Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 15:1
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Ch. Rom 15:1-7. The same subject: the Lord’s example in the matter
1. We then, &c.] This chapter and the next have been suspected and discussed by some foreign critics, as either ( a) out of place written by St Paul, but not originally for Roman Christians; or ( b) as being, in whole or part, later additions to the Epistle. It is not too much to say of these theories, (as Meyer says of one of them, in his long prefatory note to this chapter), that “they result from assumptions and combinations which are either purely arbitrary, or lack, in the exposition of details, all solid ground and support.” The connexions of thought between cch. 14 and 15, and between passage and passage to the close of the Epistle, are either so obviously or so minutely natural, that the most difficult of all literary theories is that which accounts for them by designing imitation or accidental addition. Such things, seventeen or eighteen centuries ago, not to speak of the present day, were practically sure to betray themselves by manifest and startling incongruities. See further, Introduction, ii. 3.
We then that are strong ] Lit. We then [that are] the able. The word rendered “able” is the same word as that rendered “mighty” in E. V. of e.g. Luk 24:19; Act 18:24; 1Co 1:26; and “strong” in E. V. of 2Co 12:10. It seems to convey the thought of strength and something more; the resources and opportunities of strength. Able thus best represents it. Bp Lightfoot (on Php 2:15) suggests that it may have been a favourite title for themselves amongst the persons here contemplated; and so that there is irony in its use here. “ Then: ” lit. but, or now. The word marks an added fact or argument. The connexion of thought with the close of ch. 14 is manifest.
ought ] We owe it to Him who has set us free.
to bear ] Lit. to carry; i.e. as a burthen, a trial, which needs patience. Same word as Rev 2:2-3.
the weak ] Lit. the unable; in contrast to “the able” just above. Same word as Act 14:8, (E. V. “impotent.”)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
We then that are strong – The apostle resumes the subject of the preceding chapter; and continues the exhortation to brotherly love and mutual kindness and forbearance. By the strong here he means the strong in faith in respect to the matters under discussion; those whose minds were free from doubts and perplexities. His own mind was free from doubt, and there were many others, particularly of the Gentile converts, that had the same views. But many also, particularly of the Jewish converts, had many doubts and scruples.
Ought to bear – This word bear properly means to lift up, to bear away, to remove. But here it is used in a larger sense; to bear with, to be indulgent to, to endure patiently, not to contend with; Gal 6:2; Rev 2:2, Thou canst not bear them that are evil.
And not to please ourselves – Not to make it our main object to gratify our own wills. We should be willing to deny ourselves, if by it we may promote the happiness of others. This refers particularly to opinions about meats and drinks; but it may be applied to Christian conduct generally, as denoting that we are not to make our own happiness or gratification the standard of our conduct, but are to seek the welfare of others; see the example of Paul, 1Co 9:19, 1Co 9:22; see also Phi 2:4; 1Co 13:5, Love seeketh not her own; 1Co 10:24, Let no man seek his own, but every man anothers wealth; also Mat 16:24.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rom 15:1-3
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.
The weak and the strong
This noble aphorism contains the highest philosophy and the purest religion. We have here–
I. The principle of association. How much has this come to the fore! We have Life, Fire, and Co-operative Associations. Men begin to see the advantages of these things, and we should not forget that it was Christianity which gave the key-note to their existence. But Paul goes further. He would have the whole world one vast co-operative association–men and women associating in all things, and remembering that they are members of one great family, and acting as such.
II. The law of assistance. This would be a poor world if we were not to lend a helping hand one to another; the strong man is to bear the infirmities of the weak. He is to do so by advice, by bestowing alms, by giving encouragement, by kindly help. How highly does our Lord praise those who helped others (see parable of Good Samaritan), and Himself set us the example.
III. The law of equalisation. The inhabitants of this world are diverse; they differ in character, appearance, and position. The law of our text teaches the rich to help the poor, the strong the weak, and so adjust the inequalities of life. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The duty of the strong to the weak
The context suggests–
1. That conscientiousness has respect often to very unimportant matters. Some Christians in Rome had a conscientious belief concerning diet. There have always been men in the Church who have made a conscience of trifles.
2. That the conscientiousness of one man is no rule for the conduct of another. Because one man in the Church exalts trifles, whilst respecting his sincerity, I am not bound to follow his example.
3. That conscientiousness directed to unimportant matters indicates great weakness of character. Men who attach importance to trifles Paul regards as weak men. Now what is the duty of strong men to such? Not to despise and denounce them; to force them to renounce their trivialities nor to grant them a mere toleration; but to bear their infirmities. This is a duty–
I. Not very pleasant to self. The language seems to imply that it would be more pleasant to detach ones self altogether from such. Nothing is more irritating to strong men than the twaddlings of little souls. But Paul says, notwithstanding the disagreeableness of it, you must come down to their little world, and be loving and magnanimous. Dont kick at their toys, but show them something better. The most painful thing is that they regard themselves as strong, and that in proportion to their very feebleness is their insolence. If they confessed their weakness there would be some pleasure in bearing their infirmities.
II. Truly gratifying to the weak (Rom 15:2).
1. The weak man, by this treatment, is gratified by the reception of good. The breath of a nobler spirit upon him has dispersed in some measure the fumes about his soul, broadened his horizon, and touched him into a fresher life. He is pleased because his moral circulation is quickened, and he feels himself a stronger man.
2. The good he has received is through his edification. Not through flattering his prejudices, but by indoctrinating his soul with higher truths.
III. Pre-eminently Christlike (Rom 15:3). To bear the infirmities of others Christ sacrificed Himself. How Christ bore with His disciples (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The duty of the strong to the weak
Christians are a band of pilgrims from the city of Destruction to the Jerusalem above. Though none are in perfect health–none without some burden, yet some are comparatively healthy, strong and unencumbered; others are weak and sickly, and very heavy laden. The former class are not to form themselves into a separate band, and push forward, regardless of what may become of their less fortunate brethren, leaving them to follow as they may. No, they are to remain what the Lord of the pilgrims made them, one society–a band of brothers. The strong and unencumbered are to help forward the weak and burdened. They are not, indeed, in order that the whole company may appear alike, to pretend that they also are weak and heavy laden; still less, if possible, are they voluntarily to reduce themselves in these respects to a level with their brethren; but they are patiently to submit to such inconveniences as arise out of their connection with such companions, and while using every means to have their diseases cured, and their strength increased, and their burdens removed or lessened, they must not at present attempt to make them move faster than they are able, as that would be likely to produce stumbling and falling. How happy would it have been, how happy would it be, if all the weak were treated by the strong as Feeblemind in the Pilgrims Progress, says he was treated by his brethren: Indeed, I have found much relief from pilgrims, though none was willing to go so softly as I am forced to do; yet still as they came on, they bid me be of good cheer, and said that it was the will of the Lord that comfort should be given to the feeble minded, and so went on their own pace. (J. Brown, D.D.)
The strong to bear with the weak
I. There are three stages of development in human life and society.
(1) That in which men regulate their life by rules. Such things you may do, and such things you may not do.
(2) The higher life of principle, when men open up a consideration of the reasons of the why you shall do so or not do so.
(3) The higher development is reached when to rules and principles is added intuition, the flash by which men discover right and wrong by their harmony or their discord with their own moral faculties.
2. As men go up, along the scale, they change gradually; and men that during all the early part of their life have been subject to rules, begin to substitute their own intelligence for them. A little child is told, No, you must not go there. When, however, the child comes to be fourteen or fifteen years of age, we no longer say, You shall not do this or that thing; but You must study the peace of the family; or, You must see to it that you do nothing to interfere with health. Instead of having practical rules, he begins to have principles by which to guide himself. Note–
I. The dangers incident to this development.
1. Christians who are on the lower plane–where they act from rules–are strongly inclined to believe that those who go higher and act from principles are acting from lawlessness, because they are not acting from considerations once in force. Hence, religious development may seem deterioration. A conscientious idolator, e.g., cannot dissociate religion from the use of superstitious observances; and if a native near to such an one forsakes the god of his father, and turns to Jehovah, the convert may seem as if he was abandoning all religion. He is abandoning the only religion that this heathen man knows anything about. And I can understand how to an honest Romanist, when one neither will tell his beads, nor respect holy hours, nor accept the voice of the priest, it should seem as if he abandoned all religion.
2. On the other hand, while there are dangers of this kind to those who are left behind, there are many dangers incident to those who go up; and it was to those especially that the apostle wrote. And this is not so strange after all.
(1) We know that sudden changes, e.g., from barbarism to civilisation do not prove beneficial to adults. If you take a Chinaman, twenty-five or thirty years old, and bring him into New York, he becomes a kind of neuter. He is neither a good Chinaman nor a good American. As a tree transplanted, and shorn of roots below, and of branches above, is slow to regain itself, and perhaps never will make its old top again, so it is with human transplantation.
(2) Among civilised men sudden violent changes, e.g., from great poverty to great wealth, are not beneficial.
(3) Sudden and violent moral changes carry their dangers, too. There are men who have trained their consciences all their life long to believe that right or wrong consisted in the performance of certain duties. But by and by it was made known to them that being a Christian depends on love, and not on a certain routine; and that the law is the law of freedom. And this is a new liberty; and new liberty stands very close on to old license. And men who begin to feel their freedom are like birds that have been long in a cage, and do not know what they can do with their wings, and fly to where they are quickly seized by the hawk. With this sense of intoxication comes a certain contempt for the old state. When a bean comes up it brings up its first two leaves with it–great thick covers, full of nutriment, to supply the stem until it begins to develop other leaves, and to supply itself. Now suppose the bean, looking down, should say contemptuously, What a great clumsy stiff leaf that is down there! See how fine, how delicate the blossoms are that I am having up here–why the whole of this up here came from that down there. And yet, how many persons, as they are developing into a higher religious life, feel, as the first-fruits of their spiritual liberty, contempt for their past selves, and for other people who are in that state from which they have just emerged! Then comes almost spontaneously the air of superiority; and then the judging men, not by comparing their conduct with their views of duty, but by comparing their conduct with your views of duty–which is the unfairest thing you can do to a man. In other words, dictation and despotism are very apt to go, with arrogant natures, from a lower stage to a higher one.
