Romans 15:20
Where Christ was not known
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
In this way I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:
and so counting it honor to proclaim good news, not where Christ was named—that on another’s foundation I might not build—
또 내가 그리스도의 이름을 부르는 곳에는 복음을 전하지 않기로 힘썼노니 이는 남의 터 위에 건축하지 아니하려 함이라
참으로 이같이 내가 복음을 선포하고자 애써 왔으되 그리스도의 이름을 부르는 곳에서는 하지 아니하였으니 이것은 내가 다른 사람의 기초 위에 건축하지 아니하려 함이라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Rom 15:14-21 as a whole
The apostle was persuaded that the Roman Christians were filled with a kind and affectionate spirit, as well as with knowledge. He had written to remind them of their duties and their dangers, because God had appointed him the minister of Christ to the Gentiles. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Rom 15:20
Not where Christ had been named - These places he generally declined, though not altogether, having an holy ambition (so the Greek word means) to make the first proclamation of the gospel in places where it was quite unheard of, in spite of all the difficulty and dangers that…
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Paul has just said that from Jerusalem round to Illyricum he has fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ (Romans 15:19). Now he names the rule that shaped the road.
In this way I have aspired to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
Romans 15:20Here the gospel is a verb: εὐαγγελίζεσθαι, the present middle infinitive of , to bring good news. What governs it is a participle of , a word built from "love of honour": to make something one's ambition, the thing one counts it an honour to pursue. Paul uses it only three times. He makes it his aim to please the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:9), he tells the Thessalonians to aspire to live quietly (1 Thessalonians 4:11), and here he aspires to bring the gospel where it has not been.
"Where Christ was not known" renders a phrase that says literally "not where Christ was named", ὠνομάσθη, an aorist passive: places where Christ's name was already known, confessed and called upon. Paul passed those by so as not to build on another's foundation. To the Corinthians he calls himself the one who "laid a foundation as an expert builder" (1 Corinthians 3:10), and the foundation is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).
He backs the rule with Isaiah: "Those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand" (Romans 15:21). The line is Isaiah 52:15, from the same prophecy Paul quoted in 10:15–16 (52:7 and 53:1). He reads his own mission inside the song of the servant in Isaiah 52–53.
The versions handle the verb of ambition differently. The King James Version has "so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named", a word of effort. The BSB's "aspired" catches the sense of a goal. The LSV goes back to the root: "counting it honor to proclaim good news". All three keep the order of the Greek, the striving to preach first and the "not where" after it.
Wesley says that such places Paul "generally declined, though not altogether" Wesley, and finds the reason in "an holy ambition (so the Greek word means)" Wesley: to make the first proclamation where the gospel was unheard of, in spite of every difficulty and danger. Matthew Henry puts it in one line: "He principally sought the good of those that sat in darkness" Matthew Henry.
Rome, of course, was a place where Christ was already named. So Paul speaks of it not as his goal but as a stop "on my way to Spain" (Romans 15:24), where he hopes to give and to receive, so that "you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith" (Romans 1:12). Generally, as Wesley said, not altogether.
There are still places the gospel has not reached, and in this verse a heart turned toward them is what one apostle counted the honour of his life.