Romans 1:5-6

“ By whom we have received grace and apostleship, with a view to the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for the glory of His name: among whom are ye, also, the called of Jesus Christ. ” The words δἰ οὖ, by whom, exactly express the transition which we have just indicated. It is from His heavenly glory and from His state as Son of God that Christ has founded the new apostolate, and called him whom He has invested with it (comp. Galatians 1:1).

The plural ἐλάβομεν, we have received, is explained by some: I and the other apostles; by Hofmann: I and my apostolical assistants (Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, etc.). But the first meaning is inadmissible, because the matter in question here is exclusively the apostleship to the Gentiles; and the second is equally so, because Paul, speaking here in his official character, can associate no one with him in the dignity which the Lord has conferred on him personally. What we have here is therefore the plural of category, which the Greeks readily use when they wish to put the person out of view, and to present only the principle which he represents, or the work with which he is charged. The words: χάριν καὶ ἀποστολήν, grace and apostleship, are regarded by some (Chrys., Philippi) as equivalent to: the grace of apostleship. But if this had been Paul's meaning, it would have been easy for him to express it so. Hofmann applies the two terms to the ministry of the apostle, as presenting it, the former, in connection with his own person it is a grace conferred on him; the latter, in its relation to others it is his mission to them. But if the term grace be referred to Paul's person, it seems to us much simpler to apply it to the gift of salvation which was bestowed on himself; the second term, apostleship, comes thus quite naturally to designate his mission for the salvation of the world. We have seen (Introd. p. 13) how these two gifts, personal salvation and apostleship, were, in Paul's case, one and the same event. The object of Christ in according him grace and calling him to the apostleship, was to spread the obedience of faith. It is impossible to understand by this obedience the holiness produced by faith. For, before speaking of the effects of faith, faith must exist; and the matter in question is precisely the calling of the apostle destined to lay the foundation of it. Meyer's meaning is still more inadmissible, submission to the faith. In that case, we should require to give to the term faith the meaning of: Christian truth (objectively speaking), a meaning the word never has in the New Testament, as Meyer acknowledges. So he understands obedience to the inward sentiment of faith! This is a form of speech of which it would be still more difficult to find examples. The only possible meaning is: the obedience which consists in faith itself. By faith man performs an act of obedience to the divine manifestation which demands of him submission and co-operation. The refusal of faith is therefore called, Romans 10:3, a disobedience (οὐχ ὑπετάγησαν). The clause following: among all the Gentiles, might be connected with the word apostleship, but it is simpler to connect it directly with the preceding, the obedience of faith: “an obedience to be realized among all Gentiles.” The term ἔθνη, which we translate by Gentiles, has been taken here by almost all critics who hold the Jewish origin of the Christians of Rome, in a wider acceptation. They give it the general meaning of nations, in order to include under it the Jews, who are also a nation, and consequently the Christians of Rome. This interpretation has been defended chiefly by Rückert and Baur. But it is easy to see that it is invented to serve an a priori thesis. The word ἔθνη undoubtedly signifies strictly: nations. But it has taken, like the word gojim in the Old Testament (Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 42:6, etc.), a definite, restricted, and quasi-technical sense: the nations in opposition to the chosen people (ὁ λαός, the people). This signification occurs from beginning to end of the New Testament (Acts 9:15; Acts 11:1; Acts 11:18; Acts 28:28; Galatians 1:16; Galatians 2:7-9; Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 2:11; Ephesians 3:6). It is applied in the most uniform manner in our Epistle (Romans 2:14-15; Romans 3:29; Romans 11:13; Romans 15:9; Romans 15:11). Besides, the context imperatively demands this limited sense. Paul has just been explaining the institution of a special apostleship to the Gentiles, by a transformation in the Lord's mode of existence; the whole demonstration would be useless if his aim were to prove what the believers of Rome, though Jewish Christians, belong also to the domain of his mission. Mangold feels the difficulty; for, in order to remain faithful to Baur's view as to the composition of the Roman church, without falling into his false interpretation of the word ἔθνη, he tries to take it in a purely geographical sense. He thinks that by the nations, Paul means to contrast the inhabitants of the world in general, whether Jews or Gentiles, with the Jews strictly so called dwelling in Palestine. The apostle means to say: “The church of Rome, though composed of Judeo-Christians, belongs geographically to the world of the Gentiles, and consequently comes within my domain as the apostle of the Gentiles.” But what in this case becomes of the partition of domains marked out in Galatians 2? It must signify that Peter reserved for himself to preach in Palestine, and Paul out of Palestine! Who can give this meaning to the famous passage, Galatians 2? Besides, as Beyschlag well says, this partition between the apostles rested on a difference of gifts, which had nothing to do with geography, and evidently referred to the religious and moral character of those two great divisions of mankind, Jews and Gentiles. It must therefore be allowed that the words: among all nations, refer to Gentiles, and to Gentiles as such. Baur has sought to turn the word all to account in favor of his interpretation; but Paul uses it precisely to introduce what he is going to say, Romans 1:6, that the Romans, though so remote, yet formed part of his domain, since it embraces all Gentiles without exception. It matters little, therefore, that they are still personally unknown to him, he is their apostle nevertheless.

The third clause: ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος, for, in behalf, or for the glory of His name, depends on the whole verse from the verb we have received. Paul does not forget that this is the highest end of his apostleship: to exalt the glory of that name by extending the sphere of his action, and increasing the number of those who invoke it as the name of their Lord. The words sound like an echo of the message of Jesus to Paul by Ananias: “He is a chosen vessel to carry my name to the Gentiles; ” comp. 3 John 1:7. By this word Paul reveals to us at once the aim of his mission, and the inward motive of all his work. And what a work was that! As Christ in His own person broke the external covering of Israelitish form, so he purposed to break the national wrapping within which the kingdom of God had till then been inclosed; and to spread the glory of His name to the very ends of the earth, He called Paul.