Indebted to the Gospel (Romans 1:14–15)
What did Paul mean, "I am under obligation"? See how Romans 1:14–15 turns grace received into grace entrusted: indebted to the gospel, and eager to preach it.
Introduction
Prayer has now given way to Paul’s plan to preach to the Romans. His goal was to “reap some harvest (or, “gather some fruit”) among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles” (1:13). His plan to preach in Rome was what he prayed would be God’s plan for him; until then, he worked hard at what God placed in front of him. Ora et labora, as the medieval monks said, “pray and work.” Application: That’s what God calls you to do as well, beloved. Serve him where you’re at while you pray for other opportunities.
Theme
As we continue in the introduction to this letter, in verses 14–15, Paul reveals his indebtedness to the gospel was his reason to preach to all the Gentiles and why he was eager to preach in Rome.
His Reason to Preach (v. 14)
In verse 14 Paul reveals his indebtedness to the gospel was his reason to preach: I am under obligation. The word ὀφειλέτης can also be translated “debtor” (KJV; NKJV). It’s used in various senses of literally owing someone financially, or more figuratively being under obligation or indebted to someone, or it was used morally of failing in duties that you were obligated to do. Paul’s using it here in that figurative sense of being indebted. To whom? If we look back to what he’s said so far, he was “a servant of Christ Jesus” (1:1). He was “called to be an apostle of Christ” (1:1). He was “set apart for the gospel of God” (1:1). It was through the resurrection of “Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship” (1:5). His reason to preach was that he was indebted to God in Jesus Christ. Illustration: Let me illustrate it this way: if you borrow $1,000 from me, you’re indebted to me; but, if I give you $1,000 and I tell you it’s for someone else, I’ve entrusted you and you’re indebted to the cause of giving that money. This is why Paul so often talks about himself as being “entrusted” by God with the gospel to give it to others. For example, he said “I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised” (Gal. 2:7). Again, he speaks of “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted” (1 Tim. 1:11). He also speaks of God’s eternal plan “manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior” (Titus 1:3). Look especially with me in 1 Thessalonians 2:
“just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God…For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed…Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves” (vv. 4, 5, 6–8).
Why was Paul indebted? Go back to our first message on verse 1 and recall who Saul was before Jesus converted him in Acts 9. His reason to preach was that he was indebted to God for his grace in Jesus Christ! Through the resurrected “Jesus Christ our Lord” he “received grace of salvation and apostleship” (1:5). Thus, he was “a servant of Christ Jesus” (1:1), “called to be Christ’s apostle” (1:1), “set apart not for the law and traditions of the Pharisees, but for the gospel of God” (1:1).
Application: For us pastors, this means our job is not just a job. It’s not clock-in and clock-out 9 to 5. It’s a calling. It’s an identity. It’s something we can never get away from! One of the things I can’t really even quantify to my own wife and kids over the past 25 years is the emotional, psychological, and spiritual side of preaching the gospel. The best way I can describe it is wrestling with God and the devil all week then coming before you and preaching my guts out! “God, what did you say in this text? Lord, what are you saying to this people today?” Like Moses, we’re in the presence of God all week and come out with our face aglow from it! I am under obligation! At the same time, since we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, beloved, while that wrestling with the Lord in his Word through prayer is going on, I’m fighting off the demons of self-doubt, of conflict in the church, of pride, of depression, of whether some of you will finally embrace what you’ve been hearing all these years, and of will that person return? I am under obligation! As Paul said elsewhere, “necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16).
Summary: Paul reveals his indebtedness to the gospel was his reason to preach.
His Audience to Preach (v. 14)
He continues in verse 14 to say this indebtedness to the gospel was his reason to preach to all the Gentiles. This was his audience to preach: both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. In other words, because the gospel saved him, his audience was as wide and far as anyone and everyone. The question is why? Some of the ancient commentators said because God had gifted him with various languages.[i] As Paul said elsewhere, “I speak in tongues more than all of you” (1 Cor. 14:18). While this was true, it was the result of something much deeper: Christ called him to preach to the Gentiles especially.
What does he mean by Greeks? He means the non-Jews. Those outside and strangers to the covenants of promise to the Jewish people (Eph. 2). The Greeks he parallels with the wise, since from them came so many of the ancient philosophers and schools like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. What does he mean by barbarians (βαρβάροις) or the foolish? This was the distinction made in the ancient world between those who spoke Greek or Latin and those who didn’t. In Colossians 3:11, Paul expands this even further: Jews, Greeks, barbarians, and Scythians—those nomadic peoples of the Asian steppe considered most barbaric in Greco-Roman society.
Theology: Yet notice Paul mentions all these groups for a theological purpose. He’s saying the gospel is the application of the message of God all the way back to Abram. The Abrahamic promise is fulfilled in the New Covenant as Jews and Gentiles of all kinds, whether Greek and Latin speaking or not, those in cities or out on the steppes, are brought into fellowship with the God of Israel and Creator of the world. Application: This is so important for us, OURC! You and I need to embrace God’s vision for the church. It’s in the church, in this life, that we get a glimpse and foretaste of heaven. According to Revelation 5, the church is the people whom Christ has redeemed from every ethnicity, language, and culture. Now, we live in an age where we can really be the light on a hill in darkness. The progressive left wants diversity without the doctrine of Christ. At the same time, the far right wants homogeneity of ethnicity and culture in the name of Christ. Gospel: If you are here today and have never heard about Jesus, or you have but are still not sure, or if you’ve fallen from him but are back to church: you are our audience. More importantly, you are God’s! You’re in his presence; hear him; cry out to him!
Summary: Paul reveals his indebtedness to the gospel was his reason to preach to all the Gentiles.
His Eagerness to Preach (v. 15)
In verse 15 Paul reveals his indebtedness to the gospel was…why he was eager to preach in Rome: I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. He was entrusted with the gospel, therefore was indebted to it, and thus had to preach! “I am indebted” becomes “I am eager” and that’s going to mean in verse 16, “I am not ashamed.” Application: In other words, like Paul, when we understand what God’s grace in Christ has made us and that he has a calling for our lives, we will be more ready and willing to serve!
“I am eager!” This was Paul’s way of saying what Jeremiah once said: “there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jer. 20:9). This was his application of Jesus’ words to his first disciples when he sent them out to preach: “What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops” (Matt. 10:27). Or, like Peter and John, who said to the Jewish ruling council: “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
Conclusion: The Gospel Changes Things
Paul reveals his indebtedness to the gospel was his reason to preach to all the Gentiles and why he was eager to preach in Rome.
Brothers and sisters: although you’re not all apostles and ministers of the gospel like me, you have been saved by grace, are indebted to the gospel of God in Jesus Christ, entrusted with this message, have an audience to share it with, and are to be ready and eager to do so! It’s the gospel that changed Paul. It’s the gospel that changed you. Let’s go out and change our world! Amen?
[i] Origen, 85. Theodoret, 48.