1:14 Barbarians. Those who used the Greek languages called anyone who could not use the Greek or Latin (which were considered the languages of cultured people) Barbarians. The term had nothing to do with their intelligence or state of civilization. Both Greeks and Barbarians were Gentiles, of course, following some form of pagan evolutionary atheism or pantheism as their religion, and thus Paul felt he was debtor to both of them. That is, he owed them the gospel of salvation, and he ought to be preaching it to them. The words debtor, owed and ought are all similar in the Greek.