Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 15:20
Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:
20. Yea, so have I strived ] Better, But jealously striving so, &c. The “but” adds a qualifying additional fact; that his line and area of action were determined, in a measure, by his aim to work only in untouched regions. This is partly to explain why, with all his vast range of travel, he had not yet visited Rome. “ Jealously striving: ” the Gr. verb indicates an effort in which personal desires and principles are kept in view. St Paul made it a point of honour to be a pioneer in his missionary work; not with a selfish love of clat, but because his devotion to his Master took this peculiar line, very probably under Divine suggestions.
lest I should build, &c.] He avoided this, probably, both from consciousness of the vastness of untouched heathendom, and from scrupulous avoidance of needless discord on secondary points. For similar imagery, see 1Co 3:10.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Yea, so have I strived – The word used here philotimoumenon means properly to be ambitious, to be studious of honor; and then to desire earnestly. In that sense it is used here. He earnestly desired; he made it a point for which he struggled, to penetrate into regions which had not heard the gospel.
Not where Christ was named – Where the gospel had not been before preached.
Lest I should build … – That is, he desired to found churches himself; he regarded himself as particularly called to this. Others might be called to edify the church, but he regarded it as his function to make known the name of the Saviour where it was not before known. This work was particularly adapted to the ardor, zeal, energy, and bravery of such a man as Paul. Every man has his proper gift; and there are some particularly suited to found and establish churches; others to edify and comfort them; compare 2Co 10:13-16. The apostle chose the higher honor, involving most danger and responsibility; but still any office in building up the church is honorable.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rom 15:20
I have strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another mans foundation.
St. Pauls method of procedure
St. Paul strived, even made it a point of honour–matter of holy ambition to preach Christ in Christless regions, and not where his brethren had been before. Christian love is always tender of the rights of others. The truest ambition is to serve God in the best and most devoted manner. Worldly ambition is the perversion of a right principle. The objects worthiest of mans ambition and effort are–
1. To bring the greatest glory to God and to Christ.
2. To impart the greatest amount of happiness to men.
3. To act with the greatest uprightness and courtesy to all.
Pauls ambition the principle in every true missionary, e.g., Morrison, Carey, Martyn, Judson, Williams, Moffatt. He and they sought new fields of labour. Such fields are more difficult to cultivate. More rich and abundant in the return. (T. Robinson, D.D.)
St. Pauls evangelistic methods
I. Observe the apostles methods.
1. He went to those who needed him most.
2. Encountered the difficulties of untried ground.
3. Was ambitious to build on an independent foundation.
II. Inquire how far they are worthy of imitation.
1. Circumstances are now much altered; others have laboured, and we must enter upon their labours.
2. Yet neglected neighbourhoods deserve special attention.
3. Difficulties are not to be shunned.
4. Every Christian labourer, while he respects the rights of others, should aim at leaving the distinct impression of his own efforts somewhere. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Foundation work
1. The converse is 1Co 3:10. When Paul was converted he stood high among his own people for knowledge and executive talent. He took the lead in putting down Christianity. One would suppose that such a man, being converted, would have gone to Jerusalem, and put himself at the head of the Christian movement. But instead of this, he secretly went to Arabia, returning thence to Damascus. Then he went to Jerusalem; but he stayed there only a fortnight, and departed into Asia Minor, where he laboured for fourteen years. When he went back to Jerusalem, it was but for a brief stay; and he declares that he, by preference, preached the gospel in places where nobody had been before him. He was not after a settlement or a good salary. Pauls feeling was I will take foundation-work. Let other men have the building upon that.
2. Now, foundation-work is always the hardest, as the figure, namely, the rearing of a structure here implies. Look at those immense stores that are going up in great cities; in proportion as they go up, they must preliminarily go down; and the consequence is that the laying of foundations is no small business. It is the most awkward, difficult, and unrequiting; when you have worked your best, your work is all hidden out of your sight, and nobody thanks you for it.
