Romans 15:14-21

14: And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.
15: But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God,
16: to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17: Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.
18: For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed,
19: in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
20: And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation;
21: but as it is written, “THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.”

*** 

Paul told his readers that he knew they were full of goodness and had the knowledge to be able to admonish one another—to watch out for each other--and be sure they were keeping and growing in the faith. However, he said he had written boldly on these points in keeping with his call as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. His desire was to see the Gentiles grow in faith to maturity as an acceptable offering to God. This was his call, and he wanted to do it well, so he instructed them again.

He went on to rejoice over what the Lord had accomplished through him in his preaching to the Gentiles, in signs, wonders and in the power of the Holy Spirit from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum (a Roman province on the Adriatic Sea).

Paul’s desire was to preach the gospel where it had not been preached before, and he quoted Isaiah 52:15 to reference this. He wasn’t looking so much to build on what other ministers of the gospel had started, but to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to those who had never heard it before. This was his call and commission from the Lord.



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