Interesting, what means the apostle, calling himself debtor of the Greeks and barbarians, scholars and ignoramuses? It is completely obvious that the antithesis "Greeks - barbarians" is similar to the antithesis "wise - unwise": because in the time of Paul the Greeks were people, as we would say today...
Interesting, what means the apostle, calling himself debtor of the Greeks and barbarians, scholars and ignoramuses? It is completely obvious that the antithesis "Greeks - barbarians" is similar to the antithesis "wise - unwise": because in the time of Paul the Greeks were people, as we would say today, civilized, and thus as was supposed educated, and barbarians were named the inhabitants little introduced to the civilization of the peripheries of the Roman Empire.
Paul himself, according to his words, considers himself debtor of ones as others. In what sense he thus says it? Probably, if it was about the preacher of a new religion, we would have had the right to interpret the words of the apostle as a reflection and the expression of the sense of duty of the preacher, who considers himself obliged to carry the truth of the new religion, the new revelation to everyone, regardless the social status and the level of education. But indeed, Paul has never looked at Christianity as a new religion: for him it was a new revelation, a revelation of the Kingdom, and the new life, the life of this Kingdom revealed through Jesus Christ.
And the apostle himself did not preach about a new religion, but testified about the Kingdom and the One, Who brought it to the world. But indeed, we can testify of it only as much as we live its life, the life that we can receive only as an undeserved gift and a spiritual advance: undeserved gift because we can’t enter the Kingdom by merit and by right but only without having sinned, and a spiritual advance because having receive the life of the Kingdom undeservedly and, according to the words of the apostle, "not by measure", it is also necessary to give it to others "not by measure".
Christianity is not a doctrine, which it is necessary to learn and to which should join those, to whom it has not revealed, but a new life, which we can only share with the neighbor and of which it is absolutely necessary to share. And if we don’t do that, the Kingdom not only will not expand, it will reduced again in size, because it cannot remain immovable, it can either expand, taking more and more new souls and hearts, or narrow, reduce, become less and less noticed in the world, where he remains in every case foreign. And Paul understands perfectly that, having once met with Christ, once having join the life of the Kingdom, he now has to be the witness of the One, with Whom he met, and what he touched. Not because otherwise awaits him punishment, which waits in the not transformed world every debtor, refusing to pay his debt, but because otherwise he will lose what he received. And thus, will also lose himself.
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1:14 To the Greeks and the barbarians - He includes the Romans under the Greeks; so that this division comprises all nations.Both to the wise, and the unwise - For there were unwise even among the Greeks, and wise even among the barbarians.I am a debtor to all - I am bound by my divine mission to preach the gospel to them.