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. 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. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written,
“Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”
Paul’s mission? Preach to the Gentiles. He had his focus. He had his people group. And he was willing to die to see that they heard the gospel.
It was apostleship. Being sent out to a people to die if needed so that they might receive Christ.
One of those groups of people he wanted to reach were the Romans Gentiles. Of course he wrote to both Jews and Gentiles, but his heart was always the Gentiles.
In a complimentary way, Paul let them know that the Roman church was fully capable.
“I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another” (v. 14).
He hadn’t been there, but he had heard good things. Yes, he had written boldly, but as a reminder to them again.
What had he spoken of? The pure gospel of Jesus Christ that is by faith. That included reminding them that we Gentiles are grafted into Israel and not separate, and that at the base of all things is loving and honoring one another without compromising truth.
But his mission overall was to the Gentiles. And Paul by this had preached to the whole known world. Of course he didn’t preach to every single person, but rather in every single region that he could.
His goal was to preach where the gospel was not known, so that he did not build on another’s foundation. This also fulfilled the Scripture of Isaiah.
“Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have heard will understand” (Rom 15:21; Is 52:15).
In good communication, he informed that this was why he had not yet come to them. He was busy preaching over the known world “from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum” (v. 19). Now that he had completed this text, it was now on to Rome.
“But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain” (v. 23).
Paul was on mission. His life was about fufiling the mission God gave him.
And so today we ask, what is the mission that God has given us? Are we fulfilling it? If not, what things can we cut from our life, how can we move, and where can we position ourself to make that mission happen?