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Thessalonica, Athens and Corinth were visited. Then, after another visit to Jerusalem,
the Apostle went to Ephesus, where he spent three years. In our day, when travel is
rendered easy and rapid, we can really only imagine the perils and weariness these
journeyings involved. Look, for instance, at the admission of the Apostle in Corinthians
when speaking of the ministry from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum. He says:
"thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings
often . . . . . in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the
city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in
weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in
cold and nakedness" (II Cor. 11: 25-27).
The word translated "fully preached" in Rom. 15: 19 is pleroo. It will be seen that
there is no word here for "preach", and the same word pleroo has already been used in
verses 13 and 14, where it is translated "fill" in the phrases "fill you with all joy" and
"filled with all knowledge". In 8: 4 it is translated "fulfilled" as it is also in 13: 8. It
is used in Col. 1: 25 of the mystery which "completes the word of God" and in
Col. 4: 17 where the Apostle exhorts Archippus to fulfil his ministry. Inasmuch as the
gospel necessitated a preacher (Rom. 10: 14, 15) the Apostle could not have "fulfilled" or
"completed" it apart from preaching it wherever he went, but the word seems further to
imply that the purpose for which the gospel had been given, the sphere in which it should
be proclaimed, and the period during which it should be preached, had all been
completed. He could contemplate a wider circle, including Rome and Spain, and yet feel
that no charge could be laid against him as to the faithful fulfillment of his office so far as
the regions previously specified were concerned.
This "fulfilling" of the gospel of Christ, would include the epistles that supplemented
his apostolic labours. Did the Apostle learn of the Judaistic attack upon the Galatians?
he immediately sent them a letter. Did he learn of the needs of Thessalonica? he wrote
them an epistle, and upon hearing that they had been troubled regarding the question of
the second coming of the Lord, he wrote a second epistle. So also when tidings were
brought to him of the state of affairs at Corinth; he wrote two letters touching all their
points of dispute and division. He also wrote a word of exhortation to the Hebrews,
wherein he so clearly set forth the fact and the consequences of the one sacrifice of
Christ. And now, before he sets forth for Rome, he writes to the Church there this
wonderful epistle. He had indeed "fulfilled" the gospel and its claims. Having claimed
this high standard of fulfillment, the Apostle draws the saints' attention to another aspect
of his service.
"Yea, so have I striven to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should
build upon another man's foundation" (Rom. 15: 20).
The word "striven" is the translation of an exceedingly interesting Greek word,
philotimeomai, which literally means "to love the honour". While it is not strictly true so
to render the word its content should nevertheless be kept in mind. Like many words, it
had moved away from its primitive meaning, and had come to mean "to be ambitious",
"to study", "to labour" (I Thess. 4: 11; II Cor. 5: 9). It would be impossible for the
Apostle to use a word compounded with phileo, "to love" and time, "honour" without