I am a debtor both to Greeks and barbarians, both to wise and unintelligent
Paul is writing to a church he has never visited, and here he explains why he keeps trying to reach it. He does not call himself generous or gifted. He says he owes something. The two pairs he names — Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish — leave nobody outside that debt.
Paul makes three statements about himself in verses 14 to 16. One writer sets them side by side:
In the following verses the Apostle speaks about his debt, and his readiness, to preach... he felt like a man with a debt to pay off. It is a wonderful thing that he can say, "I am a debtor" to the Gentiles; "I am ready" to preach; and "I am not ashamed" of the gospel. "I am a debtor" is the language of someone who found in the gospel the thing that met his own need. He now feels he owes it to others in need, whether among cultivated Greeks or unintelligent barbarians. "I am ready" is the language of someone in the right moral condition to preach. "I am not ashamed" is the language of someone who sees the greatness of the gospel and is bold to proclaim it.
Who counted as a "barbarian"?
The word means "foreigner, alien". The Romans used it for any people who did not understand Latin or Greek. In Romans 1:14 they stand in contrast to the Greeks.
Paul names both ends of the social scale in one breath:
He was debtor to the Greeks — the civilized, the cultured, the artistic, the intellectual. They needed it, and without it they were completely undone. He was debtor to the barbarians too, who were sunk in depravity and sin. They needed it not more than the Greeks, but just as much. So Paul preached as long as God gave him breath.
Later in the letter Paul tells these same readers to keep no debt outstanding except one: love. One writer ties that to the debt Paul owns here.
"Owe no one anything, except to love each other." This is a debt that can never be fully paid up. Paul's knowledge of the gospel and his love for men made him a debtor to Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and the foolish. This is the case, in whatever measure, of all saints.
The very next verse says Paul is ready to preach the gospel at Rome — to people already called saints. One writer notices the wording:
Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. It was not merely "to those at Rome," but "to you that are at Rome." So it is a mistake to think that saints gain nothing from a better understanding of the gospel, at least as Paul preached it. He now tells them why he could speak so strongly, not about the more advanced truths, but about the good news.
Paul's commission was his own. One writer applies the same principle to every Christian.
He felt what every sinner saved by grace should feel — that he was a debtor to all. Owning the gospel makes us debtors to all. He had constantly paid his debt by preaching the gospel to Jews and Gentiles, and now he is eager "to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome."
Where does the power to pay such a debt come from?
We have a debt to pay, and only the power of the Spirit can enable us to pay it. Paul felt this deeply in Romans 1:14. Romans 15:19 tells how he paid it: "by the power of the Spirit of God... I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ." ... We need souls so filled by God with the things we profess to believe that our lips must speak.
- Received. The debt starts with a gift. Paul found in the gospel what met his own need, so he owed it to everyone else in need.
- Owed. Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, cover everyone. The cultured needed the gospel just as much as the depraved.
- Ready. "I am a debtor," "I am ready," "I am not ashamed" belong together. The debt puts him in the right condition to preach. The greatness of the gospel makes him bold.
- Unpaid. This is the one debt Paul says can never be settled — the debt of love that stands behind "Owe no one anything, except to love each other."
- Passed on. Every believer who owns the gospel inherits the debt. We pay it the way Paul paid his: with souls so full of what we believe that we must speak.
so, as far as depends on me, am I ready to announce the glad tidings to you also who [are] in Rome.
Paul writes to believers in Rome, a city he had never reached. He is eager to preach the gospel to them — people who already believe it — and God would keep him from that visit for years.
Older translations read "as much as in me is." Paul limits the claim to his own side of the matter. His willingness was total. The timing was not his to arrange.
He longed to see them, that he might impart to them some spiritual gift, so that they might be established... He was under obligation to all nations to bring the grace of God to them; and so, as far as depended on him, he was ready to preach the gospel to them also that were at Rome.
That combination — full readiness with no power to open the door — is held up as a pattern for service.
He could say, "So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also." What entire readiness, yet the most real dependence on God alone. If he had been the servant of men, he might have needed a call from them to preach at Rome, or some human appointment. But there is no such thought here. Paul could say, "I am ready." Yes — with the world behind him: "I am ready as soon as my God shall open the way."
The weight falls on the word "you." Paul is not only ready to preach in the city. He is ready to preach the gospel to the Christians already in it.
He was ready, as far as he was concerned, to preach the gospel to those that were at Rome also. Even the saints there would have been all the better for the gospel. It was not merely "to those at Rome," but "to you that are at Rome." So it is a mistake to think that saints cannot gain from a better understanding of the gospel, at least as Paul preached it.
The believers there had a faith known everywhere. Yet something in their foundation was still missing.
The gospel had truly reached souls in that city by other means. Many there had clearly received it as the word of God, since people everywhere spoke of their faith. But something seems to have been missing in them: they were not grounded in "the righteousness of God," the main subject of the letter. So Paul said he was ready to preach to them at Rome as well as to others.
Paul makes three claims in a row here: he is a debtor, he is ready, he is not ashamed. One writer draws out what each one shows.
"I am a debtor" is the language of one who has found in the gospel what meets his own need. He feels he owes the good news to others who are in need, whether among cultivated Greeks or unintelligent Barbarians. "I am ready" is the language of one in right moral condition to preach. "I am not ashamed" is the language of one who, realising the greatness of the gospel, is bold to proclaim it.
Paul never made the journey he was so ready for. God Himself prevented it.
He declares himself a debtor to all the Gentiles, and ready, as far as it depended on him, to preach the gospel to those of Rome also. The apostle claims the whole field of the Gentiles as his own. Yet God kept him from going to Rome until he arrived there at the end of his career — and then only as a prisoner. This is worthy of all attention.
So the visit became a letter. Since he was hindered in body, "he would do it by letter" (F. B. Hole).
Paul was the most gifted of teachers. If he gave himself to plain gospel preaching, no one can call that work beneath them.
Sinners need the gospel for their salvation. Saints need it too, often, to be established... Paul was the most gifted of teachers, yet he threw himself fully into the testimony of the gospel. So how happy, how profitable, how encouraging it would be if every servant of Christ did the same — whatever his gift or his age, showing hearty fellowship with every sincere and godly effort to spread the gospel! ... Disparagement of true gospel work is not of God. It is of Satan.
- Debtor — Paul found in the gospel what met his own need, so he owed it to everyone else, Greek or Barbarian.
- Ready — his part was full willingness. God's part was to open the way, and Paul waited for it, needing no human appointment.
- To you — Paul aimed the gospel at the believers in Rome, not just at the city, because saints gain from understanding it better.
- Hindered — God kept him from Rome until he came as a prisoner. The visit he could not make became this letter.
- Established — sinners need the gospel for salvation, saints for grounding. So belittling gospel work never comes from God.