Commending the Roman Saints
“I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another” (Romans 15:14, ESV).
As at the beginning (1:8), Paul is ending the letter by commending the saints at Rome (cf. also 16:19), along with the oft-repeated affectionate address “my brothers” [ἀδελφοί μου] in the familial sense of “brethren” in the Lord (cf. v. 30; 1:13; 7:1, 4; 8:12; 10:1; 11:25; 12:1; 16:17).2 With the emphatic “I myself” [αὐτὸς ἐγὼ]3 the apostle is not merely “satisfied” (ESV) but stands in a position of having been confidently “persuaded” (ASV, KJV, LSV) or “convinced” (CSB, NASB, NIV) [perfect tense of πειθώ] (cf. 2:19; 8:38; 14:14) that his readers are “full” [μεστοί],4 having been “filled” [πεπληρωμένοι]5 with “goodness” [ἀγαθωσύνης]6 and “all knowledge” [πάσης τῆς7 γνώσεως] …8 This immediately follows the prayer-wish that the God of hope “may fill” [πληρῶσαι] the Roman believers with “all joy and peace in believing” (v. 13) and is the total opposite of the unbelievers described in the first chapter: “They were filled [πεπληρωμένους] with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full [μεστοὺς] of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness …” (1:29-31).
Because of what God has provided, the Romans are “able” [δυνάμενοι]—verbal cognate with “power” [δύναμις] (cf. v. 13)—not merely “to instruct” (cf. v. 4) but “to admonish,” “to exhort,” or “to warn” [νουθετεῖν] “one another” [ἀλλήλους]” (cf. v. 5). This expectation is not limited to just church leaders or apostolic authority figures9 but applies to the collective responsibility of all members of the church.10
The Essence of Paul’s Work
“But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:15-16).
“But” [δέ], despite Paul’s confidence in these brethren, he still has an apostolic duty that extends all the way to Rome, involving directives that sometimes need to be worded forthrightly. As the inspired author of the letter (1:1) Paul can say, “I have written,”11 even though technically he is verbally dictating12 to an amanuensis who does the actual writing (16:22). Since epistolary composition (involving oral dictation and public reading) is more closely related to speech than narrative literature, the letters of Paul function as a substitute for his actual presence, creating an “apostolic parousia.”13 It is as if the apostle were speaking directly to his reading audience, while anticipating a future face-to-face meeting (cf. vv. 22-24).
What has been communicated “very boldly” [τολμηρότερον] (a hapax legomenon in the Greek NT) is “in part” [ἀπὸ μέρους], whether “on some points” (ESV), alluding to particular sections of the letter,14 or “in some measure” (ASV), meaning “partly” as per the apostle’s intensity,15 intentions,16 or manner of instruction.17 This boldness, however, does not emanate from Paul’s own self-confidence but is inspired by what the Lord has accomplished (vv. 15b-19).18
The word rendered “reminder” (another hapax legomenon)19 is a present participle—“reminding” [ἐπαναμιμνήσκων]—implying that the document serves as a current and ongoing reminder of the things about which Paul has been speaking and/or of what these Christians already know. In other words, “the things he has taught them and exhorted them to do all derive from the faith that they hold in common with Paul. In his letter Paul has done nothing but to explicate, for them in their circumstances, the implications of the gospel.”20
Paul considers his apostolic ministry as a divine expression of “grace” [χάρις] (cf. 1:5a),21 enabling him “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God.” The term here translated “minister” [λειτουργός] is a combination of λαός(“people”) + ἔργον (“work”) and belongs to a family of words descriptive of serving people in God’s work, used earlier of civil authorities as servants of God (13:6), while later in this chapter the verbal form is applied to benevolent service among fellow Christians (v. 27).22
The apostle’s ministration is “of Christ Jesus” (cf. 1:1-9), directed “to” [εἰς] “the Gentiles” [τὰ ἔθνη] (cf. 1:5, 13-15). Since the message of the gospel is universal in scope, which Paul certainly did not withhold from Jewish people (cf. 1:16; 2:10; 3:29; 9:24; 10:12),23 the broader sense of all ethnic groups or “nations” is surely applicable (cf. 1:5; 4:17-18; 16:26). However, the bulk of Paul’s work and the providential successes of his ministry typically extended well beyond Jewish boundaries, distinguishing him as “apostle to the Gentiles” (11:13).24
Described as administering “priestly service” [ἱερουργοῦντα] (another hapax legomenon in the Greek NT), borrowing imagery from Jewish religion, Paul likens his ministry to that of an Israelite priest, although in his extant writings he never uses specific terms like “priesthood” [ἱεράτευμα] (as in 1 Pet. 2:5, 9) or “priest” [ἱερεύς] (as in Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:6).25 Nor does he, a Benjamite (11:1), suggest that anything akin to the Levitical priesthood of old-covenant Judaism has been incorporated into Christ’s new-covenant system.26 Rather, Paul’s priestly service is centered on “the [one and only] gospel” [τὸ εὐαγγέλιον]27 “of God” [τοῦ θεοῦ] (cf. 1:1).28 “Paul saw all ministry and service on behalf of the gospel as priestly ministry, ministry which all believers could engage in and which was not limited to any special order of priests,”29 necessarily inferred from passages like v. 27 and 12:1 (cf. also 2 Cor. 9:12; Phil. 2:17, 25, 30).