II. The apostles prescription for this state. Superiority, he tells us, gives no right to arrogate authority. Because I am an architect, or a statesman, or in any direction God has given me eminent gifts, and culture to develop them, I have no right of authority over others. Leadership does not go with these relative superior-tries; but responsibility does. We, then, that are strong ought not to please ourselves–which is generally considered the supreme business of a man! When a man has acquired money and education, he makes it his business to render himself happy. He fills his mansion with luxuries, that he may not be mixed up with the noisy affairs of life. But, says the apostle, ye that are strong have no right to do any such thing. You ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. All human trouble ought to roll itself on to the broadest, not on the feeblest, shoulders. Rich men are to bear the infirmities of the poor. If a rough and coarse man meets a fine man, and the question between them is as to which shall give preference to the other, the man that is highest up is to be the servant of the man that is lowest down. Everywhere this is the law. Let every one please his neighbour. What! are we to be mere pleasure-mongers? No; Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification–please him in that sense which shall make a better man of him. As a watchmaker never can see a watch that is out of order that he does not feel instinctively impelled to take hold of it and put it in order, so I feel like putting my hand on a man that is too small, and making him large. Paul says that you must not do it rudely, authoritatively, but that you must please him. And there is more–For even Christ pleased not Himself, etc. Well, that is a hard task; and therefore the apostle adds, Now the God of patience, etc.
1. If this seems impossible to any of you, if it even seems romantic and fanciful, I reply that you see it every day. Not in business or in politics. But go where father and mother have a little commonwealth of their own, and where the children are, and see if the wisest and the strongest and the best are not absolutely the servants of the poorest and the weakest. Now, if you can do it in the family, you can do it out of the family.
2. If this be so, we see the application of it to those who are set free, by larger thinking, from the narrow dogmas of the past. What is the evidence of your superiority? Every change of latitude, as you pass towards the equator from the poles, is marked, not by the thermometer, but by the garden and the orchard; and I know that I am going toward the equator, not so much by what the navigator tells me as by what the sun tells me. The evidence of going up in the moral scale is not that you dissent from your old dogmas, and have rejected your ordinances, and given wide berth to your Churches. If you have gone higher up, let us see that development in you of a true Christian life which shall show that you are higher. What use is your freedom of thought, if with that freedom you do not get half as many virtues as men who have not the freedom of thought?
3. Those who have risen above others are not at liberty to divide themselves from those with whom they are not in sympathy. To bring the matter right home, you are frugal, and your brother is a spendthrift. You take the air of superiority, and talk about him, and say, William is a sorry dog. He never could keep anything. And the implication of it is, I am different. But the apostle says, Are you superior to him because you are frugal? Then you are to bear with his spendthriftness. I put on you the responsibility of taking care of him. You are to bear with him; and you are to do it not for your own pleasure, nor for his mere pleasure, but for his pleasure to edification, that Christ may save his soul. Here is a man that says of his neighbour, He is an exacting, arrogant, brute creature. Yes, but Christ died for him, as He died for you; that hard man is your brother; and you are to seek his pleasure to edification. If there is either that ought to serve the other, it is the good man. That is what you do. Good men pay the taxes of bad men. Patriotic men pay the war bills of unpatriotic men. The good bear up the bad, and are their subjects.
4. There is an application, also, to the various sects. A Church is nothing but a multitude of families. All you want is, that those that are purest, those that are orthodox, shall bear with those that are not orthodox. You must go down and serve those that have a poor worship. The higher must serve the lower. (H. W. Beecher.)
The conduct of the strong towards the weak
I. Defined.
1. We must bear with their infirmities.
2. This will require the sacrifice of our own will to please others.
3. But the end is their edification.
II. Enforced.
1. By the example of Christ.
2. Who sacrificed Himself.
3. And bore our infirmities. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Bearing the infirmities of the weak
Not very long ago a valued friend requested me to visit a young woman, lodging in an alley in Holborn, who was dying of the most painful of all diseases. The small room was delicately clean and neat; and on the little table stood a jar adorned with a few country flowers, the offering of an early friend. By the bedside stood a pale young woman, with a gentle and sympathising countenance, smoothing the sufferers pillow. It was scarcely whiter than her face; the mouth and chin of which were covered by a cambric handkerchief, to veil the ravages which her terrible disease had made. After a few inquiries of the nurse, I spoke a little to the sufferer; and then remembering that it must seem so easy for one in comparative health to speak to her of the goodness of God, but how much harder it must be for her to believe it, lying there, hour after hour, in anguish, which suffered her scarcely to sleep by night or by day, increasing during the thirteen months past, and leaving no hope of alleviation in the future but by death, I thought it best to tell her all that was passing in my mind. And then I added, If you can believe that the blessed Saviour, who, when He was on earth, healed all manner of disease with a touch or a word, and who has the same healing power now, yet withholds it from you, does so from some infinitely wise and loving reason, it would do me good to know it. If it be so, will you just lift up your finger in assent? She raised her pale, transparent hand, and waved it over her head with an expression in her sunken eyes which almost glorified her face. I could not help saying to her, when I could command my voice enough to speak, I believe that one wave of your hand gives more honour to your Saviour in the sight of all the angels of heaven, than whole years of any little services which He might permit me to render Him, in comparative health and ease; because your faith is so much more severely tried. It seemed a new and delightful thought to her, that patience having its perfect work, would glorify her Saviour. She had just meekly borne, because it was His will. The tears gathered in her eyes, and she made sign for her slate, and wrote upon it, This makes me so happy. How wonderful and how kind, if He will make glory for Himself out of such a poor creature as me! Soon after she added, He has taught me to say of Him, My Beloved is mine, and I am His. He has forgiven all my sins. He loves me freely. He fills me with peace and joy in believing. When her companion came downstairs, I asked her if she tried to go out for a little fresh air sometimes, and had any one to relieve her occasionally of the nursing by night. She said, I take a turn in the alley to get a little fresh air now and then; but I should not like to leave her for many minutes, nor to be sleeping much, while she is suffering. Is she your sister? I inquired. No, maam, we are no relations, was her answer; we were fellow-servants together at an hotel in the West End. And once, when I was ill, she nursed me very kindly; so when this terrible illness came on her, I could not let her leave her place alone to go among strangers–for shes an orphan; so I left with her. And may I venture to ask, how are you both supported? She had saved a good bit, which lasted some time; and now I have still some left of my own savings whilst I was a housemaid. A housemaid! a queen! I thought to myself, and could have laid down my hand for her to walk over, and felt it honoured by her touch. That woman of a royal heart sent me through London that day feeling the whole world better, because I had met with such an instance of disinterested, self-sacrificing love. One word revealed its inner secret. We are as good as sisters, she said; we both know that our Saviour loves us, and we love Him, and want to love Him better. (English Hearts and English Hands.)
Bearing the infirmities of the weak
1. In the grouping of nature dissimilar things are brought together, and by serving each others wants and furnishing the complement to each others beauty, present a whole more perfect than the sum of all the parts. The several kingdoms of nature are not like our political empires, enclosed with jealous boundaries. They form an indissoluble economy; the mineral sub-doing itself with a basis for the organic, the vegetable supporting the animal, the vital culminating in the spiritual; weak things clinging to the strong, as moss to the oaks trunk, and the insect to its leaf; death acting as the purveyor of life and life playing the sexton to death. Mutual service in endless gradation is clearly the worlds great law.
2. In the natural grouping of human life the same rule is found. A family is a combination of opposites; the woman depending on the man, whose very strength, however, exists only by her weakness; the child hanging on the parent, whose power were no blessing were it not compelled to stoop in gentleness; the brother protecting the sister, whose affections would have but half their wealth, were they not brought to lean upon him in trustful pride; and even among seeming equals, the impetuous quieted by the thoughtful, and the timid finding shelter with the brave.
3. This principle distinguishes natural society from artificial association. The assortment of civilisation unites all elements that are alike and separates the unlike. Instead of throwing men into harmonious groups it analyses them into distinct classes. Life is passed in the presence not of unequals but of equals. Only those who of the same sect, rank, or party and are found in the same society. Not that this is entirely evil. To live among our equals teaches self-reliance and self-restraint, and enforces a respect for others rights, and a vigilant guardianship of our own. But while it invigorates the energies of purpose it is apt to blight the higher graces of the mind; and in confirming the moralities of the will to impair the devoutness of the affections. A man among his equals is like a schoolboy at his play, whose eager voice, disputatious claim, defiance of wrong, and derision of the feeble, betray that self-will is wide awake and pity lulled to sleep. But see the same child in his home, and the deferential look, the hand of generous help, show how with beings above and beneath him he can forget himself in gentle thoughts and quiet reference. And so it is with us all. The world is not given to us as a playground or a school alone, where we may learn to fight our way upon our own level; but as a domestic system, surrounding us with weaker souls for our hand to succour, and stronger ones for our hearts to serve.
