St. Paul’s Priestly Ministry

Most churches today are ignorant of the gospel as articulated by Paul in his letter to the church in Rome. Yet Paul himself said the Roman Christians were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, competent, powerful, and able to counsel one another (Rom. 15:14). So why did he write this epistle to them, especially to a church he did not found? He wrote to them, he tells us, to remind them of the gospel, which they already knew in its essence.

Reminding

Paul begins, “I have written to you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again” (Rom. 15:15). Believers need to be reminded constantly of the truth of the Bible. We often tend to neglect Bible study, and what we know, we tend to forget. We are easily distracted by the things of this world. So we need to read the Bible diligently, and then prayerfully and seriously meditate on the word of God.

Paul tells us, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you admonish one another with all wisdom.” (Col. 3:16). Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you” (John 15:7). Jesus also said, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:17).

We are to live by the counsel of God’s holy word, not the counsel of the devil. That is why we need continuous reminding. So Peter exhorted: “I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have… . And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things” (2 Pet. 1:12–15). He also said, “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking” (2 Pet. 3:1). Paul told the Ephesian elders, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). We need reminding.

Grace Given to Him

Paul says he is writing to remind the Roman Christians “because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles” (Rom. 15:15–16). The source of all grace is God, including the grace to be an apostle.

Paul spoke about this grace early in this epistle: “Through [Christ] and for his name’s sake we received grace and apostleship to call people from all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Rom. 1:5). Though he was chief of sinners, and less than the least of all the saints, Paul was called by God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He spoke of this in other places: “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation… . which was not made known to men in other generations, as it has now been revealed, by the Spirit of God’s holy apostles and prophets… . I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:2–3, 5, 7-8).

Peter concurred that Paul was called to be an apostle. He writes, “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles… . Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Pet. 3:1–2, 15–16). St. Paul was an apostle by grace and his writings are Scriptures.

Paul himself writes, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you …” (Rom. 12:3). The Lord told Ananias that Paul was “my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect” (1 Cor. 15:9–10a).

Paul was appointed by God to preach and write the gospel. He was an apostle of Christ to all people, both Jews and Gentiles. So he had the authority to teach all churches, whether he founded them or not. And he also has the authority to speak to us through this epistle, because his word is the very word of God.

What an apostle says, Christ says. The apostle’s message is the infallible word of God for all saints of all ages. The church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20). So Paul did not apologize to the Romans for writing this letter. It was his duty to do so. He was reminding them of the one gospel, which he and Peter preached.

Just as these saints needed reminding, so we also need reminding. That is why we preach the word in this church several times a week. Expository preaching of God’s word is the sine qua non for the building up of the saints. Unlike Paul, most so-called pastors are not given grace to preach, for most are not called by God. They are either called by people or called by themselves. Such preachers preach only to make a living. God-called ministers are rare; they are not many. But if God has called, you will be given grace to know the gospel, live the gospel, and preach the gospel with all boldness and power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul was given grace from God. What was the purpose of this divine grace to him? It was that he be a liturgist (leitourgos), that is, a public servant of Christ Jesus, faithful to Christ and accountable to him. He must faithfully represent his Master. He was a minister of Christ Jesus especially to the Gentiles. He was given grace to render the priestly duty (hierourgeô)¹ of preaching the gospel of God.

Paul’s priestly function was different from that of the Levitical priests, who were involved in the rituals of the temple. The Old Testament sacrificial system, along with the Levitical priesthood, came to an end when Jesus Christ, God’s Son, accomplished redemption for all elect sinners by his death on the cross. He offered himself once for all to make atonement for our sins. But Paul’s priestly ministry consisted in preaching the gospel and writing Scripture.

Christianity has only one priest—our Lord Jesus Christ—who accomplished redemption for us. So those who claim to be priests and offer up Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for the salvation of the worshipers are being false to the gospel. They make the communion table an altar and see the bread and wine as the literal body and blood of Christ, offered up as atoning sacrifice to God. Such ministers are not preaching the gospel. Instead, they are putting on strange priestly clothes and pretending to offer up Christ in sacrifice continuously. Such priests pretend that they are above the people. They pretend that they are the depository of salvation, which they can give to the laity, who come to them to receive the sacraments. All this makes a good show—a large cathedral, bells, smoke, vestments, lights, sound, color, lifting up, bowing down, and kissing. But there is no truth of the gospel in this drama.