Relevant to priestly-service terminology is the language of sacrifice, i.e., an “offering” [προσφορά]30 having been “sanctified” [ἡγιασμένη]. While this sacrificial offering is presented to the heavenly throne as part of Paul’s evangelistic work, it is “a living sacrifice” of those willingly offering their own “bodies” and “mind” to be “holy” [ἅγιος] and “acceptable” [εὐάρεστος] to God (12:1-2).31 The adj. “holy”32 is cognate with the noun “sanctification” [ἁγιασμός], referring to the process of becoming set apart or holy (cf. 6:19, 22),33 while the verb “sanctify” [ἁγιάζω] is generally applicable to the beginning of the process (cf. 15:16).34 The former is ongoing, whose completion is “not yet,” whereas the latter is realized “already.”35 Cognate terms include the plural adj. ἅγιοι (“saints”), in reference to sanctified believers (1:7; 8:27; 12:13; 15:25, 26, 31; 16:2, 15), and the noun “holiness” [ἁγιωσύνη] (1:4).
Allusion to “the offering of the Gentiles” seems to apply contextually to “what is offered” rather than the “act of offering,” whether the praise (v. 11) or obedience (v. 18) of non-Jewish believers, or more likely the Gentiles themselves (ASV, CSB, NASB, NIV, NET, NLT).36 This is in line with v. 18 (cf. 9:24-26; 11:11-13, 25), and in fulfillment of prophecies like Isaiah 60:3; 66:20. Such an offering is “acceptable” [εὐπρόσδεκτος]37 (cf. v. 31) to God, “having been sanctified” [ἡγιασμένη], the perfect participial form conveying the sense of being sanctified in the past with ongoing results.
In conjunction with the miraculous confirmation of Paul’s presentation of the gospel (v. 19), the sanctifying is “by” or “in” [ἐν] the “Holy Spirit” (cf. v. 13). While we are “in” [ἐν] Christ,38 we are also “in” [ἐν] the Spirit.39 Perhaps somewhat of a play on words, we are “sanctified” or “made holy” [ἁγιάζω] in the Spirit who himself is “Holy” [ἅγιος] (1:5; 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16),40 transforming us “from unclean and sinful creatures to ‘holy’ offerings fit for the service and praise of a holy God.”41 In obedience to God’s “holy” word (1:2; 7:12), penitent believers are submerged as sinners in the waters of baptism and raised to “walk in newness of life …. set free from sin” (6:3-4, 17-18),42 receiving God’s indwelling Spirit as a seal of divine ownership and guarantee of the divine inheritance (cf. 5:5). Note the instrumental working of the Spirit through Christ via Paul and the gospel he preached (vv. 17-20).
--Kevin L. Moore
Endnotes:
1 See D. J. Moo, Romans 884-85 for comparisons of the epistolary features between Romans and the other Pauline letters.
2 Other than the lone reference to Paul’s ethnic kinsmen (Rom. 9:3), the expression connects believers to Christ (8:29) as members of God’s family (cf. 14:10, 13, 15, 21; 16:14, 23).
