, your gospel spawns missionary effort as the sun radiates light. The two are always found together. What then does our lack of interest in missions reveal about our grasp of and love for the gospel? O Lord, give fresh power to the gospel among us. Revive in us the passion for Christian missions that thrust St. Patrick and William Carey and David Livingstone and Hudson Taylor and Amy Carmichael and thousands of others out to the four winds, for the honor and glory of the Son of God. Dear Lord, deliver us from our convenience Christianity and lift us up to the infinite joy of kingdom-advancing missionary Christianity. In the holy name of Christ. Amen. (Ray Ortlund Jr., Romans: A Passion for God, pp. 192-93)
Paul’s ambition was to be on the cutting edge of mission’s frontier—to take the gospel to places where Christ had not yet been preached. He references Isaiah 52.15 (from the fourth servant’s passage) as a validation of his calling.
TO SPAIN THROUGH ROME (15.22-29)
Though Paul had longed to visit the church in Rome his desire to reach Spain with the gospel was the compelling force behind his plans to visit Rome. In terms of the mission assigned him by the Lord, he considered his work in the central part of the Roman empire finished. Obviously there was still much to be done, but from Paul’s perspective, churches in key cities had been established. It would shortly become evident that his own disciples were themselves planting churches and carrying on the work of the gospel (e.g., Epaphras’ work in Colossae; Timothy in Ephesus; Titus in Crete and Corinth). Indeed, many of the believers in Rome were people Paul had taught or with whom he was closely acquainted. Paul’s plan to press on to Spain seemed reasonable. Whether it was ever realized one can only speculate. His journey to Jerusalem was fraught with danger and ultimately led to a lengthy imprisonment in Jerusalem and later in Rome.
What is of a more immediate concern is Paul’s delicate suggestion that the Roman believers would become a base of support for his planned missionary endeavors. Precisely what he has in mind is not clear, but his request is not as presumptuous as some would suppose. Paul’s apostolic call to reach the Gentiles with the gospel is well established and it would be reasonable to assume those who had been properly discipled in their faith would be eager to lend support to such a mission. Moreover, Paul is on a first name basis with many of the Roman believers. So, though he had not visited the church in Rome, Paul was no stranger to them. It is the privilege of every Christian to engage in missions. The words of Jesus to make disciples of all nations is the responsibility of every believer, not just the apostles. The church was not yet 30 years old and it had already begun to permeate every part of the Roman world (cp. Acts 2.47; 5.14; 9.31; 16.5; 17.34; 19.20). Paul does nothing more than invite believers to join with him in his mission to reach all as yet unreached peoples.
