Romans Chapter 15 Vs. 16

 

Paul the Minister to the Gentiles

That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Rom 15:16

should be the... Having referred to himself as a minister, a word with priestly overtones, Paul explains that his priestly ministry is to present to God an offering of a multitude of Gentile converts.

the offering up... We know at first the Jews would not believe that God had sent the message to the Gentiles.

Acts 10:45 “And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Acts 10:47 “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?”

being sanctified by... Greek: hagiazo, to hallow (Mat. 6:9; Luke 11:2); be holy (Rev. 22:11); and sanctify or consecrate—set apart for a sacred purpose (Mat. 23:17, 23:19; John 10:36; 17:17, 17:19; Acts 20:32; 26:18; Rom. 15:16; 1Cor. 1:2; 6:11; 7:14; Eph. 5:26; 1Thes. 5:23; 1Tim. 4:5; 2Tim. 2:21; Heb. 2:11; 9:13; 10:10, 10:14, 10:29; 13:12; 1Pet. 3:15; Jude 1:1). See John 17:17; 2Thes. 2:13. After the Holy Ghost came upon the Gentile, as well as those of the circumcision, then they could not deny that God had accepted them as well. The word sanctified means set aside for God’s purpose. We can see the call of Paul in the 26th chapter of Acts. He was specifically called to the Gentiles as you can plainly see in the next few verses. We will pick up right after Jesus has encountered Paul on the road to Damascus.

Acts 26:15-18 “And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” “But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;” “Delivering thee from the people, and [from] the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,” “To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Paul was qualified to remind his readers of those points because he had his special position as a result of God’s grace (cf. Rom. 1:5). He was a minister (leitourgon, a “public servant”) to the Gentiles. This ministry was carried out as a priestly duty (the Gr. verb hierourgounta means “to work in sacred things”) and involved his proclaiming the gospel of God (cf. Rom. 1:2-4). Because of his sharing the good news with Gentiles (Rom. 11:13; Gal. 1:16; 2:2, 2:7-9; Eph. 3:8; Col. 1:27; 2Tim. 4:17) they became an offering acceptable (the words to God are not in the text but are obviously understood), sanctified (perf. tense, “having been sanctified” or “having been set apart”) by the Holy Spirit (cf. 1Pet. 1:2). Like a priest, Paul introduced Gentiles to God, and then presented them like an offering to the Lord. God’s willingness to accept Gentiles, set apart by the work of the Holy Spirit, shows His plan in the Church Age is to unite Jews and Gentiles in one body (Eph. 3:6).