Lessons #25 and 26
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ HCSB = Holman Christian Standard Bible +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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Paul’s indebtedness regarding the gospel (Rom 1:14-15)
14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.
We have come to the third paragraph of the second subsection of the introduction of this epistle by Apostle Paul that covers Romans 1:8-15. Recall, the first paragraph is concerned with the apostle’s prayer on behalf of the Romans in verses 8 to 10. The second is concerned with the apostle’s desire to see the Roman believers for mutual spiritual benefits as described in verses 11 to 13. The third paragraph that is our focus in this present study deals with the apostle’s eagerness to preach the gospel in Rome as described in verses 14 and 15. This third paragraph is about Apostle Paul’s sense of his obligation to preach the gospel that is conveyed in verse 14. This is followed in verse 15 by the result of this sense of obligation to preach the gospel. Thus, we can summarize this paragraph as conveying that Paul has a sense of indebtedness or obligation to preach the gospel resulting in his desire to preach the gospel in Rome. Based on this summary, we derive a message we believe the Holy Spirit wants me to convey to you. This message is that You should recognize that you are obligated to witness for Christ and so you should give the gospel to anyone that is within your reach. This message is one that we believers in Christ at the present should take to heart. In effect, we should have the sense that we are obligated to give the gospel to the world that is dying. Many of us Christians are more devoted or more obligated to political matters than we are of the gospel. Political matters are things of this world, while important, are not as important as eternal matters that involve salvation of humans. Believers who have a sense of strong obligation to political matters have failed to recognize that the problem of humans is spiritual and so no human solution can solve the ills of society as such. We need the gospel message that will transform men and women into God’s children so that by teaching of truth they will grow and exhibit the character of Christ on this planet. We should not think that we are here to improve the world as regards to the things of its affairs as we are to affect the destiny of many through the gospel message. Our world is dying as the Scripture declares so we should see that we have an obligation to help people in this world. The greatest help we can render to anyone is in the spiritual. I know that people may argue otherwise because they are more concerned about the issues that affect their living at the present. The truth is that if a person has the right relationship with God, God will see to it that the person’s needs are met on this planet. God never abandons or leaves His own to fend for themselves. No! He who is their sufficiency ensures that they are cared for while on this planet. This being the case, we contend that the greatest help you can render to a person is in the spiritual realm. When you give the gospel to a person and the individual responds positively, the person receives eternal life, meaning the individual will enjoy eternity in the presence of God regardless of the person’s enjoyment or lack of it of material things. It is horrifying to think that a person may have the best of the world’s goods but dies without hope, that is, without eternal life that is available through faith in Jesus Christ. To spend eternity in hell is something that is unimaginable since that will involve unceasing suffering and pain. So, it is better for a person to have eternal life but with few worldly goods. This does not mean that there are no believers who enjoy the good things of this life in abundance; for there are, but they are not many. If you put things in proper perspective, you will recognize that even if you work hard and do everything in your power to make people’s life enjoyable on this planet but that means nothing if such a person dies and ends up in hell. Consequently, it is important that we help others with presenting them the message of hope in Christ. It is for this reason that our message is one that we should take to heart. Let me repeat before we get going, that a message the Holy Spirit wants us to get from this section of Romans 1:14-15 is You should recognize that you are obligated to witness for Christ and so you should give the gospel to anyone that is within your reach. This message is, of course, derived from Apostle’s Paul sense of his obligation to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The message we stated requires us to have the sense of one that is a debtor to another. The apostle stated this fact in the first sentence of the NIV of Romans 1:14 I am obligated. Literally, the Greek reads I am a debtor. This is because the apostle used a Greek word (opheiletēs) that may mean “a debtor” first in a financial sense of owing money to someone as it is used in the Lord Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful servant that had his debt forgiven while he refused to do the same to his debtor as we read in Matthew 18:24:
As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
The clause a man who owed him is literally from the Greek one debtor. The word is used in the sense of a sinner or a guilty person who sins and so is under moral debt as it is used in the question of the Lord Jesus regarding those who died when a tower collapsed and killed them as narrated in Luke 13:4:
Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?
