But I have written to you the more boldly, [brethren,] in part, as putting you in mind, because of the grace given to me by God,
Near the end of a long letter, Paul explains why he wrote so plainly to believers in Rome he had never met. He points to the grace God gave him, and to a mission that made the nations his sphere.
Paul had never met this church as a body. That did not stop him writing plainly, and he says why.
So the apostle lets these saints know what he was personally sure of. He was a stranger to them as a company. All through the letter he had argued strongly with them and warned them earnestly. Even so, he was sure of what grace had already worked among them — in goodness, in knowledge, and in the ability to correct one another. The apostle John says the same to the little children in his first letter. He had written to them, not because they did not know the truth, but because they did. Yet he wrote the more boldly, in part to remind them. Grace had made him an official servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. They therefore came within his sphere.
Paul calls his letter a reminder. That one word shapes what ministry is for.
He had written, rather, to put them in mind of truths they already knew. Ministry, then, is not only to teach us truth. It is also very much about pressing truth home on our souls. It applies to our own circumstances the truths we have already received.
Paul writes as he does because of grace given, not rank earned. One writer sees here Paul's own claim to apostleship, and an answer to the idea that Peter was bishop of Rome.
If Peter, or any other brother, had been the bishop of Rome, Paul must here have recognised him as such. Does he not rather declare his own apostleship, as minister of the Gentiles? All this to Paul was the free favour of God: "the grace given me by God" to be "a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles."
A more exact translation reads Paul's work as carrying the good news as a sacrificial service. That wording points back to an Old Testament scene.
Turn now to Numbers 8. There you find the account of the "offering up" of the Levites before the Lord. They were given in place of the firstborn of the children of Israel, so that "they may execute the service of the Lord." They were set apart for this and consecrated through the appointed sacrifices and rites. Only then did they begin their service in the tabernacle under Aaron's direction. The details given there make it very certain that Paul is pointing back to this "offering up" of the Levites. Read in this light, we learn that he saw his preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles as a priestly service. His aim was that the nations should be presented to God as an acceptable offering.
Some have used that picture to turn ministry into a priesthood. Commentators here reject that: Paul offers nothing to God on the Gentiles' behalf.
The words are perfectly simple and clear. They give no cover to the ritualistic confusion that mixes up ministry with priesthood. That confusion mixes up approach to God with the message of peace and reconciliation for men. Paul does not stand between the Gentiles and God, offering something to Him on their behalf. In the place Christianity had given them, they were all a holy priesthood themselves (1 Peter 2:5). Grace had brought them near, and they all stood equally near to Him. But it was they themselves, as the fruit of the work in them for which God had made him the instrument, who became this offering — his offering — to God.
What makes this offering acceptable? Holiness once came with birth into a nation. Here it comes another way.
He was, as it were, a priest offering up the Gentiles as an offering acceptable to God, because sanctified by the Holy Spirit (see Numbers 8:11). This was his glory before God. This sanctification by the Holy Spirit took the place of sanctification by birth, and it was well worth it.
- Grace, first. Paul's boldness rests on grace God gave him, not on merit or office. He was a stranger to these believers as a company.
- Grace commissions. That same grace made him a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. So the saints at Rome fell within his sphere.
- Grace reminds. He writes to put them in mind. Ministry is not only teaching new truth. It presses home truth already received.
- Grace offers. He treats his preaching as a priestly service, echoing the offering up of the Levites in Numbers 8. The converted nations themselves are the offering.
- Grace sanctifies. The Holy Spirit sets the nations apart, and that makes the offering acceptable. It takes the place of the old holiness by birth.
for me to be minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, carrying on as a sacrificial service the [message of] glad tidings of God, in order that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by [the] Holy Spirit.
Near the end of his letter, Paul explains why he has written so boldly to believers in Rome he had never met. His answer is not that he outranks them. God gave him a special grace, and he describes that work in the language of the altar. He serves as a priest, and the Gentiles who believe are the offering he brings.
Others could teach in Rome, and Paul says so. What set him apart was a task God gave him, not one he earned. One writer stresses how narrow that trust was.
God gave him grace — and he owned that it was grace — to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He carried the gospel of God as a priestly service, so that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This service was special, and it was his alone. Just as Aaron waved the Levites before God as a wave offering (Num. 8:13), so the Gentiles are here seen as offered to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul was the official instrument of Christ, the leitourgos — the appointed servant — for that purpose.
The word behind "ministering the gospel" carries the sense of sacrificial service. Paul pictures himself at the altar, and what he lays on it is people.
Here the apostle pictures himself as a priest — that is the force of the word "ministering" the gospel — offering up those of the nations to God. That is what Christians are: an offering out of the world to God, a kind of first-fruits of His creatures. In the same way the Levites were offered up in place of the firstborn of Israel. The Holy Spirit consecrates us and sanctifies us to God.
Several commentators point to one Old Testament scene behind Paul's words.
Turn to Numbers 8 and you will find the account of the "offering up" of the Levites before the Lord, in the place of the firstborn of the children of Israel, so that they might carry out the service of the Lord... Read in this light, Paul regarded his preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles as a priestly service. His aim was that the nations might be presented to God as an acceptable offering, through the infinite value and power of the sacrifice of Christ, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Never forget that the Levites are not a picture of a special class of "sacred persons." They set forth all Christians in their servant character, just as Aaron and his sons picture the whole Church as the priestly family.
Nearness to God once came by birth. The last phrase of the verse names what has taken its place.
Sanctification by the Holy Spirit took the place of sanctification by birth, and it was well worth it.
The exchange is not an equal one. One commentator compares the two and finds the new far higher.
Under the law the Levites took the place of all the firstborn of Israel. Natural birth sanctified them for the outward place of nearness to God, and Aaron offered them to the Lord for this purpose (Numbers 8:11). But the offering up of the Gentiles has a far higher kind of acceptability, since they are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It is an acceptability for heavenly position and blessing.
Some have read this altar language as proof of a priesthood of ordained men. One writer answers from the verse itself: the offering is the converts, not something Paul brings to God for them.
The words are perfectly simple and clear. They give no cover to the ritualist confusion that mixes up ministry with priesthood — that mixes drawing near to God with carrying the message of peace and reconciliation to men. Paul does not stand between the Gentiles and God to offer anything to Him for them. In the place Christianity had given them, they were themselves all a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), all equally near to Him, through the grace that had brought them near. It was they themselves who became an offering — his offering — to God, as the fruit of the work in them, for which God had made him the instrument.
- Grace begins it. Paul's place as minister to the Gentiles was a gift of grace, not a rank he claimed. That grace is why he could write so boldly.
- Grace works through preaching. Paul calls his preaching a priestly service. The altar language belongs to the message, not to a ceremony.
- Grace produces an offering. Converts from the nations are the offering laid before God — an offering out of the world to Him, a kind of first-fruits.
- Grace replaces birth. Birth brought the Levites near to God. The Holy Spirit sets the Gentiles apart, and for a higher, heavenly acceptability.
- Grace leaves no middleman. Believers are themselves a holy priesthood, all equally near to God. Paul stands beside them, not between them and God.