3. Now, that a man should like to do that work is scarcely possible. Offer a man a job, and ask him which part he would prefer. The frescoing says the man, so that people, when they come in, should say What a genius! I should like to have my name somewhere up there to show who did it. But if a genius should come and say, Why, let me dig, and clear away, and lay the foundations, other men may build the superstructure, people would say, There are thousands who can do that, but there is not one in a thousand who is able to do what you can do. And that is true. But is there no way in which the great mass of men can labour at foundation-work so as to be happy? This has been the problem of ages. I see streaming from Pauls example light upon it. Note–
I. The motives by which Paul was actuated.
1. Christian pride.
(1) He never tired of declaring that he was not one whit behind the chiefest of the apostles, not for the sake of praise, but because he would not have his message discredited. His temperament was such as would make him feel himself quite as much as he was. So he says, I am not behind any man. I am a match for anybody.
(2) Then such a man ought to do work that nobody else can do as well as he. He ought to say, My business is to work where nobody else will work, which is in keeping with the Masters saying, He that would be chief, let him be a servant. Thousands of men want something to do. Oh! that the spirit of Paul was among young scholars, preachers, operatives. Then they would say, not, Who will show me a good parish? not, Who will show me a remunerative, or honourable place? but Where is the place that other men do not want to go to? That is the place for me, because I am a man, and a Christian man. Such is the ideal of pride. People preach against pride; but the proper way to deal with it is to set it to work.
2. The feeling he never got over–that he had persecuted the Church. Most persons would have said, Dont feel so bad about this matter, all you had to do was to turn when you saw your mistake, and quit it. That, however, did not satisfy him. Oh, to have persecuted Jesus! The more he thought of it, the worse he felt; and he, as it were, put upon himself tasks which no other man would take by way of making amends for that wrong. That is the kind of penance which one may well glory in. The humility of his fall was as magnificent as his pride.
3. Heroic, enthusiastic love of Christ. This filled his whole soul. And he felt, There is nothing that love cannot do. The deeper the love, the more it glorifies in sacrifice. God commendeth His love toward us, etc. And so Paul said, Give me the hardest work, for the hardest work will show the greatest love.
4. The feeling that in doing foundation-work he was making a contribution to the happiness of his kind. This he intimates in 1Co 3:10. Elsewhere he repeatedly speaks of sowing and not reaping, the others may reap where he has sown. He felt that he was making the way easier for somebody else; that he was bearing pain that others might not have pain to bear.
II. The lessons that Pauls example teaches.
1. That there is to be a consecration of mens pride in work. Every true man should feel, I bring to my work the worth that is in it, no matter how low it is. I am doing this work. False pride says to a man, Why are you bothering yourself with these trifles? This is not becoming to you. You are a man that ought to come up higher. If, 1800 years ago you had gone to Jerusalem, who would have been the man the least to be envied there? He who was about to be led out to crucifixion. But go to Jerusalem to-day, and find a place where He put His foot, and a million pilgrims from every nation crowd thither, willing to bow down and kiss that place. Why, what did He give to it? Himself. It was the manliness and divinity of the Man, it was the soul-element which He brought to it, that consecrated the place, and made it a shrine for the eternities. When men consecrate themselves to their labour, that labour is no more ignominious. The trouble with men who labour at disagreeable work is that while the work is mean, the workman is meaner.
2. That there should be a spirit of benevolence connected with ones work. Men who are doing low work are working for their fellow-men. Do you suppose the builder of Eddystone Lighthouse, working through winter and summer to lay the foundations of that magnificent structure, never thought, how many ships coming home from foreign lands and bringing the husband, the son, the lover, will run safely into harbour by reason of this work that I am now doing? Let men who are working in life think, for their encouragement, how many will probably be blessed by their work. When the cook raises the bread and bakes it, and it comes out of the oven, should she think, Oh, those dear little hungry children! how happy it will make them all! or should she think, Well, now, my mistress cannot say but that I am the smartest cook in the kitchen?
3. That men, as Christians, should recognise that there is a providence that supervises all human affairs. If they reflect upon what Christ said–Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Fathers notice–they will derive a comfort from that source which they can obtain from no other. Take that faith into your disagreeable work, and say, I am serving my Lord and Christ, and His providence is ordaining my work. Lord, wilt Thou receive this mixed labour of mine? Then He will say Yes; inasmuch as you do the least and the lowest of these duties, I accept them. Then it becomes a question of allegiance–of love. Where there is love, it can transmute everything and make it radiant.
