Romans 15
AEKRomans 15:8-27
PAUL’S 8 Contrast the two ministries of Christ and Paul (16). Christ was the Servant of the Circumcision. Paul was a minister for the nations. Christ confirms the patriarchal promises. Paul acts as a priest in the evangel of God. Christ never went outside the land of Israel.
He was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Paul, on the contrary, was not called until he had left the land of Israel. He was sent to the Uncircumcision. It is of the utmost importance that we recognize these distinctive ministries, for the distinction has been virtually ignored. Christ is taken as the minister to the nations and Paul is forgotten. Yet throughout the Lord’s public life He emphasized the fact that His mission was to Israel exclusively.
A few proselytes, indeed, received blessing, but they were counted as one with the favored nation. The Syro-Phoenician woman had to take the place of an outcast before she could get a crumb from Israel’s board. Paul is a direct contrast to all this. Later he describes himself as the apostle of the nations (2 Timothy 1:11). He made an agreement with Peter and John that they should go to the Circumcision while he went to the nations (Galatians 2:9). He was severed from the rest in order to fulfill this ministry.
As a result all the truth for the nations at the present time comes only through the apostle Paul. Those who wish to be established in present truth should master his epistles, especially Ephesians. After they have learned the mysteries or secrets in his writings and scaled the heights to which he alone can guide them, they never will be tempted to descend to the level which is found in our Lord’s earthly ministry and in its continuation by the twelve, as recorded in the book of Acts and in the epistles from their pens.
9 Mercy for the nations “with His people” is not in force now, for His people are not blessed. We are blessed because of their defection. In the millennial age, however, the nations will be abundantly blessed through the restored nation of Israel, with Christ on the throne.
16 While the priests at Jerusalem still offered the sacrifices according to the law, their ministrations were not acceptable to God, for they had rejected the true Lamb of God. God had no pleasure in the blood of slain beasts, for the hearts of the offerers were far from Him. Is it not a marvel how God, in His wisdom, finds true worshipers among the despised aliens, who offer themselves as living sacrifices well pleasing to Him? In spirit, Paul’s ministry among the nations takes the place of the divine ritual at Jerusalem. He officiates as a priest. Though not sanctified by the altar at Jerusalem, they were hallowed by the holy Spirit. So it ought to be today. Though the temple worship has ceased, it is our privilege so to walk as to be a sweet savor of Christ.
17 Paul labored more than all of the other apostles, and, before this crisis in his ministry, performed greater miracles than the rest. In Acts, every sign in the first part, by Peter, is duplicated in the last part, by Paul. This ministry he has now completed.
19 The completion of the proclamation of the evangel of Christ marks the central crisis in Paul’s ministries. The first was his severance from the rest at Antioch. The last was at Rome, and was followed by the writing of his prison epistles. This crisis lies between, after the completion of his Antioch commission, and is marked by the expression of his desire to go to Rome. In Acts his previous ministry is declared to be fulfilled (Acts 19:21). In Corinthians he would henceforth know no one after the flesh. He had been proclaiming Christ after the flesh-as Israel’s Messiah-but he would now do so no longer (2 Corinthians 5:16). It is at this crisis also that the conciliation is first revealed (2 Corinthians 5:17-20). His second ministry was concerned with justification (Acts 13:39) . After this crisis, his third ministry is characterized by conciliation, which is first set forth in the fifth to the eighth chapters of this epistle in its individual aspect, and in the eleventh chapter, in its national aspect. His final ministry was carried on at Rome, which he plans to visit at this crisis. It was carried on almost entirely by means of the Perfection Epistles.
Romans 15:28-16
Paul’s Intended Journey 28 During Paul’s first three ministries the nations were dependent on Israel, and received of their spiritual things. Hence they were indebted to them and sought to pay by sending them relief in time of famine. But after this Paul makes known the present secret economy, in which the nations are no longer guests of Israel (Ephesians 2:12; Ephesians 2:19) , but receive their own spiritual blessings direct from God. Their destiny is a celestial one, where Israel has no possessions. At the close of the book of Acts the pre-eminence of the Jew vanished, and since then there is a new humanity in which all physical distinctions are done away.
29 The blessing of Christ which fills doubtless is an intimation of the transcendent truths which were made public by Paul after his arrival at Rome. None of the blessings before bestowed filled, in the sense of completing and perfecting. The full-orbed presentation of truth in the Ephesian epistle, written at Rome, fully meets the anticipation here expressed by the apostle.
30 Paul’s apprehension lest he should not be well received in Judea was well founded, as events proved. Though he came bringing gifts to his people, his later teaching seemed to them to be directed against the people and the law and Jerusalem. Indeed, he did teach that God would be worshiped in any place, and he did lead out from under the bondage of the law (Acts 21:28). Tens of thousands of Jews believed, yet they were all zealous of the law (Acts 21:20). They would not hear of blessing to the nations apart from the law. Later, when Paul spoke to them, they did not object to his own call, but could not bear to hear of his commission to the nations (Acts 22:22).
3 The best manuscripts read Prisca here as in 2 Timothy 4:19. Elsewhere she is given the fuller form Priscilla. This is common in Roman names. She and her husband (who is usually mentioned last) were banished from Rome a few years before (Acts 18:2). Paul met them in Corinth and joined them in their business of tentmaking. They traveled with the apostle (Acts 18:18) and must have returned to Rome before the writing of this epistle. Greetings 7 The term “relative” is an elastic expression, used sometimes in a broad sense of all Israelites (Romans 9:3) yet more usually in a restricted sense of a closer blood relation (John 18:26). Paul mentions six of his relatives in the course of these greetings (Romans 16:7; Romans 16:11; Romans 16:21), besides his mother. Very few of them are ever spoken of again in the Scriptures. Some of them, notably Andronicus and Junius, seem to have been very prominent and faithful. They were in Christ before him and suffered imprisonment with him. Indeed, it is not at all improbable that we are to understand them to be apostles, not indeed of the twelve, but such as Barnabas (Acts 14:14).
10 “Of Aristobulus” seems to denote those associated with his establishment. Perhaps this is the grandson of Herod the Great who was later given the government of Lesser Armenia.
11 Narcissus is probably one of Nero’s favorites, for even Nero’s household was invaded by the power of the evangel (Philippians 4:22).
13 Rufus is probably the same one whose father Simon was compelled to bear the cross (Matthew 15:21). If so, he must have been of some prominence among early believers, for Mark is content to identify his father by referring to him and his brother Alexander. It is touching to see the apostle especially single out his mother, the wife of him who had the honor of bearing our Saviour’s cross.
17 How soon dissension and division crept in among the saints! Even before they had received the truth in its fullness, men came with smooth words to draw them from it. Hence the necessity for some authoritative written standard, as this epistle, to which appeal could be made when the truth was in danger.
21 Lucius of Cyrene (Acts 13:1) was probably a different person. Jason was prominent in Corinth (Acts 17:5-9). Sosipater is probably the same one who is called Sopater (Acts 20:4), who, together with Gaius, left Corinth with Paul.
22 Tertius was probably a professional scribe, such as to this day are employed to write letters in the East. Paul, however, usually penned the concluding words of his epistles.