Obligated

  

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

OBLIGATED

Rom 1:14-17

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. 16 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. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."  

NIV

It is interesting that Paul uses the word, ofeitetees, which has a direct meaning of debtor, one held by some obligation, bound to some duty. This is the same word that Jesus used when he taught his disciples to pray in the part where we say, “Forgive us our transgressions, as we forgive those who have transgressed against us” It is better to say, “Forgive us our debts, that is what we are obligated to you Lord, or what we are bound to this duty of serving you”. We are asking to forgive us because we failed, but Paul uses this word to describe his debt to Greeks and non-Greeks, both the wise and the foolish. This is to say he was bound to this duty of talking to everyone about the kingdom of God. This brings us to the question; are we bound by the Lord to do something? Are we obligated to share the gospel with every ethnic group and each person no matter their social, financial, or educational status? This would lead us to believe that we cannot prejudge anyone as to whether they would be receptive or rejective to the message about the kingdom of God. Could the possibility exist that the reason we do not speak to everyone is that either we prejudge them or we are just a slightly bit ashamed to admit we love Jesus with all our heart, mind, spirit, and strength and that we actually do not love our neighbor as ourselves? If we really loved them then we would what those who do not know about the kingdom of God and all that implies regarding salvation, to be made aware so they can make an informed decision about accepting or rejecting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Then we must ask ourselves if the reason we do not tell everyone we come in contact with about the kingdom of God is that we truly do not love Jesus as much as we say we do, for if we did then we would think we would put into action his teachings. Jesus taught us that a person who puts his words into practice is a person who built his house, his life, on the rock, which is Jesus. Should we not practice his words about going into the world to preach the gospel? Of course, we do not travel as Paul was bound to do, but we can see this world metaphorically to mean the worlds of business, medicine, entertainment, construction, education, retail, transportation, etc. All of us believers are involved in some aspect of the world’s ethos. Yet, have we made known our faith and shared about the kingdom of God to all who will listen? Maybe some just will not listen, in fact, they would rather we shut up, and tell us so, but that does not relieve our obligation, as it did not release Paul from his bound duty. He was mistreated by some, rejecting both him and his message. But there were plenty who accepted the good news. It is doubtful we would be mistreated, however, it might be possible we would be rejected, considered a nutjob, a zealot, or even a bit light in the head because we believe in Jesus. So what, we will not stand still, we will not keep quiet, we will not remove ourselves from the culture or this obligation, this being bound to the sacred duty of sharing the good news about the kingdom of God.