4. That immortality should be taken into account. Reflect I am working but for a little time here. Ere long I shall be translated, and then the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Dives was seen far down, and the beggar was seen in Abrahams bosom. There will be a redistribution. Why is it that in circumstances of peril a poor ignorant woman, giving her life for others, doing what others would not do, becomes immortal? Grace Darling, who has saved so many lives at the risk of her own–what was it that gave her a name? It was that she heroically performed an unrequited service which was not demanded of her. Now, in this great world of unrewarded service, do you suppose God forgets? (H. W. Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. So have I strived to preach the Gospel] . For I have considered it my honour to preach the Gospel where that Gospel was before unknown. This is the proper import of the word ; from , a friend, and , honour. As I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, so I esteem it an honour to preach it, and especially to proclaim it among the heathen; not building on another man’s foundation-not watering what another apostle had planted; but cheerfully exposing myself to all kinds of dangers and hardships, in order to found new Churches.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He gives a reason why he chose to preach the gospel in these places, because Christ had not been named or preached there before; this, he saith, was his ambition, and a thing that he greatly coveted; he was unwilling to
build upon another mans foundation, to put his sickle into anothers harvest, to derive the glory to himself which would be due to others, 2Co 10:15,16. Again, another reason why he preached the gospel where Christ had not been named, was this, that so by him, as an apostle of Christ, and in his ministry, that scriptnre might be fulfilled, which you have in Isa 52:15, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, & c. See Poole on “Isa 52:15“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20, 21. Yea, c.rather, “Yetmaking it my study (compare 2Co 5:91Th 4:11, Greek) so topreach the Gospel, not where Christ was [already] named, that I mightnot build upon another man’s foundation: but (might act) as it iswritten, To whom no tidings of Him came, they shall see,” &c.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel,…. The sense is, not barely that he strove to preach the Gospel and not the law, the pure Gospel, and, not a mixed one; nor only that he endeavoured to preach it fully, and leave out nothing; but that he had an holy ambition to preach it,
not where Christ was named; as in Judea, where he had been for many ages spoken of and expected, and where he had lately appeared, lived, suffered, and died, and where his Gospel had been preached by all the apostles; as also in such parts of the Gentile world, where others of the apostles had been, and had made mention of his name, and published the glad tidings of salvation by him; but he chose rather to go to such Heathen nations, as were wholly without any knowledge of him; who had only the dim light of nature to guide them; had had no promises nor prophecies of the Messiah, nor so much as any hints, at least very distant ones, concerning him; and where as yet the sound of the Gospel bad not reached:
lest I should build on another man’s foundation; meaning not the law of Moses, nor the doctrines of the false teachers, but the foundation of the true apostles, and which was no other than the foundation Christ, he himself laid; but he chose not to go where they had laid the foundation by preaching Christ and his Gospel, that he might not take another man’s crown, or boast in another man’s line, or of other men’s labours; but rather to go where others had never been, that he might first lay the foundation himself, by preaching Christ, and him crucified, and so the more act up to his character as an apostle, and as the apostle to the Gentiles.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Yea ( ). “And so,” introducing a limitation to the preceding statement.
Making it my aim (). Present middle participle (accusative case agreeing with ) of , old verb, to be fond of honour (, ). In N.T. only here and 1Thess 4:11; 2Cor 5:9. A noble word in itself, quite different in aim from the Latin word for
ambition (, to go on both sides to carry one’s point).
Not where ( ). Paul was a pioneer preacher pushing on to new fields after the manner of Daniel Boone in Kentucky.
That I might now build upon another man’s foundation ( ‘ ). For (not ) see 14:4. For , see Luke 6:48; 1Cor 3:11. This noble ambition of Paul’s is not within the range of some ministers who can only build on another’s foundation as Apollos did in Corinth. But the pioneer preacher and missionary has a dignity and glory all his own.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Have I strived [] . The verb means originally to be fond of honor, and hence, from a love of honor, to strive, be ambitious. Compare 2Co 5:9; 1Th 4:11. The correct sense is to prosecute as a point of honor.
Foundation (qemelion). See on settle, 1Pe 5:10.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1 ) “Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel,” (houtos de philotimoumenon euangelizesthoi) “And thus, or in this manner I have been striving eagerly to evangelize,” of my own accord or heart’s yearning. For he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ and sought by alI means to save some, Rom 1:16, 1Co 9:20-23.
2) “Not where Christ was named,” (ouch hopou onomasthe christos) “Not where Christ was named,” or had a reputation, not in territories, localities where the name of Christ was prominently known. He was a pioneer in mission work most everywhere he went, though he often found believers when he arrived, as in Philippi, Act 16:13. To name Christ was to confess him to be what he claimed to be, Luk 19:10.