4. The faith of Christ throws together the unlike ingredients which civilisation had sifted out from one another. Every true Church represents the unity which the world had dissolved. The moment a man becomes a disciple his exclusive self-reliance vanishes. He trusts another than himself; he loves a better spirit than his own; and while living in what is human aspires to what is Divine. And in this new opening of a world above him a fresh light comes down upon the world beneath him. Aspiration and pity rush into his heart from opposite directions. If there were no ranks of souls within our view; if all were upon a platform of republican equality, no royalty of goodness and no slavery of sin; if nothing great subdued us to allegiance, and nothing sad and shameful roused us to compassion, I believe that all Divine truth would remain inaccessible and our existence be reduced to that of intelligent and amiable animals.
5. A great Roman poet and philosopher was fond of defining religion as a reverence for inferior beings: and if this does not express its nature it designates one of its effects. True there could be no reverence for lower natures were there not to begin with the recognition of a Supreme Mind; but from that moment we certainly look on all beneath with a different eye. It becomes an object, not of pity and protection only, but of sacred respect; and our sympathy, which had been that of a humane fellow-creature, is converted into the deferential help of a devout worker of Gods will. And so the loving service of the weak and wanting is an essential part of the discipline of the Christian life. Some habitual association with the poor, the dependent, the sorrowful, is an indispensable source of the highest elements of character. If we are faithful to the obligations which such contact with infirmity must bring, it will make us descend into healthful depths of sorrowful affection which else we should never reach. Yea, and if we are unfaithful to our trust; if sorrows fall on some poor dependent charge, from which it was our broken purpose to shield his head, still it is good that we have known him. Had we hurt a superior, we should have expected punishment; had we offended an equal, we should have looked for his displeasure; and these things once endured the crisis would have been past. But to have injured the weak, who must be dumb before us, and look up with only the lines of grief which we have traced, this strikes an awful anguish into our hearts. For the weak, the child, the outcast, they that have none to help them, raise up an Infinite Protector on their side, and by their very wretchedness sustain the faith of justice ever on the throne. (J. Martineau, LL.D.)
The survival of the weak
The text is a curt statement of one of those revolutionary principles which lean back upon the example and teaching of Christ. No rule of living is more familiar than that we must be ready to deny ourselves in a lesser to gain some greater good. But the rule of the text, in many quarters, came upon the world as an utter novelty. In some languages the very word unselfishness is wanting, and philanthropy in its deeper channels is unknown, even among the most cultivated classes who know not Christ.
I. This is not law in the brute creation.
1. Beneath man all life is engaged in a fierce struggle for existence. Each is bent on his own profit. The strong look out for themselves. The weak go to the wall. If the fittest do not always survive, the most cunning and the strongest do. The infirm are preyed upon or left mercilessly to perish.
2. An exception is found in the generous instinct of motherhood, but for which most animal races would become extinct. Another exception is afforded by the domestic animals. The dog will risk his life in his masters service, and die of a broken heart when he is dead. But once left to roam, these animals also seem to abandon themselves to the brute principle of utter selfishness.
II. The law of the brute creation predominates largely among men where the power of the gospel is not felt.
1. Human life is also a struggle for existence. Man, too, like the brute, is forced to be continually at work to keep off hunger, disease, and death. In the rush for fame and success the strong trample upon the feeling of the weak and increase their own strength by preying upon their infirmities.
2. Out of this root have come all despotisms, servitudes, and inhumanities. It is the human way to enforce the brutal principle of surviving by the sufferings and humiliations of the weak. Wars have for the most part grown out of the determination to exalt ones self by the losses of another. If a nation was weak, a stronger one would do in about the same way what the fierce king of the forest does with the passing gazelle. All slavery was for the most part in the first instance the outcome of the principle which the text tears to shreds. It is not so long ago that tortures were applied to the weak on rack and in cell, which could yield no profit except to the morbid appetite of the strong.
3. The spirit is not extinct. The refinement of the methods by which strength makes merchandise of the weaknesses of the infirm may cover up the brutality of the instinct, but does not change it.
III. The gospel has announced another law of life for man. Here love and not force is supreme. Here no man liveth unto himself.
1. The struggle for self-existence goes on. The effort to survive is pressed. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure. Work out your own salvation. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, etc. The obligation to help ourselves loses none of its emphasis. But with self-care is coupled concern for others, and those two draw the chariot of a regenerated life to the highest attainment and to the approval of God. The Christian law summons each to afford to others the most opportunity for the development of their faculties.
2. The world utters often a motto which is good as far as it goes. It is a great advance upon brutehood–Live and let live. But behind this half-truth selfishness may hide itself. Live and help others to live is the motto of the gospel. Look out for Number One is a favourite maxim of the street, which, pushed alone, is the brutal principle in full sway. Do good unto all men is a maxim coming from a different atmosphere.
3. A chief test of Christian civilisation is the consideration with which the strong regard the infirmities of the weak. The home for the aged, the hospital, the refuge, etc., are the glory of our civilisation, as the brothels, the gambling dens, the saloons, etc., are its disgrace, but not its despair; for so long as the Cross lifts high its spectacle of mercy, the principle that the strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak will go among men like a stream of waters, pure as crystal. Our literature bears witness to the infusion of this human principle. The Song of the Shirt has a large circle of sympathetic readers. Lowells Sir Launfal and a thousand other poems have their interest from the Christly spirit of regard for the weaknesses of others which they magnify. We read, as indicative of a great heart, the incident of Luther, who, instead of joining in the chase, caught the hunted hare and hid it under his cloak, because the chase reminded him of the way in which Satan hunts for souls. And we step aside from his widely known deeds to the incident in Mr. Lincolns life when, on his way with other lawyers to the court, he stopped to replace two young birds who had been blown out of their nest, saying, I could not have slept if I had not restored those little birds to their mother. It was a most noble thing, when Naples was suffering from the ravages of cholera, for King Humbert to turn aside from the races, where he had made appointment to be, and to hasten to the relief of his people. For the motto, The fittest survive, the gospel substitutes the watchword, The lost must be saved.
IV. In Christ we have the full embodiment of the lofty rule. Who had better right to please Himself than the Son of God? But of Him it is said, Even Christ pleased not Himself. He humbled Himself unto the death of the Cross, that He might bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. (P. S. Schaff, D.D.)
Bearing the infirmities of the weak
A reporter called to a little bootblack near the City Hall to give him a shine. The little fellow came rather slowly for one of that lively guild, and planted his box down under the reporters foot. Before he could get his brushes out another large boy ran up, and calmly pushing the little one aside, said: Here, you go sit down, Jimmy. The reporter at once became indignant at what he took to be a piece of outrageous bullying, and sharply told the new-comer to clear out. Oh, dots all right, boss, was the reply; Im only going to do it fur him. You see hes been sick in the hospital for morn a month, and cant do much work yet, so us boys all turn in and give him a lift when we can. Savy? Is that so, Jimmy, asked the reporter, turning to the smaller boy. Yes, sir, wearily replied the boy; and, as he looked up, the pallid, pinched face could be discerned even through the grime that covered it. He does it fur me, if youll let him. Certainly, go ahead! and as the bootblack plied the brush the reporter plied him with questions. You say all the boys help him in this way? Yes, sir. When they aint got no job themselves, and Jimmy gets one, they turns in and helps him, cause he aint very strong yet, ye see. What percentage do you charge him on a job? Hey? queried the youngster. I dont know what you mean. I mean, what part of the money do you give Jimmy, and how much do you keep out of it? You bet your life I dont keep none. I aint no such sneak as that. So you give it all to him, do you? Yes, I do. All the boys give up what they gets on his job. Id like to catch any fellow sneaking it on a sick boy–I would. The shine being completed, the reporter handed the urchin a quarter, saying, I guess youre a pretty good fellow, so you keep ten cents and give the rest to Jimmy. Cant do it, sir; its his customer. Here, Jim! He threw him the coin, and was off like a shot after a customer for himself, a veritable rough diamond. In this big city there are many such lads with warm and generous hearts under their ragged coats. (N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.)
Imperfections; why permitted
Imperfections have been Divinely appointed, that the law of human life may be effort, and the law of human judgment mercy. (T. H. Leary, D.C.L.)
Self-pleasing
I. Whence does it arise? From the secret feeling in man that–
1. His own views are the most correct.
2. His own plans the best.
3. His own words the wisest.
4. His own doings the most excellent. In a word, that he is superior to all others.
II. What are its exhibitions?
1. A harsh judgment of others.
2. Self-adulation.
3. Forwardness.
III. How must it be overcome?
1. By bearing the infirmities of the weak.
2. By endeavouring to please others for their good.
3. By a believing contemplation of the character of Christ. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Against self-pleasing
I. We ought not to please ourselves. We, i.e., strong Christians. Among Christians there are the strong and the weak, and always will be. You notice that the apostle has no corresponding exhortation to the weak, one reason for which may be that very few are willing to regard themselves as such.
1. As to self-pleasing, it never is good.
(1) In its first and lowest form it is pure animality. The tiger pleases himself when he seizes the fawn; and the fox when he carries the fowl away to his den. Tis no sin in either; it is their instinct and necessity. And if a man will do the like he has no pre-eminence above the beast.
(2) It is of the essence of sin which in one form is just the enormous exaggeration of the self. It is the little unit trying to take itself out of all relations and beyond laws. It is the plant repudiating the soil that feeds it, insulting the air and light on which it lives. It is the figure one presenting itself as an epitome of the whole science of numbers. If self-pleasing were to get into the heart of the physical world there would be no growth; for growth is secured by one part allowing nourishment to flow through it to another, and in the joint combination of all organs to provide for the nourishment of the whole. And it is in such a world that man stands up and says, I live to please myself–man who was made to show the greatness of service, made in the image of the God who serves all.
