The book of Romans is glorious. It contains an in-depth
explanation of God’s great plan for salvation. Romans is rightly known as a
book containing deep, sometimes difficult to fathom, theology. However, it
would be a tragic mistake to think that Romans is merely intended to feed our
academic interests (although it does do that). The book of Romans is written by
a man whose life in consumed by the Great Commission. Our Lord’s Great
Commission drives all the content of the book from the opening chapter to the
last chapter.
The Great Commission call us to preach the gospel (Mark
6:15, Luke 24:47). In Romans 1-8, Paul is inspired to explain this great gospel
so that we can preach it accurately.
Great Commission ministry does not end when people hear
the gospel, believe, and are baptized. In the Great Commission, Jesus also
calls us to teach them “to obey everything I have commanded” (Matthew 28:20).
In Romans 12-16, Paul models exactly that. He is teaching us to obey all that
Jesus commanded. Of course, all that Jesus commanded cannot be contained in the
last five chapters of Romans, but these chapters contain practical instructions
applied to a number of areas based on the commands of Christ.
And what about those challenging middle chapters, Romans
9-11? Here, Paul is dealing with a question which was very painful to him
personally. Why were most of the Jews rejecting Christ? Paul’s answer is bound
up tightly with God’s Great Commission plan to send the gospel to all the
nations.
Romans is not theology in a vacuum. Romans is theology
born out of an intense struggle to carry out the great work Jesus has given us
to do. It is intended to equip, strengthen, and motivate us to continue this
task. Don’t miss this!
Let’s look a little more closely at the Great Commission
in Romans.
The Calling and Obligation
of the Great Commission (Romans 1)
Paul begins his letter by declaring his own calling to
serve our Lord in the Great Commission work of sharing and teaching the gospel
(Romans 1:1-5). Notice how closely the language in Romans 1:5 reflects the
language of the Great Commission as given by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. Take
some time to study the image below. I’ve color coded parts of the two passages
which are similar:
The similarity between the two passages is slightly
obscured in English translations because the same three Greek words translated
“all nations” in Matthew 28:19 is translated “all the Gentiles” in Romans 1:5.
Also, it is not obvious to English readers that the word “apostleship” in
Romans 1:5 initially literally meant “a sending away”, thus linking it
conceptually to the command to “Go”. Yet, even in English, the similarities
between the passages are striking.
Paul goes on to explain that he has an obligation to preach
the gospel to all people (Romans 1:14). It’s not the type of obligation that
comes from someone giving you something so that you are obligated to pay them
back. Rather, it is the type of obligation that comes from receiving something
from someone that you are supposed to pass on to another. Paul has received the
wonderful good news of salvation by faith in Christ Jesus. He has an obligation
to pass it on. So do we!
Before Paul transitions to explaining why we need to be
saved, and why we cannot save ourselves, he addresses a potential hinderance to
Great Commission ministry. Namely, a feeling of shame which may come from the
opposition and persecution the world directs at gospel ministry. Paul writes:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also
to the Greek. (Rom. 1:16 CSB17)
May God also make us “not ashamed of the gospel”!
The Logic of the
Great Commission (Romans 10)
In Romans 10 we find Paul’s relentless, Holy Spirit
inspired, logic for the necessity of Great Commission ministry. The goal is for
people to be saved. Earlier in Romans, Paul has carefully explained how this
salvation works. But it won’t work at all unless people hear it, and that
requires Great Commission sending and preaching.
It’s Teamwork!
(Romans 12)
Because some of the Great Commission passages mentioned
so far focus on preaching, it might lead some to believe that if they aren’t
called to preach, or at least to do a lot of personal evangelism, then they
don’t have a role to play. Nothing could be further from the truth! Paul
understands that it takes a big team consisting of people with many different
types of gifts to grow God’s Church:
Now
as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same
function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and
individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we
have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's
faith; if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting,
in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing
mercy, with cheerfulness. (Rom. 12:4-8 CSB17)
We know from similar passages that the above list of
gifts is not a complete list of gifts. Paul is just giving examples. Whatever
your good at it, do it with all the strength God gives you. Use your God-given
gifts to build up His Church, both locally and around the world (1 Corinthians
14:12). There is a special focus on reaching “all nations”. God’s mission does
require some to cross oceans, but don’t forget that He also often asks us to
cross the street. Neighbors near and far need the love and truth of Christ.
The Passion to
Complete the Great Commission
The last two chapters of Romans are saturated with Great
Commission thinking.
As Romans comes to a close Paul shares his plans and his
heart. His goal was to continue to go to places where the gospel of Christ was
not known.
To get the full impact of Great Commission thinking in
Romans 15 and 16, remember these two facts about the word ethne, translated “Gentiles” twelve times (Romans 15:9, 2x; Romans
15:10; Romans 15:11; Romans 15:12, 2x; Romans 15:16, 2x; Romans 15:18; Romans
15:27; Romans 16:4; Romans 16:26).
1. As mentioned above, the Greek word ethne also means “nations” and is the
same word used in the Great Commission where we are commanded to make disciples
of “all nations”.
2. The word ethne
in Greek did not refer to a political nation as much as it referred to what missiologists
call a people group. A people group is a group of people usually with their own
language and with their own culture and identity which are different enough
from other people groups to require cross cultural mission work to reach them.
Some political nations have many hundreds of different people groups living in
them. Today, many people groups are still unreached. You may explore the map shown
above and find information on the people groups represented by each dot at this web site. You can zoom in
enough to see individual dots, click on a dot, and then click on the people
group profile for that dot.
Paul closes Romans with a burst of praise. The ultimate
goal is to bring God glory. The penultimate goal, the means through which God is
glorified, is reaching all nations with the gospel so that many saved people
learn to obey our Lord because they trust Him. This is called “the obedience of
faith”. It is the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Now to him who is able to
strengthen you
according to my gospel and
the proclamation about Jesus Christ,
according to the
revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages
but now revealed and made
known through the prophetic Scriptures,
according to the command of the eternal God
to advance the
obedience of faith among all the Gentiles--
to the only wise God, through Jesus
Christ-- to him be the glory forever! Amen.
(Rom. 16:25-27 CSB17)
If you found this article encouraging, you may also be
encouraged by these:
"For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." Rom. 2:13 NIV If there is any soteriological statement that should not have been made by Paul relative to the contemporaneous soteriological interpretations; I think you along with the rest of contemporary Christendom have a serious problem friend. What do you think?
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