14 I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters,[h] that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. 15 Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God’s grace, 16 I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. 17 So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God. 18 Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. 19 They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit.[i] In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.[j]
20 My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. 21 I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,
“Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.”[k]
22 In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places.


FINALLY! 15 chapters into the book of Romans, Paul finally tells us why he is writing!! 🙂 Something I find interesting about Paul is his tactic of saying, “I write you this letter telling things you already know and that you already teach eachother, as just a simple reminder.” I love that because I sometimes imagine that they got this letter and looked at eachother and said, “woops – we better get on this!” In a very gentle, encouraging way, Paul reminded the Romans that they had all of the resources to keep plugging along. Part of me thinks that some of the Romans read it and felt encouraged and some of the Romans felt a pricking of the Holy Spirit, guiding them back on the right path.

The other thing that I find interesting is how Paul, through his own example, teaches the Romans and us to prioritize those that have not heard the message ahead of those that have heard the message and are part of a community. But he doesn’t forget the community, he still wrote to them and provided them with the wisdom and guidance God lead him to share.

So how am I going out into the world and sharing the good news? And how am I building into the community of believers? And who is the Paul in my life?