Romans: Paul Introduces Himself

Paul starts out his let­ter to the church in Rome (Romans 1:1–18 [show]Romans 1:1–18 Paul, a ser­vant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apos­tle, set apart for the gospel of God, [2]which he promised before­hand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, [3]concerning his Son, who was descended from David accord­ing to the flesh [4]and was declared to be the Son of God in power accord­ing to the Spirit of holi­ness by his res­ur­rec­tion from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, [5]through whom we have received grace and apos­tle­ship to bring about the obe­di­ence of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, [6]including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, [7]To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [8]First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is pro­claimed in all the world. [9]For God is my wit­ness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that with­out ceas­ing I men­tion you [10]always in my prayers, ask­ing that some­how by God’s will I may now at last suc­ceed in com­ing to you. [11]For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spir­i­tual gift to strengthen you– [12]that is, that we may be mutu­ally encour­aged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. [13]I want you to know, broth­ers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been pre­vented), in order that I may reap some har­vest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. [14]I am under oblig­a­tion both to Greeks and to bar­bar­ians, both to the wise and to the fool­ish. [15]So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. [16]For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for sal­va­tion to every­one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. [17]For in it the right­eous­ness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is writ­ten, “The right­eous shall live by faith.“ [18]For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungod­li­ness and unright­eous­ness of men, who by their unright­eous­ness sup­press the truth. (ESV)
) by intro­duc­ing him­self, his mes­sage, his desire to visit with the Christians in Rome and finally, his desire to preach the Gospel — the Good News — to the Gentiles in Rome. The Good News is Paul’s focus. It is what he was called to preach. It is what we all are called to live. Romans is Paul’s ser­mon about the Good News and how we are to live it.

Paul begins by des­ig­nat­ing him­self as a slave, as an apos­tle, and as one set apart. All three are inter­re­lated. As a slave of Christ Jesus, Paul must do what­ever Christ would demand of him. As one called to be an apos­tle, Paul is an autho­rized rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Christ. As one set apart, he has a spe­cific job of preach­ing the Gospel, pri­mar­ily to the Gentiles. 

Slavery was com­mon in Paul’s day. It was a prac­tice that Paul appar­ently dis­ap­proved of but he always taught slaves to accept their place and treat their mas­ters with respect. He uses this very strong term to indi­cate the strength of his bond to Christ, of Christ’s own­er­ship of Paul. We all should feel this strong sense of duty to Christ. We often say He is our Lord yet we dis­obey Him, run from Him, or just ignore Him. If we truly believed we were bought and paid for by Christ on the cross, that we are His slaves, I believe we would not act the way we do sometimes.

Some would tone down this term to ser­vant — some­one who will­ingly serves some­one else, sort of like a but­ler or maid. I believe that this is a mis­taken idea, prob­a­bly brought up because of the stigma of slav­ery, espe­cially among Afro-Americans. Slavery has a very neg­a­tive con­no­ta­tion and I under­stand the desire to not asso­ciate our servi­tude to God with that neg­a­tiv­ity. However, I am not sure ser­vant is strong enough of a word to indi­cate the way Paul felt. I believe he didn’t con­sider ser­vice to God a job to do with the option to find a new mas­ter any­time he wanted. No, he was a slave of Christ’s. Jesus said his yolk was easy, his bur­den light. We should not fear or repu­di­ate our slav­ery to Christ for He is our Master. In Him we find rest.

