Romans 15.15-Paul Wrote Boldly To The Romans As A Reminder To Them Because Of The Grace Given To Him By God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday June 1, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:15-Paul Wrote Boldly To The Romans As A Reminder To Them Because Of The Grace Given To Him By God
Lesson # 512
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:14.
This evening we will study Romans 15:15 and in this passage Paul informs the Roman Christians that he wrote boldly in this epistle so as to remind them because of the grace given to him by God.
Romans 15:14, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.”
Romans 15:15, “But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God.”
The statement in Romans 15:15 stands in contrast with the previous statement in Romans 15:14.
In this statement in verse 15, he reveals to the Christians in Rome that he wrote very boldly on some points in the main argument of this epistle so as to remind them again because of the grace (His apostleship) that was given to him by God.
So the contrast is between Paul’s conviction about the Roman Christians as a corporate unit that they were characterized as being full of goodness, filled with all knowledge of the Father’s will and able to instruct each other with that of why he wrote to them boldly in the main argument of the epistle.
If Paul was of the firm conviction that the Roman Christians as a corporate unit were characterized as being full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct each other, then why did he write what he did in the main argument?
The answer: To remind them again, which implies obviously that they were taught the very things that he wrote them in the epistle.
“I have written” is the first person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb grapho (γράφω) (graf-o), which means, “to write.”
The aorist tense of this verb is not an “epistolary” aorist in which the author self-consciously describes his letter from the time frame of the audience (Wallace, page 563).
Rather, it is an “immediate past” or “dramatic” aorist used of an event that happened rather recently since it refers back to the main argument of the Roman epistle contained in Romans 1:16-15:13.
“To you” is the dative second person plural personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), which is used in a distributive sense meaning “each and every one of you” and refers to “each and every” member of the body of Christ in Rome “without exception” regardless of race, gender or social status.
The word functions as a dative of advantage indicating that what Paul wrote previously in the Roman epistle, in the main argument that appears in Romans 1:16-15:13 was “for the benefit of” each and every one of the Roman believers without exception.
“On some points” refers to certain portions of the main argument that appears in Romans 1:16-15:13 and specifically those passages in which he commands or prohibits the Roman Christians.
This is indicated in that Paul was writing to the Roman Christians whom he did not evangelize and had not yet taught them the Word of God since he had not yet met them, thus to command or prohibit the Roman Christians to a certain course of conduct would on the surface appear bold, however he was an apostle.
Thus, he did have the authority to command or prohibit the Roman Christians.
However, Paul chooses to use this type of language with the Roman Christians because he is being polite and thoughtful and considerate of them and demonstrating that he cared for them.
Romans 15:15, “But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God.”
“So as to remind you again” is composed of the comparative particle hos (ὡς) (oce), “so as” and the nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb epanamimnesko (ἐπαναμιμνῄσκω) (ep-ah-nah-meen-nee-sko), “to remind again” and the accusative second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), “you.”
The comparative particle hos marks the manner in which Paul taught, which he identifies as writing boldly to the Roman Christians in those parts of his main argument, which contained commands and prohibitions.
The verb epanamimnesko means “to remind again” and is used with Paul as its subject and the Roman Christians as its object indicating that Paul wrote boldly by issuing prohibitions and commands in the main argument so as “to remind” them “again” of their Christian responsibilities.
The personal pronoun su is used again in a distributive sense meaning “each and every one of you” and refers to “each and every” member of the body of Christ in Rome “without exception” regardless of race, gender or social status.
“Because of the grace” is composed of the preposition dia (διά) (thee-ah), “because of” and the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun charis (χάρις) (ha-reece), “the grace.”
The noun charis refers to the unmerited blessing, gift, commission and office that Paul received the moment he was declared justified through faith in Christ, which he identifies as his office as an apostle, which is indicated in that he says that he is using this grace when he issued commands and prohibitions in the main argument.
He used the noun charis in the same manner in Romans 1:5, 12:3, 1 Corinthians 3:10, Galatians 2:8 and Ephesians 3:2, 7-8.
The noun charis in Romans 15:15 functions as the object of the preposition dia, which functions as a marker of cause indicating that Paul issued commands and prohibitions in Romans 1:16-15:13 “because of” his spiritual gift of apostleship.
Paul could have used the preposition dia with the genitive form noun charis as he did in Romans 12:3, which would emphasize that he wrote boldly to the Romans “by means of” or “through” his spiritual gift.
However, he does not do so but rather puts charis in the accusative case to denote cause since he wants to emphasize with his readers that the responsibility of being given the spiritual gift of apostleship “caused” him to issue commands and prohibitions to the Roman Christians or in other words, it required that he do so.
So the prepositional phrase indicates that by issuing these commands and prohibitions in the main argument, Paul was exercising his apostolic authority.
However, even though he was exercising his apostolic authority by issuing these commands and prohibitions, he is also informing the Romans that this authority was given to him as a gift by God indicating that he did not earn or deserve the gift and thus he did not earn or deserve this authority as an apostle.
Thus, he is not being arrogant but humble in that he recognizes that this authority was a gift from God.
In this same way that he views his authority as a gift from God to serve others so also he wants his readers to view their positions in the body of Christ as a gift from God designed to serve others.
“From God” is composed of the preposition hupo (ὑπό) (ee-poe), “from” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “God.”
The noun theos refers to the Father and not the Son or the Spirit since the preposition hupo plus the genitive expresses ultimate agency and not intermediate agency, which dia plus the genitive would express.
Thus, even though the Lord Jesus Christ authorized the Spirit to assign the spiritual gift of apostleship to Paul, theos does not refer to either the Son or Spirit but rather the Father since the Scriptures teach that the Father is the ultimate authority who sent the Son and the Spirit for the benefit of Paul and all believers in Christ.