Romans 15.18-Paul Only Took Pride In What Christ Accomplished Through Him Resulting In The Obedience Of The Gentiles By Word And Action
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 10, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:18-Paul Only Took Pride In What Christ Accomplished Through Him Resulting In The Obedience Of The Gentiles By Word And Deed
Lesson # 517
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:14.
This evening, we will note Romans 15:18 and in this passage Paul writes he would never presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through him by word and deed resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles.
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.”
Romans 15:16, “To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:17, “Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.”
Romans 15:18, “For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed.”
Romans 15:18 explains specifically what Paul means when he says in Romans 15:17 that because he is a servant of Christ Jesus, he possesses a feeling of pride with respect to the things, which concern God the Father.
In this verse, he wants to make it crystal clear that this feeling of pride is not based upon what he had done in his ministry for the Gentiles but rather what Christ had accomplished through him by means of the power of the Holy Spirit.
“I will not presume” is composed of the emphatic negative adverb ou (οὐ) (oo), “not” and the first person singular future active indicative form of the verb tolmao (τολμάω) (tole-mah-owe), “I will presume.”
The verb tolmao means “to presume” and is used in a negative sense with Paul as its subject and its meaning is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou, which means “absolutely never.”
Thus, Paul is saying that to possess a feeling of pride in his ministry on behalf of the Gentiles would be presumptuous or in other words would go beyond what is proper or right for him to speak as a Christian.
It would unwarrantable, unbecoming of him as a Christian, impertinent and rude to the Lord since whatever he accomplished among the Gentiles was the work of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“To speak anything” refers to certain accomplishments of the apostle Paul among the Gentiles, which he identifies in Romans 15:19 as signs and wonders and communicating the gospel to the Gentiles.
“Except what” is composed of the genitive neuter plural form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) (oce), “what” and the emphatic negative adverb ou (οὐ) (oo), “except.”
The emphatic negative adverb ou means “except” since it is used here to denote a strong contrast between Paul presuming to speak of anything he accomplished among the Gentiles in his ministry with that of what Christ accomplished through him by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The relative pronoun hos means “those things,” which is identified in Romans 15:19 as the signs and wonders that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished through Paul by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:18, “For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed.”
“Has accomplished” is the third person singular aorist middle indicative form of the verb katergazomai (κατεργάζομαι) (kah-tear-gah-zoe-meh), which is used with reference to that which the Lord Jesus Christ accomplish in Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The indirect middle focuses attention on the Lord Jesus Christ acting in His own interests indicating that the Lord Jesus Christ for His own interests performed many actions through the apostle Paul by the power of the Holy Spirit that resulted in the obedience of the Gentiles to the gospel.
“Through me” emphasizes that the actions that led to the Gentiles obeying the gospel were accomplished “through” Paul and not “by” him in that he was simply an intermediate agency that Christ Himself used to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles.
“Resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles” refers not only to unsaved Gentiles obeying the gospel resulting in justification but also regenerate Gentiles obeying the gospel, which he presented in Romans 1:16-15:13.
This would result in regenerate Gentiles experiencing sanctification and eternal life and fellowship with God and their deliverance from the sin nature, Satan and his cosmic system (Romans 6).
“By word and deed” is composed of the dative masculine singular form of the noun logos (λόγος) (loe-goce), “by word” and the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” the dative neuter singular form of the noun ergon (ἒργον) (er-gone), “deed.”
The noun logos means “word” referring to all those activities in which the Lord spoke to the Gentiles through Paul by the power of the Spirit, which resulted in their obeying the gospel message.
These activities would include not only communicating the gospel in writing and in person to the Gentiles but also would include those things which he spoke as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit manifesting God’s love in Paul.
The noun ergon means “action” referring to the “signs and wonders” that he mentions in verse 19 that speak of the miracles the Lord performed through him by the power of the Spirit.
It also refers to Paul walking by the Spirit and his exemplary Christian conduct, which would involve undeserved suffering.
Both words function as a dative instrumental of means indicating that Paul would never presume at any time to speak of anything except with respect to those things which Christ accomplished among the Gentiles through Paul “by means of” word and action.
This passage reveals that Paul understood deeply what the Lord taught His disciples in His Vine and the Branches metaphor in John 15.
John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.” (NET Bible)