Paul’s apos­tle­ship was appar­ently called into ques­tion on more than one occa­sion (1 Cor 9:1–2 [show]1 Corinthians 9:1–2 Am I not free? Am I not an apos­tle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my work­man­ship in the Lord? [2]If to oth­ers I am not an apos­tle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apos­tle­ship in the Lord. (ESV)
). Apostle as a term could be used as generic as “rep­re­sen­ta­tive” and as spe­cific as “One of the Twelve.” It was used to refer to sev­eral peo­ple includ­ing a woman (Rom 16:7 [show]Romans 16:7 [7]Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kins­men and my fel­low pris­on­ers. They are well known to the apos­tles, and they were in Christ before me. (ESV)
), most likely in a generic sense of some­one who had been com­mis­sioned by Jesus to preach the gospel. They were apos­tles with a lit­tle a. The word mis­sion­ary comes from the Latin trans­la­tion of the Greek word for apos­tle. Today’s mod­ern mis­sion­ar­ies are apos­tles (lit­tle a) called by Christ to preach the Gospel. 

Paul believed he had been called to be an Apostle (big A), equal in call­ing to one of the Twelve although he wasn’t one of the Twelve and was least of the apos­tles (see 1 Cor 15 [show]1 Corinthians 15 Now I would remind you, broth­ers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, [2]and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. [3]For I deliv­ered to you as of first impor­tance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accor­dance with the Scriptures, [4]that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accor­dance with the Scriptures, [5]and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6]Then he appeared to more than five hun­dred broth­ers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. [7]Then he appeared to James, then to all the apos­tles. [8]Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. [9]For I am the least of the apos­tles, unwor­thy to be called an apos­tle, because I per­se­cuted the church of God. [10]But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the con­trary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. [11]Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. [12]Now if Christ is pro­claimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no res­ur­rec­tion of the dead? [13]But if there is no res­ur­rec­tion of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. [14]And if Christ has not been raised, then our preach­ing is in vain and your faith is in vain. [15]We are even found to be mis­rep­re­sent­ing God, because we tes­ti­fied about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. [16]For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. [17]And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. [18]Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have per­ished. [19]If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all peo­ple most to be pitied. [20]But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first­fruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21]For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the res­ur­rec­tion of the dead. [22]For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. [23]But each in his own order: Christ the first­fruits, then at his com­ing those who belong to Christ. [24]Then comes the end, when he deliv­ers the king­dom to God the Father after destroy­ing every rule and every author­ity and power. [25]For he must reign until he has put all his ene­mies under his feet. [26]The last enemy to be destroyed is death. [27]For “God has put all things in sub­jec­tion under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in sub­jec­tion,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in sub­jec­tion under him. [28]When all things are sub­jected to him, then the Son him­self will also be sub­jected to him who put all things in sub­jec­tion under him, that God may be all in all. [29]Otherwise, what do peo­ple mean by being bap­tized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are peo­ple bap­tized on their behalf? [30]Why are we in dan­ger every hour? [31]I protest, broth­ers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! [32]What do I gain if, humanly speak­ing, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomor­row we die.” [33]Do not be deceived: “Bad com­pany ruins good morals.” [34]Wake up from your drunken stu­por, as is right, and do not go on sin­ning. For some have no knowl­edge of God. I say this to your shame. [35]But some­one will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” [36]You fool­ish per­son! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. [37]And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare ker­nel, per­haps of wheat or of some other grain. [38]But God gives it a body as he has cho­sen, and to each kind of seed its own body. [39]For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for ani­mals, another for birds, and another for fish. [40]There are heav­enly bod­ies and earthly bod­ies, but the glory of the heav­enly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. [41]There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star dif­fers from star in glory. [42]So is it with the res­ur­rec­tion of the dead. What is sown is per­ish­able; what is raised is imper­ish­able. [43]It is sown in dis­honor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weak­ness; it is raised in power. [44]It is sown a nat­ural body; it is raised a spir­i­tual body. If there is a nat­ural body, there is also a spir­i­tual body. [45]Thus it is writ­ten, “The first man Adam became a liv­ing being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [46]But it is not the spir­i­tual that is first but the nat­ural, and then the spir­i­tual. [47]The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the sec­ond man is from heaven. [48]As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. [49]Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. [50]I tell you this, broth­ers: flesh and blood can­not inherit the king­dom of God, nor does the per­ish­able inherit the imper­ish­able. [51]Behold! I tell you a mys­tery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52]in a moment, in the twin­kling of an eye, at the last trum­pet. For the trum­pet will sound, and the dead will be raised imper­ish­able, and we shall be changed. [53]For this per­ish­able body must put on the imper­ish­able, and this mor­tal body must put on immor­tal­ity. [54]When the per­ish­able puts on the imper­ish­able, and the mor­tal puts on immor­tal­ity, then shall come to pass the say­ing that is writ­ten: “Death is swal­lowed up in vic­tory.“ [55]“O death, where is your vic­tory? O death, where is your sting?“ [56]The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57]But thanks be to God, who gives us the vic­tory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58]Therefore, my beloved broth­ers, be stead­fast, immov­able, always abound­ing in the work of the Lord, know­ing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (ESV)
