“We have received grace and apostleship,” meaning and application

 

In his opening to the great, world-changing, Epistle to the Romans, Paul writes:

“We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name, including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling” – The Apostle Paul, (Romans 1:5-6 CSB)

The Problem

In this blog post I want to write about what Paul meant in these verses and how it applies to us. The first word, “we,” immediately raises questions. It is easy to see how “we”(Paul and his readers, including the you and I) have received grace. Paul received grace and all the Roman Christians he was writing to had received grace, and you and I (if you are a Christian) have received God’s grace. But you and I are not apostles! At least not in the same sense that Paul is. So, why does Paul write, “We have received grace and apostleship”?

Outside of the New Testament, the word “apostle” meant “one who is sent on a mission” or “one who is sent as a representative.” In just a few cases, the word is used with this general meaning in the New Testament (see 2 Corinthians 8:23). But most of the time in the New Testament, the words apostle and apostleship are used with a more specific meaning. It applies to the original twelve chosen by Jesus (see Matthew 10:2) and to just a handful of others like Paul and James, the Lord’s brother (Galatians 1:19).

The characteristics of these special apostles are revealed in the New Testament:

1. They had to be called by Jesus to be an apostle (Romans 1:1 and other vss)

2. They had to be an eyewitness of Jesus being resurrected from the dead (Acts 1:22, 1 Corinthians 9:1, and 1 Corinthians 15:7-9)

3. God performed signs and wonders through them (2 Corinthians 12:12 and Romans 15:18-19)

4. They suffered for the gospel (1 Corinthians 4:9-13)

It is unlikely that any of the Christians to whom Paul initially wrote Romans, much less anyone among us today, met all of these requirements. Certainly, when Paul wrote that “We have received grace and apostleship,” he did not mean that the Christians in Rome  had all seen Jesus risen from the dead as Paul had! So, what did Paul mean?

Five Possible Meanings and the Strengths and Weaknesses of Each One

Here are five possible ways to interpret “we have received grace and apostleship”:

1. Paul was using “we” just to refer to himself

2. Paul meant, “We have received grace [and in my case one way this grace is manifested is that I also received] apostleship”

3. Paul was using “we” to refer to himself and the other apostles

4. Paul was using “we” to refer to himself and his ministry team

5. Paul was using “we” to refer to himself and his Christian readers, but using the term apostleship in a broader way than apostle and apostleship are usually used in the New Testament

Let’s consider each of these.

 

1. Paul was using “we” just to refer to himself

This is the view of a number of relatively new commentaries on Romans that I consulted. Paul using “we” to refer to just himself is sometimes called the “epistolary plural.” Stott calls it “the ‘we’ of apostolic authority, by which in reality he was referring to himself” (The Message of Romans, 1994, pg. 51). In addition to Stott, this view is expressed by Theilman (in Chapter 1 of Romans, An Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2018), by Shreiner (Romans, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2018, pg. 39), and by Harvey (Romans, Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament, 2017, pg. 11). Some of the other commentaries I checked did not directly address this issue. I understand if some consider the unified voice of such a collection of respected scholars to settle the issue. Their studied opinions should carry a lot of weight. Still, they indicated that they are aware of other views and they certainly are not infallible.

Against this view is the way Paul uses “I” and “we” in the rest of Romans. In the appendix at the end of this post, I have listed all 57 verses in Romans that include 88 uses of “we” (this is based on searching for occurrences of “we” in the CSB translation of Romans in BibleWorks). With rare exceptions, almost all the uses of “we” fit well with a meaning of “Paul and his readers.” In fact, many of the uses of “we” almost demand such an interpretation. Here are a few examples:

CSB Rom. 5:1  Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

CSB Rom. 5:8  But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

CSB Rom. 7:4  Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another-- to Him who was raised from the dead-- that we may bear fruit for God.

CSB Rom. 8:12  So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh,

You can look through the appendix below to find more examples like these. In Romans, the most common meaning of “we” was “Paul and his readers.”

Further, Paul did not frequently use “we” to refer to just himself. There are 121 uses of the pronoun “I” in Romans (based on a search for “I” in the CSB translation of Romans using BibleWorks). Not all of these refer to Paul (some are in Old Testament quotes where God is speaking), but most of them do.

Paul is free to deviate from his normal way of using pronouns. The fact that he normally used “I” to refer to himself and that he usually used “we” to refer to himself and his readers, does not automatically mean that he is following this pattern in Romans 1:5. But, it should at least be counted as some evidence against the common interpretation that by “we,” Paul actually meant “I”.

