Goodness, Knowledge and Ability | Romans 15:14-15

14I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. 15But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God…

Paul transitions into the end of his letter to the Roman church with a surprising statement. After 14+ chapters of addressing problems in the church such as judgmental people, hypocrisy, gospel misunderstanding, legalism, license, division and weakness of faith; he claims that he is satisfied with them and that they are “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.”

This has commentators scrambling for explanation. One claims this is hyperbole. Another thinks Paul is praising them sarcastically to make his point. Yet another thinks that what Paul really means is that the Roman Christians are relatively good, knowledgeable and able compared to their pagan neighbors.

I think he means just what he says. Here’s why:

I am satisfied about you, my brothers…

This means to be persuaded or convinced (rather than full or complete). Remember, Paul is a church planter, not a local church pastor. And in verse 20 he explains that he is now ready to move on from ministering to the Roman church to “preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named,” but in new areas. He is satisfied that Roman church is ready for him to move on.

That you are full of goodness…

There is a sense in which they already have all the goodness they need, even though Paul had to write “very boldly by way of reminder” on some points.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 explains that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” A Christian isn’t a member of a self-improvement club. A Christian is a new creation, and when God creates something, it is good (Genesis 1). In this sense, as Christians we do not need to become better people. We need to live in light of the fact that we are “full of goodness” as God’s new creatures.

Yet local churches do not always look as though they are full of good people. There are a couple of reasons for this. For one thing, not everyone involved with church is a Christian. Jesus says the church is like a wheat field in which an enemy planted tares. He won’t sort out the wheat from the tares until he returns. So both wheat (Christians) and tares (non-Christians) grow together in the church, and you can’t always tell which is which.

Another reason Christians don’t seem like they’re full of goodness is that sanctification is progressive. In other words, the process by which Christians grow to live like Jesus progresses over time. So a church will have baby Christians who still look a lot like the world alongside mature Christians who look more like Jesus, but are still imperfect in practice.

…filled with all knowledge…

Similarly, as Christians, we already have all the knowledge we need. We have the good news of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to lead us to all truth. This is why when Paul came preaching to the Corinthian church, he did not use lofty speech or wisdom. Rather, he decided to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

This is not to say that learning is evil. God equips the church with preachers and teachers for a reason. It does mean that if you are a Christian struggling to live the Christian life and actively minister as part of the church, it’s not because you don’t know enough. Paul didn’t even have the New Testament! Yet we, with Bibles and commentaries and smart phones and Google are often fruitless in ministry. Our fruitlessness in ministry isn’t caused by lack of access to knowledge.

Yes, we should learn. But more importantly, we need to live in light of the knowledge we’ve already been given in Jesus Christ.

…and able to instruct one another…

I’ve been reading Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. They advocate a less institutional way of being the church that requires all Christians to minister to one another. And guess what. They’ve found Romans 15:14 to be true. Normal Christians are able to instruct (admonish, positively affect the thinking of another toward Christ) one another.

Conclusion

Often people ask me, “How’s the church doing?” This is a nearly impossible question to answer because a church isn’t a thing, but a tangled web of highly complex people and relationships. We have roughly 120 people associated with Dulin’s Grove, which means there are roughly 120 answers to “how’s the church doing?” Some are moving forward as disciples, others remain stagnant and grow harder toward the gospel every week. Some are repenting and turning from sin, others are wrestling and losing hope. There are thousands of small things going on in the church that are great and thousands of small things that are bad.

But in all the chaos and complexity of our church, I think Paul would look at Dulin’s Grove and say, “I am satisfied about you, my brothers.” Not because we have it all together; but because those of us in Jesus are “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.”

Discussion Starters

1. Do you think Paul really means what he says in verse 14? Why or why not?
2. What does it mean for Christians to be “full of goodness?” (See 2 Romans 6:1-14 and Corinthians 5:16-21 for clues)
3. What does it mean for Christians to be “filled with all knowledge?” (See 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; 8:1 and 2 Timothy 3:7 for clues)
4. What does it mean for Christians to be “able to instruct one another?” (See 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 for clues)
5. If the Roman Christians were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another, why did Paul have to write “very boldly” on some points (verse 15)?
6. How’s your church doing?