3) “Lest I should build upon another man’s foundation,” (hina me ep’ allotrion thermelion oikodomo) “In order that I should not build on a foundation belonging to another”; He did not desire to snatch praise from the labors of others and take credit to himself, 1Co 1:14-17; 1Co 3:4-10.
Paul neither boasted nor intruded his ministry into the operations of others. This defensive certification of the nature of his ministry pervades 2Co 10:1-18.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
20. Thus striving to preach the gospel, etc. As it was necessary for Paul not only to prove himself to be the servant of Christ and a pastor of the Christian Church, but also to show his title to the character and office of an Apostle, that he might gain the attention of the Romans, he mentions here the proper and peculiar distinction of the apostleship; for the work of an Apostle is to propagate the gospel where it had not been preached, according to that command,
“
Go ye, preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mar 16:15.)
And this is what we ought carefully to notice, lest we make a general rule of what specially belongs to the Apostolic order: nor ought we to consider it a fault, that a successor was substituted who built up the Church. The Apostles then were the founders as it were of the Church; the pastors who succeeded them, had to strengthen and amplify the building raised up by them. (456) He calls that another’s foundation, which had been laid by the hand of another: otherwise Christ is the only stone on which the Church is founded. See 1Co 3:11; and Eph 2:20
(456) The participle, “striving,” rendered annitens by [ Calvin ] and by [ Erasmus ], is φιλοτιμούμενος, which means to strive honorably: it is to seek a thing as an object of honor or ambition. It may be rendered here, “honorably striving;” [ Doddridge ] has, “It hath been the object of my ambition;” [ Stuart ], “I was strongly desirous;” and [ Wolfius ], “ honori mihi ducentem — esteeming it an honor to me.” It is used to express both an honorable and an earnest or diligent pursuit. It is found in two other places, teeming it an honor,” or, “Being ambitious.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(20) Yea, so have I strived.Rather, but making it my ambition. The Apostle set it before him as a point of honour, not merely to carry forward a work that others had begun, but to build up the whole edifice from the foundation himself.
Not where Christ was named.Not in places where there were Christians already.
Another mans foundation.Comp. 2Co. 10:15-16; and for the use of the word foundation for the first preaching of the gospel, 1Co. 3:10.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(20, 21) Throughout all this long missionary career, the Apostle had made it his endeavour not merely to go over old ground where others had been before him, but to seek out new and virgin soil, where he might enter as a pioneer, and convey the good news of the kingdom of heaven for the first time.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Have I strived The translators seem to have covered up a Greek word they did not like, , being ambitious, or making it a point of honour, as if there could not be a holy ambition inspired by God’s Spirit in the proper breast to fulfil a heroic mission. It was Paul’s divine work, for which he was fitted by both grace and nature, to be a founder. Never did he envy another man his work or his territory. He knew the field was wide, and the occupancy of any part by another was a signal to him that there were plenty of blanks elsewhere for him to fill. It was for a Paul to plant, for others to water.
‘Yes, making it my aim so to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation,’
Paul declares that his missionary purpose was always to preach the Gospel in places where the Name of Christ had never reached, so that he would not be building on another man’s foundation. This would serve to indicate why his presence in these regions was so essential, and explained why he had never had time to visit Rome.
