“I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:15-16).
It’s a complicated, fully packed two verses.
In the Roman church, the behavior of some Christians is not only a distraction, but a deterrent – keeping others from becoming and being Christians. The task before Paul is the same one given us all by God: to enable others to become acceptable to God. It happens not by any power we might have to make them so, but by the power of God when we lead them into it. They follow us best, and most willingly, when we lead them in a Christ-like way.