The word is used by Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Galatians with the meaning of “one who is obligated to obey the law” once the individual submits to circumcision as stated in Galatians 5:3:
Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.
In our passage of Romans 1:14, the word is used in the sense of “an obligated person,” that is, “a person who is under a moral obligation to do something.” Hence, Apostle Paul considered himself one who is under obligation although he did not immediately say what that obligation is but by what he writes in verse 15, it should be clear that the obligation is that of preaching the gospel.
Obligation as a word here refers either to “a debt of gratitude” or “duty,” that is, something one is morally or legally bound. Both meanings are applicable to the apostle although some imply that one or the other but not both apply. It is our position that based on the entire context of his epistles both meanings are applicable to him. In a sense, the apostle has a sense of gratitude and that of duty. But how are we to understand his sense of gratitude and duty? Some indicate that Apostle Paul has gratitude due to his Roman citizenship and education as implied in his appeal to his citizenship when he was about to be flogged due to the incident of riot against him in Jerusalem as we read in Acts 22:25–28:
25 As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?” 26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.” 27 The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered. 28 Then the commander said, “I had to pay a big price for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.
This interpretation is justified by the fact that the apostle stated that the Gentiles owed sharing their material blessings with believers in Jerusalem since they shared their spiritual blessings with the Gentiles as he stated in Romans 15:27:
They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings.
It is possible that the apostle could have had a sense of obligation because of his education and Roman citizenship but it is more likely that he felt a sense of gratitude to God for his salvation and commission as an apostle of Jesus Christ as we may gather from1 Timothy 1:12–14:
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
This sense of gratitude would have been followed by a sense of duty because of the commission he received to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as he referenced in 1 Corinthians 9:16–17:
16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.
Anyway, it is as we also have a sense of gratitude for our salvation and the fact that we are instructed to be witnesses for Christ that we will have the sense of obligation to witness for Him.
The message we stated that you should hear and apply is You should recognize that you are obligated to witness for Christ and so you should give the gospel to anyone that is within your reach. There are those who are selective regarding those they would give the gospel message based on different human distinctions. That is wrong. When I use the word “selective” that includes some local churches. When a local church restricts those who may attend their worship service that implies that such a local church does not see the need to give the gospel to everyone. This, of course, begs the question of such group’s understanding of what is at stake when it comes to the gospel. If a person understands that hell is not a joking matter, it is difficult to imagine how a person for any personal reason would limit the presentation of gospel to some people. Such an attitude calls into question whether those who do such a thing understand their own salvation, if indeed they are saved. No one is good enough to receive God’s gift of salvation so for a person to think that another individual is not worthy of hearing the gospel or is to be excluded from where the gospel is presented is to be purely hypocritical if the individual understands the person’s condition before salvation. Prior to salvation, we were repulsive to God but because of His love and grace extended to us through Jesus Christ, we received eternal salvation. If we understand this reality, we will not limit the preaching of the gospel to some people or group.
All the same, we said that you should give the gospel to anyone within your reach. because the apostle indicated that his obligation is directed to all that he comes into contact. To ensure we understand that the apostle meant that his obligation to give the gospel is to everyone that he comes into contact without distinction, he categorized humans he was obligated to give the gospel in two ways. His first characterization of humans is based on ethnicity and nationality. The concept of ethnicity and nationality is given in the phrase of Romans 1:14 to Greeks and non-Greeks.
