Although Paul has written extensively to instruct the Roman church in this letter, he also expresses here his trust in their knowledge and ability to instruct each other. (v.14) Much of what he has written served as a reminder of what the Christians in Rome had already learned, as opposed to new information.
Often, it's not new information we need, but reminders of what we've already been taught. It's incredibly easy to neglect the truth we've been given. God acknowledges this again and again in the Bible. (Some interesting words for the "search" field at blueletterbible.org are "forget" and "remember".)
Paul has made it his task to "remind" the Roman Christians of some particular truths because of specific "grace" (undeserved favor) that God gave him. (v.15) The specific grace Paul is referring to came in the form of the special role God gave to Paul, to bring the message of the gospel (who Christ is, what he has done and what that means for humanity) to non-Jews. Paul served a "priest-like" function as a go-between for Christ and the Gentiles, helping them, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, to become uniquely set apart ("sanctified") as they serve and give their lives to God. (v.16)
Although Paul was proud of the results of his work, he recognized that those results were all made possible only because of Christ. He limited his conversation about his work to the ways in which Christ led the Gentiles toward obedience to God through Paul. The methods through which God used Paul varied. Sometimes it was through words and other times through actions. Sometimes through miraculous events, and other times through the various ways in which God's Spirit moves and impacts lives. The end result of Paul's selfless surrender to Christ's work through him was the successful presentation of the gospel across a wide range of people and locations. (v.17-19)
Even with good intentions, it's easy for us to become stubbornly set in our minds regarding how we think God is going to use us. Ideas that God gives us to pursue become unintended fixations of our closed-minded tunnel vision. But although Paul knew he was called to present the Gospel to the world, and especially to non-Jews, he allowed God to choose the methods. This kind of openness to God's unpredictable way of doing things resulted in tremendous success for Paul, and I think the principle is the same for us.
Next- Paul's "Target Demographic"
Coffee House Question- Have you ever had counter-productive "tunnel vision" about something you thought God wanted you to do?
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