Romans 1:14-16 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.… I. HOW WAS PAUL A DEBTOR? 1. Not for special benefits conferred. He had the Roman citizenship, indeed, an he was not unmindful of its privileges; but he did not have it as a peculiar grant in consequence of any peculiar favour of the Roman people. He had received benefits from contact with the Greek literature and art, the influence of which pervaded the atmosphere of the world in that age; but even this was not a benefit which was conferred upon him as separate from others. And these benefits, whatever they were on any human calculation, were wiped out by the treatment which Roman and Greek alike gave to him. 2. Still less was he indebted to the barbarian who had nothing whatever to give him. 3. He felt the obligation of those who have special gifts of power or grace entrusted to them of God to use them for the benefit of others. (1) He had a knowledge which the world as yet had not attained — the knowledge of God, in the person of His Son, by the power of His Spirit, giving redemption to the world, providing for man purification from sin, into the white beauty of God's holiness. It was the knowledge most necessary of all to personal welfare, for the guidance of men in this life, and for their preparation for the great life beyond. It was the knowledge most prolific of public benefit; under whose transforming energy the empire itself should be purged of its savageness and converted to Christ. (2) He had extraordinary power, too, given him of God for the proclamation of this knowledge; and because he had such eminent gifts he felt himself under proportionate obligations to others destitute of them. II. THE IMPORTANT AND HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS WHICH FLOW FROM THIS. 1. What reason the poor and the weak always have to bless God for the gospel. It is simply the gospel of Christ taking the current of man's natural inclination — arresting it, and then reversing it — which gives to the poor, the weak, and the friendless their recognised claim upon those who are stronger. 2. What a beautiful civilisation it is which the gospel contemplates as its result in the world — a civilisation the key of which is in this doctrine; that weakness confers right, and power simply imposes obligation. 3. What the test is of the progress of Christian civilisation in the world. Not in the multiplying inventions of mechanism; in the accumulating wealth of cities; in the extension of free institutions; in the spread of literature, and the steady advance of science in the earth; but in the answer to this one question: How far does society recognise its obligation to the weakest and the poorest in it? 4. Here is the practical test of our individual Christian experience. Not in outward belief; not in ecstasy of spirit, but here: How much have I of the feeling of Paul toward all around me that, by whatever of power and grace, and of His supreme knowledge God has given to me, I have become the more indebted to them? (R. S. Storrs, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.WEB: I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish. |
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