Rom 15:20. So have I lived to preach the Gospel, &c. So have I been ambitious, &c. The Apostle could not mean that he scorned to come after any other Christian minister, especially after what we read of his going to preach the Gospel at Damascus, Antioch, and Jerusalem. It may signify, that, far from declining dangers and oppositions, which might be expected from his first planting the Gospel in any country, he rather felt a sublime ambition, as the Greek word signifies, in making the first proclamation of the Gospel in places where it had before been quite unheard of. And probablyhe might glance at those false Apostles, who crept into the churches which he had planted, and endeavoured to establish their own reputation and influence by alienating the affections of his own converts, while they built on his grand and noble foundation an edifice of wood, hay, and stubble. This is likewise a proof in favour of the Apostle’s own sincerity, and of the miraculousness of his conversion. If his conversion, and the part he acted in consequence of it, was an imposture, it was such an imposture as could not be carried on by one man alone. The faith he professed, and of which he became an Apostle, was nothis own invention. With Jesus, who was the author of it, he had never any communication, except when going to Damascus; nor with his Apostles, except as their persecutor. As he took on himself the office of an apostle, it was absolutely necessary for him to have a precise and perfect knowledge of all the facts contained in the Gospels, several of which had only passed between Jesus himself and his twelve Apostles, and others more privately still, so that they could be known to very few: and as the testimony they bore, would have been different in point of fact, and many of their doctrines repugnant to his, either they must have been forced to ruin his credit, or he would have ruined theirs. It was therefore impossible for him to act this part but in confederacy at least with the Apostles. Such a confederacy was still the more necessary for him, as the undertaking to preach the Gospel did not only require an exact and particular knowledge of all that it contained, but an apparent power of working miracles; for to such a power all the Apostles appealed in proof of their mission, and of the doctrines they preached. He was therefore to learn of them by what secret arts they imposed on the senses of men, if this power was a cheat. But how could he gain these men to become his confederates? Was it by furiously persecuting them and their brethren, as we find that he did to the moment of his conversion? Would they venture to trust their capital enemy with all the secrets of their imposture? Would they put in his power to take away not only their lives, but the honour of their sect, which they preferred to their lives, by so ill-timed a confidence? Would men, so secret as not to be drawn by the most severe persecutions to say one word which could tend to prove them impostors, confess themselves such to their prosecutor, in hopes of his being their accomplice? This is still more impossible, than that he should attempt to engage in the fraud without their consent and assistance. Had he not availed himself of a confederacy with the Apostles to get at their secret doctrines, he might have gained a knowledge of them by pretending to preach among such persons as they had already converted: but by going to places where the Gospel was entirely unknown, he lost every opportunity of this kind; and though he lost all these opportunities, we find no one of the Apostles objecting to the doctrine which he planted, as inconsistent with what they had received from Christ, and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. His very success among such people was another proof of the reality of his conversion, and his divine mission. For among the Gentiles, who had not heard of the Gospel, he could find no disposition, no aptness, no bias to aid his imposture. It is evident, that there was not anyconfederacy between him and them, strong enough to impose either his doctrines or his miracles upon them, if they had been false. He was in no combination with their priests or their magistrates; no sect or party among them gave him any help; all eyes were open and watchful to detect his impostures; all hands ready to punish him, as soon as he was detected. Had he remained in Judea, he might at least have had many confederates, all the Apostles, all the disciples of Christ, at that time pretty numerous; but in preaching to the Gentiles he was often alone, seldom or never with more than two or three companions. Was this a confederacy powerful enough to carry on such a cheat in so many different parts of the world, against the united opposition of the magistrates, priests, philosophers, people, all combined to detect and expose their frauds? Let it be also considered, that those to whom the Apostle addressed himself, were not a gross or ignorant people, apt to mistake any uncommon operations of nature, or juggling tricks, for miraculous acts. The churches planted by St. Paul, were in the most enlightened parts of the world, among the Greeks of Asia and Europe, among the Romans, in the midst of science, philosophy, freedom of thought, and in an age more inquisitively curious into the powers of nature, and less inclined to credit religious frauds, than any before it. Nor were they only the lowest of the people whom he converted. Sergius Paulus the proconsul of Paphos, Erastus chamberlain of Corinth, and Dionysius the Areopagite, were his proselytes. Upon the whole, it appears beyond contradiction, that his pretension to miracles was not assisted by the disposition of those whomhe designed to convert, nor by any power and confederacy to carry on and abet the cheat: what less, then, than a divine concurrence could have rendered him successful in converting nations, which had not heard of the Gospel till he preached it to them? See Doddridge, and Lyttelton’s Observations on the Conversion of St. Paul.
Rom 15:20-21 . But prosecuting it as a point of honour to preach in this way , the is now first negatively stated: not where Christ was named , then positively: but, agreeably to the word of Scripture , etc. Hence , not .
.] dependent on , Rom 15:19 . On , to prosecute anything so that one seeks one’s honour in it , comp. 2Co 5:9 ; 1Th 4:11 ; see Wetstein and Kypke. This full signification (not merely the more general one: zealously to prosecute ) is to be maintained in all passages, including the classical ones, and admirably suits the context. The matter was a special point of honour with the apostle in his working; [25] 2Co 10:15-16 .
] His name , as the contents of confession, has been named , namely, by preachers and confessors. See Rom 15:21 .