(3) It always tends to meanness of character. It is clean against magnanimity, patriotism, and the charities of life.
(4) It tends to corruption, just as anything must rot when it ceases to give and take; just as stagnant water becomes unfit for use.
(5) It always inflicts injury and misery upon others.
(6) It is so enormously difficult to the self that is always seeking to be pleased, as to be ultimately quite impossible of realisation. More, and yet more, must be had of this, and that, until more is not to be had.
2. So much for self-pleasing in general. But here is a peculiar form of it–the Christian form of an unchristian thing.
(1) The beginning of Christianity in a human soul and life is the death of self begun. But the process of dying is a lingering one–it is a crucifixion. Many and many a time self says, I will not die.
(2) Christian people, then, ought to be constantly on their guard against this thing. There is no one whom it will not beset. The vivacious will have it presented to them in forms of excitement, which will draw them away from the duties of daily life and of Christian service. The modest and retiring will think that it can injure no one that they should take their rest. In fact, all the vices are but different dresses which the old self puts on as it goes up and down the world murmuring, We ought to please ourselves! Please the higher self and welcome–your conscience, love, the powers of the Christian life–and then, not you alone, but angels and God Himself will be pleased. But as to pleasing that other self, all danger and all soul-death lie that way. Let that man be crucified. Put fresh nails into the hands and the feet.
(3) But the strong–why should they, at least, not please themselves? The strong here are the advanced men in the Christian community, the men of higher intelligence and clearer faith who have come out into an ampler liberty. Surely it were better that such men should have their way. Strength is a beautiful thing both in the region of thought and of action. Yes, but it is beautiful no longer when it becomes intolerant of anything that is not as strong as itself. So, then, we who are strong ought not to drive when we find we cannot lead; nor wax impatient of delays which are inevitable; nor lose temper–for that will show that we ourselves are growing weaker; nor even to think ungenerous thoughts, but rather seek to settle our strength in this–in the universal charity which beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, and then, as the result, achieveth all things.
II. If not ourselves, then whom? Our neighbour.
1. Every one of us! Not one can be exempted. Tis no use to plead peculiarity in temperament or circumstance. You have a neighbour, and you must please him.
2. But here comes a difficulty. If the neighbour is to be pleased by me why should not he please in return? If there be an obligation it must surely be mutual. And so we shall end in self-pleasing after all. Besides, how do I know that to please him will profit him? He may be self-willed, or luxurious, or cowardly; and if I please him I may very likely nourish in him these bad qualities. But here is the safeguard, I am to please my neighbour for his good to edification. It is not that one is to yield to another simply because he wishes it. That would be childishness, and would produce very bad fruit. And there is no room for concession in matters of vital importance. It would be a cruel kindness to a fellow-Christian to yield to him in any matter affecting saving truth or duty. The whole question is about things less than vital. This way may seem best to me; may be best for me. Yet it may not be the best for all. Or it may be abstractly the best for all, and yet it is not to be forced on them.
3. For good to edification. Why, what is that but pleasing the new, the better self in the man, just as I seek to please it in my own breast?
III. Was not this just the behaviour of Christ Himself? Even Christ, who was with God, who was God, pleased not Himself by retaining that condition, when a great need arose, and when, by a change in His state, He could supply the need, He was rich, and for our sakes He became poor, etc. And when He was here He never spared Himself. He never chose the easier way. Shall I then please myself, and say that I am following Him? Shall I not rather gaze anew at this great sight–a holy, happy being denying Himself, and suffering for others through life and death? (A. Raleigh, D.D.)
The warning against selfishness
Selfishness is–
I. An ugly thing. One thing that helps to make our bodies look beautiful is when the different parts are all of a proper size or shape. But suppose we should see a boy or girl with a head as big as a bushel, and with feet as large as an elephants! And when we give way to wrong feelings one part of the soul becomes larger than it ought to be. There is nothing that makes a person look so ugly as selfishness.
1. Anne Dawson was a little girl, lying in bed with a fever. In the same room was her brother, busily engaged in making a boat. The noise was very distressing, and his sister begged him to stop. But he still went on. Presently she said, Robbie dear, please get me a glass of cold water? My throat is very dry, and my head aches terribly. But Robbie paid no attention till she asked a second time, when he called out sharply: Wait awhile, Anne, I am too busy now. Again his sister pleaded for a drink. Then he hastily poured out some water from a pitcher which had been standing all day in the sun. Oh I not that water, brother, said Anne, in a gentle tone, please bring me some fresh and cool from the spring. Dont bother me so, Anne. You see how busy I am. Im sure this water is good enough. And the selfish boy went on. Oh, my poor head! said Anne, as she sipped a little of the warm water, and then lay back on her pillow. That was her last movement. She died that night. For thousands of gold and silver I would not have had Roberts feelings when he stood by the grave of his sister and thought of all this. We cannot imagine anything more ugly than this makes him appear.
2. But sometimes we can understand a thing better by contrasting it with its opposite. Some time ago an accident occurred in a coal mine. Two boys managed to get hold of a chain, and had the hope of being saved if they could hold on till help came. Very soon a man was lowered down, and he first came to a boy named Daniel Harding, who said: Dont mind me. I can hold on a little longer; but there is Joe Brown just below nearly exhausted. Save him first. Joe Brown was Saved, and so was his unselfish friend. How beautiful his unselfishness makes him appear!
II. A disagreeable thing. When the things about us mind the laws which God has made to govern them, then they are all agreeable. The light is pleasant to see; the wind is pleasant to hear; and the fragrance of flowers is pleasant to smell, just because the sun, wind, and flowers act according to the laws which God has made for them. And Gods law for us is, that we ought not to please ourselves. If we mind this law it will make us unselfish, and then we shall always be agreeable. But if we do not mind this law, this will make us disagreeable.
1. A Christian lady talking to her class, said, When I was a little girl, my grandma, who was dangerously ill when I was playing with my doll, asked me to bring her a glass of water. I did not mind her at first, but when she called me again, I carried the water to her in a very unkind way. She said, Thank you, my dear child; but it would have given me so much more pleasure if you had only brought the water willingly. She never asked me to do anything for her again, for soon after she died. It is forty years ago to-day since this took place; and yet there is a sore spot in my heart which it left there, and which I must carry with me as long as I live.
2. And now we may take some illustrations in the way of contrast. Two little girls nestling together in bed one night were talking about their Aunt Bessie, who happened to be passing at that moment. So she listened and heard Minnie say, Do you know what it is that makes my Aunt Bessies forehead so smooth? Why, yes, she isnt old enough to have wrinkles. Oh! she is, though; but her forehead is smooth because she is so unselfish, and never frets. I always like to hear her read the Bible, for she lives just like the Bible. Shes just as sweet, and kind, and unselfish as it tells us to be. And this is what makes Aunt Bessie so pleasant. Our next story is about Turner, the great landscape painter, who was a member of the committee which arranges about hanging up the pictures in the Royal Academy. On one occasion when they were just finishing their work, Turners attention was called to a picture by an unknown artist who had no friend in the Academy to watch over his interest. That is an excellent picture, said Mr. Turner. It must be hung up somewhere for exhibition. That is impossible, said the other members of the committee. There is no room left. Whereupon the generous artist deliberately took down one of his own pictures, and put the painting of this unknown artist in its place. In what an interesting light his unselfishness presents him to our view!
III. A sinful thing. When we commit sin in most other ways we only break one of Gods commandments at a time. But when we give way to selfishness we break six of Gods commandments all at once. How? Well, when Jesus was explaining the ten commandments, He said that the substance of the six on the second table was, that we should love our neighbours as ourselves. But, if we are selfish we cannot love our neighbours. Selfishness is the root out of which any sin may grow. It is like carrying powder about us in a place where sparks are flying all the time. A dreadful explosion may take place at any moment. Many years ago there lived in Egypt an old man named Amin. A great famine came upon the land just as it once did in the days of Joseph. Amin had a great store of wheat in his granaries. When bread began to get scarce his neighbours came to him to buy grain. But he refused, saying that he was going to keep his stock till all the rest of the grain in the land was gone, because then he would be able to get a higher price for it. Many died of starvation, and yet this selfish man still kept his stores locked up. At last the hungry people were willing to give him any price he asked, and then with a cruel, selfish smile he took the iron key of his great granary. He opened the door and went in. But in a moment all his hopes of great gain faded away like a dream. Worms had entered and destroyed all his grain. Hungry as the people were they yet raised a great shout of gladness for what happened to that wretched man. They saw that it was Gods judgment which had come down upon him for his selfishness, and that it served him right. But such was the effect of his disappointment upon the old man himself, that he fell down dead at the door of the granary. His selfishness killed him. (R. Newton, D.D.)
The strong helping the weak
Coleridge tells of a midshipman in his fourteenth year going into action for the first time, knees tottering, courage failing, and a fit of fainting hastening on, when Sir Alexander Ball saw him, touched him, and said, Courage, my dear boy! you will recover in a minute or so. I was just the same when I first went out in this way. It was as if an angel spoke to him. From that moment I was as the oldest of the boats crew. You can help one another, and you should for your own sake.
Bearing the infirmities of the weak
We must not, however, despise them, not in heart, word, or carriage. We must rather deny ourselves than offend them. We must support them, bear them as pillars bear the house, as the shoulders a burden, as the walls the vine, as parents their children, as the oak the ivy; and this because they are brethren, (P. Henry.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XV.
The strong should bear the infirmities of the weak, and each
strive to please, not himself, but his neighbour, after the
example of Christ, 1-3.