3 Perhaps countering the potential impression from the body of the letter of a lack of sincerity, this emphatic αὐτὸς ἐγώ suggests otherwise (D. J. Moo, Romans 887 n.13).
4 Paul’s only recorded uses of the adj. μεστός are in this verse and 1:29.
5 On the verb πληρόω, see also Rom. 1:29; 8:4; 13:8; 15:13, 19.
6 Every occurrence in the NT of the noun ἀγαθωσύνη is in Paul’s letters (Rom. 15:14; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9; 2 Thess. 1:11). However, the cognate adj. ἀγαθός (“good”) appears twenty-one times in Romans (2:7, 10; 3:8; 5:7; 7:12-13, 18-19; 8:28; 9:11; 10:15; 12:2, 9, 21; 13:3-4; 14:16; 15:2; 16:19), twenty-six times in Paul’s other letters, and is also attributed to him in Acts 23:1.
7 The article is omitted in the BMT/TR.
8 The noun γνῶσις occurs in the Pauline writings twenty-three times (mostly in the Corinthian letters), only three times in Romans (2:20; 11:33; 15:14); from the verbal γινώσκω (Rom. 1:21; 2:18; 3:17; 6:6; 7:1, 7, 15; 10:19; 11:34), which Paul employs forty-one times outside of Romans (mostly in the Corinthian letters); also attributed to him in Acts 20:34. Without the qualifier “all,” the comparable usage of the compound ἐπίγνωσις (“full knowledge”) is found in Romans three times (1:28; 3:20; 10:2), and twelve times outside of Romans in Paul’s so-called prison and pastoral letters, while the verbal ἐπιγινώσκω is used in Romans once (1:32), eleven other times by Paul outside of Romans (nine in the Corinthians letters), and attributed to him in Acts 24:11; 25:10.
9 Cf. Acts 20:31; 1 Cor. 4:14; Col. 1:28; 1 Thess. 5:12.
10 Cf. Col. 3:16; 1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Thess. 3:16.
11 The aorist ἔγραψα (lit. “I wrote”) appears to be an epistolary aorist, whereby Paul places himself among his reading audience as having already received the completed letter.
12 Note Paul’s recurring use of “I say” [λέγω] (Rom. 3:5; 6:19; 9:1; 10:18, 19; 11:11, 13; 12:3; 15:8) and “I speak” [λαλέω] (7:1; 15:18). See K. L. Moore, “Epistolary Analysis” in Exegetical Significance 74-77.
13 R. W. Funk, “Apostolic Parousia” 249-68. See also D. E. Aune, NT Literary Environment 190-91; W. G. Doty, Letters in Primitive Christianity 26-27; L. A. Jervis, Purpose of Romans110-31.
14 J. A. Beet, Romans 367; E. F. Harrison, “Romans” 155. Suggestions about which parts include 6:12-19; 8:9; 11:17-25; 12:1-3; 13:3–15:1 (see C. E. B. Cranfield, Critical Romans 2:750-52; D. J. Moo, Romans 888 n.24; W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans 404).
15 J. Murray, Romans 2:209.
16 C. K. Barrett, Romans 275.
17 F. L. Godet, Romans 2:475-77.
18 The adv. “boldly” [τολμηρότερον] (v. 15) is cognate with the verb “dare” or “be bold” [τολμάω] (v. 18).
19 The verb ἐπαναμιμνῄσκω is a compound word comprised of ἐπί (“upon”) + ἀνά (“again”) + μιμνήσκω (to “remind” or “remember”), thus an intensified form of the latter.
20 D. J. Moo, Romans 888-89. The observation of J. Denney is that Paul “does not presume to teach them what they do not know, but only to suggest to their memory what they must know already but may be overlooking” (“Romans” 711). C. H. Dodd reasons that since the church was established in Rome independent of Paul’s mission, “he seasons his dissertation with a compliment, and suggests apologetically that he has written only by way of refreshing your memory of truths already well known” (Romans 226).
