Romans Chapter 15 Vs. 18

 

Paul the Minister to the Gentiles

For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, Rom 15:18

not dare to... I have written freely to you in view of my apostolic office to the Gentiles. I am commissioned by Jesus Christ to minister to you Gentiles the gospel of God, that your consecration may be acceptable to God, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:15-16).

1Cor. 3:6-8 “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.” “”For we are laborer’s together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, [ye are] God’s building.”

Paul is saying above, and these verses here also, that all who labor for God are doing it in the power and might that God has provided us with.

by word and... We may preach and minister to someone for years and never see that person come to Christ. Someone else whom God has sent may put the final piece of the message together for that person and they may accept Christ.

It is not always the one who plants the seed that brings in the crop. The rewards will all be given out in heaven anyway.

Paul recognized that all credit goes to Christ. And yet Paul was involved; God worked by what he had said and done. The apostle had been used by God to perform signs (sēmeiōn, miracles that signify theological truths) and miracles (teratōn, miracles that produce wonder). Luke referred to a miracle God performed through Paul at Cyprus (Acts 13:11, making Elymas blind), “signs and wonders” at Iconium (Acts 14:3; cf. 15:12) and miracles at Lystra (Acts 14:8-10, 14:19-20), Ephesus (Acts 19:11-12), Troas (Acts 20:9-12), and Malta (Acts 28:1-8). Signs, wonders, and miracles authenticated the work of the apostles (2Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:3-4). And all this, Paul said, was through the power of the Spirit (cf. Rom. 15:13). Anything Paul achieved that was worthy of praise had God’s grace as its source, Jesus Christ as its motivation and goal, and the Holy Spirit as its energy.