in mind of what they already knew,
because of the priestly commission on behalf of his Lord towards all
the Gentiles, which the divine grace has bestowed upon him as apostle
of the Gentiles. The gospel entrusted to him requires him as a priest
to prepare and offer sacrifice; and the sacrifice which he is to
prepare, which the consecration of the indwelling Spirit alone can make
acceptable, is that of the whole Gentile world. The extent to which
this great charge laid upon him has been fulfilled, gives him good
reason for {172} boasting as he stands before God--not in himself, but
in Christ Jesus. His work has been a pioneer's work. He has made it
his ambition purely to lay foundations. Taking words of Isaiah[1] for
his motto, he had resolved to go nowhere where any other had been
before him to make Christ known. But in that free and open area of a
yet unevangelized world, Christ had worked through him to bring the
Gentiles to His obedience, and had accompanied his preaching with
evidences of miraculous power and with the strong manifestations of the
Spirit. So that in the result the work of proclaiming the gospel had
been accomplished, starting from Jerusalem, in an extending circuit[2]
or irregular progress, as far as Illyria.

This world-wide mission would give St. Paul his title to visit Rome[3].
But its very greatness has hitherto hindered him. Now however he is
hoping to satisfy the desire that has so long possessed him, and to pay
them a visit of some length on his way to Spain. That is to say, he
hopes to come to them when the task is over {173} which is immediately
occupying him. The good will of the churches in Macedonia and Achaia
has shown itself in a collection of money for the poor Christians at
Jerusalem. This is really the payment of a debt to those to whom they
owe their fellowship in Christ's salvation. When then St. Paul has
handed over this collection, and secured to its recipients this fruit
of his mission, he hopes to pass to Spain by way of Rome; and again, as
in his introduction[4], he expresses his confidence that at Rome, as
elsewhere, the fullness of the rich gifts of Christ will accompany his
coming.

Meanwhile he makes his urgent request, by their allegiance to Christ
and their fellowship in the spirit of love, that they will join with
him in wrestling with God in prayer for the success of his present
undertaking--that he may escape the danger to which he is exposed from
the hos