Whatsoever was written in old times was written for our
learning, 4.
We should be of one mind, that we might with one mouth glorify
God, 5, 6.
We should accept each other as Christ has accepted us, 7.
Scriptural proofs that Jesus Christ was not only the minister
of the circumcision, but came also for the salvation of the
Gentiles, 8-12.
The God of hope can fill us with all peace and joy in
believing, 13.
Character of the Church of Rome, 14.
The reason why the apostle wrote so boldly to the Church in
that city-what God had wrought by him, and what he purposed
to do, 15-24.
He tells them of his intended journey to Jerusalem, with a
contribution to the poor saints-a sketch of this journey, 25-29.
He commends himself to their prayers, 30-33.
NOTES ON CHAP. XV.
Verse 1. We then that are strong] The sense of this verse is supposed to be the following: We, Gentile Christians, who perfectly understand the nature of our Gospel liberty, not only lawfully may, but are bound in duty to bear any inconveniences that may arise from the scruples of the weaker brethren, and to ease their consciences by prudently abstaining from such indifferent things as may offend and trouble them; and not take advantage from our superior knowledge to make them submit to our judgment.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We then that are strong: the particle then showeth, that what followeth is inferred from what went before. By the strong, he means those who have attained to a good measure of knowledge and understanding, that are instructed in the Christian faith, and particularly in the doctrine of Christian liberty. He putteth himself in the number, not out of ambition, but that he may propose himself an example of the following duty.
Ought; i.e. we are obliged and bound both by the law of God and nature.
To bear the infirmities of the weak: by the weak, he means those who are weak in faith and knowledge, Rom 14:1. By their infirmities, he means their ignorance, frowardness, consoriousness, &c. He doth not speak of heresies and manifest enormities; but of such errors in doctrine and life, which proceed from ignorance or common infirmity. When he says, we must bear their infirmities, his meaning is, that we must bear with them, as we do with children or sick persons in their waywardness: though it a great burden to us, yet we must bear it; we must not impatiently contradict them, but prudently instruct them: see Exo 23:5; 1Co 9:22; Gal 6:2.
And not to please ourselves: q.d. We ought not to do what we please in indifferent things, and to act according to our own sentiments without any regard to others; we should not please ourselves in a proud reflecting upon our own knowledge, and in contemning of others because of their ignorance; we should not stand upon the terms of our liberty and contentment, but rather, for the sake of others, depart a little from our own right.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. We then that are strongonsuch points as have been discussed, the abolition of the Jewishdistinction of meats and days under the Gospel. See on Ro14:14; Ro 14:20.
ought . . . not to pleaseourselvesought to think less of what we may lawfully do thanof how our conduct will affect others.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
We then that are strong,…. Meaning not only ministers of the Gospel, who are men of strong parts, great abilities, mighty in the Scriptures, valiant for the truth on earth, and pillars in God’s house; for though the apostle includes himself, yet not merely as such, but as expressing it to be his duty in common with other Christians; and the rather he does this, to engage them to the practice of it: but the stronger and more knowing part of private Christians are here intended; the Apostle John’s young men, who are strong, in distinction from little children, or new born babes, that are at present weaklings; and from fathers who are on the decline of life, and just going off the stage; see 1Jo 2:12; when these young men are in the bloom and flower of a profession, in the prime of their judgment, and exercise of grace; who are strong in Christ, and not in themselves, in the grace that is in him, out of which they continually receive; who are strong in the grace of faith, and are established and settled in the doctrine of it; and have a large and extensive knowledge of the several truths of the Gospel; and, among the rest, of that of Christian liberty:
ought to bear the infirmities of the weak; of them that are weak in faith and knowledge, particularly in the knowledge of their freedom from Mosaical observances: their “infirmities” are partly their ignorance, mistakes, and errors, about things indifferent; which they consider and insist on, and would impose upon others, as necessary and obliging; and partly the peevishness and moroseness which they show, the hard words they give, and the rash judgment and rigid censures they pass on their brethren, that differ from them: such persons and their infirmities are to be borne with; they are not to be despised for their weakness; and if in the church, are not to be excluded for their mistakes; and if not members, are not to be refused on account of them; since they arise from weakness, and are not subversive of the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel: they are not to be treated as wicked men, but as weak brethren; and their peevish tempers, morose dispositions and conduct, their hard speeches and censorious expressions, are patiently to be endured; they should be considered as from whence they arise, not from malice and ill will, from a malignant spirit, but from weakness and misguided zeal, for what they take to be in force, when it is abolished: moreover, they are to be complied with in cases not sinful, as the apostle did in circumcising Timothy, Ac 16:3, and purifying himself according to the law, Ac 21:26; and so to the weak he became weak, to gain some, 1Co 9:22, and therefore could urge this exhortation by his own example with greater force; and which he represents, not only as what would be honourable, and a point of good nature, and as doing a kind action, but as what “ought” to be; what the law of love obliges to, and what the grace of love, which “bears all things”, 1Co 13:7, constrains unto; and which indeed if not done, they that are strong do not answer one end of their having that spiritual strength they have; and it is but complying with the golden rule of Christ, to do as we would be done by, Mt 7:12:
and not please ourselves: either entertain pleasing thoughts of, and make pleasing reflections on their stronger faith, greater degree of knowledge, superior light and understanding; which being indulged, are apt to excite and encourage spiritual pride and vanity, and generally issue in the contempt of weaker brethren; nor do those things, which are pleasing and grateful to themselves, to the offence and detriment of others; for instance, and which is what the apostle has reference to, to gratify their appetite, by eating such meat as is forbidden by the law of Moses, to the grieving of the weak brethren, wounding their consciences, and destroying their peace; these things should not be done; stronger Christians should deny themselves the use of their Christian liberty in things indifferent, when they cannot make use of it without offence.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Condescension and Self-denial; Tenderness and Generosity. | A. D. 58. |
1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. 3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. 4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
The apostle here lays down two precepts, with reasons to enforce them, showing the duty of the strong Christian to consider and condescend to the weakest.
I. We must bear the infirmities of the weak, v. 1. We all have our infirmities; but the weak are more subject to them than others–the weak in knowledge or grace, the bruised reed and the smoking flax. We must consider these; not trample upon them, but encourage them, and bear with their infirmities. If through weakness they judge and censure us, and speak evil of us, we must bear with them, pity them, and not have our affections alienated from them. Alas! it is their weakness, they cannot help it. Thus Christ bore with his weak disciples, and apologised for them. But there is more in it; we must also bear their infirmities by sympathizing with them, concerning ourselves for them, ministering strength to them, as there is occasion. This is bearing one another’s burdens.
II. We must not please ourselves, but our neighbour, Rom 15:1; Rom 15:2. We must deny our own humour, in consideration of our brethren’s weakness and infirmity.
1. Christians must not please themselves. We must not make it our business to gratify all the little appetites and desires of our own heart; it is good for us to cross ourselves sometimes, and then we shall the better bear others crossing of us. We shall be spoiled (as Adonijah was) if we be always humoured. The first lesson we have to learn is to deny ourselves, Matt. xvi. 24.
2. Christians must please their brethren. The design of Christianity is to soften and meeken the spirit, to teach us the art of obliging and true complaisance; not to be servants to the lust of any, but to the necessities and infirmities of our brethren–to comply with all that we have to do with as fare as we can with a good conscience. Christians should study to be pleasing. As we must not please ourselves in the use of our Christian liberty (which was allowed us, not for our own pleasure, but for the glory of God and the profit and edification of others), so we must please our neighbour. How amiable and comfortable a society would the church of Christ be if Christians would study to please one another, as now we see them commonly industrious to cross, and thwart, and contradict one another!–Please his neighbour, not in every thing, it is not an unlimited rule; but for his good, especially for the good of his soul: not please him by serving his wicked wills, and humouring him in a sinful way, or consenting to his enticements, or suffering sin upon him; this is a base way of pleasing our neighbour to the ruin of his soul: if we thus please men, we are not the servants of Christ; but please him for his good; not for our own secular good, or to make a prey of him, but for his spiritual good.–To edification, that is, not only for his profit, but for the profit of others, to edify the body of Christ, by studying to oblige one another. The closer the stones lie, and the better they are squared to fit one another, the stronger is the building. Now observe the reason why Christians must please one another: For even Christ pleased not himself. The self-denial of our Lord Jesus is the best argument against the selfishness of Christians. Observe,
(1.) That Christ pleased not himself. He did not consult his own worldly credit, ease, safety, nor pleasure; he had not where to lay his head, lived upon alms, would not be made a king, detested no proposal with greater abhorrence than that, Master, spare thyself, did not seek his own will (John v. 30), washed his disciples’ feet, endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, troubled himself (John xi. 33), did not consult his own honour, and, in a word, emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation: and all this for our sakes, to bring in a righteousness for us, and to set us an example. His whole life was a self-denying self-displeasing life. He bore the infirmities of the weak, Heb. iv. 15.
