Title: God's Grace Received by Paul
Commentary on Romans 104
God's Grace to Paul
Romans 15:15 - 21
Introduction: Paul did all the gospel work he did according to the grace of God that he received. The grace he received from God was so great that what he did for the Lord was also great. Paul says, “I wrote more boldly because of the grace God gave me, which made me a minister of Christ Jesus for the Gentiles, to serve as a priest of the gospel of God.” The church in Rome was also growing well in faith as a church that received God's grace, but Paul confesses that he wrote this book of Romans boldly to 'remember them more'.
1. God gave grace to Paul
In verse 15 Paul speaks of the grace that God has bestowed upon him. Paul referred to this grace as “the grace that God has given me.”
(3) Regarding his office, Paul says, “He gave him the priesthood of the gospel of God.” The priest's duty is to offer sacrifices acceptable to God, and it is said that "the sacrifices of the Gentiles might be sanctified in the Holy Spirit for acceptance." Paul refers to the mission of offering the Gentiles as holy sacrifices to God as the “priestly ministry of the gospel” that he received.
There are times when we express God's servants as those who have received the mission of a priest. But, to borrow Paul’s words here, God’s servants are “priests of the gospel of God.” What the priests of the gospel do is to enter the Holy of Holies with the New Testament offerings. Paul carried out his priestly office by offering “Gentiles as sacrifices.” Servants of God are to be sanctified in the Holy Spirit and present their church members as acceptable sacrifices to God. These sacrifices are the responsibility of the priest, and they must enter the Most Holy with prayer offerings for them, and they must enter the Holy of Holies with groanings of tears for their forgiveness.
(4) God says that when Paul fulfilled the priesthood of the gospel for these Gentiles, “in word and deed, the power of signs and wonders, and the power of the Holy Spirit was at work.” God shows his gospel priests the power of his ministry like Paul, and he works by the power of the Holy Spirit. The image of the Lord appearing in the church at Ephesus is expressed as “the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden candlesticks” (Rev 2:1). The Lord is holding His servants on fire with His right hand. This is to show the “words and the power of signs and wonders in the first place” of God’s servants.
2. Who received grace?
The Greek word for grace is ‘charis’, which means giving benefits to others without expecting anything in return or reward. Especially when the word grace is used biblically, it speaks of the salvation God has given us in our relationship with God.
(1) It is the grace of God that our sins are forgiven. This is because God has unconditionally forgiven the sins of those who believe in him through the blood of his Son, without any cost to us.
(2) It is the grace of God that we have obtained the righteousness of Christ. We are not even able to attain the righteousness of the law. But the righteousness of Christ, which is superior to the righteousness of the law, was given only by faith. We do not have to be slaves of the law to be justified, nor do we have to be penance in order to be forgiven of our sins. We do not have the power to achieve righteousness and we do not have the goodness to forgive our sins, but God has prepared all these things and tells us to come into Christ and take it for free.
(3) It is God's grace that we have eternal life. We are beings who have no qualifications or conditions to receive eternal life. But God has only given me this eternal life through faith. We must not take faith as a condition here. Faith can never be the price of obtaining righteousness or forgiveness of sins, because faith is an unconditional take on God's great gift that God has prepared for us. Rather, he said that faith itself is a gift from God.
(4) We need to examine several things about the purpose of God's grace for us. If we are to receive and live in God's grace in this world, we must be able to see the other side of grace.
① It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Philippians 1:29). Believing in Christ also comes with suffering. We must not escape that suffering, but receive it for Christ's sake.
② It is said, “Pursue the power of God, and suffer for the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:8). Christians must preach the gospel because they are debtors to it. But preaching this gospel comes with hardships.
③ “Blessed are you when they curse and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11). Believing in Christ comes with reproach and persecution. We can overcome all these difficulties in God's grace.
Conclusion: What kind of life did Paul lead to receive such grace from God? He said that he regarded all knowledge and all things as filthy excrement except to believe in Christ (Philippians 2:7,8). We must first receive the grace of realizing the grace of God deeply. Thus, our faith will ascend to a higher level and we should give glory to God as we live a life that bears fruit in gratitude for that grace. *