The concept of ethnicity is introduced with the word Greeks that is translated from a Greek word (Hellēn) that may refer to persons who are ethnically Greeks and those who are not but have been influenced by Greek education or culture. So, in a sense it could refer to those who are civilized or educated in some measure as that is the way Apostle Paul used it in describing those who do not understand the message of the cross because they are preoccupied with wisdom as he recorded in 1 Corinthians 1:22:
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
The Greek word translated “Greek” may mean in a broader sense all persons who came under the influence of Greek, as distinguished from Israel’s culture so that the word may even mean “Gentile.” It is in this sense that the word is used in Acts 14:1:
At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
The phrase Jews and Gentiles is literally Jews and Greeks. In our passage of Romans 1:14, the word is used in the sense of a person who is of Greek language and culture. Although our word is used to describe a person who is of Greek language and culture but because the one who used it is a Jew, it is more likely that the emphasis here is on ethnicity. When a Jew uses the term, it is usually to differentiate himself from a Gentile or a Greek. Thus, when the Jews in Jerusalem accused Apostle Paul of bringing a Greek into the temple area where Gentiles were not permitted, they made ethnic distinction as implied in Acts 21:28:
shouting, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.”
Furthermore, it is our Greek word translated “Greeks” that is often used when the intention is to differentiate people ethnically. Thus, Luke reported of those who responded to the gospel message of Apostles Paul and Barnabas at Iconium as Jews and Gentiles in the passage we cited previously, that is, Acts 14:1:
At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
In this passage our Greek word that means “Greek” is translated “Gentile.” Also, when Apostle Paul wanted to indicate that in Christ there is no distinction based on ethnicity, he used our Greek word in Galatians 3:28:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
There is another reason we contend that although the Greek word translated “Greeks” in Romans 1:14 refers to a person of Greek language and culture but that in our passage the emphasis is on ethnicity is because when there is need to describe a Jew that is influenced by Greek culture the word “Jew” is qualified with the Greek word (Hellēnistēs) that is translated “Grecian” in Acts 6:1:
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
There is no such qualification in Romans 1:14, therefore, we contend that it is focus on ethnicity that was primary in the apostle’s thinking so that he implies that he is obligated to give the gospel to the Gentiles that he came into contact.
The sense of “nationality” in our assertion that the apostle’s first characterization of humans he was obligated to preach the gospel is based on ethnicity and nationality is the phrase of Romans 1:14 and non-Greeks. The expression “non-Greeks” is translated from a Greek word (barbaros) that the authorities tell us the adjective is formed onomatopoetically of reduplicated bar, which to ancient Greeks imitated the unintelligible sounds of foreign languages. That aside, the word is used to refer to native people that do not speak either Greek or Latin as those that welcome Paul and his team in the Island of Malta after their shipwreck, so it is translated “islander” in Acts 28:2:
The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.
The Greek word may mean “a foreigner” as it pertains to one who uses a language that is unintelligible to the outsiders as it is used to describe speaking in tongues that no one understands apart from its being interpreted as we read in 1 Corinthians 14:11:
If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me.
The word is used by Apostle Paul to describe a person with a pattern of behavior associated with a low cultural level and so means “uncivilized, barbarian” as he taught the Colossians that there is no distinction in Christ in Colossians 3:11:
Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
In our passage of Romans 1:14, the Greek word has the sense of “foreigner,” that is, a person from another country that presumably does not speak one’s native language. Thus, the apostle indicated he was obligated to present the gospel to those who do not speak his own language, implying that such persons are of different nationality from the apostle. The apostle was certainly bilingual so that he could preach the gospel to those who spoke Aramaic and those who spoke only Greek. We know he spoke Aramaic because that was the language he used to address the crowd in Jerusalem that was hostile to him as we read in Acts 22:2:
When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said:
Furthermore, when the Lord Jesus first appeared to Paul, He communicated to him in Aramaic as he narrated according to the record of Acts 26:14:
We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
The apostle spoke Greek as evident in his preaching at Athens where the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers disputed with him as stated in Acts 17:18:
A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
The fact that the apostle conveyed that he was obligated to present the gospel to people of different nationalities implies that believers should also be willing to do the same. This can happen in at least two ways. A foreigner may live in your country with basic knowledge of your language then you will use your language to present the gospel to the person. Another possibility is that you could go to another country where you learn the country’s language in order to communicate with the natives. Once that happens, you should be ready to give the gospel to the natives that come into contact with you. Anyway, the first characterization of humans that the apostle indicated he was obligated to give the gospel is based on ethnicity and nationality as implied in the phrase of Romans 1:14 to Greeks and non-Greeks.