(2.) That herein the scripture was fulfilled: As it is written, The reproaches of those that reproached thee fell on me. This is quoted out of Ps. lxix. 9, the former part of which verse is applied to Christ (John ii. 17), The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the latter part here; for David was a type of Christ, and his sufferings of Christ’s sufferings. It is quoted to show that Christ was so far from pleasing himself that he did in the highest degree displease himself. Not as if his undertaking, considered on the whole, were a task and grievance to him, for he was very willing to it and very cheerful in it; but in his humiliation the content and satisfaction of natural inclination were altogether crossed and denied. He preferred our benefit before his own ease and pleasure. This the apostle chooses to express in scripture language; for how can the things of the Spirit of God be better spoken of than in the Spirit’s own words? And this scripture he alleges, The reproaches of those that reproached thee fell on me. [1.] The shame of those reproaches, which Christ underwent. Whatever dishonour was done to God was a trouble to the Lord Jesus. He was grieved for the hardness of people’s hearts, beheld a sinful place with sorrow and tears. When the saints were persecuted, Christ so far displeased himself as to take what was done to them as done against himself: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Christ also did himself endure the greatest indignities; there was much of reproach in his sufferings. [2.] The sin of those reproaches, for which Christ undertook to satisfy; so many understand it. Every sin is a kind of reproach to God, especially presumptuous sins; now the guilt of these fell upon Christ, when he was made sin, that is, a sacrifice, a sin-offering for us. When the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all, and he bore our sins in his own body upon the tree, they fell upon him as upon our surety. Upon me be the curse. This was the greatest piece of self-displacency that could be: considering his infinite spotless purity and holiness, the infinite love of the Father to him, and his eternal concern for his Father’s glory, nothing could be more contrary to him, nor more against him, than to be made sin and a curse for us, and to have the reproaches of God fall upon him, especially considering for whom he thus displeased himself, for strangers, enemies, and traitors, the just for the unjust, 1 Pet. iii. 18. This seems to come in as a reason why we should bear the infirmities of the weak. We must not please ourselves, for Christ pleased not himself; we must bear the infirmities of the weak, for Christ bore the reproaches of those that reproached God. He bore the guilt of sin and the curse for it; we are only called to bear a little of the trouble of it. He bore the presumptuous sins of the wicked; we are called only to bear the infirmities of the weak.–Even Christ; kai gar ho Christos. Even he who was infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, who needed not us nor our services,–even he who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, who had reason enough to pleas himself, and no reason to be concerned, much less to be crossed, for us,–even he pleased not himself, even he bore our sins. And should not we be humble, and self-denying, and ready to consider one another, who are members one of another?
(3.) That therefore we must go and do likewise: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning. [1.] That which is written of Christ, concerning his self-denial and sufferings, is written for our learning; he hath left us an example. If Christ denied himself, surely we should deny ourselves, from a principle of ingenuousness and of gratitude, and especially of conformity to his image. The example of Christ, in what he did and said, is recorded for our imitation. [2.] That which is written in the scriptures of the Old Testament in the general is written for our learning. What David had said in his own person Paul had just now applied to Christ. Now lest this should look like a straining of the scripture, he gives us this excellent rule in general, that all the scriptures of the Old Testament (much more those of the New) were written for our learning, and are not to be looked upon as of private interpretation. What happened to the Old-Testament saint happened to them for ensample; and the scriptures of the Old Testament have many fulfillings. The scriptures are left for a standing rule to us: they are written, that they might remain for our use and benefit. First, For our learning. There are many things to be learned out of the scriptures; and that is the best learning which is drawn from these fountains. Those are the most learned that are most mighty in the scriptures. We must therefore labour, not only to understand the literal meaning of the scripture, but to learn out of it that which will do us good; and we have need of help therefore not only to roll away the stone, but to draw out the water, for in many places the well is deep. Practical observations are more necessary than critical expositions. Secondly, That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. That hope which hath eternal life for its object is here proposed as the end of scripture-learning. The scripture was written that we might know what to hope for from God, and upon what grounds, and in what way. This should recommend the scripture to us that it is a special friend to Christian hope. Now the way of attaining this hope is through patience and comfort of the scripture. Patience and comfort suppose trouble and sorrow; such is the lot of the saints in this world; and, were it not so, we should have no occasion for patience and comfort. But both these befriend that hope which is the life of our souls. Patience works experience, and experience hope, which maketh not ashamed, ch. v. 3-5. The more patience we exercise under troubles the more hopefully we may look through our troubles; nothing more destructive to hope than impatience. And the comfort of the scriptures, that comfort which springs from the word of God (that is the surest and sweetest comfort) is likewise a great stay to hope, as it is an earnest in hand of the good hoped for. The Spirit, as a comforter, is the earnest of our inheritance.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
We the strong ( ). Paul identifies himself with this wing in the controversy. He means the morally strong as in 2Cor 12:10; 2Cor 13:9, not the mighty as in 1Co 1:26.
The infirmities ( ). “The weaknesses” (cf. in Rom 14:1; Rom 14:2), the scruples “of the not strong” ( ). See Ac 14:8 where it is used of the man weak in his feet (impotent).
To bear (). As in Ga 6:2, common in the figurative sense.
Not to please ourselves ( ). Precisely Paul’s picture of his own conduct in 1Co 10:33.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Infirmities [] Only here in the New Testament.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE LAW OF LOVE AND DOUBTFUL THINGS
1) “We then that are strong ought,” (opeilomen de hemeis hoi dunatoi) “What is more, we who are dynamic, strong, or physically well and able, ought,” have an obligation, a moral and ethical responsibility, a Christian duty. The strong in the faith must bear, forbear, or bear with the weaker in the faith, bear with the less stable, Gal 6:2;
. 2) “To bear the infirmities of the weak,” (ta asthenemata ton adunaton bastazein) “To continually bear the weaknesses, physical afflictions and emotional afflictions, infirmities of those who are not strong or dynamic any more,” of those whose body and mind are ravaged, broken down, or decrepit by reason of age and sin working in the body –and of the crippled, afflicted or deformed by birth, Act 20:35; 1Th 5:14.
3) “And not to please ourselves,” (kai me heautois areskein) “And not to continually please ourselves;” The bearing and caring for the aged is almost totally ignored by so many Christians in the affluent society of the day. Selfishness, greed, and preeminence of “self-first” pervades the present age, while lonely and forlorn aged fathers and mothers are left to suffer physical and emotional pangs in lonely deserted sorrow. Such ought not to be. Even children whom parents brought into the world, fed, clothed, provided medicine when they were ill, seldom come to their side, write, call or send oft-needed financial help any more. Children for whom they once gave their lives, food, clothes, and shelter, turn a deaf ear to their prayers. Sons and daughters in good strength of years, too often go blindly on ignoring their parents physically and emotionally broken plight, while they go headlong along “pleasing themselves.”
To please ones self alone is cruel selfishness when a weak and wrecked infirm one lays by helpless and in physical, emotional, and spiritual need of care and comfort, Mat 25:41-45; 2Co 1:3-4. A believer is to give support and show compassion to the weak and infirm, even of all ages, Mat 8:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. We then who are strong, etc. Lest they who had made more advances than others in the knowledge of God should think it unreasonable, that more burden was to be laid on them than on others, he shows for what purpose this strength, by which they excelled others, was bestowed on them, even that they might so sustain the weak as to prevent them to fall. For as God has destined those to whom he has granted superior knowledge to convey instruction to the ignorant, so to those whom he makes strong he commits the duty of supporting the weak by their strength; thus ought all gifts to be communicated among all the members of Christ. The stronger then any one is in Christ, the more bound he is to bear with the weak. (437)
By saying that a Christian ought not to please himself, he intimates, that he ought not to be bent on satisfying himself, as they are wont to be, who are content with their own judgment, and heedlessly neglect others: and this is indeed an admonition most suitable on the present subject; for nothing impedes and checks acts of kindness more than when any one is too much swallowed up with himself, so that he has no care for others, and follows only his own counsels and feelings.
(437) The word for “strong” is δυνατοὶ, “able,” which [ Calvin ] renders potentes , powerful, or able. They were the more advanced in knowledge and in piety. They were to “bear,” βαστάζειν, in the sense of carrying or sustaining the infirmities of the weak, impotentium , “the unable,” ἀδυνάτων, such as were unable to carry their own burdens. The duty is not merely to bear with or tolerate weaknesses, (for this is not the meaning of the verb,) but to help and assist the weak and the feeble to carry them. The most literal rendering is —
“
We then who are able ought to bear (or carry) the infirmities of the unable.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom. 15:1.We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to be self-pleasers.
Rom. 15:2. Let every one of us please his neighbour.Not for mere gratification, but for his good.
Rom. 15:3. The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.Quotation from the sixty-ninth psalm. We are thus taught that the prophetical psalm is applied to Christ suffering for us. If Christ did not please Himself, how much less we! How calmly should we bear even undeserved reproaches when Christ bore those designed for God!
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rom. 15:1-3
Christs example teaches mutual condescension.Baur says, This piece contains nothing which had not been much better said before. In the same strain M. Renan affirms, These verses repeat and weakly sum up what precedes. But this is surely to ignore the broader aspect of the apostles teaching. He here passes from what we may call the particular to the general. It is with him no longer a question of meats, but in general of the relation between Judo-Christianity more or less legal, of which the party of the weak was a branch, and that pure spirituality which is the proper character of Pauls gospel. There is a statement of the general principle according to which the strong ought to conduct themselves towards the weak in all times and whatever may be the character of the infirmity. And this condescension towards the weak is taught and enforced by the example of Christ. If it were to be admitted that these verses were a weak summing up of what precedes, we gladly welcome the repetition for the sake of that one powerful sentence, For even Christ pleased not Himself. In one simple sentence we have brought before the mind the broad aspect of the spirit and mission of Him who went about doing good. The example of Christ must ever be the Christians motive and inspiration. In order to get away from the spirit of self-pleasing, let us direct special attention to the words, For even Christ pleased not Himself.