 

2. Paul meant, “We have received grace [and in my case one way this grace is manifested is that I also received] apostleship”

The Bible was inspired by God, but it uses normal human language. It is not written in hyperliteral language like a modern legal document. Legal documents have their place, but they don’t stir people’s hearts and capture people’s imaginations and inspire songs like the language of the Bible does. One common aspect of human language is that we use a lot of figures of speech. One of those is ellipsis. Here is the Google definition:

“ellipsis:  the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.”

Paul might have meant something like, “We have received grace [and in my case one way this grace is manifested is that I also received] apostleship.” If so, he left out the part in brackets. The strength of this interpretation is that it makes good sense of what Paul wrote without requiring either an unusual use of “we” or an unusual meaning for “apostleship.” The weakness of this interpretation is that ideally the missing words in a case of ellipsis should be “understood from contextual clues,” but it’s not clearly obvious to most readers that Paul intended receiving grace to apply to all of us, but receiving apostleship to only apply to himself. Still, this is a reasonable and possible interpretation.

 

3. Paul was using “we” to refer to himself and the other apostles

In English and also in Greek, the word used for “we” can refer to either the author and those he is speaking to or else the author and some group who is with him, but not including those he is speaking to. In this case it is too bad that Paul didn’t write in Indonesian! In Indonesian, there are two different words for “we.” “Kami” is exclusive of the person being addressed and “kita” is inclusive. In options 3 and 4, if Paul had been writing in Indonesian, he would have used “kami” since he was not including his readers in the “we.”

Paul may have meant himself and the other apostles when he wrote “We have received grace and apostleship . . .”. This interpretation is grammatically possible, and it says something that is clearly true. Paul certainly knew about the other apostles and had even met some of them in person and he taught the same basic gospel that they taught (see 1 Corinthians 15:3-9 and Galatians 1:18-19 and 2:7). The most common objection raised against this is that in Romans 1 Paul goes on to define this apostleship this way:

“apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations” (Romans 1:5b).

Because the word translated “nations” can also mean “Gentiles” (basically all the other nations besides the Jewish nation) and Paul often uses the word to mean “Gentiles,” including in Romans (see Romans 2:14, 3:9, and 3:29 for just a few examples), many say that he could not be referring to both himself and the other apostles. This conclusion is based on this verse:

CSB  Galatians 2:9 When James, Cephas, and John, recognized as pillars, acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

In this verse, “the circumcised” refers to the Jews. There seems to be a division of ministry fields with the other apostles (at least three of them) focusing on the Jews while Paul focuses on everyone else.

I think that people often make too much of this statement in Galatians 2:9. Yes, at least at that time, Paul prioritized outreach to the Gentiles while the other apostles were still prioritizing outreach to the Jews. But Paul himself consistently intentionally included outreach to Jews wherever he went. And God had worked through Peter to initiate outreach to the Gentiles when Peter was sent to share the gospel with Cornelius. Further, Christian history indicates that at least some of the other apostles did end up traveling to and ministering in mainly Gentile areas. In addition to these facts, in Romans 1:5 Paul is echoing the Great Commission as given by Jesus in Matthew 28 and so could have used this language without meaning to focus on the various differences in which ethnic groups were being prioritized for ministry. In Matthew 28, Jesus certainly meant to include both the Jewish nation and all the other nations.

Still, there is nothing that I see in the context of Romans 1 that would indicate specifically that Paul was thinking about the other apostles when he wrote “We have received grace and apostleship.” I think this option is possible, but not the most likely option.

 

4. Paul was using “we” to refer to himself and his ministry team

In both options 4 and 5, Paul uses the term “apostleship” in a broader way than how the New Testament most often uses the terms “apostle” and “apostleship.” Here, in option 4, Paul could have been referring to himself and members of his ministry team. He very frequently mentions these other team members and does so at the end of Romans (Romans 16:21-23). He could be using the word “apostleship” to refer to these ministry team members who were actively involved with him in the apostolic mission (which is basically the same as the Great Commission, but the apostles did have some unique foundational and authoritative roles) even though Paul’s team members were not apostles in the same way or with the same authority as Paul and Peter and John. In support of this interpretation, Paul seems to refer to his team members as apostles in 1 Thessalonians:

CSB  1 Thessalonians 2:7 Although we could have been a burden as Christ's apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother nurtures her own children.

