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Selected Verse: Romans 11:13 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ro 11:13 |
King James |
For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
I speak--"am speaking"
to you Gentiles--another proof that this Epistle was addressed to Gentile believers. (See on Rom 1:13).
I magnify--"glorify"
mine office--The clause beginning with "inasmuch" should be read as a parenthesis. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
For I speak to you Gentiles - What I am saying respecting the Jews, I say with reference to you who are Gentiles, to show you in what manner you have been admitted to the privileges of the people of God; to excite your gratitude; to warn you against abusing those mercies. etc. As Paul also was appointed to preach to them, he had a right to speak to them with authority.
I am the apostle of the Gentiles - The apostle of the Gentiles, not because other apostles did not preach to Gentiles, for they all did, except perhaps James; nor because Paul did not himself preach occasionally among the Jews; but because he was especially called to carry the gospel to the Gentiles, and that this was his original commission Act 9:15; because he was principally employed in collecting and organizing churches in pagan lands; and because the charge of the Gentile churches was especially intrusted to him, while that of the Jewish churches was especially intrusted to Peter; see Gal 1:16; Eph 3:8; Gal 2:7-8. As Paul was especially appointed to this function, he claimed special authority to address those who were gathered into the Christian church from pagan lands.
I magnify mine office - I honor δοξάζω doxazō my ministry. I esteem it of great importance; and by thus showing that the gospel is to be preached to the Gentiles, that the barrier between them and the Jews is to be broken down, that the gospel may be preached to all people, I show that the office which proclaims this is one of signal honor. A minister may not magnify himself, but he may magnify his office. He may esteem himself as less than the least of all saints, and unworthy to be called a servant of God Eph 3:8, yet he may feel that he is an ambassador of Christ, intrusted with a message of salvation, entitled to the respect due to an ambassador, and to the honor which is appropriate to a messenger of God To unite these two things constitutes the dignity of the Christian ministry. |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
For I speak
The best texts read δὲ but instead of γάρ for. The sentence does not state the reason for the prominence of the Gentiles asserted in Rom 11:12, but makes a transition from the statement of the divine plan to the statement of Paul's own course of working on the line of that plan. He labors the more earnestly for the Gentiles with a view to the salvation of his own race.
Inasmuch as I am
The best texts insert οὖν then. So Rev.; thus disconnecting the clause from the preceding, and connecting it with what follows.
I magnify mine office (τὴν διακονίαν μου δοξάζω)
Lit., I glorify my ministry, as Rev. Not I praise, but I honor by the faithful discharge of its duties. He implies, however, that the office is a glorious one. The verb, which occurs about sixty times in the New Testament, most frequently in John, is used, with very few exceptions, of glorifying God or Christ. In Rom 8:30, of God's elect. In Co1 12:26, of the members of the body. In Rev 18:7, of Babylon. For ministry, see on minister, Mat 20:26. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
I magnify my office - Far from being ashamed of ministering to the gentiles, I glory therein; the rather, as it may be a means of provoking my brethren to jealousy. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
This and the following verse should be read in a parenthesis. St. Paul, as the apostle of the Gentiles, wished to show them the high pitch of glory and blessedness to which they had been called, that they might have a due sense of God's mercy in calling them to such a state of salvation; and that they might be jealous over themselves, lest they should fall as the Jews had done before them: and he dwells particularly on the greatness of those privileges which the Gentiles had now received, that he might stir up the minds of his countrymen to emulation, and might be the means of saving some of them, as he states in the following verse.
I magnify mine office - This is a very improper translation of την διακονιαν μου δοξαζω, which is, literally, I honor this my ministry. Dr. Taylor has justly observed that magnify, except when applied to the most High, carries with it, in our language, the idea of stretching beyond the bounds of truth; whereas the apostle simply means that he does justice to his ministry, by stating the glorious things which he was commissioned to preach among the Gentiles: blessings which the Jews by their obstinacy had forfeited. |
13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?