Divine Calling and Apostolic Ministry

Boasting in trials and recognizing that trials forge endurance, and endurance—because of this, it was proper for him to be designated for God’s gospel, foreknown to exist and to be set apart from his mother’s womb. He was appointed to the gospel of God not due to any exceptional nature, nor because of superiority over other natures, but because of previously known deeds and later actions born of preparation and apostolic choice. At present, it was not fitting to deliver what is written in the psalm, for it would be digressive; thus, in the divine ordering, it will be given when we recount the psalm—this will be sufficient, even in excess, for the one who is set apart. For God is my witness, whom I serve in spirit through the gospel of his Son, as I continually remember you in my prayers, asking that I might at last come to you by God’s will, for I long to see you. Indeed, someone may come not according to God’s will, just as Balaam went to Balak, cursing Israel for hire; I also believe that every Gentile, or whenever the worship of God is foreign, not ministering to the beneficial holy things for them, does not prosper in God’s purpose to become toward those they approach, even if they thrive temporarily—what does scripture say about the evil prosperity of man? That I may impart to you a spiritual gift to establish you; this is indeed mutual encouragement among you through the faith you share, yours and mine. Regarding a gift that is not spiritual, I consider it necessarily follows: there are non-spiritual gifts, such as marriage, for the spiritual gift can never be hindered by prayer, yet the union of man and woman impedes it. The apostle indicates marriage as a gift when he says, ‘I wish all people were as I am,’ yet each has his own gift from God—one in this manner, another in that. I do not wish you to be unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you and was hindered until now, so that I might bear fruit among you, just as I have among other nations—Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish—and I am a debtor, so that my eagerness and you in Rome may preach the gospel. [But here is a parenthetical remark, which, if ignored, disrupts the sequence; for who would claim Paul was hindered from coming to the Romans in order to bear fruit? On the contrary, if he had not been hindered, he would have borne fruit; but being hindered, he was deprived of it—how then should we read? Often I planned to come to you that I might bear fruit among you, just as I have among other nations, Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, and I was hindered until now; therefore, why was the parenthetical inserted? Because the purpose clause ‘that I may bear fruit’ was about to connect with much—for example, ‘that I also bear fruit among the other nations, Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, I am a debtor, and the following’—so that it would not break continuity. Having inserted ‘I was hindered until now,’ he joined it to the former ‘I planned to come to you’ and the ‘that I may bear fruit,’ thus restoring the discourse’s order.] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of people who suppress the truth in injustice. It also seems to be spoken of as wrath and the servant of those who have sinned laboring, and those under him of the same servants and ministers, as when God’s wrath was set to burn in Israel, when he caused David to rise against them, he commanded Joab to number the people; but the second stands from having sent out their wrath, anger, and tribulation, vengeance through evil angels. But then, those who labor through sin—I hear according to the allotment and unrepentant heart, he stirs up anger within himself on the day of wrath, and the fact that he has reached yet his anger to the end. Regarding these matters, consider whether the things happening to the righteous, when the evil one tempts them, wrath is indeed not from God nor from heaven, but from below somewhere, or from the devil or some of his angels; yet for these, no one plausibly argues that we are to wage war before the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, for these things will appear as those who are angry tearing apart the holy ones and bringing upon them wrath from heaven. Perhaps then there is someone from heaven’s wrath and…