¹³ But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ¹⁴ if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.

Passion drove Paul, not arrogance. When he wrote of magnifying his ministry, it was not an expression of vainglory, like a politician trying to pad his resume in order to get elected. We must not misunderstand Paul’s method of motivation.

To be sure, at times the inspired apostle used faux boasting to show how ridiculous boasting is. For example, see 2 Corinthians 11:1, 16-33, where he wants to show the foolishness of the false apostles whom he calls deceitful workers (2 Cor 11:13). He says there, “[L]et no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting…” (1 Cor 11:16-17). A detailed study of this goes beyond the scope of this short devotional. Essentially, he used boasting with the Corinthians to show them how foolish boasting is.

But that is not what Paul is doing here in Romans 11. He wants to enlarge his ministry in the eyes of the Jews, to influence their opinion of him and his ministry (see “Greek-English Lexicon of the NT” by BDAG). God made it clear early on that his ministry was not primarily among the Jews. On the surface, one would think Paul was eminently qualified, more than the largely uneducated apostles from Galilee, to preach the Word to the Jewish elite, high priests, and especially the Pharisees (see Phil 3:4-6). Yet God, in His infinite and often ironic wisdom, chose Peter and the others to reach out to the Jews, and Paul to reach out to the Gentiles (Gal 1:16, 2:7-8; Acts 9:15, 22:21). Yet in all his writings, he clearly seems to have his fellow Jews in mind, as he does here in the book of Romans.

Not being disobedient to the Lord’s call on his life to focus on the Gentiles, yet also having a deep desire for Jews to be saved (Roman 9:1-4, 10:1), Paul sees his ministry to the Gentiles ultimately as a means to reach the Jews. If he can’t pour himself fully and directly into reaching the Jews, then he will do the next best thing (from a human perspective). He will make the most of his ministry for the maximum benefit of Gentiles as well as to provoke Jews to seek the Lord. That is the wisdom of God, and at some point in future history Israel will return to God in the end times.

Lord, magnify my ministry, enlarge my borders (1 Chron 4:10), that You might bless others through me. Increase my fruitfulness for Your glory.