Here, Paul not only uses “we,” but he uses the plural “apostles.” It is reasonable that he was referring to his team members as apostles, but with the more common meaning  that apostle had prior to is becoming a technical term in the Bible: people sent on a mission or sent to represent someone else. F.F. Bruce supports this interpretation of 1 Thessalonians 2:7 when he writes, “Here ἀπόστολος [apostolos, the Greek word for apostle] is used in a rather general sense: Paul associates his companions with his own apostolic ministry—in which indeed they shared” (F.F. Bruce, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 2017, pg. 31). If Paul wrote this way in 1 Thessalonians, why not in Romans? It should at least be considered a possibility.

Perhaps you think it would have been awesome to be a member of Paul’s ministry team? Well, in a way you are! Like his team members, you as a Christian should be seeking to serve God according to God’s instructions. Some of those instructions you get from Paul! In a sense, we are all part of Paul’s (and more importantly and wonderfully, God’s) apostolic ministry team! This leads me to the final option for interpreting “we.”

 

5. Paul was using “we” to refer to himself and his Christian readers, but using the term apostleship in a broader way than apostle and apostleship are usually used in the New Testament

This final option has the advantage of “we” being used as it is most commonly used in Romans, namely to refer to Paul and his readers. As in option #4 above, Paul would be using the term “apostolic” in broad sense to include all who are called to participate in the Great Commission. This would include all of Paul’s readers in Rome, and would also include you and I today. This broad use of the term “apostolic” fits the basic meaning of the word. However, to my knowledge nowhere else in the New Testament is the word “apostle” or “apostolic” used to refer to all Christians. But that doesn’t mean that it could not be used that way here.

Is there anything in the context of Romans 1:5 that indicates that Paul was thinking about the Christians in Rome in general as playing a role in spreading the gospel to the nations? Yes, there is. Just three verses later Paul wrote:

^CSB  Romans 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world.

Although Paul uses some hyperbole here, he clearly was feeling thankful that the faith of the Roman Christians was having a positive impact among the other nations (in the the Bible, “nations” normally means something more like ethnic groups rather than political nation-states). This fits very well with Paul including them in a broad meaning of apostolic missionary.

 

Weighing the Options

I don’t think that the problems for any of the options completely rule them out. Neither do I think that the arguments in favor of any of the options makes one of them the certainly correct interpretation. I favor interpretation #5, namely that by “We” Paul meant himself and his readers, and that he was using “apostleship” to refer to involvement in the Great Commission generally. I favor this view, but not by a wide margin. Here is my summary of approximately how likely I think each interpretation is:

Application, One Way or the Other

Application is important. The Bible is not meant to be merely intellectually interesting (although it is!), but to guide and shape our lives and motivate us to live according to God’s will. We generally want to work on getting the interpretation of a passage correct before we seek how to apply it to our lives. A wrong interpretation will often lead to wrong applications.

However, regarding Romans 5:6-7, I think we end up with basically the same important applications whichever of the 5 options for interpreting “we” is correct. If option #5 is correct, then we (you and me and Christians in general) have received grace and also a type of general apostleship that means that we are called to do our part in the work of the Great Commission. If any of the other options are correct, the passage does not say that we have received any type of apostleship. However, we are still called to follow Paul’s example (see 1 Corinthians 4:16 and 11:1). Like Timothy, we should “share in suffering for the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:8). In this case we get the same applications, but by way of example rather than directly.

Conclusions and Life-changing Applications

Here’s our passage again:

“We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name, including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling” – The Apostle Paul, (Romans 1:5-6 CSB)

Like Paul, we have received grace. We each receive grace when we hear the gospel and believe it and our sins are forgiven and we are adopted into God’s family and we receive the gift of eternal life. But that’s not all! We are also called to serve God. And that calling is not something that we have earned. It is also by grace. While each of us has different roles and different gifts, we are all called to do our part in the same great mission. We are seeking to spread the good news to all people in all nations. We want to reach those who are across the street as well as across the ocean. We want to share God’s love and proclaim God’s truth so that others, too, hear the gospel and believe.

When people come to faith in Jesus, this should motivate them to obey Him. This faith-motivated obedience is “the obedience of faith.” This is the same thing that Jesus taught in the Great Commission. We are to go to the nations and win them to faith in Christ and baptize those who believe. But then we are also to teach them (even as we continue to learn ourselves) to obey all that Jesus commanded:

CSB Matthew 28:19 “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Back in Romans 1:5, Paul shares the ultimate goal of all this. It is, “on behalf of His name.” “His name” refers to Jesus and also to how people think about Jesus. It refers to the reputation of Jesus among people. Our goal is to help people all over the world understand more and more how good and wonderful Jesus is. This includes understanding how great His love is for us and how He saves us. It also includes understanding how good all of the commands of Jesus are. His ways are the best ways!

