Bible Strands
Romans 1:14
I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The apostle Paul writes to the Christian community in Rome, explaining his repeated but thwarted plans to visit them before initiating a new missionary phase among the Gentiles.
The words — βαρβάροις (barbarois) denotes non-Greeks or cultural outsiders, paired with ἀνοήτοις (anoētois) for the intellectually unrefined or foolish, framing Paul’s audience in stark social categories.
The thread — This universal scope echoes the mandate to carry the name before Gentiles (Acts 9:15), the binding duty to preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:16), and the erasure of ethnic and social divisions in Christ (Colossians 3:11).
Why it lands — The text asserts a non-negotiable duty to engage every cultural and intellectual class, requiring the reader to abandon selective ministry and pursue all people without distinction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 9:16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
- Acts 9:15 “Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.
- Colossians 3:11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
- Acts 22:21 Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
- Acts 26:17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them
- James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.
- Romans 12:16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.
- Isaiah 35:8 And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
- Acts 13:2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
- Romans 1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,