Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 1:14

"I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." — Romans 1:14 (ASV)

Why is the Apostle so eager to come to them? Because an obligation, a duty, is laid upon him. (Compare to 1 Corinthians 9:16, necessity is laid upon me.) He must preach the gospel to people of all classes and languages; Rome itself is no exception.

To the Greeks, and to the Barbarians.—The Apostle does not intend to place the Romans any more in the one class than in the other. He merely means “to all mankind, no matter what their nationality or culture.” The classification is exhaustive. It must be remembered that the Greeks called all who did not speak their own language “Barbarians,” and the Apostle, writing from Greece, adopts their point of view.

Wise and foolish.—(Compare to 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 1:26–28.) The gospel was at first most readily received by the poor and unlearned, but it did not therefore follow that culture and education were by any means excluded. St. Paul himself was a conspicuous instance to the contrary. And so, in the next century, the Church which began with such leaders as Ignatius and Polycarp, could number among its members before the century was out, Irenæus, and Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria, and Hippolytus, and Origen—the last, the most learned man of his time.