Offering: A Survey of Romans 15:14-33
We’ve already seen that the beginning of Romans 15 is the conclusion of several sections of Romans. Paul finishes up his description of how Christians can interact with those whom they disagree with. He also concludes his description of spiritual worship, and the lifestyle of worship that springs from good theology. In a sense, he also concludes everything this far in the book, especially with his benediction in verse 13. Now he adds some helpful thoughts, because he doesn’t want to be misunderstood.
Paul’s Priestly Service (15:14-16)
Paul explains that his encouragement and instruction to the Romans is not the result of any doubt about their status or abilities. He is confident that they are genuine followers of Christ, and they have the ability to instruct each other. Rather, his bold reminders are given because he wants to faithfully fulfill his high calling. Paul is a minister of Christ Jesus to the gentiles, and he wants to ensure that their offering is acceptable.
It’s important to understand that the “offering of the gentiles” is the gentiles themselves, not some donation that they give. Paul is offering the gentiles to God, but he wants to ensure that they are ‘acceptable,’ meaning that he can present them to God in a healthy spiritual state. This requires that they be ‘sanctified by the Holy Spirit.’ In the book of Colossians, Paul hints at this idea, claiming that his ministry was focused on presenting “everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
The apostle presents himself as something of a priest engaged in cultic worship. He heaps together this priestly terminology in verse 16, using words like “minister,” “priestly service,” and “offering,” which all bring to mind the idea of worship in a temple. The last time that Paul used these cultic terms, he was using them in 12:1-2, where he pointed out that Christians worship God through transformed lives. Now he uses these kinds of words to point out that his ministry, as well, is a form of worship to God, similar to what priests are engaged in.
The way that Paul fulfills this ministry is through his writing, which he characterizes as ‘bold.’ Paul was gifted to write with a degree of boldness that many church leaders hesitate to use. Throughout his letter, Paul has shown an admirable ability to be courteous yet direct, bold but gracious at the same time. He spoke directly about sin and called out specific sins, but he also spoke of God’s love and grace. He exhorted both ‘the strong’ and ‘the weak’ in a way that indicated who was correct in the controversy over foods, but in such a way that he didn’t demean his weak brothers, or even force them to change their opinions.
Significantly, Paul refers to his letter as a form of reminder. For the Romans, Paul’s gospel is not new or unique. It is something that they have already believed, but Paul is reminding them of it and perhaps wording it more clearly than they had ever before encountered. As Samuel Johnson reminds us, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”
Paul’s Boasted Ambition (15:17-21)
Paul’s priestly role means that he has reason for boasting “in things pertaining to God.” This phrase likely means that Paul is glorying in the fact that he can bring this offering (viz, the Gentiles) to God. Paul’s glorying is balanced and godly. He is not boasting in his own abilities or puffing himself up; neither is he denying what God has done through him. He is proud of the fact that God has done great things through him, but he is at pains to make sure everyone realizes that it was God, not him, who did these things.
Paul demonstrates that this pride is balanced and not self-conceited by his statement in verse 18: he “will not venture to speak of anything except…” He draws the line here. The only things that he is going to boast in is “what Christ has accomplished through me…” He doesn’t talk about himself, his determination, or his skills, but only about the outworking of his Savior.
What Christ has done through him, nonetheless, is remarkable. The Gentiles have been brought to obedience – “the obedience of faith for the sake of his name” (see Romans 1:5). This has happened through two means: “by word and deed.” It is Paul’s preaching and his apostolic example which have led Gentiles to faith. Of course, this ‘word and deed’ have been actuated “in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit.”
The result is that Paul has ‘fulfilled’ the ministry of the gospel of Christ in a wide area, starting from Jerusalem. The message itself has taken a circular route ‘all the way around to Illyricum,’ a region covering parts of modern-day Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia. This is a startling pronouncement. Is Paul really saying that the work of ministry, or the work of preaching the gospel, in all this region (a distance of more than 1100 miles as the crow flies), has been fulfilled, and that there is no work left to be done?
Certainly not, for this entire region was still filled with paganism and millions of individuals who had never even heard of Christ. But Paul’s pronouncement helps us to understand the unique type of ministry that he fulfilled. Paul recognized that he could never proclaim the gospel to every individual in this region, or even every small village. Instead, his work was to establish the initial churches in the larger cities of each region. These urban churches would reach the smaller towns, which would then work together to reach the rural areas. While Paul had not necessarily even planted a church in every major city in this region, the districts were ‘seeded’ with enough churches that they would go on to proclaim the gospel fully in their regions.