The second characterization of humans the apostle indicated he was obligated to give the gospel is based on education level, that is, educated and uneducated, as described in the phrase of Romans 1:14 both to the wise and the foolish. The idea of being educated is given primarily with the word “wise” in our phrase. This is because the word “wise” is translated from a Greek word (sophos) that was primarily used in classical Greek for a clever person who knows how to do something or construct something, such as buildings, poems, and speeches. Thus, the word pertains to knowing how to do something in a skillful manner and so means “clever, skillful, experienced.” It is in this sense that Apostle Paul used our Greek word to describe himself as skilled master builder in 1 Corinthians 3:10:
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds.
The phrase an expert builder of the NIV is more literally a skilled/wise master builder. The Greek adjective may pertain to the understanding that results in wise attitudes and conduct hence means “wise.” It is in this sense of “wise” in understanding that leads to proper conduct that Apostle Paul used the word to encourage the Ephesians to be mindful of their conduct in Ephesians 5:15:
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,
In our passage of Romans 1:14, it means “wise person,” that is, an individual with intelligence and education above the average person. It is true that the predominant meaning of the word in our passage refers to the wise, but the word has the implication of some level of education so that the apostle had in mind those who took pride in their intelligence and so their education level. We say this because our Greek word is associated with another Greek word (synetos) that no doubt means “intelligent”, but it also has the meaning of “learned” as in the praise of the Lord Jesus to the Father for revealing things to the disciples that were hidden from the educated in Matthew 11:25:
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
The phrase little children refers to Jesus’ disciples who were recognized as uneducated as asserted by the Jewish authorities when they interrogated Apostles Peter and John as recorded in Acts 4:13:
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Similarly, Apostle Paul associated our Greek word translated “wise” with another Greek word (grammateus) that may refer to someone that is educated in the law so that such a person is described as “a scholar” as we find in 1 Corinthians 1:20:
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
Thus, it is proper to assert that the Greek word translated “wise” in Romans 1:14 is concerned with being educated. Of course, education requires a kind of intelligence in a person that is to be educated. That aside, the apostle was no doubt concerned with a person’s level of education because of the phrase in Romans 1:14 and the foolish. The word “foolish” is translated from a Greek adjective (anoētos) that is opposite “wise” that Apostle Paul used in his epistle to Titus to describe the intellectual and spiritual condition of people before they became Christians as stated in Titus 3:3:
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
In our passage of Romans 1:14, the word is used with the meaning of “mindless person,” that is, “a person not characterized by the use of reason” and so implies a person not intelligent and so the person is uneducated. In effect, the two Greek words translated “wise” and “foolish” in Romans 1:14 are concerned with the level of education one has.
Anyway, Apostle Paul’s point is that a person’s education or lack of it should not be a factor in giving the gospel. We are saying that you should not think that if a person is uneducated or unintelligent the individual is not a candidate for the gospel. The message of the gospel is so simple that any adult or young person could understand it. This does not mean that everyone will accept it since some of those who are highly intellectual and highly educated find it difficult to accept the simple message of the gospel of Christ because it makes no sense to them that someone died for their sins. In any event, we should recognize that we are obligated to give the gospel message to anyone that we come into contact with without making any distinction among people based on any human factor.
We have thus far considered those the apostle stated he was obligated to preach the gospel, but he did not mention the gospel in Romans 1:14; instead, he mentioned those he was obligated to do something without stating what he was obligated. However, it is because of what the apostle stated in Romans 1:15 that we know that what he considered himself a debtor to those listed in verse 14 is the gospel. He started verse 15 in a way that relates it to the preceding verse 14 for we read in verse 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel.