and Gal 1–2 [show]Galatians 1–2 Paul, an apostle–not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead– [2]and all the broth­ers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: [3]Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, [4]who gave him­self for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, accord­ing to the will of our God and Father, [5]to whom be the glory for­ever and ever. Amen. [6]I am aston­ished that you are so quickly desert­ing him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turn­ing to a dif­fer­ent gospel– [7]not that there is another one, but there are some who trou­ble you and want to dis­tort the gospel of Christ. [8]But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel con­trary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. [9]As we have said before, so now I say again: If any­one is preach­ing to you a gospel con­trary to the one you received, let him be accursed. [10]For am I now seek­ing the approval of man, or of God? Or am I try­ing to please man? If I were still try­ing to please man, I would not be a ser­vant of Christ. [11]For I would have you know, broth­ers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. [12]For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a rev­e­la­tion of Jesus Christ. [13]For you have heard of my for­mer life in Judaism, how I per­se­cuted the church of God vio­lently and tried to destroy it. [14]And I was advanc­ing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my peo­ple, so extremely zeal­ous was I for the tra­di­tions of my fathers. [15]But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, [16]was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not imme­di­ately con­sult with any­one; [17]nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apos­tles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. [18]Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fif­teen days. [19]But I saw none of the other apos­tles except James the Lord’s brother. [20](In what I am writ­ing to you, before God, I do not lie!) [21]Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. [22]And I was still unknown in per­son to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. [23]They only were hear­ing it said, “He who used to per­se­cute us is now preach­ing the faith he once tried to destroy.” [24]And they glo­ri­fied God because of me. Then after four­teen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, tak­ing Titus along with me. [2]I went up because of a rev­e­la­tion and set before them (though pri­vately before those who seemed influ­en­tial) the gospel that I pro­claim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not run­ning or had not run in vain. [3]But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be cir­cum­cised, though he was a Greek. [4]Yet because of false broth­ers secretly brought in–who slipped in to spy out our free­dom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slav­ery– [5]to them we did not yield in sub­mis­sion even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be pre­served for you. [6]And from those who seemed to be influ­en­tial (what they were makes no dif­fer­ence to me; God shows no partiality)–those, I say, who seemed influ­en­tial added noth­ing to me. [7]On the con­trary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncir­cum­cised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the cir­cum­cised [8](for he who worked through Peter for his apos­tolic min­istry to the cir­cum­cised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), [9]and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pil­lars, per­ceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fel­low­ship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the cir­cum­cised. [10]Only, they asked us to remem­ber the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. [11]But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood con­demned. [12]For before cer­tain men came from James, he was eat­ing with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and sep­a­rated him­self, fear­ing the cir­cum­ci­sion party. [13]And the rest of the Jews acted hyp­o­crit­i­cally along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. [14]But when I saw that their con­duct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?“ [15]We our­selves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sin­ners; [16]yet we know that a per­son is not jus­ti­fied by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be jus­ti­fied by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be jus­ti­fied. [17]But if, in our endeavor to be jus­ti­fied in Christ, we too were found to be sin­ners, is Christ then a ser­vant of sin? Certainly not! [18]For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a trans­gres­sor. [19]For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. [20]I have been cru­ci­fied with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave him­self for me. [21]I do not nul­lify the grace of God, for if right­eous­ness were through the law, then Christ died for no pur­pose. (ESV)
). Sometimes I think Paul was a man full of him­self and really strug­gled to stay hum­ble — you can see it in the way he says, “I am an Apostle — Big A — but really, I am the least of the apos­tles, lit­tle a.”  He felt the need to defend his author­ity to preach the Gospel but on the other hand knew it sounded rather bra­gado­cious.  He knew he had been called by God and autho­rized by Christ to preach the Good News, espe­cially to the Gentiles (Rom 1:5 [show]Romans 1:5 [5]through whom we have received grace and apos­tle­ship to bring about the obe­di­ence of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, (ESV)
). This was his appoint­ment, it was what he was called to do. He knew what he was all about.

