I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. Romans 1:14
I have heard stories of how the late Gospel preacher Albert Ramsay used to conduct impromptu open-air meetings. As he was walking along a street where there were many people, he would stop at a convenient spot, take off his hat, sing a verse of a Gospel hymn, and begin preaching. I have not heard of many others who would do such a bold thing. Certainly none lately. In sharp contrast, I also heard one time from a Christian who was handing out Gospel tracts to the passengers on board a ship on which he was travelling, when a man berated harshly him for sharing the Gospel with people who were not destined to be saved. What an incredible difference in Gospel outreach attitudes! What made the difference? I believe Brother Albert understood the meaning of today’s text.
Paul speaks here of being a debtor. Just like us, he understood his great debt to God and to the Lord Jesus. He would joyfully have joined us in singing August Toplady’s lovely hymn ‘A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing'(BHB #7). But in our text, Paul is speaking of a different debt, one that he owes to the Greeks, the Barbarians, the wise, and the unwise. How did he get to owe these people a debt? It is actually a part of the debt that he owed the Lord. He accrued that debt on the day he was saved, when he asked the great question: ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ Saul of Tarsus asked that question in all sincerity, knowing that he could never return to his former life bound up in the practice of the religion of Judaism or to the persecution of the saints. And he spent the rest of his life discharging that debt, allowing the Lord to lead him through shipwrecks, beatings, amazing adventures, and encountering incredible obstacles and victories, as he took the Gospel to as many people as he could.
We owe the same debt as Paul did. Our debt to Christ includes the submission to His great commission to take the Gospel to every creature. We discharge that debt by living a Christ-like life before those around us, by allowing the Lord to lead us to witness as we can as He gives us opportunity, and to support those who preach the Gospel to those in our own land and in lands afar. Just as Paul witnessed to Greeks and Barbarians, the wise and unwise, so we are to witness to the intelligent and the unlearned, to those with some familiarity with the Bible and to those to whom the Scriptures are an unknown, to those who will listen to us and to those who will reject and mock us.
No, we will not become as scarred as Paul’s body was in discharging his debt. God has not called us to that. But He has given us a debt to discharge, to Himself, and to those in our world who He wants to save. -Jim MacIntosh