That the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable
In Romans 15:16 Paul says that I should be THE minister of Jesus Christ to you Gentiles. Are we Gentiles? Yes. Then who's the minister of Jesus Christ to us? Paul. You've got 13-epistles in your Bible written by that man who said he was the apostle of Jesus Christ to us. Not a minister, THE minister. The definite, defined minister of Jesus Christ to us Gentiles.
What did Paul minister to us? He ministered the gospel of God. Why? So that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Do you know what Paul's saying here? His ministry, those 13-epistles that he ministered to us by the spirit of God, are to be written in our hearts by the spirit of God. What's the purpose of that ministry? It is so that when you're offered up to God for his will and purpose, you'll be acceptable. It's sanctifying you; it's cleansing you.
Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 5? That Christ gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church. And Paul, as a minister of Jesus Christ, was ministering the gospel of God so that the offering up of the Gentiles for the will and purpose of God might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Paul's ministry is getting us ready for the purpose for which God called us out. And guess what. It is not just to be saved by the gospel. Paul didn't write 13-epistles about forgiveness of sins, and he didn't write 13-epistles just to tell us about justification. There is a lot more to the Christian life than just being saved.
The content of his 13-epistles is a curriculum that when we study it progressively, and in order, from Romans to Philemon, it will establish us, grow us up, and form Christ within us. It will impart knowledge and understanding that will do a work of faith within us that we might be transformed by it and learn to prove the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. It will bring us to sons, who are influenced by the doctrine and who are led by love and faithfulness as we patiently wait in hope of Christ's return. This doctrine is preparing us for the vocation in the ages to come. This was Paul's calling as the minister to the Gentiles, and this is our responsibility, to learn the doctrine, Paul's 13-epistles, and let it transform us and prepare us for what God has called us as the Body of Christ to fulfill.
Adapted from this video by Paul Lucas.