21 See also Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 15:10; Eph. 3:7-8; 1 Tim. 1:15-16.
22 The noun λειτουργός is also descriptive of a servant or minister of a local church (Phil. 2:25), angelic servants of God (Heb. 1:7), and Christ’s service as our heavenly high priest (Heb. 8:2). The verb λειτουργέω is also applicable to serving the church (Acts 13:2) and of priestly serving (Heb. 10:11). The noun λειτουργία is used of priestly service (Luke 1:23), benevolent service (2 Cor. 9:12), Christian service in general (Phil. 2:17, 30), Christ’s ministry (Heb. 8:6), and old-covenant tabernacle service (Heb. 9:21). The lone occurrence of the adj. λειτουργικός describes angels as ministering servants (Heb. 1:14). On the noun λατρεία and verb λατρεύω, cf. Rom. 12:1.
23 Acts 9:20; 13:14-42; 14:1; 16:1, 13; 17:2-4, 10, 17; 18:2-5; 19:8; 21:21, 40; 20:21; 28:17-31; 1 Cor. 9:19-20.
24 See also Acts 9:15; 22:21; 26:17; 28:28; Gal. 1:15-16; 2:7-9; Eph. 3:1-8; 2 Tim. 4:17.
25 The noun ἱερεύς (“priest”) is also found in the Gospels, Acts, and Hebrews, and the verb ἱερατεύω (“serve as priest”) only in Luke 1:8. As a comparative illustration, Paul uses the adj. ἱερός (“sacred [service]”) in 1 Cor. 9:13.
26 The verbal ἱερουργέω “derives from the context the priestly associations which often attach to it in the LXX. But obviously it has no bearing on the question as to the ‘sacerdotal’ character of the Christian ministry. The offering which Paul conceives himself as presenting to God is the Gentile Church, and the priestly function in the exercise of which this offering is made is the preaching of the Gospel” (J. Denney, “Romans” 712). “The office to which God in His undeserved favour appointed Paul has all the sacredness which in the mind of a Jew was associated with the priesthood” (J. A. Beet, Romans 367).
27 The noun εὐαγγέλιον occurs nine times in Romans (1:1, 9, 16; 2:16; 10:16; 11:28; 15:16, 19; 16:25), and the verbal εὐαγγελίζω three times (1:15; 10:15; 15:20).
28 On “the gospel of God,” note also 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Thess. 2:2, 8, 9.
29 J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 546.
30 This is either the “act of presenting an offering” or the “offering” itself; cf. Acts 21:26; 24:17; Eph. 5:2; Heb. 10:5, 8, 10, 14, 18.
31 “Paul evidently saw the new Christian assemblies as an extension of the assembly of Yahweh, but now without any of the cultic features so characteristic of Israel’s temple cult, and without any category of priest as a function different in kind from the priestly ministry of all who served the gospel…. his use of language shows that he was deliberately breaking with the typical understanding of a religious community dependent on cult centre, office of priest, and act of ritual sacrifice” (J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 547-48).
32 Descriptive of God’s Spirit (5:5; 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16), God’s word (1:2; 7:12), and God’s people connected to God and one another (11:16; 12:1; 16:16).
33 See also 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3-4, 7; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:15; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:2.
34 See also 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Eph. 5:26; 2 Tim. 2:21.
35 J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 467. It is not uncommon for a distinction to be made between ἁγιασμός (“sanctification”) as an action or process, and ἁγιωσύνη (“holiness”) as the resulting state. However, such a clear distinction between the two is less than certain (see BDAG 10; J. Weima, Thessalonians 264 n.21). We are sanctified at the time of conversion, and sanctification or holiness is to be maintained, yet complete and ultimate sanctification in the future is what the faithful are anticipating (1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 10:10; 1 Pet. 1:15-16).
36 D. J. Moo, Romans 890; cf. W. Sanday and A. C. Headlam, Romans 405.
37 Employed elsewhere in 2 Cor. 6:2; 8:12; 1 Pet. 2:5. Compare Rom. 12:1-2; 14:18.
38 Rom. 3:24; 6:3, 11, 23; 8:1-2, 39; 12:5; 15:17; 16:2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 22.
39 Rom. 7:6; 8:9; 9:1; 14:17.
40 Rom. 1:5; 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16.
41 D. J. Moo, Romans 891.
42 See also John 17:17, 19; Acts 10:32; 26:18; 1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Eph. 5:25b-27; Heb. 2:11; 9:13-14; 10:9-10, 14, 29; 13:12.
Related Posts: Paul's Apostolic Ministry (Part 2), Part 3
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