By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
After the resurrection Christ was revealed as the Son of God in power. He gave grace to make sinners righteous and appointed apostles, of whom Paul says here that he is one, so that the apostleship might be granted by the grace of God’s gift and not because the apostles were Jews. They received this authority from God the Father through Christ the Lord, so that as representatives of the Lord they might make his teaching acceptable by signs of power. Unbelieving Jews, who had been jealous of this power when they saw it in the Savior, were all the more tormented at seeing it admired by the masses in his servants. For power bears witness to the teaching, so that although what is preached is incredible to the world, it might be made credible by deeds. He says that the apostles have been sent to preach the faith to all nations, that they might obey and be saved, that the gift of God may appear to have been granted not only to the Jews but to all the nations, and that this is the will of God...
Paul preserves the main point of his case very well, so that no one would dare say that he has been led to the gospel because of the merits of his previous life. How could one claim this, when even the apostles themselves … could not have received their own apostleship unless they had first … received grace, which cleanses and justifies sinners? Rudimentary Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans
By whom, i.e. by this same Jesus Christ, God and man, we, I and the rest of the apostles, have received this grace and apostleship, this mission and commission from him, of preaching his gospel, and teaching his doctrine.
For obedience to the faith in all nations; that is, to bring all nations to the obedience and profession of his new law and doctrine. (Witham)
See the candor of the servant. He wants nothing to be his own but everything to be his master’s. And indeed it was the Spirit who gave him this freedom…. Paul says: “We have not achieved the apostleship by ourselves.” It was not by much labor and toil that we were given this dignity, but we received grace, and the successful result is a part of the heavenly gift…. It was the apostles’ duty to go about and preach, but conviction belonged to God, who worked in them.
See the candor of the servant. He wishes nothing to be his own, but all his Master's. And indeed it was the Spirit that gave this. Wherefore He says, I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth John 16:12: and again, Separate Me Paul and Barnabas. Acts 13:2 And in the Epistle to the Corinthians, he says, that to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge 1 Corinthians 12:8-11; and that It divides all as It wills. And in addressing the Milesians, he says, Over which the Holy Ghost has made you shepherds and overseers. Acts 20:28 You see, he calls the things of the Spirit, the Son's, and the things of the Son, the Spirit's. Grace and Apostleship; that is, it is not we that have achieved for ourselves, that we should become Apostles. For it was not by having toiled much and labored that we had this dignity allotted to us, but we received grace, and th...
60. After commending Christ in his origin and power [n. 28], he now commends him in his generosity, which is shown by the gifts he conferred on believers. And he sets out two gifts [n. 61]. One is common to all believers, namely grace, by which we are restored. We receive this from God through Christ; hence, he says, through whom we believers have received grace; "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (Jn 1:17); and below (5:2): "Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand." For it is fitting that just as all things were made by the Word (Jn 1:3), so by the Word as by the art of God Almighty all things should be restored; as an artisan repairs a house by means of the same art as he built it: "God was pleased to reconcile through him all things, whether on earth or in heaven" (Col 1:20). 61. The other spiritual gift was conferred on the apostles. This he touches on when he says, and apostleship, which is the chief office in the Church: "God has appointed in ...
