Romans 15:16

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Summary

That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

I should

Offering up

Being

General references

Romans 3:29

Bible References

I should

for I will not offer to mention any thing, but what Christ has wrought by me, to make the Gentiles christians, both in profession and practice:

this concerns you Gentiles. for as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I should do honour to my character,

go, said the Lord to him: for he is the instrument I have chosen, to bear my name to the Gentiles, to kings, and to the children of Israel.

as they were ministring to the Lord, and fasting, the holy spirit said to them, separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have destin'd them.

but the Lord said to me, "be gone, for I will send you far hence, even to the Gentiles."

by delivering you from this people, and from the Gentiles to whom I now send thee, to open their eyes,

who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye have received faith according to the divine gifts imparted to each of them?

Let men consider us, as the ministers of Christ, who dispense the divine mysteries.

we then are ambassadors for Christ, and 'tis God who makes you the offers by us: we pray you in the name of Christ, to make your peace with God.

so am I: are they ministers of Christ? is it my vanity? I am more so: in toilsome labours I surpass them, in stripes I am exceedingly beyond them, in prisons I have been oftner, and frequently in the very jaws of death.

on the contrary, when they perceived that I had the province of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, as Peter had that of preaching it to the Jews,

This it is that makes me Paul a prisoner for Jesus Christ upon your account, O Gentiles;

and if my blood should serve as a libation to ratify your faith, I should rejoice and congratulate with you all thereupon;

for this I was establish'd a herald and an apostle, I speak the truth without disguise, a doctor to instruct the Gentiles in the true faith.

For this I was establish'd the herald, the apostle, and doctor of the Gentiles. this has drawn upon me the evils I suffer.

Offering up

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to you, that you present your bodies a living victim, holy, acceptable unto God, as the service of a rational being.

and in this they out-did my expectation; such was the divine pleasure, they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then made me an offer to go themselves to Corinth.

and if my blood should serve as a libation to ratify your faith, I should rejoice and congratulate with you all thereupon;

I have now receiv'd the whole, and have more than sufficient: I am loaded with the presents you sent by Epaphroditus, which I have receiv'd as grateful incense, as a sacrifice which God accepts and approves.

but don't forget to be beneficent to the community; for such sacrifice is acceptable to God.

you your selves are as so many living stones, you are the edifice, the spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, agreeable to God by Jesus Christ.

Being

now hope will not deceive us, because the love of God is diffused thro' our hearts, by the holy spirit which is given to us;

The spirit likewise softens our afflictions: for being at a loss to apply for the most proper relief; the spirit it self affects us with those pious ejaculations, which we can't well express.

and now, my brethren, I recommend you to God, and to his gracious dispensation, which is able to improve you, and secure to you the inheritance with those who are sanctify'd.

what! know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the holy spirit, which is in you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?

for thro' him both of us have access by the same spirit to the father.

Now may the God of peace make you intirely holy: may every part of you, your spirit, soul, and body be preserved irreprovable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

General references

is God the God of the Jews only, and not of the Gentiles? surely he is of the Gentiles too;