The Apostle as Minister to the Gentiles

“... that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace which was given me by the working of his power.” Verses 6-7.

In the Spirit and with power, God brought the Apostle to the realization that the Gentiles were fellow heirs and belonged to the body. He saw in the Spirit how the natural body by the Spirit became set apart as a sacrifice. “A body hast thou prepared for me.” He came to see that the Gentiles had been baptized by one Spirit into one body.

So with zeal he “pressed into the body,” as it were, and became a minister in the priestly service of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles. The Spirit’s work is not merely to baptize into one body; the Spirit’s aim is to gain entrance into our bodies and select the sacrifices. In this work Paul was God’s co-worker; the church itself was God’s field. He ministered the gospel of God as a priest by not keeping his sword from blood. God selected the sacrifice, and the Apostle carried out the ministry of a priest, which was—by word and deed—to lead the Gentiles to obedience. (Romans 15:18.) In order to carry out this priestly ministry, Paul himself had to be tried in those areas where he was to help others. God’s Word had to do a work with him and in him before Paul could help the others in this same work.

The knowledge of the body is a great mystery even in our day; but even more of a mystery is what the sacrifices in the body consist of. Likewise, as great as the ministry of the baptism of the Spirit is, the priestly ministry in the body by the Spirit is even greater.

The glory of our inheritance increases in value as the number of sacrifices increases. The more one sacrifices, the more God-fearing and holy and pure one becomes. Though our body, by the Spirit, has been set apart as one whole sacrifice, there are, nevertheless, many sacrifices within this one body—all of which are harder to offer up than the body as a whole. In this work God needs fellow servants. Paul had a head start on the Gentiles in this matter because, like Jesus, he offered himself up in the power of an eternal Spirit, whereas the Gentiles needed apostolic assistance in making the sacrifices.