“...through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations…” (Romans 1:5)
“The words ‘for His name’s sake,’ which NIV places at the beginning of Romans 1:5, actually come at the end of the Greek sentence and so form something of a climax.
Why did Paul desire to bring the nations to the obedience of faith? It was for the sake of the glory and honour of Christ’s name. For God had ‘exalted Him to the highest place’ and had given Him ‘the name that is above every name’, in order that ‘at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord’.
If, therefore, God desires every knee to bow to Jesus and every tongue to confess Him, so should we. We should be ‘jealous’ (as Scripture sometimes puts it) for the honour of His name— troubled when it remains unknown, hurt when it is ignored, indignant when it is blasphemed, and all the time anxious and determined that it shall be given the honour and glory which are due to it.
The highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God, Romans 1:18), but rather zeal —burning and passionate zeal— for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Some evangelism, to be sure, is no better than a thinly disguised form of imperialism, whenever our real ambition is for the honour of our nation, church, organization, or ourselves. Only one imperialism is Christian, however, and that is concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ, and for the glory of His empire or kingdom.
The earliest Christians, John tells us, went out ‘for the sake of the Name’. He does not even specify to which name he is referring. But we know. And Paul tells us. It is the incomparable name of Jesus.
Before this supreme goal of the Christian mission, all unworthy motives wither and die.”
–John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 53. Stott is commenting on Romans 1:1-7.
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