CHAPTER XV.

VERSES 14-33.

THE CONCLUSION OF HIS ARGUMENT AND EXHORTATION, WITH FRIENDLY REMARKS, AND SOME HINTS RESPECTING HIS PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.

14 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.

15 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.

16 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 acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

17 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.

18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,

19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation:

21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see and they that have not heard shall understand.

22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.

23 But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;

24 Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust. to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.

25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.

26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contri

bution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.

27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.

28 When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.

29 And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for

me;

31 That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints;

32 That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.

33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

14.

AND I myself am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Paul's charity towards his brethren led him to hope and believe the best things possible concerning them, whether they were at Rome or elsewhere. He did not write as he had done, because he was filled with suspicion, but because he confided in them. Goodness, a word uniformly rendered. Admonish, sometimes rendered warn, Acts 20: 31; Col. 1:28; 1 Thess. 5: 14, but always in the sense of admonish. Nor was the church at Rome ignorant, for she was filled with all knowledge, that is, all knowledge necessary to mutual edification.

15. 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.

16. 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 acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. The phrase

in some sort may be rendered in part or in particular. It may qualify boldly, i. e. some things I have written are indeed bold; or it may apply to all this epistle, as if in the whole of it there was an air of confidence. He had not disguised anything. This latter is perhaps the better interpretation, as the context shows. Grace had been given him of God to do this very thing. Besides he was the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, and it was his solemn duty to do all that he could for their edification. The word rendered offering up is everywhere else rendered offering, and it here means the offering which they made to God of themselves through faith, an offering sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Some however think that the offering refers to the presenting of the Gentiles to God by the apostle. The former is the better interpretation, though the latter is admissible.

17. I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ

in those things which pertain to God. That whereof the apostle might glory was nothing meritorious in himself, but grace that had been bestowed upon him in things pertaining to God; and in particular, the grace of the apostleship. But all this was through Jesus Christ.

18. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,

19. Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Ferusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. The Apostle steadfastly and uniformly declines to claim for himself any credit for the work of God done by others. Compare 2 Cor. 10: 14-16. His sense of honor was quite too nice to allow him to do any such thing. But God had so blessed his labors among the Gentiles through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, that it would have been falsehood, not modesty in him to deny his divine commission. Two things he notices respecting his ministry. first, his faithfulness in preaching the whole truth-I have fully preached the gospel of Christ; secondly, the extent of his laborsfrom Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum. Illyricum (or Illyria) was not always of the same size, but in Paul's days embraced a large region. It lay on the east of the gulf of Venice, and was about one hundred and twenty miles in width, and four hundred and eighty miles in length. Of course the countries intervening are included in Paul's statement, embracing all Asia Minor, Grecce, etc.

20. Yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation;

21. But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. This course of the apostle was not dictated by pride, nor ambition, but by the charge he had received of the Lord, and by the independent'character of his apostleship, Gal. 1:12–20. When he says, As it is written, he does not intend to state that the words cited receive their complete fulfilment in his ministry alone, but that his ministry was in accordance with the predictions thus uttered. The quotation made coincides with the sense of predictions found in Isa. 52:15; 65: 1. But this is taken more from the former than the latter; indeed almost exactly from the Septuagint rendering of the former.

22. For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. Th may mean either that he had been so much occupied in evangelizing other places more benighted, that he had not had

time to go to Rome; or, it may mean that he knew others had been before him at Rome (and this was a fact), and so he would not interfere with the labors of others. Among the converts, on the day of Pentecost were 'strangers of Rome,' Acts 2: 10. It is probable these were the first to carry the gospel to the imperial city.

23. But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you ;

24. Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. The word place may mean liberty to preach, the same word being rendered license in Acts 25: 16; or, it may mean that there was no place in the region whence this epistle was written where the Gospel had not been fully made known. The latter best agrees with the context. The desire which Paul had long had of visiting Rome arose not only from the fact that he wished to do them good, but that he hoped to derive benefit from them, as they were famous for their faith, Rom. 1:8-15. There is no scriptural account that Paul ever visited Spain, but there is nothing in Scripture against it. Early ecclesiastical writers speak confidently of his having done so, and some moderns contend that he came as far as Britain. It may be so. Yet there seems to be little doubt that Paul's first visit to Rome was as a prisoner, though a prisoner having considerable liberty, dwelling in his own hired house.

25. But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. 26. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Ferusalem.

27. It hath pleased them verily and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in carnal things. To minister unto the saints was to supply their temporal necessities. From the day of Pentecost nearly to the time of the destruction of the holy city there seems to have been a constant influx into Jerusalem of converted Jews. Many of these were poor and for thirty or forty years there seems to have been no time when special kindness to the poor saints at Jerusalem was not called for. Paul says that contributions from other churches were most reasonably called for. The word of the Lord had gone forth from Jerusalem. This was the mother church. Through her the gospel had been spread abroad. If the Gentiles had received the gospel, it was a small thing that they should contribute subsistence to their poor brethren, who, for Christ's sake, were hated of their kindred the Jews, and sadly persecuted even at Jerusalem. The statement

that the churches of Macedonia and Achaia had done no more than their duty, though they had done it very heartily, is not designed so much for the churches named as it is for a suggestion to the church at Rome. Tholuck: "Macedonia and Achaia were the two provinces into which the Romans divided the whole of Greece."

28. When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed unto them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain. The fruit was the bounty of the above-named churches, and the sealing of it was the safe delivery of it in person, to those who had charge of this matter in the mother church. It is probable that the sum sent was large; compare 2 Cor. 8: 1-4; 9: 2; and that Paul had means of safely transmitting it not granted to every one; for when other persons could render like service just as well as the apostles, they declined it, Acts 6: 1-6.

29. And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Some manuscripts and editors omit the words of the gospel. This may be done without materially changing the sense. What a blessing the visit of such an one as Paul the aged must have been to a church ever so well established.

39. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me:

31. That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Fudea; and that my service which I have for Ferusalem may be accepted of the saints;

32. That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Paul knew too well the malice of the unconverted Jews against Christians, and against himself in particular, to suppose that he could go to Jerusalem on any errand whatever, without being an object of relentless persecution. He therefore beseeches the Romans that they would unite their prayers with his for his deliverance from ungodly men, and that he might be allowed to carry to the suffering poor the service or contributions of the churches, and so, having accomplished that object, to proceed speedily to Rome. His beseeching assumes the form of the most solemn obtestation. In Rom. 12: 1 he appeals to them by the mercies of God. Here he begs them "for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit;" q. d. if you have any regard to Christ, or if the Holy Ghost has wrought in your heart any love to Christ or his people, I beseech you to pray for me. Accepted, in v. 16, and in 1 Pet. 2:5 rendered acceptable. It means more than that merely it might be received,