Let us do some investigative exploration in Paul’s letter writing to potentially offensive believers recipients and learn how he does it without discouraging them?
There are many things to learn from him. I will use a passage from Romans 15:14-24 to highlight a few notable observations.
One notable factor is his emulating Jesus, using the Holy Spirit’s gift of word of knowledge and word of wisdom. Paul lists out the likely questions for the audience before they could voice them and confront him. He then succinctly and masterfully answers his own questions. And his answers became part of the Bible.
Background: Paul wrote the longest and most organized doctrinal letter to the church in Rome proposing to visit the new converts. The letter summarizes what the Gospel is and how it works.
Paul anticipated this question: The Romans church was not started by Paul. Will some leaders not get offended?
He began this passage with an appreciation of their worth as Christian leaders (knowledge of the Gospel, ability to teach each other, and willingness to do good for the kingdom of God), and then went on to say what he intended to do.
Paul went on to answer the question on why they should not take offense. He is confident that the Roman recipients need to know a reminder. Why? Let us explore his reasoning.
They share a common ground over the matter of not overlapping even in evangelism. Paul agrees that he should preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. (15:20-21)
He also reminds them of his being specially called and sent to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and how the Holy Spirit has confirmed the credibility of his messages with the convincing power of miraculous signs and wonders, from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum, a region northeast of Italy! (15:16-19)
He informs them that he has finished his work in these places and is now ready to move on and advance the kingdom of God further West from Rome, where Spain is.
Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire, which extended about three million square miles around the Mediterranean and encompassed Spain, France, Israel, and parts of northern Africa. It was logical for Paul to continue to Spain after Italy.
Thus, Paul’s answer to offenses, if any, among the Roman church leaders, made the potentially sensitive issue of visiting Rome immaterial when compared to the big picture of God’s kingdom. He was on the way to Spain, where the Good News was not yet preached. Rome was a transit station. There would be no overlapping.
Reading with the perspective of the true force behind the early church expansion, writing to the church in Roman can be seen as a crucial strategic spiritual move by the Holy Spirit, and not a wish fulfillment of one mortal man, albeit him being the great apostle Paul. Paul had a very important mission in Rome, in preparing and equipping the Christians to face the fiery trials, although Paul did not know then.
Paul wrote this letter in AD57. He was confident that the Holy Spirit had told him to go to Rome. And he did, (and eventually met up with the Roman believers), calmly braving a miraculous sea rescue adventure, ministering to others with the Holy Spirit! (Acts 27-28)
The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome were Christians martyred in the city of Rome during Nero’s persecution in AD64. The event is recorded by both Tacitus and Pope Clement I, among others. Paul’s letter written seven years ahead of the tragic event was timely. He himself was shortly imprisoned in Rome under house arrest for two years, during which he continued to write his letters to the churches to teach, correct, admonish, strengthen and build up his brethren in Christ, many of whom were key church leaders. His letters to the churches of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and a personal letter to Philemon were written in AD62, while in prison. He was martyred in AD67. The persecution of Christians continued by the Roman rulers for the first three hundred years of church history.
Paul’s life (including his letters) has impacted and strengthened many during and after his time for at least two thousands years. Why did he bother to write those letters? At the time of writing he did not know that one day his letters would become part of the Bible! He had nothing to gain but everything to lose in the eyes of men. A lessor man would have given up long ago, but not Paul. Why? I believe it is because of his close relationship with the living God. Paul knows Jesus, and walks closely with the Holy Spirit ever since he first encountered Jesus. He was dedicated to live God’s plan. His letters made a path to fulfill the plan.
Postscript: Did Paul reach Spain? The early church, including Clement of Rome in AD96 (a disciple of Paul, Philippians 4:3) wrote of Paul’s preaching reached the farthest bound of the West (a phrase used by Romans writers to refer to Spain), and especially the church in Spain has maintained accounts of Paul’s missionary journey to Spain.
kainotes, 2022-01-18
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