No one today is an apos­tle in the truest sense of the word — one who wit­nessed Jesus’ min­istry here on earth and was com­mis­sioned to preach what they had seen. However, I do believe that there are those that have been called by Christ, just as Paul had been, to preach the Good News to the world. Today’s mis­sion­ar­ies are apos­tles (lit­tle a) in a very real way. They face the same chal­lenges that Paul faced almost 2000 years ago, includ­ing death. We need to lift them up in prayer con­tin­u­ally that they may ful­fill their calling.

Paul was set apart to preach the Gospel, specif­i­cally to the Gentiles. Where the Twelve felt first and fore­most a call­ing to preach the Good News to the Jews, Paul had been called to the Gentiles. This isn’t to say that the Twelve didn’t min­is­ter to the Gentiles, they did. Acts 10–11 [show]Acts 10–11 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a cen­tu­rion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, [2]a devout man who feared God with all his house­hold, gave alms gen­er­ously to the peo­ple, and prayed con­tin­u­ally to God. [3]About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” [4]And he stared at him in ter­ror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memo­r­ial before God. [5]And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. [6]He is lodg­ing with one Simon, a tan­ner, whose house is by the sea.” [7]When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his ser­vants and a devout sol­dier from among those who attended him, [8]and hav­ing related every­thing to them, he sent them to Joppa. [9]The next day, as they were on their jour­ney and approach­ing the city, Peter went up on the house­top about the sixth hour to pray. [10]And he became hun­gry and wanted some­thing to eat, but while they were prepar­ing it, he fell into a trance [11]and saw the heav­ens opened and some­thing like a great sheet descend­ing, being let down by its four cor­ners upon the earth. [12]In it were all kinds of ani­mals and rep­tiles and birds of the air. [13]And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” [14]But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten any­thing that is com­mon or unclean.” [15]And the voice came to him again a sec­ond time, “What God has made clean, do not call com­mon.” [16]This hap­pened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. [17]Now while Peter was inwardly per­plexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, hav­ing made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate [18]and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodg­ing there. [19]And while Peter was pon­der­ing the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are look­ing for you. [20]Rise and go down and accom­pany them with­out hes­i­ta­tion, for I have sent them.” [21]And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are look­ing for. What is the rea­son for your com­ing?” [22]And they said, “Cornelius, a cen­tu­rion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spo­ken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” [23]So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the broth­ers from Joppa accom­pa­nied him. [24]And on the fol­low­ing day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expect­ing them and had called together his rel­a­tives and close friends. [25]When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and wor­shiped him. [26]But Peter lifted him up, say­ing, “Stand up; I too am a man.” [27]And as he talked with him, he went in and found many per­sons gath­ered. [28]And he said to them, “You your­selves know how unlaw­ful it is for a Jew to asso­ciate with or to visit any­one of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any per­son com­mon or unclean. [29]So when I was sent for, I came with­out objec­tion. I ask then why you sent for me.“ [30]And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was pray­ing in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright cloth­ing [31]and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remem­bered before God. [32]Send there­fore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodg­ing in the house of Simon, a tan­ner, by the sea.’ [33]So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now there­fore we are all here in the pres­ence of God to hear all that you have been com­manded by the Lord.