This portion of scripture is a continuation of Romans 14:1-15:7
I. Jesus’ Ministry To Jews And Gentiles
A. Jesus Was A Servant To The Jews V. 8
1. Jesus’ preaching was primarily to the people of Israel.
2. God chose to reveal Himself first to the Hebrew people.
3. Matthew 15:24 “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
4. Jesus’ appearance in this world fulfilled God’s promise to send a Messiah to Israel.
B.Jesus’s Salvation Came To The Gentiles Vs. 9-12
1. The promise of a Savior came first to the Jews, but the salvation of God was to be offered to the world through the Jewish people.
2. Vs. 9-12- Paul quoted Old Testament verses to show that God’s eternal intention was to offer salvation to all people, not just the Jews.
C. May God Help Them Abound In Hope, Joy And Peace
1. It is clear from the emphasis of this passage that Paul needed to remind the Christians at Rome about the unity God desired for His Church.
2. Hopefully, they would connect the Old Testament scriptures to realize that God’s eternal intentions were to include all races in His church.
3. Hopefully, they would believe that, and have joy and peace about it.
4. Hopefully, they would abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
5. As this prayer was fulfilled in their lives, they would be able to live in unity with all other races and ethnicities. Their attitudes needed to be aligned with God purposes.
II. Paul’s Ministry To Jews And Gentiles
A. Paul Commends Them Before Instructing Them Vs. 14, 15
1. V. 14- It’s good to acknowledge good things in a person before correcting them.
2. V. 15- Even though they were mature and knowledgeable, Paul wrote boldly.
3. V. 15- He said that he was bold because of God’s grace upon his life for his calling. In other words, he wasn’t doing this
from his conviction, or in his own power.
B. Paul’s Ministry To The Gentiles V. 16
1. Paul uses a word here that only appears once in the New Testament.
2. Leitourgos- minister, root word for liturgy.
a. Paul served like an Old Testament priest who brought holy offerings to God.
b. The offering he brought to God was the Gentile people who became Christians.
3. As Paul preached the Gospel, and as people became saved, they would become living sacrifices to God…holy and
acceptable. Paul would present these people to God.
C. Paul’s Commentary On His Own Ministry Vs. 17-24
1. V. 17- Paul gloried in the things that God had done through him to reach the Gentiles.
2. V. 18- Paul didn’t want to talk about things that he did in his own power.
3. V. 18- To make the Gentiles obedient– Surrender and obedience to God is the goal.
a. The Gospel is not just about forgiveness, but it is about living for Jesus Christ.
b. The Gospel offers forgiveness of sin, but it calls for us to die to self and obey God.
4. V. 19- God worked miraculously through Paul, affirming the Gospel with signs and wonders, and with preaching that
could not be disputed.
5. Vs. 20-22- Paul explains to them how God directed him in his ministry.
a. Paul was led to preach in places where Christ had not been preached before.
b. He quotes Isaiah 52:15 to support this idea.
c. The frequent usage of Old Testament scriptures could point to the fact that Paul wrote to convince Jewish Christians
about the validity of his ministry to Gentiles.
d. Paul was able to validate his ministry from pointing to the Word of God.
e. He also explains that his ministry commitment had prevented him from fellowshipping with them in Rome.
f. Paul put the calling of God before his personal desires to spend time with people.
6. Vs. 23, 24- Paul’s personal desires were always secondary to God’s leading in his life.
a. The desire to visit Rome, as well as to preach in Spain, were godly desires.
b. Yet the fulfilling of those godly desires was subject to God’s timetable.
c. V. 24– “For I hope…”. Paul had his hopes, but he didn’t presume that God would grant him every desire. He didn’t
claim things that God hadn’t promised, but surrendered to the yet undiscovered will of God.
Read James 4:13-16
III. The Gentile Churches’ Ministry To The Jews
A. The Gentiles’ Ministry To The Jews Vs. 25-29
1. There was a famine in Jerusalem, and the poor suffered the worst.
2. The Gentile churches collected money to give to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
3. V. 27- Spiritually speaking Gentiles owe much to the Jewish Christians.
a. The first Christians were Jewish.
b. They brought the Gospel to Gentile regions.
c. The greater blessing was the spiritual blessing. The lessor blessing was the financial blessing. It was the least they
could do.
4. The Christian church today owes a debt to those early Jewish Christians. They brought the Gospel to Gentile regions,
and many of them suffered or died doing so.
B. Paul’s Request For Prayer Vs. 30-33
1. Paul, the great Apostle…begged for prayer.
2. Strive together- to agonize together.
a. The root word gives us agony, which described Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.
b. There are prayers that are casual, and probably accomplish little.
c. There are prayers that are intense, regular, and prolonged, that accomplish much
d. William Carey, missionary to India– “‘I will go down into the pit, but brother Fuller and the rest of you must hold the
rope.”
e. NEB- “be allies in my fight”. NLB- “join me in my struggle”.
f. Vs. 31, 32– Paul prayed for deliverance from opposition, success in ministry, and the opportunity to visit the
Christian in Rome