Apostle To The Gentiles
APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES
ROMANS 15:14-21
From this point on, Paul writes in a personal way.
It is often assumed, perhaps because of the disagreement with Barnabas over Mark (Acts 15:39), or because of his bold confrontation of Peter (Galatians 2:11), that Paul was stern, intense and rigid. The impression is quite wrong. Paul was loving, gentle and tactful. He wrote the letter to Philippi because he felt conscience bound to rebuke two women dissidents. He spent three chapters of the letter to the Philippians speaking of unity, exalting Christ and gently encouraging the church, and only then did he mention Euodia and Syntyche, quickly following the necessary rebuke with words of commendation.
The Roman church clearly needed the most careful instruction in matters vital to the Christian faith. Its Jewish element in particular required a deeper appreciation of the role and the limitations of Judaism. It is also clear that the place of the Gentiles was not secure. Paul has faithfully discharged his duty of instruction, and he now turns with warmth to comfort those who may have found his uncompromising teaching daunting and failed to see the compassion and concern with which he spoke to them.
He reminds them, too, of his God-given office. He was the apostle to the Gentiles, and planned soon to preach in the capital of the empire. He had long worked to that purpose. In a great arc of territory from Antioch of Syria and Cyprus to Illyricum, at the western end of the Egnatian Way, he had sought to plant his Christian cells in the chief cities of the Mediterranean world—Antioch of Pisidia, bastion of Roman power in central Asia Minor, Ephesus, the great religious center and proconsular seat, Philippi, strategic key to northern Greece, Corinth, crossroads of central Mediterranean trade, Athens, intellectual capital of the world—and Rome remained. The sheer scope of such evangelism is overwhelming. If we set it beside our feeble exploitation of the vast facilities for communication at the church’s disposal available to us now, may we pray, even as Christ commanded, that more reapers be sent out into the ready harvest. And who, if not those who pray?