Paul was given grace from God to perform the sacred priestly duty of expository preaching of the word of God. He was to proclaim that Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification. That is what he is doing in this letter. He is declaring that every man is a sinner and under God’s wrath, and that the wages of sin is eternal death. But God in his grace saves sinners through the priestly work of his Son. He justifies all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. And those whom God justifies freely by grace he also sanctifies by the same grace. The God who is holy also makes his people holy so that they may worship him. The wicked sinners of Romans 1:18–32 are now transformed into saints who do what is right and just in the sight of God. The sons of disobedience have now become obedient sons of God.

False priests are not doing it right. They are not building according to the plan shown on the mountain. Thus, when God examines what they have built, his presence shall not dwell with the people of whom they are ministers.

True ministers are performing their sacred priestly duty when they faithfully preach the gospel. So we reject every form of sacerdotalism, as the Reformers did. We believe in the priesthood of all true believers. We are all priests of God; therefore, we all worship the true and living triune God in spirit and in truth. Peter writes, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ… . But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet. 2:5, 9). John declares, “[He] has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen” (Rev. 1:6). The Hebrews writer says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise [not sacrifice of Jesus Christ]—the fruit of lips that confess his name” (Heb. 13:15). And Paul already told us what sacrifice we should offer: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Rom. 12:1).

All believers are priests. Whether men, women, or children, all who trust in Jesus Christ, our great high priest, are priests. And all our prayers, all our singing, all our confession, all our preaching, all our giving, and all aspects of our daily life are offered in worship of God.

An Offering of People

Paul says he was given grace to proclaim the gospel of God “so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16). We know a man who was brought to this church by a sister in the Lord. He heard the gospel and was saved, and now he is here with his family. On that day, it will be credited to her that she brought offerings to God—not just offerings of money, but a people offering—an offering consisting in people.

As an apostle, Paul tells us he is given grace from God to specifically bring an offering to God consisting of believing Gentiles who, in turn, would offer themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. Paul did this all his life as he preached the gospel in the power of the Spirit. The Gentiles who heard the gospel believed and confessed. Faith comes, not by smoke, bells, and vestments, but by hearing the gospel. The gospel is central in God’s saving plan. No preaching of the gospel means no faith, no salvation, and no church.

In this epistle, Paul introduced himself as, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Rom. 1:1). Then he said, “God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness” (Rom. 1:9). He continued, “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Rom. 1:14–16). Then he speaks of the transformation of those who believed his gospel: “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted” (Rom. 6:17).

God entrusts his people with the gospel. So Paul says God appointed him “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (v. 16). He did so “by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ” (v. 19). In another place he says, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). To the Thessalonians he wrote, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake” (1 Thess. 1:4–5). He also said, “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13).

The church that does not preach the gospel as revealed in this epistle is a synagogue of Satan. Such churches do not produce saints; they produce antinomians, as Jesus himself called them in Matthew 7:23: “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, antinomians [lawless ones]!’” (author’s wording).

Someone told us once, “I am so glad that I am attending now a church which tells me I don’t have to obey God’s law.” Such a church is a synagogue of Satan. (PGM) In Matthew 23 Christ says the leaders of such churches are hypocrites, blind guides, blind fools, and a brood of vipers. Antinomians today come in many forms—evangelical, charismatic, reformed, Orthodox, Pentecostal, liberal, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or Presbyterian. These antinomians do not preach the true gospel. They will not declare that God saves wicked sinners who are under God’s wrath. They do not proclaim that he does so through the atoning work of Jesus Christ by grace alone through faith alone as revealed in the holy Bible. And they will certainly not say that this is all for God’s glory and our eternal happiness.

Paul preached the gospel to the Gentiles as an apostle to the Gentiles in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “Those who were not told about him,” that is, about the suffering servant, the Messiah, “will see, and those who have not heard will understand” (Isaiah 52:15, author’s wording). Paul brought an offering of believing Gentiles especially from the eastern part of the Roman Empire, from the southeast point of Jerusalem to the northwest point of Illyricum, covering a vast area of Syria, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, and Illyricum, which is today’s Boznia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Dalmatia. What an offering of people! This is also in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord” (Isa. 66:20).

