Daily Thoughts from Romans – What Is Our Spain? (15:14-33)

Daily Thoughts from Romans – What Is Our Spain?

I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written,

   “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”

This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.  (Romans 15:14-33 ESV)

Paul has not written because he thinks things are going desperately wrong in Rome among the believers but because his ministry to Gentiles is God’s platform to help them be holy in Christ.  He is proud of the ministry God has performed through him and has been occupied in it so much he hasn’t had a chance to get to Rome.  Rome already has the gospel and Paul is compelled to preach it where Christ is not known.  But now he is ready, after one more stop, to come to Rome on his way to Spain and hopes the Roman church will help him get there.

He has been gathering an offering for the poor believers of Jerusalem and the churches he planted in Macedonia (Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea) and in Achaia (Corinth and ?Athens) have contributed as they ought in gratitude for the spiritual blessings coming from the Jewish church.  But he knows there is danger in Jerusalem for him so asks for prayers from the believers in Rome for deliverance from the unbelievers there.

As we know, Paul is arrested there to protect him from being killed by the Jews and in order to stand trial to see if their murderous accusations about him are correct and Paul ends up going to Rome after failure to get a fair trial and requesting, as a Roman citizen, a hearing before Caesar’s tribunal.  We believe at his release he did go to Spain and preach the gospel but then was arrested later back in Rome and killed.

We do our best to imitate Paul if we make it a priority to take the gospel where it hasn’t been named before, where there is no witness.  I am blessed to have some friends working in southeast Africa among a Muslim people who are very poor and basically without witness to Christ except this couple and their co-workers.  Life is hard for them but they have taken Paul’s admonition seriously.  Thank God for them.  May we continue to help them on their journey.