I. Christ had a right to please Himself.If any person may be supposed to have such a right, that person is Jesus Christ.
1. He had a right as creator. All the rights which creatures possess are delegated; they are of the nature of privileges. As a creature, I have no right over myself independent of the will of the Creator. As a member of the great brotherhood of humanity, I have no right over myself inconsistent with the rights and not tending to the welfare of such brotherhood. No man liveth to himself is the law of a properly constituted humanity as it is a gospel precept. But Christ in one aspect of His nature was not in a subordinate position; for He was creator. If all things were created for Him, had He not the privilege of considering Himself. As the giver of the laws of right and of justice, as the authority from whom there can be no appeal as to what is fit and proper to be done, we may suppose Him having a right to please Himself.
2. Christ had a right as being above the law of human necessity. Even if we set ourselves to please ourselves, we find that we are limited by our natures, by our circumstances. Society hedges us round, and will not allow us to please ourselves in an unlimited degree. Our own personal welfare will not permit self-pleasing to any large extent. The sensual man cannot please himself to an unlimited extent; the ambitious man must deny himself in order to promote his projects; the student must scorn delights and live laborious days that he may reach the goal. But Christ, as divine, is raised above the law of human necessity. Even as human He stands on a higher level of humanity than all other beings, and we may suppose that He might have pleased Himself without doing violence to society.
3. Christ had a right as being all-wise. The wisest are liable to error. When the foolishness of the fool tends to violence, society puts him in safe keeping, and says he has no right to please himself. Wise I may be, but my wisdom is imperfect, and therefore self should not be the law of my being and the rule of my action. Why should I with dogmatism impose my creeds upon my fellow-creatures? Why should I not consider the claims of my fellow-creatures? But Christ was all-wise. As man He was delivered from those errors and littlenesses which spoil the glory of even greatest man, and therefore He might indeed have pleased Himself and others have been benefited.
4. Christ had a right as being all-good. Wicked men are the class to whom there must not be permitted this course of pleasing themselves. Carry out the thought, and it will be seen that no man has a right to please himself. The higher we get in the scale of humanity, the less we have of wickedness and the less are we disposed to make self-pleasing the rule of life. The noblest men walk on the tableland of self-denial. This was the glorious tableland on which the Redeemer trod, and every spot on which He trod became fruitful of immortal flowers. The very goodness of Christ constituted a claim why He should please Himself. Why should He suffer who had no sins of His own to carry? Why should He be placed in the trying school of tribulation when there was no selfishness to be ground out of His loving nature?
II. Christs renunciation of such right.But even Christ pleased not Himself. Let emphasis be placed on the word even, in order to bring out the voluntary nature of this renunciation and to show the vastness of His love. Even Christ, the God-man, the Creator, pleased not Himself.
1. Christ renounced His right by making His Fathers will supreme. Christ as man says, I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. Perfectly constituted as Christ was as to His human nature, there might yet be in Him a lower will. But He seemed to rise up in the majesty of filial affection, and place His feet upon this lower will and give to the divine will the place of supremacy. Not for a moment did He shrink from bearing the reproaches of the wicked. Gods honour was so dear to His heart that the reproaches of the wicked hurled at God were received by the Son to His wounding and to the increase of His agony. The righteous soul of Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked; but how sharply was the soul of Christ pierced by the reproaches of the wicked against God! If David could say, I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved, what language shall fittingly describe the agonies of Davids greater Son as He listened to those who reproached God? The Saviours grief was too great for tears; this blessed outlet to sorrow was not possible. Indeed, grief broke His heart as the reproaches of them that reproached God fell upon His sensitive nature. As we study the phenomena of the Saviours death, we find that it was no poetical flight to say that He died of a broken heart. But we shall not carry out the purpose of the apostle if we do not notice how Christ renounced His right in relation to men. We might expect Christ the Son of God by virtue of that relationship and through affection for God not to please Himself in regard to the divine will; but will His compassion for men lead Him to desist from pleasing Himself for their welfare? Yes, it will.
2. Christ pleased not Himself by placing Himself in contact with ignorance and sinfulness. Difficult is it for us to realise the pain which Christ must have experienced as He came in contact with the ignorant and the sinful. We may try to draw the picture of the philosopher coming down from the heights of his studies to associate with the ignorant; we may picture the pure maiden brought up in a home of Christian purity, across the crystal waters of whose soul no shadow of wrong has ever flitted, who has all along breathed the fragrant atmosphere of virtue, being suddenly taken to live where vice reigns, where the atmosphere is rendered stiffing by reason of impurity; we may think of the heroism of the Moravian missionaries who shut themselves up with the lepers in order to do them spiritual good. But both fact and fancy fail to enable the ordinary mind to understand what it was when Christ became the friend of publicans and of sinners. His pure soul was keenly sensitive. And yet blessed benevolence! He pleased not Himself, but went down to the dark pits of ignorance, dispelling the gloom of sinfulness, driving forth the offensive odours.
3. Christ pleased not Himself by giving to the wants of others a foremost place. Very touching is the incident of the wearied Jesus sitting down at Jacobs well, asking drink from the Samaritan woman. He saw her thirst, and sets Himself to remove that moral thirst before she helps Him to satisfy His physical thirst. Divine and glorious self-forgetfulness! We know not that the Saviour ever drank out of that Samaritan womans waterpot; but this we know, that she drank from the living stream that flowed from that wearied traveller. And this incident is characteristic of all His earthly conductthought for others before thought for Himself. At the close of the most laborious day He never pleaded that His wearied nature required repose; but, wearied and worn as He was, He pleased not Himself, but went forth and patiently listened to all their tales of woe, tasted their several complaints, raised each suppliant from the dust, nor left them till He had absorbed their sufferings and healed them all. He went through the land like a current of vital air, an element of life, diffusing health and joy wherever He appeared.
4. Christ pleased not Himself, for He never demanded that the recipients of His blessings should become His servants. We do not know that any of His disciples received from Him material blessings. He called those to be His immediate followers who were not the recipients of His physical benefits. What a large following the Saviour might have secured had He charged the sick whom He healed to repay Him for the work of mercy! The only time in which Jesus seemed to reprove the healed for their ingratitude was in the case of the ten lepers. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. Even here He pleased not Himself. It is not glory to Me the worker of miracles, but glory to God. He caused the healing virtue to flow from Him in copious measure like water from the abundant fountain, without any thought of Himself being refreshed by the reactive influence of the streams of His beneficence. How unlike to Christ are most men! The worlds ingratitude closes up the streams of our benevolence like a keen frost in the winter. But the worlds ingratitude never for one moment stayed the rich on-flowing of the Saviours beneficent doings. Oh for a baptism of the spirit displayed by Him who pleased not Himself, who had a perfect self-surrender and a complete submission to the divine will, who bore our sicknesses and carried our sorrowsthe spirit of that noble apostle who counted not his life dear unto himself that he might finish his course with joy and the ministry which he had received from the Lord Jesusthe spirit of those who rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer such things as persecution and spoliation for His names sakethe spirit of all in every age, of the martyrs and the noble workers of all time, who have been willing to suffer for the good of humanity! Are we prepared at the call of duty and in obedience to the voice of God not to please ourselves, but to please our neighbour for his good to edification?
III. Christs impelling motive to such renunciation our example and our inspiration.It was the impelling motive of love that induced Christ to tread the pathway of self-denial. All loves are centred in Christ. He was the embodiment and highest manifestation of truest love. Something of this love must operate in our natures if we are to be delivered from mere self-pleasing. It cannot be cast out by mere prudential considerations. The eagle darting down from her eyrie once lighted on a burnt offering which lay upon the altar of God, and bore it away to feed her young. But a burnt coal adhered to the flesh of the offering, and being laid upon the dry sticks of the nest, it set them on fire, and the unfledged eaglets perished in the flames. By self-pleasing we may seek to rob God of His rights and our fellows of their rights; but to all such unlawful spoil there will adhere the red-hot coal of justice, that will destroy our manhood, our peace, our joy, our spiritual vitality. Let us beware how we give way to the injurious spirit of self-pleasing. However, this evil spirit can only be effectually destroyed by the entrance of Christlike love. True love goes out of self, seeks the enlargement of opportunities, and becomes creative in its very intensity. The loyal and patriotic subject does not strive to pare down the demands of a wise and just sovereign; the loving child does not endeavour to strip the fathers word of all binding force by skilful manipulations; and the true heart does not inquire, How can I do the very least for my God and the very least for Gods creatures? but thinks that the very greatest it can either do or offer is far too little. Oh for a love which, though it have only two mites to give, yet casts them into the treasury of Him unto whom belongeth both the gold, the silver, and the copper, and thus enriches the ages! Oh for a love which, though it possess only the alabaster box of ointment very precious, yet breaks the box over the Saviours head in loving consecration to His predestined offering! Oh for a love which, though it have only tears to offer, yet pours them in plentiful measure on the Saviours feet, and with the rich tresses of a head, full of grateful thoughts, wipes the tear-bedewed feet of Immanuel!
Looking up, and lifting up.In the grouping of nature dissimilar things are brought together. Mutual service is the worlds great law. In the natural grouping of human life the same rule is found. Dissimilarity constitutes the qualification for heartfelt union among mankind. A family is a combination of opposites. That there are diversities of gifts is the reason why there is one Spirit. The same principle distinguishes natural society from artificial association. The former brings together elements that are unlike; while the latter combines the like. Old civilisations follow a law the reverse of that which we have ascribed to the providential rule. The daily life of each is passed in the presence, not of his unequals, but of his equals. This is not entirely evil. Now the faith of Christ throws together the unlike ingredients which civilisation had sifted out from one another. Every true Church reproduces the unity which the world had dissolved. And as the arrangements by which we stand with beings above and beings below are the origin of faith, so is the practical recognition of this position the great means of feeding the perpetual fountain of the Christian life.