“ [34]So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I under­stand that God shows no par­tial­ity, [35]but in every nation any­one who fears him and does what is right is accept­able to him. [36]As for the word that he sent to Israel, preach­ing good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), [37]you your­selves know what hap­pened through­out all Judea, begin­ning from Galilee after the bap­tism that John pro­claimed: [38]how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and heal­ing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. [39]And we are wit­nesses of all that he did both in the coun­try of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hang­ing him on a tree, [40]but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, [41]not to all the peo­ple but to us who had been cho­sen by God as wit­nesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. [42]And he com­manded us to preach to the peo­ple and to tes­tify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the liv­ing and the dead. [43]To him all the prophets bear wit­ness that every­one who believes in him receives for­give­ness of sins through his name.“ [44]While Peter was still say­ing these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. [45]And the believ­ers from among the cir­cum­cised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. [46]For they were hear­ing them speak­ing in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, [47]“Can any­one with­hold water for bap­tiz­ing these peo­ple, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” [48]And he com­manded them to be bap­tized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days. Now the apos­tles and the broth­ers who were through­out Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. [2]So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the cir­cum­ci­sion party crit­i­cized him, say­ing, [3]“You went to uncir­cum­cised men and ate with them.” [4]But Peter began and explained it to them in order: [5]“I was in the city of Joppa pray­ing, and in a trance I saw a vision, some­thing like a great sheet descend­ing, being let down from heaven by its four cor­ners, and it came down to me. [6]Looking at it closely, I observed ani­mals and beasts of prey and rep­tiles and birds of the air. [7]And I heard a voice say­ing to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ [8]But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for noth­ing com­mon or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ [9]But the voice answered a sec­ond time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call com­mon.’ [10]This hap­pened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. [11]And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. [12]And the Spirit told me to go with them, mak­ing no dis­tinc­tion. These six broth­ers also accom­pa­nied me, and we entered the man’s house. [13]And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; [14]he will declare to you a mes­sage by which you will be saved, you and all your house­hold.’ [15]As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the begin­ning. [16]And I remem­bered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John bap­tized with water, but you will be bap­tized with the Holy Spirit.’ [17]If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” [18]When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glo­ri­fied God, say­ing, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repen­tance that leads to life.“ [19]Now those who were scat­tered because of the per­se­cu­tion that arose over Stephen trav­eled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speak­ing the word to no one except Jews. [20]But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on com­ing to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preach­ing the Lord Jesus. [21]And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great num­ber who believed turned to the Lord. [22]The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. [23]When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faith­ful to the Lord with stead­fast pur­pose, [24]for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many peo­ple were added to the Lord. [25]So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, [26]and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many peo­ple. And in Antioch the dis­ci­ples were first called Christians. [27]Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. [28]And one of them named Agabus stood up and fore­told by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). [29]So the dis­ci­ples deter­mined, every­one accord­ing to his abil­ity, to send relief to the broth­ers liv­ing in Judea. [30]And they did so, send­ing it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. (ESV)
tells of how God shows Peter that the Gentiles were to be included in their min­istry.  I have to chuckle every time I read the church’s con­clu­sion in Acts 11:18 [show]Acts 11:18 [18]When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glo­ri­fied God, say­ing, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repen­tance that leads to life.” (ESV)
. “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the priv­i­lege of repent­ing of their sins and receiv­ing eter­nal life.”  Hadn’t they lis­tened to Jesus? Hadn’t they seen His works among the non-Jews? Sometimes we need a real kick in the head to finally hear and under­stand what God would tell us.