The expression That is why is translated from a Greek adverb (houtōs) that is used primarily in two major ways in the Greek. It could refer to that which follows in a discourse material and so may be translated “in this way” or “as follows.” Another usage is to refer to what precedes, in which case, it may be used to summarize a thought expressed in what precedes or it may be used to draw inference from what precedes. In this usage, to refer to what precedes, the word may be translated “in this way, in this manner, so, thus.” In our passage of Romans 1:15, it has the meaning “hence” or “so” or “that is why” to indicate what the apostle stated is what could be reasonably concluded or inferred from his sense of being obligated to those he mentioned in verse 14.
It is because the apostle has a sense of being obligated to those who are unbelievers that he mentioned in verse 14 that he expresses his eagerness to preach the gospel as in the sentence of Romans 1:15 I am so eager to preach the gospel. Literally, the Greek reads with regard to me (I am) eager to preach the gospel. The literal Greek has been smoothly rendered as we find in the NIV, but it is possible to understand the literal phrase with regard to me to mean “so far as it depends on me.” The implication of this translation is that the apostle recognized that everything depends on God although he may be eager, but God still determines what he does.
Apostle Paul was not only willing to preach the gospel, but he was equally excited to do so. This is because the word “eager” in the sentence I am so eager to preach the gospel is translated from a Greek word (prothymos) that pertains to being of service, so means “eager, willing, ready.” It is with the meaning “willing” that the Lord Jesus used it to encourage His disciples to pray and to be spiritually vigilant when He came to them a first time after leaving them to pray in the night prior to His death and found them sleeping. He acknowledged their willingness even to suffer with Him or not to deny Him, but He also recognized their human weakness as stated in Matthew 26:41:
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
That aside, Apostle Paul’s use of the word is to convey not only his willingness or readiness to preach the gospel in Rome but that he was excited as he looks forward to that. Apostle Paul’s willingness and excitement to preach the gospel should characterize us. We should be eager and excited to give the gospel to those we come into contact if we recognize the necessity of salvation of anyone to avoid God’s eternal judgment. I am saying that we should not show any hesitation when it comes to presenting the gospel message to those we come into contact because the alternative is of a horrible consequence of spending eternity in the lake of fire. Anyway, Apostle Paul was excited to preach the gospel message as stated in Romans 1:15 I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.
The expression “preach the gospel” is translated from a Greek word (euangelizō) from which our English word “evangelize” is most certainly derived. The word is used in a general sense of bringing or announcing good news about something, so it is the word that is used to describe the announcement by Angel Gabriel of the birth of John the Baptist, as we read in Luke 1:19:
The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
It is in the same general sense that the word is used by the angel that announced to the shepherds the news of the birth of Jesus Christ in Luke 2:10:
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
However, our Greek word is used specifically for proclaiming the divine message of salvation and so means “to proclaim or preach the gospel.” It may be used with the mention of the object of proclamation such as the word of God, as in Acts 8:4:
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
The word can also be used with the mention of the thing or person proclaimed. Hence, it is used for proclaiming Jesus Christ as in Galatians 1:16:
to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man,
In Romans 1:15, it has the sense of “to convey the gospel,” that is, to bring the good news that forgiveness of sins and gift of eternal life are possible through faith in Jesus Christ who died and resurrected for the forgiveness of our sins.
There is no doubt that the apostle was eager to preach the gospel, but we should recognize that when he stated his eagerness to preach the gospel that he meant the Christian message. This means that he would preach the gospel to unbelievers, but he would teach Christian doctrines to believers. This will be in keeping with the practice of the apostle that is recorded in Acts. We are informed that he and Barnabas remained in Antioch for some time both preaching the gospel and teaching believers as recorded in Acts 15:35:
But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.
