Romans Chapter 15 verse 18 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 18, 19. - For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought through me unto the obedience of the Gentiles (meaning, I will not dare to speak, of any mere doings of my own, but only of those in which the power of Christ working through my ministry has been displayed) by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders (i.e. displays of miraculous power. It is noteworthy how St. Paul alludes incidentally in his letters to such "signs and wonders" having accompanied his ministry, as to something familiar and acknowledged, so as to suggest the idea of their having been more frequent than we might gather from the Acts of the Apostles. Had the alleged "signs and wonders" been unreal, we might have expected them to be made more of in the subsequent narrative of an admirer than in contemporary letters), by the power of the Spirit of God (al. the Holy Spirit. This power, if taken as distinct from that of signs and wonders, may denote the power of the Holy Spirit displayed in the conversion of believers, and the gifts bestowed upon them); so that from Jerusalem, and round about as far as Illyricum, I have fully preached (literally, I have fulfilled) the gospel of Christ. In thus designating the sphere of his ministry the apostle is denoting its local extent, rather than the course he had taken. He had, in fact, preached first at Damascus (Acts 9:20), and afterwards at Jerusalem (Acts 9:29); but he mentions Jerusalem first, as being the original home of the gospel in the East, and, indeed, the first scene of his own preaching in fellowship with the original apostles. Thence he had extended it in various quarters (for the meaning of κύκλῳ - trans. "round about" - cf. Mark 6:6; Luke 9:12), and carried it into Europe, Illyricum being the western limit so far reached. It is true that there is no mention in the Acts of his having actually visited Illyria. In the journey of Acts 17. he plainly got no further west than Betted, which is, however, not far off; and he might possibly mean here only to say that he had extended the gospel to the borders of Illyricum, but for the word πεπληρωκέναι, and his seeming to imply afterwards (ver. 23) that he had gone as far as he could in those regions, and consequently contemplated a journey to Spain. Hence, the narrative of Acts not being an exhaustive history, it may be supposed that he had on some occasion extended his operations from Macedonia to Illyricum, as he may well have done on his visit to the latter mentioned in Acts 20:1-3, where διελθὼν τὰ μέρη ἐκεῖνα allows for a visit into Illyricum.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) Nor in basing my claims upon this head do I go at all beyond my own proper province. I will take credit for no man's labours but my own. They have, indeed, been quite signal enough.I will not dare to speak.--I have a certain just and legitimate pride, but I shall not, therefore, presume to boast of successes of which others have been the instrument. All successes in the mission field are due ultimately to Christ; for some he has made use of me, for others of other men. I will confine myself to those in which I have been myself directly concerned.To make the Gentiles obedient.--Comp. Romans 1:5, "for obedience to the faith among all nations" (i.e., to bring over all the Gentiles into obedience to the faith; see Note).By word and deed.--This goes with the phrase "wrought by me," and signifies "either by preaching or by miracles."It will be seen that the structure of this verse is not, in a rhetorical sense, quite elegant. The Apostle uses a negative form of sentence where a positive form would seem to be more appropriate. Instead of saying, "I will confine myself to what Christ has wrought by me," he says, "I will not speak of what Christ has not wrought by me," though the description which follows is that of his own ministry.