Eschatological Vision and Fervency in Sharing the Gospel

Eschatological Vision and Fervency in Sharing the Gospel

Pastor’s Study
May 7, 2009
…holding forth the word of life (Philippians 2:16a)

Before stating his theme for Romans, Paul expresses his ardent desire to visit the believers in Rome with three purpose statements: “to share some spiritual gift” (v. 11); “to have a harvest” (v. 13); and “to preach the Gospel” (v. 15).[1] What does Paul mean by "spiritual gift"? Whereas the apostle does not clarify his meaning, we believe that he provides helpful hints in the text. First, we note that Paul’s statement about sharing some spiritual gift occurs in a pericope that stresses his plan to travel to Rome en route to Spain for his Gentile mission (Rom 1:8-15; cf. 15:14-33). This universal scope of the Gospel is further emphasized in Romans 1:5, 14-15. Second, we observe that the apostle explains the outcome of sharing some spiritual gift: mutual edification. Third, Romans 15:15-16 illuminates the reference in 1:11-12 (both texts dealing with Paul’s reasons for writing Romans): “I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God.”[2]


On the basis of these hints in the text, we concur with James Denney that “what Paul wished to do for the Romans was to further their comprehension of the purpose of God in Jesus Christ – a purpose the breadth and bearings of which were yet but imperfectly understood.”[3] Thomas R. Schreiner qualifies his support for this conclusion. He writes:

Fee observes rightly that the gift mentioned here relates directly to the purpose of the Roman letter. The Roman Christians needed to understand the Pauline gospel, which proclaims the unity of Jews and Gentiles in Christ.[4]

Both Fee and Schreiner, however, delimit the eschatological purview of Romans 1:11. They adduce missionary resolutions to Paul’s statement regarding the sharing of some spiritual gift: the church in Rome, being established in the gospel, will support Paul’s evangelistic incursion into Spain.[5]


William J. Dumbrell, on the other hand, describes Paul’s eschatological vision cogently. He views Paul’s Gentile mission, leading to the incorporation of Gentiles into the people of God, as a fulfillment of prophetic eschatology. He notes:

Such inclusion had been anticipated by prophetic eschatology as a characteristic of the arrival of the last days and thus the advent of the new creation and new covenant. Paul himself operated under the assumption that the present possibility of incorporation into Christ is the hallmark of the advent of the last days. Indeed, the major work of Pauline theology is the present eschatological oneness of humankind in Christ, which has been made possible by the universality of the gospel, which obliterates all distinctions.[6]

This eschatological consciousness translates into fervency in proclaiming the Gospel to Jew and Gentile. The apostle summarizes his passion to declare Christ to Jew and Gentile with three personal statements in Romans 1:

verse 14 – “I am bound.” (RSV ‘under obligation’)
verse 15 – “I am eager.”
verse 16 – “I am not ashamed.”

What is the theological import of these statements? They evince a divine necessity laid upon the apostle (cf. Acts 19:21), “the consciousness of an inescapable duty.”[7] “The underlying assumption regarding this duty is the lordship of Jesus Christ and the stewardship of the Gospel (Rom 1:1). And Paul asserts that the Gospel is God’s power for salvation (Rom 1:16); and the Gospel reveals God’s righteousness (v. 17).[8]





[1]Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 59.
[2]Peter Stuhlmacher, “The Purpose of Romans,” in The Romans Debate, rev. ed., ed. Karl P. Donfried (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers), 233.
[3]James Denney, “St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans,” in The Expositor’s Greek New Testament, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1951), 588. For Barth, the spiritual gift is the gospel.
[4]Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, ECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 54.
[5]Ibid.
[6]William J. Dumbrell, The Search for Order: Biblical Eschatology in Focus (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 269-70. C.K. Barrett affirms Gentile inclusion as an eschatological phenomenon. See his “Gentile Mission as an Eschatological Phenomenon, “in Eschatology and the New Testament, ed. Hulitt Gloer (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1988), 65-75.
[7]Anders Nygren, Commentary on Romans, trans. Carl C. Rasmussen (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1949), 62.
[8]Mark A. Seifrid notes, “The shift in the characterization of humanity from Rom 1:14 to Rom 1:16 indicates that Paul’s use of the expression ou epaischunomai is directed towards asserting the comprehensive scope of the Gospel . . . . Paul bases his claim that the Gospel transcends all social and religious distinctions on the assertion that it meets a universal need for salvation.” See Seifrid, Justification by Faith, 212.



No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11).