. . .] i.e. , in order not simply to continue the work of conversion already begun by others. Comp. 1Co 3:10 . The reason why Paul did not desire this, lay in the high consciousness of his apostolic destination (Act 26:17-18 ), according to which he recognised the greatest and most difficult work, the founding of the church, as the task of the apostle , and found his apostolic honour in the solution of this task. [26] Others, as Reiche, specify as the reason, that he had sought on account of his freer system of doctrine to avoid polemical controversies. This would be a principle of practical prudence, corresponding neither to the apostolical idea , nor to Paul’s magnanimous character in following it out.
.] Isa 52:15 , closely cited after the LXX., who took in each case as masculine . The passage runs according to the original: “ What was never told to them, they see; and what they have never heard, they perceive ;” and the subject is the kings , who become dumb before the glorified Servant of God, not the nations (Hengstenberg, Christol. II. p. 305; Philippi). But the actual state of the case seeing that, along with the kings, their peoples also must see the glory of the Servant of God allowed the apostle here to put the nations as the subject, the Gentile-peoples, to whom, through him, the Servant of God as yet unknown to them is made known, i.e. Jesus Christ, in whom the Messianic fulfilment of that prophetic idea concerning the Servant of God, as the ideal of Israel, had appeared realized. [27]
] addition of the LXX.
] they shall see , namely mentally, in knowledge and faith, it (that which the preaching now brings before them).
.] namely, the news of Him (the gospel).
] shall understand it (this news). Comp. Mat 13:23 ; Mat 15:10 .
[25] Lucht here conceives the writer to be dependent even on a mistaken understanding of 2Co 10:15-16 .
[26] The objection of Baur, ii. p. 399, that in truth, if this had been really Paul’s principle, the Epistle to the Romans itself would stand in contradiction to it, is invalid, since that principle referred only to his working as present in person ; whence he thought of visiting the Romans only as (ver. 24), on his intended journey to Spain. But to address letters to a church of a Pauline stamp, which had nevertheless been founded by others, such as, in fact, he wrote to the Colossians and Laodiceans, was not excluded by the above principle, the point of which was rather the personal presence at the founding of churches, and the oral proclamation of salvation .
[27] Comp. Schultz, alttestam. Theol . II. p. 263 ff.
20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:
Ver. 20. Lest I should build ] Lest I should seem to do anything unbeseeming the office of an apostle: there is a decorum to be kept in every calling.
20. ] But (limits the foregoing assertion) thus (after the following rule) being careful (reff.: the word in the Apostle’s usage seems to lose its primary meaning of ‘ making a point of honour .’
The particip. agrees with , Rom 15:19 ) to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was (previously) named, that I might not build on the foundation of another, but according as it is written (i.e. according to the following rule of Scripture: I determined to act in the spirit of these words, forming part of a general prophecy of the dispersion of that Gospel which I was preaching), &c . The citation is from the LXX, referring to , Rom 15:13 , but being unrepresented in the Heb. Our E. V. renders: “That which had not been told them, shall they see: and that which they had not heard, shall they consider.”
Rom 15:20 . (1Th 4:11 , 2Co 5:9 ): making it my ambition, however, thus to preach the Gospel, etc. This limits : he had never sought to preach where Christianity was already established. A point of honour, but not rivalry, is involved in . : cf. 2Ti 2:19 and Isa 26:13 , Amo 6:10 . To name the name of the Lord is to confess Him to be what He is to the faith of His people. . . . The duty of an Apostle was with the foundation, not the superstructure. 1Co 3:10 . The same confidence in his vocation, and the same pride in limiting that confidence, and not boasting of what Christ had done through others, or intruding his operations into their sphere, pervades the tenth chapter of 2 Cor.
have I strived = earnestly endeavouring. Greek. philotimeomai. Only here; 2Co 5:9. 1Th 4:11.
preach, &c. See Rom 1:15. App-121.
named = (already) named, as Revised Version.
lest . . . build = in order that I should not (App-105) build.
another man’s = another’s (App-124)
20.] But (limits the foregoing assertion) thus (after the following rule) being careful (reff.: the word in the Apostles usage seems to lose its primary meaning of making a point of honour.
