ADDRESSES ON ROMANS
PAUL-A MINISTER OF CHRIST TO THE GENTILES 15: 14..21
First he speaks of his apostleship, reminding the Roman Christians also that he is persuaded that they do seek to know and obey God's will for them. Note his words: "And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness. filled with all knowledge. able also to admonish one another. Nevertheless. brethren. I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort. as putting you in mind. because of the grace that is given to me of God. that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God. that the offering up of the Gentiles might be accept.. able. being sanctified by the Holy Ghost" ( 15: 14-16). It is as though Paul had told his fellow-Christians at Rome that, while he knew they were not ignorant of these things he had written. yet he had spoken "the more boldly:' with the voice of authority. because he had been called of God to do this very thing. as the apostle to the Gentiles. And he is careful to give God all the glory, even as he vindicates his high calling and declares that he has sought to fulfill his ministry "from Jerusalem, and round about lllyricum," striving "to preach the gospel. not where Christ was named." Paul was a foreign missionary in very truth, ever reaching out to "the regions beyond" him, lest he "should build upon another man's foundation." And as he speaks of his calling to be the apostle to the Gentiles, he remembers once more that his own Jewish Scriptures had said. through Isaiah. the prophet, that Christ should be made known to the Gentile world. "As it is written, To whom he was not spoken of. they shall see: and they that have not heard shall under.. stand" (verse 21 ) . [Page 247
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