Romans 15:14-19

I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

Paul is convinced that he has done his duty. Paul estimated the Roman believers, explained why he wrote so boldly, exalted God for his ministry, and evangelized throughout his given territory.

First, Paul is convinced that the Roman believers are full of goodness, complete in knowledge, and competent to teach each other. He gives 3 signs of healthy Christianity. (1) “Full of goodness” means indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Goodness is a fruit of the Spirit, and Jesus said that “No one is good—except God alone” (Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19). Thus believers are “full of goodness,” because they have God’s goodness, God’s Holy Spirit in them. While this is great and wonderful and gracious of God, the next one is even more impressive to me. (2) “Complete in knowledge” is quite an impressive phrase. But the same explanation applies here. Believers are filled with Christ. He is in us. And He certainly is complete in knowledge, so there is a sense in which we are as well. However, we use some 10% of our brain, so, though we are “complete in knowledge,” we never (or rarely) exhibit that faculty. Here though, Paul is referring to an understanding of doctrine. And it makes sense that Paul can say that to this group, because this letter that he is about to complete to them is itself full of knowledge. Having heard and taken to heart what Paul has to say, they are indeed “complete in knowledge.” (3) Finally, Paul is convinced that the Roman believers are “competent to teach each other.” The verb might better be translated “admonish” or “warn.” Warning one another is a manifestation of genuine love. The person who clearly sees a danger and fails to warn is not exhibiting love, but hatred. Therefore a failure to warn God’s people is due to one of two things: a lack of love or a failure to discern dangers. Yet there is a fine line here: Warning people without edifying and encouraging them would be to their destruction. Paul is confident that the Roman believers could bring about Biblically positive change in each other through gentle and peaceful confrontation with each other out of genuine concern for each other. So to summarize, a healthy Christian is full of goodness, complete in knowledge, and able to teach or admonish his brothers.

Second, Paul acknowledges that his letter contained bold words, and the reason is to bring sanctification. The source of Paul’s boldness is found in the grace of God, which produced his unquenchable desire to see the sanctification of his converts. Neither Paul nor God Himself are satisfied with a profession of faith; they want to see lives turned inside out by the work of the Holy Spirit, and both of them work to bring that to pass. God works through Paul in Romans to make it happen. Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Third, Paul praises God for his ministry. John MacArthur said, “No brush takes credit for a masterpiece it was used to paint. No violin takes credit for the beautiful music the musician makes with it.” Here Paul once again acknowledges that grace has made him what he is – a minister of the Gospel to the Gentiles to bring them to the obedience of faith. And he glories in God that he has served in this capacity and credits Christ for accomplishing through him the proclaiming of the Gospel to the Gentiles and bringing about the obedience of faith. Notice that Paul ministered as a priest. He offered an acceptable offering unto God, the believing Gentiles. In Numbers 8:9-15, Aaron offered the Levites before the Lord “that they may be ready to do the work of the Lord;” so also believer-priests (Paul and you and me) are to offer Gentiles converts before the Lord that they may serve Him. God is well pleased when Gentile converts are offered up to Him, because it is His plan to take “from the Gentiles a people for Himself” (Acts 15:14). See Isaiah 66:18-20. Also notice that Paul has brought about the obedience that comes from faith, or the obedience of faith. We talked about this as Paul’s primary purpose as explained in Romans 1:5. Obedience to God is faith. See 1 John 3:23. And sanctification is the obedience that results from faith. God has both brought the Roman believers to faith and to the process of sanctification through the Holy Spirit and through the ministry of Paul, and Paul knows it and is excited about it. See 1 Corinthians 15:10. In all Paul’s work—and in all our work—it is God who works. Remember Romans 11:36: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Notice also that Paul’s ministry was validated by the miracles that the Holy Spirit worked through him. See 2 Corinthians 12:12. Paul’s miracles included: Acts 13:6-12 Elymas the sorcerer struck with blindness; Acts 14:1-3 Signs and wonders in Iconium; Acts 14:8-10 A crippled man healed in Lystra; Acts 16:16-18 A demon cast out of the for-profit prophesying slave girl; Acts 16:25 ff. Miraculous deliverance from prison; Acts 19:11-20 Many were healed and demons cast out. The results of these miracles included: belief, astonishment, fear, growth and prevalence of the Word of God, and magnification of the name of the Lord Jesus. And this confirms additionally that God does the work; salvation is all of God and all of grace. But God uses means – and we are privileged to participate.

Fourth, notice that Paul’s mission to evangelize the Gentiles in this region has been completed. His “sales” territory was from Jerusalem, the southeast boundary to Illyricum, the northwest boundary (north and west of Macedonia and Achaia). The distance between these two boundaries was nealry 1500 miles (and Paul did not just minister in a straight line, but all throughout this area). While the Book of Acts does not specifically mention Paul’s trip to Illyricum, we can infer that it took place at the time of Acts 20:1-2 or perhaps during his stay in Corinth, from whence he wrote Romans. Paul was a church planter. And he had saturated the region with start-ups. Others, like Apollos and Timothy and Titus, were waterers, and they could stay in this region and work with the churches that Paul planted. But Paul fulfilled his mission. And God gave the growth (1 Corinthians 3). What a special thing to be able to say about yourself. See 2 Timothy 4:6-8. This was said of John the Baptist who “completed his work” (Acts 13:25). As Paul testified to the gospel of the grace of God, he was determined to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:24,27). This is contrary to our day where only the bare minimum is proclaimed in order to avoid doctrines that potentially divide or offend. The teaching of the more difficult doctrines within Christian theology must not be ignored, as Paul proclaimed them boldly. See 1 Corinthians 1:1-11.