Romans 15.14-Paul Is Convinced That Romans Are Full Of Goodness, Filled With All Knowledge And Able To Admonish One Another
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 30, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:14-Paul Is Convinced That The Romans Are Full Of Goodness, Filled With All Knowledge And Able To Admonish One Another
Lesson # 511
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:14.
This morning we will study Romans 15:14, which begins the seventh and final major section of the Roman epistle, which contains some closing remarks.
Romans 15:14, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.”
This verse marks a transition from the main argument in 1:16-15:13, the sixth major section in 12:1-15:13 and the literary unit connected to it in 14:1-15:13 to the seventh and final section of the epistle.
“Concerning you” indicates that the Roman believers as a corporate unit are the object of Paul’s conviction that they are characterized as being full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another.
“My brethren” emphasizes with the Roman Christians that they are on equal footing with the apostle in that they are sons of God like him (cf. Jn. 1:12-13; Gal. 3:26-28).
“I myself also” is emphasizing Paul’s conviction that the Roman Christians were characterized as a corporate unit as being full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another.
“Am convinced” is composed of the first person singular perfect passive indicative form of the verb peitho (πειθώ) (pea-tho), which is used in relation to Paul’s “firm personal conviction” that the Romans, as a corporate unit were characterized as being full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another.
This “firm conviction” was first of all based upon the fact that he had many friends in Rome according to Romans 16:1-16, who undoubtedly corresponded with him in writing and communicated information about the spiritual condition of the Roman Christians.
“Yourselves” is the nominative third person masculine plural form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) (awf-toce), which refers to the Roman Christians and stands in contrast with the nominative masculine singular form of the word earlier in the verse, which means “myself.”
Paul is emphasizing with the Romans that whatever he wrote in the main argument he does not believe for one minute that they were not doing everything he said to do or not to do in the main argument.
In fact, in Romans 16:19 he rejoices over their obedience.
Romans 16:19, “For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.” (NASU)
In Romans 1:8, Paul tells the Romans that their faith is known throughout the churches in the Roman Empire.
Romans 1:8, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.” (NASU)
In the main argument he wrote boldly to the Romans concerning some issues as he acknowledges in Romans 15:15.
However, in Romans 15:14, he is emphasizing that contrary to the bold things he wrote them, his personal conviction is that they were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another and that he wrote them boldly on some things in the main argument as a reminder.
Romans 15:14, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.”
“You are” is the second person plural present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), which means “to possess a particular characteristic,” which is identified by the noun agathosune, “goodness” indicating that Paul was of the conviction that the Roman believers possessed the characteristic of goodness.
“Full of goodness” describes the Roman Christians as a corporate unit as being thoroughly characterized by moral excellence in the sense that their conduct is characterized as being benevolent or benefiting others.
This word indicates that the Roman Christians as a corporate unit were characterized as obeying everything Paul prohibited and commanded in Romans 12:1-15:13.
“Filled with all knowledge” means that the Roman Christians possessed a comprehensive intellectual and spiritual grasp or comprehension of the will of the Father as revealed by the Spirit through the communication of the Word of God, i.e. the gospel by the pastor-teacher and in prayer.
By spiritual comprehension I mean that the believer has accepted by faith the Spirit’s teaching regarding the Father’s will as the Spirit reveals this will through the communication of the Word of God by the pastor-teacher and in prayer.
“Able also to admonish one another” indicates that the Roman Christians as a corporate unit possessed the ability to instruct each other as to how to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
To summarize, Romans 15:14 marks a transition from the main argument in 1:16-15:13, the sixth major section in 12:1-15:13 and the literary unit connected to it in 14:1-15:13 to the seventh and final section of the epistle.
In this passage, Paul addresses the Romans as a corporate unit and as fellow members of the royal family of God expressing his firm personal conviction that all of them were indeed characterized as being full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, being able also to instruct one another.
He feels important to share this conviction with his readers since in the main argument he wrote boldly to them concerning some issues as he acknowledges in Romans 15:15.
In Romans 15:14, he is emphasizing that contrary to the bold things he wrote them, his personal conviction is that they were indeed characterized as being full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.
Paul asserts his conviction that the Roman Christians were characterized as being full of goodness, which means that they were morally excellent in the sense that their conduct was characterized as being benevolent or benefiting others.
This implies that they are righteous in that they do right by each other and were thus operating in divine love towards each other since love never commits evil against one’s neighbor.
This conduct is the result of obeying the Spirit’s teaching in the Word of God.
This first assertion about the Roman Christians indicates that they were characterized as obeying everything Paul prohibited and commanded in Romans 12:1-15:13.
The second assertion was that the Romans had an intellectual and spiritual grasp or comprehension of the will of the Father as revealed by the Spirit through the communication of the Word of God by the pastor-teacher and in prayer.
By spiritual comprehension I mean that the believer has accepted by faith the Spirit’s teaching regarding the Father’s will as the Spirit reveals this will through the communication of the Word of God by the pastor-teacher and in prayer.
The third and final assertion was that the Roman Christians were characterized as possessing the capacity to instruct one another as to proper Christian conduct.
It indicates that the Roman Christians were experiencing fellowship with one another and were communicating with each other and experiencing the companionship aspect of Christian fellowship.