It was Paul’s personal ambition that he would be a pioneer missionary, one who took the gospel to places where Christ had never before even been mentioned. This is not an ambition which Paul required of all those sent out from churches, only a personal ambition, which we may assume he had been entrusted with when Christ commissioned him. His reference to Isaiah 52:15 is intended to remind the reader that this was something which they should assume would happen – in the aftermath of the Suffering Servant, gentiles who had no knowledge of him would learn about God’s plan. Hence, Paul’s proclamation is in line with the Old Testament prophecies, just as he demonstrated in 15:9-12.
Paul’s Upcoming Plans (15:22-29)
The apostle explains that his long delay in reaching the Romans was because his work in this region had prevented him from making the journey. Surely his audience would understand this, since it was a priestly duty that he had been entrusted with. Now, the work completed, he planned to visit them, ‘in passing.’ As Rome already contained a church, Paul did not see his work in Rome as vital to his ministry, though it was important. Instead, his ministry obligation was to continue on to Spain in order to continue planting new churches.
Paul is careful to explain that this is not because the Romans are unimportant to him; rather he has ‘longed for many years’ to come to them. On arrival, he looks forward to enjoying their company. We should not assume that this is a vacation for the apostle, since he has already described it as an opportunity for mutual edification (Romans 1:11-12).
Before this trip can happen, however, Paul needs to make a journey to Jerusalem to bring aid to the Jewish believers. This aid corresponded to a famine, making food expensive, especially for the lower classes. Likely the effects of this inflation continued for some time. Paul refers to the churches in Macedonia and Achaia (regions of the Roman Empire which were more prosperous than Judea) and the contribution which they made for their suffering brethren. He says that this contribution was both a pleasure and an obligation (verse 27), indicating that both can be true at the same time. And this only makes sense – spiritual blessings are of such significance, that material blessings should be counted of less value.
The only thing left is for Paul to complete this, and ‘seal this fruit to them.’ The allusion is unclear. It may refer to a farmer putting a mark or seal on a bag of grain to indicate the trustworthiness of its contents, or it may refer to signing over the gift to the appropriate party. Either way, it is clear that Paul needs to first complete this mission.
When he does come, though, he knows that it will be “in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.” Despite his sufferings, the apostle was a man who was basically optimistic about God’s working in the world. He is confident that God’s blessing will be on his appointment, because he is confident that he will be where God wants him to be.
We should note the significance of the Greek contribution to the Jewish churches. Paul mentions this, not only to explain why he is delayed, but also to demonstrate to the Romans that the same type of gospel partnerships that he has urged on them is something that is currently ongoing in other churches in other regions. Jews and gentiles can indeed live in unity in Christ, not just tolerating each other, but actively caring for each other as well.
Paul’s Requested Prayer (15:30-33)
He concludes with a request for prayer. He urges them to pray for him, using two motivating arguments. The Lordship of Jesus Christ should motivate prayers, since he commands prayer and is able to answer prayer. So too should the love of the Spirit motivate prayers. This is not so much the Spirit’s love for us, as the mutual Christian love that the Spirit promotes within us, toward other believers. Since we have this love for other believers, we are motivated to pray for them.
The prayer is a striving together. This indicates the level of intentionality, disciple, and effort that goes into genuine prayer. It brings the idea of wrestling or even fighting together against a common adversary, or for a common purpose.
The specific requests are for rescue and that the contribution would ‘be acceptable to the saints.’ The historical record about the contribution is scant, but we have every reason to assume that it was received with joy and gladness by the Jewish Christians. Paul’s request for deliverance from the unbelievers is more complicated. He was seized in the temple and transported in chains to Rome, because of their hostility. Yet in a broader sense, he was delivered from their plans to assassinate him, and because of their hostility, he was given a free one-way ticket to Rome, courtesy of the Roman government! This historical perspective shows how God often works in unexpected ways to accomplish the broader outlines of the requests of believers.
The body of the letter concludes with a simple prayer for “the God of peace” to be with the Roman church. Chapter sixteen is clearly a unique section, something of a postscript to the body of the letter.
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