Blah Blah Blah

Scripture:

^{Romans 1:13} I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. ¹⁴ I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish ¹⁵ —hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Observation:

The continued greeting of Paul is significant in the use of  the term “Adelphoi” — which is translated “brothers and sisters.” While the term is in the masculine form, it is also plural and can even be used for the word “twins.” It has a very familial understanding to it, and of being “beloved.” The overall understanding is that it means brothers and sisters in Christ, because all who have come to Christ are now children of God. Therefore, this language is deeply personal, but also indicative of the barriers which are destroyed in the kingdom of God. 

While he has not been to Rome, Paul is already embracing these brothers and sisters as a part of the spiritual family. Just as we all long to see and fellowship with our family members, so Paul wants to come to Rome. It is in Rome that he looks forward to proclaiming the gospel. For Paul it is not just a proclamation that is the gospel, but the gospel includes on-going discipleship. To reap the harvest is not simply to preach and bring people to Christ but to be engaged in a long-lasting relationship that will draw all of them closer to the Lord. As Edlin and Modine explain, “His ministry was eucharistic: The thought of standing before the Romans and proclaiming the gospel filled Paul with thanksgiving. He felt compelled to thank God for the privilege and obligation to preach the gospel” (NBBC). 

Paul’s ministry reached far beyond the Jews. He reaped a harvest among the Gentiles, but he also mentioned the Greeks and the barbarians. Along with this he added a comment that there were some who were “wise and foolish.”  Society was racist and they had divided people up into categories. The Greco-Romans certainly thought that they belonged at the pinnacle of society. Anyone else was under them. The Jews had their own opinion of who was a Gentile (or pagan). That’s how they would have categorized the Greeks. Along comes another category — the barbarians! The Jews would not have put themselves in this category, but the Romans may have. The word “Non-Greeks” translates the word “barbaros” — from which, you can imagine, we get the English word, “Barbarian.” The Greeks used the word for people they could not understand, or those who could not speak Greek for they thought their speech sound like “blah blah blah” — or “bar-bar” — therefore, they were called “barbarians.” They viewed those who could not speak their language as those who spoke nonsense. 

Paul considers himself a debtor to Greeks and to barbarians. Can you imagine how crazy that sounded? To those that the world would think of as wise, and to those the world would condemn as foolish, Paul was a debtor. Because of his experience with these people, Paul was eager to get to Rome and share with them everything that he had learned along the way. 

Application:

These days there are a lot of people moving from one part of the world to another. I’ve just spent a few days in Spain (where Paul was hoping to eventually minister), and there are people emigrating there from all over the world. We have congregations from Peru, Bolivia and even Ukraine today in Spain. The migration of people is creating a unique situation in which we can embrace one another, or create barriers because we do not understand one another’s language. For some of us, we think of others as “bar bar” — because all we understand is “blah blah blah.” 

We all need to recognize that our language is also “blah blah blah” to someone else. We are barbarians in someone else’s eyes. The enemy would love to use this inability to communicate to divide God’s son’s and daughters — “brothers and sisters.” Everything about Paul’s greeting is about unity in the community of faith. Since the inception of Christianity the enemy has been doing everything in his power to divide the church. We need to open our eyes and ears and recognize that the enemy is at work, and do everything possible to communicate with one another. 

When we receive communication from others and tune out because it sounds like “blah blah blah” — then we are categorizing them as “barbarians” — or something other than a brother or sister in Christ. Taking the time to learn from one another reflects Christ’s humility. Treating those whom we may not understand as brothers and sisters is an embrace of our identity as God’s child. 

The Christian life is to transcend the human-made barriers and divides that we encounter on a daily basis. The reason that Paul had to remain continually in a state of prayer was to overcome those divides and embrace Jews, Greeks, Slaves, Barbarians, men and women — as his siblings in Christ. 

We will encounter those who will treat us as if our words are just “blah blah blah” but may we never be guilty of doing the same to others. We must work hard to communicate and to embrace our brothers and sisters in the Lord. 

Prayer:

Lord, please help me to go the extra mile in relationships with those with whom it may be difficult to communicate. Amen.