“For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:”
Romans 11:13, KJV
“Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry”
Romans 11:13, ESV
Table of Contents
- Romans 11:13 Meaning – For I speak to you Gentiles
- Romans 11:13 Meaning – inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
Romans 11:13 Meaning – For I speak to you Gentiles
Paul confirms his opinion, by the strongest reasoning, that the gentiles are deprived of nothing, if the Jews again return into favour with the great Deliverer from the captivity of sin; for he shows the salvation of the Jews and gentiles to be so closely connected together, that the same means contribute to promote the advancement of both.
He addresses the gentiles in the following manner: — “Since I am peculiarly appointed an apostle to you; and on this account it is my duty to procure, with a peculiar zeal and study, your salvation, which is committed to my care, and omitting, as it were, every other pursuit, should devote myself to this one great object, I shall continue to perform my duty with fidelity, if I shall gain any of my own nation to become the disciples of the Lord Jesus, and this will redound to the glory of my ministry, and your own spiritual welfare.”
For whatever conduced to add to the honour of Paul’s ministry, was useful in promoting the salvation of the gentiles; and this was the end and design of all his labours.
The apostle uses the word, to provoke them to jealousy, in this passage, that the gentiles may desire the fulfilment of the prophecy described, (Deuteronomy 32:21,) “I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,” when they fully understand its usefulness in contributing to their own salvation.
Calvin, John – Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans tr. Francis Sibson (1834)
The two following verses, though not, strictly speaking, parenthetical, are an expression of the deep interest the apostle felt in the subject of which he was writing, and the influence it exerted over him, as an object of his labours, as the apostle of the Gentiles.
These words seem intended to meet a tacit objection: But if the conversion of the Jews be a matter of such importance, why do you not devote yourself to it? The reply is twofold.
First, the apostleship of the Gentiles is the sphere appointed me by my Master; He said to me, “Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.” For this work he was peculiarly fitted. He who wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in Paul toward the Gentiles; and the apostles at Jerusalem “saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision was committed to him.”
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
Romans 11:13 Meaning – inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
Argument 4. I myself am an Apostle of the Gentiles, so much the more earnestly do I bestow my ministry in converting as many as I can, and magnify my office, to this end, that I might provoke the Jews, my kinsmen, not to suffer you only to enjoy the priviledge of the sons of God, but that they would join themselves unto you, and so might be saved. Therefore it is your duty not to despise them, as altogether cast off, but to labour with me that they may be saved.
Dickson, David – An Exposition of All St. Paul’s Epistles (1659)
And Secondly, In executing that commission, he was doing what was fitted to forward the conversion of the Jews, and doing it for that purpose; q.d. ‘I speak the word to you Gentiles, rather than to the Jews, inasmuch as I am especially appointed to do so: I magnify my office — I make much of my office: it is a wide sphere, and I do what I can to occupy it, and to convert as many Gentiles as possible; but in doing this, I am not forgetfal of those whom I regard as a part of myself — my flesh.’
Brown, John – Analytical exposition of the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans (1857)