The particip. agrees with , Rom 15:19) to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was (previously) named, that I might not build on the foundation of another, but according as it is written (i.e. according to the following rule of Scripture: I determined to act in the spirit of these words, forming part of a general prophecy of the dispersion of that Gospel which I was preaching), &c. The citation is from the LXX, referring to , Rom 15:13, but being unrepresented in the Heb. Our E. V. renders: That which had not been told them, shall they see: and that which they had not heard, shall they consider.
Rom 15:20. , moreover [yea, Engl. V.]) He gives the reason for taking those regions under his own care.-) The Accusative absolute, in the neuter gender,[158] the same as , Luk 24:47.[159]- , not where) This is more emphatic, than if he had said, where not; for he intimates, that he had as it were avoided those places, where Christ had been already known. So Col 2:1; Gal 1:22. Paul is said to have been unknown to those, who had previously received the faith.-, another mans) Paul here does not term Christ Himself the foundation, but the work of others in preaching the Gospel of Christ.
[158] It being the object of my ambition. But Engl. V. takes it mascul., I have strived.-ED.
[159] But the oldest authorities read .-ED.
Rom 15:20
Rom 15:20
yea, making it my aim so to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named,-He had endeavored to preach the gospel in places where it had not gone. Paul evinced the spirit that the greater the destitution, the stronger the call for him to preach the gospel. In verse 23 he states that all the places around him at Corinth had heard the gospel was the reason why he desired to leave there and go into fields that had not heard it. Pauls spirit is the one that should be emulated by all who know the gospel now. The greater the destitution where the people are willing to hear, the stronger the obligation to go. Unlike this, most modern preachers seek the strongest churches and the places that have been most fully converted.
that I might not build upon another mans foundation;-Where Christs name was unknown was the place that had the strongest claim upon Paul. He was like Christ in this. If all preachers had that spirit, the church would have peace and the whole world would soon have the gospel.
so: 2Co 10:14-16
build: 1Co 3:9-15, 2Co 10:13-16, Eph 2:20-22
Reciprocal: Isa 52:15 – for Isa 55:5 – thou shalt Mic 5:7 – as a dew 1Co 3:10 – I have 1Co 4:15 – for 2Co 5:9 – we labour 2Co 10:15 – boasting Col 1:29 – striving 1Th 4:11 – study 2Ti 2:19 – Let
:20
Rom 15:20. By working in new fields he would not be building on another man’s foundation. This idea is also set forth in 2Co 10:15-16.
Rom 15:20. Yet making it my ambition. The participle here used means, to make it a point of honor, but this exact sense need not be pressed here.
So to preach the gospel, to evangelize, not the same word as in Rom 15:19. So, i.e., in this manner (as afterwards defined), may qualify the participle, but the sense is better expressed in English by the above rendering.
Not where Christ was already named. Already is properly supplied; named, as the object of faith and the Person to be confessed, by other laborers, as appears from the next clause: that I might not, etc. This principle, here negatively stated, was not adopted to avoid opposition, or in consequence of differences with the other Apostles, nor yet of an arrangement to divide geographically the mission field, but resulted from the high sense of his duty as an Apostle, to lay the foundation of a universal Church. His writing to Rome was not contrary to this principle, which concerned his labor in person, not his intercourse by letter with churches he had not founded.
Rom 15:20-22. Yea, so have I strived to preach Greek, , literally, being ambitious; or, it being the object of my ambition; namely, so far as Providence would permit me to indulge it; to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named Had been preached before by others: that is, This way I took, as to my choice of places where to preach, lest I should build on another mans foundation, and so decline the difficulties which attend the settlement of new churches, or should assume to myself the credit due to others. He generally, though not altogether, declined preaching where others had preached, having a holy ambition to make the first proclamation of the gospel in places where it was quite unheard of, in spite of all the difficulty and danger that attended the doing of it. And the providence of God seemed, in a special manner, to prevent his preaching where others had preached, (though not entirely,) lest his enemies, who sought every occasion to set light by him, should have had room to say that he was behind other apostles, not being sufficient for planting churches himself, but only for preaching where others had prepared his way; or that he declined the more difficult part of the ministry. But as it is written
According to that prophecy which is now fulfilling in my ministry; to whom he was not spoken of Namely, the Gentiles; they shall see See on Isa 52:15. And they that have not heard In former times; shall understand And obey the gospel. For which cause That I might not build on another mans foundation; I have been much hindered from coming to you Among whom Christ had been named. Or he means, that he had been hindered by the important work of planting the gospel elsewhere.