Have you brought a people offering to the Lord as a result of your witness in the world? Do you have sons and daughters in the faith? Have you brought your own children as an offering to the Lord? The Bible says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31). John writes, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in truth” (3 John 4). And I say I would have no greater sorrow than to know my children were not saved.

Acceptable Offering

Paul says, “so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God” (Rom. 15:16). It is not enough that these Gentiles declared themselves to be believers. It is not enough that Paul certified them to be believers. They had to be euprosdektos(acceptable to God). So the question was, would Christ accept them? Would he say, “I know you”? Or would he say, “I never knew you. Depart from me, all you evildoers!”

God does not accept every offering that people bring to him. In Isaiah we read, “‘The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?’ says the LORD. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats’” (Isa. 1:11).

We can have large churches consisting of hundreds of thousands of believers. The question is, will Christ accept them? Multitudes of so-called Christians are antinomians; they are unacceptable to God. The day will prove it. They do not believe in this gospel to the Romans.

Sanctified by the Holy Spirit

Not only should our offering of people be acceptable to God, but it must also be “sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16). And this offering will be acceptable if these people are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It is specifically the work of the Holy Spirit to apply redemption to God’s elect and foreloved sinners. When the Spirit of God raises those who are dead in sin by the miracle of regeneration, they will repent of their sins and trust savingly in Christ. The same Holy Spirit will enable them to do so. They will be justified, sanctified, and led by the Spirit. They will hunger and thirst for righteousness. They will love God with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind (Luke 10:27). They will also love one another. They will live the life of the kingdom of God, which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

There will be a 180-degree change in their lives (Eph. 2:1-10). This change is described in Ephesians 4:28: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.”

How are we sanctified? By the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). Peter says, “[You] have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance” (1 Pet. 1:2).

If, then, we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we will be acceptable to God. If we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we will be characterized by holiness and holy living. So we read, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy. ‘Without holiness, no one will see the Lord’” (Heb. 12:14). If we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we will not stop at justification, a forensic act of God. We will also experience sanctification, both definitive and progressive, as this epistle teaches us. Paul writes, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom. 6:1–4).

The Gentiles were considered to be unclean and dogs in the eyes of the Jews. They were prevented from worshiping God in the temple. In fact, they could be killed for attempting to do so. But God, by the Holy Spirit, sanctified these Roman Gentiles. Now they are clean by the mighty work of the Holy Spirit. They worship God in Spirit and in truth. Therefore, they are called saints (Rom. 1:7). Elsewhere he says, “Watch out for those dogs [speaking about Judaizers], those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the [externalism of the] flesh” (Phil. 3:2–3).

These Gentile converts, as a result of Paul’s preaching of the gospel and the powerful work of the Spirit, are offered up by Paul to God as an acceptable sacrifice. They are acceptable to God because they themselves live daily to please him (Rom. 12:1).

All this is the work of the holy Trinity. True believers are the handiwork of all three Persons of the Godhead. The Father planned our salvation; Christ accomplished our redemption by his life, death, and resurrection; and the Holy Spirit applies this redemption to every repenting and believing sinner without discrimination. If we do not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity—one God existing in three Persons—we cannot be saved.

The Westminster Confession of Faith tells us:

In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. (WCF, Chapter 2, Section 3)

Romans 15:16 speaks of the work of all three Persons of the Godhead. In this verse we read that Paul is a minister “of Christ Jesus,” the second Person of the Trinity. He is called to perform the priestly duty of preaching “the gospel of God the Father,” the first Person of the Trinity. He preaches so that the Gentiles may become an offering sanctified “by the Holy Spirit,” the third Person of the Trinity. So there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is the work of one God existing in three Persons.

We are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The benediction says, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14).

Friends, to God be all the glory! He has made us all royal priests who offer up to him the acceptable sacrifices of our lives in all their aspects. “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). What a work God has done in our lives. May we therefore praise and serve him all our days.

¹ This word is found in the Bible only in this place.