Romans 1:14

Romans 1:14. The striking order of the original is reproduced in the emended rendering: Both to Greeks and to Barbarians; both to wise and to unwise, I am debtor.

I am debtor. ‘Paul regards the divine obligation of office, received through Christ (Romans 1:5), as the undertaking of a debt, which he has to discharge by preaching the Gospel among all Gentile nations. Comp. in reference to this subject, Acts 26:17 f.; Galatians 2:7; 1 Corinthians 9:16.' (Meyer). Until he had fruit among the Romans, as among the rest of the Gentiles (Romans 1:13), this debt was not paid.

To Greeks and to Barbarians. The Greeks called all other peoples ‘Barbarians;' the word having reference to the strange, unintelligible language. It became a term of reproach, because the Greeks, with their pride of race and culture, and the Romans, with their pride of power, looked down upon other nations. The Romans, according to the usage of those days, were not counted among the ‘Barbarians,' but the Apostle probably docs not class them here at all, for at Rome were representatives of all nations and all shades of culture and ignorance. He is a debtor to all, whatever may be the distinctions of language or race. The Jews are left out, because he is speaking of his debt to the Gentiles.

Both to wise and to unwise. This expresses the difference of natural intelligence and cultivation in every nation; it is not a repetition of the previous clause. The article is omitted in the original, and is not necessary in English; the word ‘unwise' is not strictly accurate, since it suggests a verbal correspondence which does not exist. But ‘foolish' implies more of a bad sense than the word used by the Apostle. The two pairs together ‘are used, apparently, merely as comprehending all Gentiles, whether considered in regard of race or of intellect; and are placed here certainly not without a prospective reference to the universality of guilt, and need of the gospel, which he is presently about to prove existed in the Gentile world.' (Alford.)