Vv. 20, 21. And that while making it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: but as it is written, They to whom nothing was said of Him shall see Him; and they that have not heard shall know Him.
To confirm the reality of his apostleship to the Gentiles, Paul has referred to the successes with which his activity thus far has been crowned in the east; and now, to pass to the idea of his fnture work in the west and of his visit to Rome, he recalls the principle by which he has always been guided in the direction of his labors. The participle has something of the force of a gerund: while making it my ambition. The reading , I make it my ambition, must be unhesitatingly rejected; for the apostle does not mean here to express a new idea, but merely to define the manner of his procedure in the work to the goal of which he is now approaching. The term should not be generalized in the sense of: to strive or bind myself to; it must be kept in its strict sense: to esteem it a matter of honor. Not that Paul sought his personal honor in the method followed by him: what he was concerned about was his apostolic dignity. An apostle is not a simple pastor or evangelist; his mission is, as Paul himself says, 1Co 3:10, to lay the foundation on which others after him may build, consequently to preach where others have not yet come. Paul might have said: to preach the gospel where Christ has not yet been named, but he prefers to give his expression a still more negative turn, and to say more precisely: to preach the gospel, not where He has been named. He wishes to preach the gospel, but not where any one has done so before him.
Vv. 21. This conduct rested, as we have just said, on the exalted feeling which he had of the apostolic mission; and, moreover, he found, as it were, the programme for it in a prophetical saying, Isa 52:15. The prophet speaks here of the Gentile kings and peoples to whom the declaration of the Messiah’s work shall come for the first time.
The expression: as it is written, depends, as in Rom 15:3, on a verb understood: but doing as it is written. Volkmar here finds proof of the Jewish-Christian character of the church of Rome, since this church is to Paul like a foreign domain on which he has denied himself the satisfaction of entering. Weizscker shows indeed that Paul’s words contain nothing of the kind; for what he says refers in general to every church not founded by him, whether of Jewish or Gentile origin. But it may be questioned if Paul is even alluding to the reason which has kept him hitherto from visiting Rome. Does not Paul by this digression, Rom 15:20-21, simply mean to say that so long as there still remained unevangelized countries in the east, it was his duty to remain in that part of the world? In Rom 15:22-24, he calls to mind that now circumstances are changed, and that the application of the same principle which had hitherto detained him in the east, henceforth impels him to the west, which will bring him at the same time to Rome.
Baur has asked, if to write a letter of so considerable compass as this to a Jewish-Christian church not founded by him, was not to build on the foundation laid by another? We first remove from the objection the word Jewish-Christian; then we call to mind that the founders of the church of Rome were chiefly disciples of St. Paul, who came from churches founded by him in the east; and finally, we cannot put on the same footing a letter written by Paul, and his personal intervention as a preacher. He wrote to the Colossians and the Laodiceans, though he had not personally founded and known those churches (Col 2:1). It is precisely for this reason that in beginning his Epistle (Rom 1:1-7), and then again in closing it (Rom 15:16), he has referred to his mission to the Gentiles which imposes on him duties to all churches of Gentile origin.
yea [yes, so full was the spiritual power imparted to me that I thought it an honor and recognition due to my office and to those powers to use them only on the hard, unbroken soil of utterly unenlightened paganism], making it my aim so to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation [Had Paul done otherwise he would have used his supreme powers as though they were secondary, and he would have been choosing the easy tasks, leaving to others those harder undertakings for which Christ was hourly fitting and equipping him (1Co 3:10; Eph 2:20; 2Co 10:12-16). It ill becomes a ten-talent man to seek a one-talent position. The pressing needs of the field also forbade the waste of time in resowing. Had Paul’s example been followed, what needless overlapping of missionary effort might have been avoided. Sectarianism has caused and committed this sin, and it has been especially reprehensible where it has been done to foster points of difference which are matters of indifference, as is the case where factions of the same sect compete in the same field];
20. And thus, being ambitious not to preach where Christ was named, in order that I may not build on anothers foundation,
This verse, along with Rom 15:18-19, explains why Paul had not yet been able to visit Rome. His desire to do pioneer missionary work grew out of his zeal to reach as many unsaved people as possible (cf. Rom 1:14). He went to unreached people with the gospel (Mat 28:19-20). He did not wait for them to come and enquire about it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)