When Apostle Paul went to Corinth, he preached the gospel as stated in Acts 18:5:
When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
When it is said that the apostle devoted himself exclusively to preaching, we should understand that to mean that portion of his time was spent to provide for his material needs through tent making as we may gather from the narrative given in Acts 18:1–3:
1After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
Obviously, since the apostle had to work for a living such an activity reduced the time he spent in the day, preaching the gospel, but when he received gifts or support primarily from the Philippians, he had more time to preach the gospel to unbelievers. The apostle not only preached the gospel to unbelievers, but he also spent time teaching believers in Corinth as stated in Acts 18:11:
So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
When the apostle left Timothy in Ephesus to serve as a pastor, he, no doubt, expected him both to preach the gospel to unbelievers and to teach doctrines to believers as per the instruction he gave to him in 1 Timothy 4:13:
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
Thus, based on this pattern, we should expect that when Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:15 I am so eager to preach the gospel that he had in mind both preaching of the gospel and teaching of doctrines to believers in Rome.
There is another reason we contend that the preaching of the gospel in the mind of the apostle consists of preaching of the gospel message and teaching of doctrines to believers. It is because of the last clause of Romans 1:15 also to you who are at Rome. Literally, the Greek reads also to you the ones in Rome. The word also conveys that the apostle was being emphatic that the ones in Rome are included among those the apostle feels obligated to preach the gospel. You see, the word “also” is translated from a Greek conjunction (kai) that is often translated “and” in our English versions as a marker of connection between single words or clauses, but the conjunction has several usages. It may be used as a marker of introduction of a result that comes from what precedes and so may be translate “and then, and so.” It may be used to emphasize a fact as surprising or unexpected or noteworthy, leading to the translation “and yet, and in spite of that, nevertheless.” It may be used as a marker of emphasis where there is a stress on what is said and hence means “indeed, certainly.” It may be used as a marker to indicate an additive relation that is not of equal rank and significance to another clause, in which case, hence means “also, likewise.” Still the word may be used as a marker of contrast so that it means “but.” In our passage, it is used both as a marker of emphasis and a marker of additive relation. Hence, the apostle conveyed in an emphatic manner that the ones in Rome are included among those the apostle feels obligated to preach the gospel in the way we have explained. He would preach the gospel to unbelievers in Rome while he would teach Christian doctrines that would most certainly include the expounding of the gospel message that he preached as he expounded to the Corinthians on the first four verses of the fifteenth chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians.
Be that as it may, without understanding the apostle’s eagerness to preach the gospel in Rome as being involved with the gospel message and doctrines of the Christian faith, it is difficult to interpret the clause of Romans 1:15 to you who are at Rome or literally to you the ones in Rome. The difficulty lies in how to understand the literal phrase the ones in Rome. Why is that difficult? You may ask. It is because if the phrase refers to believers in Rome, then we have the apostle preaching the gospel to those who are already saved. This will not make sense. The gospel is usually given to those who are unbelievers although today we give the gospel in local church meetings because there is the possibility that someone may come in that is not a believer, so it makes sense to give the gospel to those assembled for worship where the target is an unbeliever that is in the audience. That aside, the apostle would not accomplish anything to preach the gospel to a local church, considering the fact he does not even want to preach Christ where He has been preached as he stated later in this epistle, that is, Romans 15:20:
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
Of course, as we have stated previously, the apostle could expound on the gospel he preached as part of the Christian doctrines taught to Roman believers. Because of this explanation, the literal phrase of Romans 1:15 to you the ones in Rome is to be understood as consisting of two groups: unbelievers and believers in Rome. The apostle would preach the gospel to some unbelievers in Rome, and he would teach to believers in Rome Christian doctrines that would include his exposition of the gospel he preached. Thus, the apostle would see himself doing the same kind of thing he did in Antioch in the early days of his ministry as we have previously cited.
In any case, the message of this section that we have considered is that You should recognize that you are obligated to witness for Christ and so you should give the gospel to anyone that is within your reach. As we stated previously, this message is one that we believers in Christ at the present should take to heart. In effect, we should have the sense that we are obligated to give the gospel to the world that is dying. It is our duty to witness for Christ since He commissioned the church to do that as stated in Matthew 28:18–20:
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Let us have the sense of appreciation for our salvation and a sense of duty regarding the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, you should be committed to witnessing for Christ.
06/28/24