In Romans 1:6, Paul continues, “including yourselves who also belong to Jesus Christ by calling.” Paul may be reemphasizing that the Romans also have received grace and a type of apostleship. Or, if Paul was not including his readers in the “we” of verse 5, here he is clearly stating that his readers (all of us who are Christians) have also been called by God. It then remains for us to learn from the rest of Romans and the rest of God’s Word that this calling includes both salvation (explained in Romans 1-8) and also living for God (explained in Romans 12-16). Living for God includes using the gifts He has given us to build up the Body of Christ.

We should rejoice that God has graciously called us to such important, eternally meaningful work. And we should give ourselves fully to our part in this great task. That does not always involve going to other nations ourselves (sometimes it does!). But it always involves seeking to be a good example to others of obeying all that Jesus commanded and encouraging others to obey Jesus and using our Holy Spirit-given ministry gifts together with other Christians to build up the Church.

By now you should see the connection between Romans 1:5-6 and the Great Commission. May God strengthen you to live accordingly!

 

Related Resources

#1 A blog post about the Great Commission in Romans. There’s more than just Romans 1:5-6!

Romans is like a Great Commission Sandwich

 

#2 A video about how the Great Commission turns out:

The Glorious Completion of the great Commission

 

#3 A sermon series on the book of Romans (I have just begun the series at the time of this blog post, but more sermons will be added as I go):

Romans

 

Appendix: All verses in Romans with “we” (based on CSB, 57 verses):

CSB Rom. 1:5  We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations, on behalf of His name,

CSB Romans 2: ² We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth.

CSB Rom. 3:5  But if our unrighteousness highlights God's righteousness, what are we to say? I use a human argument: Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath?

CSB Rom. 3:8  And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, " Let us do what is evil so that good may come "? Their condemnation is deserved!

CSB Rom. 3:9  What then? Are we any better? Not at all! For we have previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin,

CSB Rom. 3:19  Now we know that whatever the law says speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God's judgment.

CSB Rom. 3:28  For we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

CSB Rom. 3:31  Do we then cancel the law through faith? Absolutely not! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

CSB Rom. 4:1  What then can we say that Abraham, our physical ancestor, has found?

CSB Rom. 4:9  Is this blessing only for the circumcised, then? Or is it also for the uncircumcised? For we say, Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.

CSB Rom. 5:1  Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

CSB Rom. 5:2  We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

CSB Rom. 5:3  And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,

CSB Rom. 5:6  For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly.

CSB Rom. 5:8  But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

CSB Rom. 5:9  Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath.

CSB Rom. 5:10  For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!

CSB Rom. 5:11  And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him.

CSB Rom. 6:1  What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?

CSB Rom. 6:2  Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

CSB Rom. 6:4  Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.

CSB Rom. 6:5  For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection.

CSB Rom. 6:6  For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin's dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,

CSB Rom. 6:8  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him,

CSB Rom. 6:9  because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him.

CSB Rom. 6:15  What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!

CSB Rom. 7:4  Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another-- to Him who was raised from the dead-- that we may bear fruit for God.

CSB Rom. 7:5  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death.

CSB Rom. 7:6  But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

CSB Rom. 7:7  What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.

CSB Rom. 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power.

CSB Rom. 8:12  So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh,

CSB Rom. 8:15  For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, " Abba , Father!"

CSB Rom. 8:16  The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children,

CSB Rom. 8:17  and if children, also heirs-- heirs of God and coheirs with Christ-- seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

CSB Rom. 8:22  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.

CSB Rom. 8:23  And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits-- we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

CSB Rom. 8:24  Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?

CSB Rom. 8:25  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

CSB Rom. 8:26  In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.

CSB Rom. 8:28  We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

CSB Rom. 8:31  What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

CSB Rom. 8:36  As it is written: Because of You we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

CSB Rom. 8:37  No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us.

CSB Rom. 9:14  What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

CSB Rom. 9:29  And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

CSB Rom. 9:30  What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness-- namely the righteousness that comes from faith.

CSB Rom. 10:8  On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim:

CSB Rom. 12:4  Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function,

CSB Rom. 12:5  in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

CSB Rom. 12:6  According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the standard of one's faith;

CSB Rom. 13:11  Besides this, knowing the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

CSB Rom. 14:8  If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

CSB Rom. 14:10  But you, why do you criticize your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the tribunal of God.

CSB Rom. 14:19  So then, we must pursue what promotes peace and what builds up one another.

CSB Rom. 15:1  Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves.

CSB Rom. 15:4  For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.