Romans 15:15

f. τολμηροτέρως … ἀπὸ μέρους : the description does not apply to the letter as a whole, but only to parts of it: Gifford refers to Romans 6:12-21; Romans 11:17 ff., Romans 12:3, and especially chap. 14 throughout. ὡς ἐπαναμιμνήσκων ὑμᾶς : here only in N.T. There is the same courteous tone as in Romans 1:11 f. He does not presume to teach them what they do not know, but only to suggest to their memory what they must know already but may be overlooking. διὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι : this is the real justification of his writing. As in Romans 1:5; Romans 12:3, the χάριν is that of Apostleship. It is not wantonly, but in the exercise of a Divine vocation, and a divinely-bestowed competence for it, that he writes. εἰς τὸ εἶναί με λειτουργὸν Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ εἰς τὰ ἔθνη : there is a certain emphasis on εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, and the whole sentence would be inept, as a justification of Paul for writing to Rome, unless the Roman Church had been essentially Gentile. For λειτουργὸν see note on Romans 13:6. The word here derives from the context the priestly associations which often attach to it in the LXX. But obviously it has no bearing on the question as to the “sacerdotal” character of the Christian ministry. The offering which Paul conceives himself as presenting to God is the Gentile Church, and the priestly function in the exercise of which this offering is made is the preaching of the Gospel. Paul describes himself as ἱερουργοῦντα τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ sacerdotis modo evangelium administrantem. Fritzsche (on whose note all later expositors depend) explains the sacerdotis modo by accurate et religiose; just as a Levitical offering was not acceptable to God unless the prescribed ceremonial was precisely observed, so the offering of the Gentiles at God's altar would be unacceptable unless Paul showed a priestlike fidelity in his ministry of the Gospel. But this is to wring from a word what an intelligent appreciation of the sentence as a whole, and especially of its pictorial character, refuses to yield: the clause ἵνα γένηται … εὐπρόσδεκτος depends not on ἱερουργοῦντα, but on the whole conception of Paul's ministry, i.e., on εἰς τὸ εἶναί με λειτουργὸν κ. τ. λ. For ἡ προσφορὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν, genitive of object, cf. Hebrews 10:10. This great offering is acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5) because it is ἡγιασμένη consecrated to Him ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. Those who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the result of Paul's sacred ministry of the Gospel, received the Holy Spirit: this (as distinct from the ceremonial “without spot or blemish”) was the ground of their acceptance (cf. Romans 12:1 f.).