Romans 15.16b-Paul Served The Gospel Of God As A Priest So That The Gentiles Would Cause Themselves To Be An Acceptable Offering
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 3, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:16b-Paul Served The Gospel Of God As A Priest So That The Gentiles Would Cause Themselves To Be An Acceptable Offering
Lesson # 514
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:14.
Last evening we began a study of Romans 15:16 and in this passage Paul reveals to the Christians in Rome that the Father gave him the spiritual gift of apostleship for the purpose of being a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles.
This evening we will complete our study of this verse by noting that Paul served the gospel of God like a priest in order that his Gentile Christian readers in Rome would cause themselves to be an acceptable offering to the Father.
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.”
Romans 15:15, “But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God.”
Romans 15:16, “To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
“Ministering as a priest” is the accusative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb hierourgeo (ἱερουργέω) (ya-dah-ree-ad-ah-year-owe), which means “to serve as a priest.”
It is used with Paul as its subject and the gospel as its object indicating that Paul is describing the discharge of his sacred duties as an apostle in communicating the gospel to the Gentiles.
The idea of sacrifice is contained in the word as indicated by Paul’s use of the noun prosphora, “offering.”
This word pictures Paul as a priest and the gospel is the means by which he offers his acceptable sacrifice to the Father, which is regenerate Gentiles.
“The gospel” is the articular accusative neuter singular form of the noun euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον) (ehv-an-gel-ee-own), which means “gospel” and is used in relation to the believers in Rome since this word is used in the context of Paul explaining why he wrote boldly to the Roman “believers” in the main argument of the epistle.
He explains in verses 15-16 that he wrote boldly on some points in the argument so as to remind them because of the spiritual gift of apostleship, which he received from the Father in order that he would be a servant of Christ Jesus for the benefit of the Gentiles.
Then, he goes on to describe to the Roman Christians the function of his spiritual gift in communicating the gospel to the Roman Christians as serving like a priest the gospel of God in order that his offering of the Gentiles would be acceptable to the Father by being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the noun euangelion in Romans 15:16 refers to the gospel in relation to believers since in context he is explaining why he wrote boldly to the Roman Christians in the main argument of the epistle.
Furthermore, he wrote boldly to the Roman Christians because it was his function and responsibility to do so as an apostle to the Gentiles.
By operating in his gift by writing boldly to them he served like a priest the gospel of God in order that his offering of them who are Gentiles would be acceptable to the Father by being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Only believers are sanctified by the Holy Spirit and not unbelievers.
Therefore, the noun euangelion in Romans 15:16 is God’s victorious proclamation regarding the Gentile Roman Christians’ deliverance and victory positionally from the power of Satan, the sin nature and the cosmic system of Satan.
Romans 15:16, “To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
“God” is the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), which refers to the Father as indicated by its articular construction since the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity unless otherwise indicated by the context.
Also, the articular construction is anaphoric indicating that the word was used in Romans 15:15 where it referred to the Father and its meaning and referent in that verse is being retained here in verse 16.
The noun theos functions as a genitive of source indicating that the gospel that Paul communicated to the Romans in the main argument of the Roman epistle “originated from” the Father and not Paul or any human being.
“So that” is the conjunction hina (ἵνα) (hin-ah), which is employed with the subjunctive mood of the verb ginomai, “would become” in order to form a purpose clause indicating Paul’s purpose in communicating the gospel to Gentile believers such as those among his readers.
“My offering of the Gentiles” is composed of the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun prosphora (προσφορά) (prose-for-dah), “my offering” and the articular genitive neuter plural form of the noun ethnos (ἒθνος) (eff-noce), “the Gentiles.”
The noun prosphora means “offering” referring to the state of the Gentile Roman Christians continuing to experience their salvation and sanctification and thus fellowship with God by being obedient to Paul’s teaching in the main argument of the Roman epistle (1:16-15:13).
It refers to the state of the Gentile Roman Christians continuing to experience their sanctification and growing up to be like Christ by responding to Paul’s teaching in the main argument of this epistle.
I say “continuing” since Paul’s statements in Romans 1:8, 15:14-15 and 16:19 all indicate that his Gentile Christian readers in Rome were already characterized as doing everything he commanded and prohibited in the main argument.
Evidently, their pastors were already teaching the things Paul taught and the Romans were obedient.
Romans 15:16, “To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
“May become” is the third person singular aorist middle subjunctive form of the verb ginomai (γίνομαι) (yee-no-meh), which means “to possess certain characteristics with the implication of their having been acquired.”
In our passage, the word is used with Paul’s Gentile Christian readers in Rome as its subject and speaks of their possessing the characteristic of being acceptable to the Father as a result of Paul’s teaching in the main argument.
The middle voice of the verb is a causative middle indicating that the communication of the gospel in writing in the main argument of the epistle would cause Paul’s Gentile Christian readers in Rome to be acceptable to the Father.
“Acceptable” is the nominative feminine singular form of the adjective euprosdektos (εὐπρόσδεκτος) (ef-prose-lek-toce), which is used to describe the attitude and conduct of Paul’s Gentile Christian readers as being “acceptable” to the Father.
Paul’s Gentile Christians readers’ attitude and conduct would be acceptable to the Father because this attitude and conduct was sanctified by the Holy Spirit meaning that as a result of obeying Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching in the main argument of the epistle, his readers would experience their sanctification.
To summarize, Paul teaches in Romans 15:16b that he served the gospel of God like a priest in order that his Gentile Christian readers in Rome would cause themselves to be an acceptable offering to the Father.