The Body of Christ has many mem­bers yet we are still one Body. We are each set apart to do some­thing within the Body. Paul talks about this in 1 Cor 12 [show]1 Corinthians 12 Now con­cern­ing spir­i­tual gifts, broth­ers, I do not want you to be unin­formed. [2]You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, how­ever you were led. [3]Therefore I want you to under­stand that no one speak­ing in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. [4]Now there are vari­eties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5]and there are vari­eties of ser­vice, but the same Lord; [6]and there are vari­eties of activ­i­ties, but it is the same God who empow­ers them all in every­one. [7]To each is given the man­i­fes­ta­tion of the Spirit for the com­mon good. [8]For to one is given through the Spirit the utter­ance of wis­dom, and to another the utter­ance of knowl­edge accord­ing to the same Spirit, [9]to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of heal­ing by the one Spirit, [10]to another the work­ing of mir­a­cles, to another prophecy, to another the abil­ity to dis­tin­guish between spir­its, to another var­i­ous kinds of tongues, to another the inter­pre­ta­tion of tongues. [11]All these are empow­ered by one and the same Spirit, who appor­tions to each one indi­vid­u­ally as he wills. [12]For just as the body is one and has many mem­bers, and all the mem­bers of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13]For in one Spirit we were all bap­tized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–and all were made to drink of one Spirit. [14]For the body does not con­sist of one mem­ber but of many. [15]If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. [16]And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. [17]If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hear­ing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? [18]But as it is, God arranged the mem­bers in the body, each one of them, as he chose. [19]If all were a sin­gle mem­ber, where would the body be? [20]As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. [21]The eye can­not say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” [22]On the con­trary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indis­pens­able, [23]and on those parts of the body that we think less hon­or­able we bestow the greater honor, and our unpre­sentable parts are treated with greater mod­esty, [24]which our more pre­sentable parts do not require. But God has so com­posed the body, giv­ing greater honor to the part that lacked it, [25]that there may be no divi­sion in the body, but that the mem­bers may have the same care for one another. [26]If one mem­ber suf­fers, all suf­fer together; if one mem­ber is hon­ored, all rejoice together. [27]Now you are the body of Christ and indi­vid­u­ally mem­bers of it. [28]And God has appointed in the church first apos­tles, sec­ond prophets, third teach­ers, then mir­a­cles, then gifts of heal­ing, help­ing, admin­is­trat­ing, and var­i­ous kinds of tongues. [29]Are all apos­tles? Are all prophets? Are all teach­ers? Do all work mir­a­cles? [30]Do all pos­sess gifts of heal­ing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all inter­pret? [31]But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excel­lent way. (ESV)
. God has given us through the Holy Spirit gifts that we are to use within the body. Some are called to preach and teach, some to pray for oth­ers that they may be healed, oth­ers to min­is­ter to the Body in prophecy and mes­sages in tongues. Yes, those are the more vis­i­ble gifts but Paul also says there are some who are called to the more invis­i­ble min­istries within the Body. We don’t always see who mows the lawn or vac­u­ums around the church build­ing but they have a call­ing, a min­istry just as impor­tant. Some are called to secretly pray for oth­ers, to pro­vide extra finan­cial help to the church, to pro­vide food, cloth­ing, and shel­ter to the needy.

Paul’s call­ing was a very vis­i­ble one. It was his pas­sion, to preach the Good News and it shows through­out his writ­ings. Some of us have a very invis­i­ble call­ing but it should still be our pas­sion. Very few may ever know of that pas­sion but God, who sees all things, will reward us for fol­low­ing that call­ing and mak­ing it our passion.

If you were to intro­duce your­self in light of your rela­tion­ship to God, how would you do it? Could you claim to be a slave of Christ Jesus? Could you define what God has called you to do? What gift(s) has the Holy Spirit bestowed upon you for min­istry among the church and/or in the world?

Next week, we look at Paul’s syn­op­sis of the Gospel he was to preach. Look for­ward to shar­ing with you. And please, if you have any com­ments, be sure to sign-up, log-in and share your thoughts.