A great German poet and philosopher was fond of defining religion as consisting in a reverence for inferior beings. The definition is paradoxical; but though it does not express the essence of religion, it assuredly designates one of its effects. True there could be no reverence for lower natures, were there not, to begin with, the recognition of a supreme Mind; but the moment that recognition exists, we certainly look on all that is beneath with a different eye. It becomes an object, not of pity and protection only, but of sacred respect; and our sympathy, which had been that of a humane fellow-creature, is converted into the deferential help of a devout worker of Gods will. And so the loving service of the weak and wanting is an essential part of the discipline of the Christian life. Some habitual association with the poor, the dependent, the sorrowful, is an indispensable source of the highest elements of character. It strips off the thick bandages of self, and bids us awake to a life of greater sensibility. Had we hurt a superior, we should have expected punishment; had we offended an equal, we should have looked for displeasure. But to have injured the weak strikes anguish into our hearts, and we expect from God the retribution which there is no more to give. The other half of Christian discipline is of a less sad and more inspiring kind. There are those who dislike the spectacle of anything that greatly moves or visibly reproaches them; who therefore shun those who know more, see deeper, aim higher than themselves. This form of selfishness may not be inconsistent with the duty of lifting up the beings beneath us; but it is the contrary of the other portion of the devout life, which consists in looking up to all that is above us. Only the fairest and sublimest natures can remain in the presence of infirm or depraved humanity without a lowering of the moral conceptions and a depression of faith and hope. Hence the anxiety of every one, in proportion to the noble earnestness in which he looks on life, that holds himself in communion with great and good minds. He knows that the upper spring of his affections must soon be dry, unless he ask the clouds to nourish them. If therefore there be any virtue, if there be any praise, whoever would complete the circle of the Christian life will think on these thingswill thrust aside the worthless swarm of competitors on his attention; in his reading will retain, in his living associations will never wholly lose, his communion with the few lofty and faithful spirits that glorify our world; and, above all, will at once quench and feed his thirst for highest wisdom by trustful and reverent resort to Him in whom sanctity and sorrow, the divine and the human, mingled in ineffable combination.Martineau, Endeavours after the Christian Life.
Rom. 15:1. The duty of the strong to the weak.
I. The strong here are the strong in faiththe enlightened.Those who had correct views respecting the liberty and spirituality of the gospel were to bear with the prejudices of their weaker brethren. In this aspect the words have still their force for us. Religious doubts and crotchets we have always with us; although, having relation to things that are comparatively new, they vary with circumstances and fashions. The words are true also in a much wider sense.
II. We who are strong physically ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.The robust should help to bear what is a burden to the delicate. The healthy ought to relieve the tedium and smooth the pillow of the sick. The young should help the aged. The rich should help the poor. The infirmities of the weak we are, as it were, to put on our own shoulders, and bear for those who are tottering under them.
III. The strong in mind ought to bear the infirmities of temper of the weak.Some are irritable, soon made peevish, easily roused to anger. We who are differently constitutedless sensitive, who can be calm undr annoyance, slight, and oppositionought to bear with the weaknesses of those who are possessed of a less happy disposition. Do not lose patience with their touchiness. Bear from them much in kindness. Remember that they are weak. Loss of temper is often a sign of weakness. (One losing in a game becomes irritable, one having the worse of an argument often loses temper.) Enforced by the fact:
1. We are all constituted differently one from another. All have infirmities; but the infirmities of one differ from the infirmities of another. If each sought to please his neighbour, to bear his infirmities, one anothers weaknesses would become bonds of union.
2. The example of our Lord: Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification, for even Christ pleased not Himself. Though rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. He emptied Himself of His glory, of His strength, that He might bear our infirmities. How remarkable was His forbearance with His disciples! This was one of His greatest trials. And bearing the infirmities of weaker brethren will be to the Christian always the most trying exercise of self-denial. But shall any one grow weary when he remembers that Christ pleased not Himself?
Thou who wishest to be considered strong, show thy strength in the true, manly, Christlike way of bearing the infirmities of the weak (Jos. 17:15).
1. Thou art strong in muscle and sinew; then help those who are delicate and weak.
2. Thou art strong in nerve; then step before the trembling, and give courage to those who are shaking with fear.
3. Thou art strong in intellect; you can smile at popular error. But it is no mark of strength to laugh at others weakness; show thy strength by instructing the ignorant, guiding the erring.
4. Thou art strong in faith. Help others to realise by thy strength of faith the things unseen. Whatever be the nature of your strength, you deserve to be considered strong only by helping the weak. In Gods sight, the more strength you have the more you will have to answer for at the judgment day.D. Longwill.
Rom. 15:1. The nobler choice.We may be said to spend our life in choosing, and our choice is threefold:
1. Between the greater and the smaller evil (see 2Ch. 20:12-13);
2. Between that which is positively good and that which is distinctly evil (see Deu. 30:19);
3. Between the lower and the higher good. It is to the last of these three that the text invites attention.
I. Our right as the children of God.In the parable of the prodigal son the father, addressing the elder son, says, Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. These words indicate our position toward our heavenly Father. He invites us to appropriate and to partake of all that is His. The earth is His, and all its fulness (Psa. 24:1); and He makes us free to possess and to enjoy, withholding nothing that is not hurtful to us. Those who in Gods name forbid us to accept His provision come under strong apostolic condemnation (see 1Ti. 4:1-3); their doctrine is from below, and not from above. The truth is that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused. Our right is unquestionable; we are at liberty to partake of the fruits of the earth, of the comforts of life, of the joys which spring from human relationships, so long and so far as
(1) we do not injure ourselves or wrong other people,
(2) we cherish and express gratitude to the divine Giver,
(3) we remember the needy, and do our best to let our friends and neighbours share our inheritance. But while it is always open to us to claim our right, and while it is sometimes desirable (if not necessary) to assert it against those who would deny it, there is often left to us another and a worthier courseto forgo it in favour of our neighbours need. Here enters
II. Our privilege as the disciples of Christ.There is a large use of stimulants, as also of narcotics, amongst us; they are used, not only as medicine, but also as articles of diet, as requirements of hospitality, as sources of refreshment or enjoyment. That there is a sore and grievous abuse of these things is not merely undeniable; it is a fact that is patent and palpable; it confronts us, and challenges our attention. Now there is no law of Christ which forbids the use of these things; no precept of the Master or of His apostles can be quoted to prove their impropriety. So long as a man uses them in moderation, in such measure that no injury is done to his body or his mind, he cannot be charged with inconsistency as a Christian man. He violates no law of Christ; he is within his right. But he may be appealed to not to stand upon his right. It is open to him to act upon another and a higher consideration: instead of claiming his right to participate, he may elect to use his privilege to forgo and to abstain. He may be strong enough to overcome temptation himself, but he may have regard to the infirmities of the weak, instead of pleasing himself; by not partaking he may, by his example of abstinence, encourage those who need encouragement to preserve sobriety in the only form which is open to them. This is the nobler choice. It is so, because:
1. It is in harmony with the teaching of our Lord. He taught us that it was His will that His servants should deny themselves; that they should find their lives by losing them; that it is more blessed to give than to receive; that whatever we do on behalf of His little onesi.e., of those who are least well able to take care of themselvesis accepted by Him as done unto Himself; and, through His inspired apostles, He has taught us that we should bear one anothers burdens, that by (in) love we should serve one another, that the strong should help the weak.
2. It is in profound accord with the action of our Lord. It may seem to be comparing a very small thing indeed with a very great one indeed, to compare so simple an action or a habit as that of abstinence with so sublime a sacrifice as that of Jesus Christ, when He made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the form of a servant (see Php. 2:5-8). But the same principle may underlie or animate two actions of widely different proportions; and it is possible for us to illustrate and to repeat, in our humble sphere and on our lowly scale, the very spirit which actuated our Lord in His great condescension, and the very life He lived when He dwelt among men, and when He died to redeem us all. It is the principle that it is better and nobler to minister than to be ministered unto; it is the spirit of self-sacrificing love. And whether this be found in a divine incarnation, or whether it be manifested in a simple action at a table in a cottage or in a hall, where a man denies himself a pleasure or a good in order that he may help his brother to stand, and to keep him from falling, the one is a moral and spiritual resemblance, as it is a moral and spiritual sequence, of the other. We act as our Master acted, we walk even as He walked, when in any humblest scene or sphere whatsoever we forgo our individual right, in order that we may use our privilege of holy service; like our Lord, we make the nobler choice.
3. It is the intrinsically nobler thing. We cordially admire and unreservedly praise the men who, when their rights have been assailed, have manfully and even heroically asserted them at all hazards; they have chosen an honourable course. But they who have suffered that they might save have done more nobly still. Those Moravian missionaries who sold themselves into slavery that they might preach the gospel to their fellow-slaves; those philanthropists who have been willing to breathe the foul and fetid airs of the old-time dungeon, in order that they might make the lot of the common prisoner less intolerable than it used to be; they who have stooped that they might better serve their neighbours; they who have cheerily denied themselves the comforts and enjoyments they might have claimed, in order that they might gain a leverage with which to raise the fallen, or secure a better position in which to guide and guard the innocent and unstained,these have chosen the worthier course, and have walked along the heavenlier heights.
4. It is the course which will best bear reflection. Innocent enjoyment is well in its way and in its measure. But it is very transient; it affords the feeblest and faintest satisfaction in the retrospect of it. Not so with an action or a course of self-sacrificing ministry. Upon that, however distant it may be, and however simple it may have been, we look back with a keen approval and with serene and devout thankfulness. To the very end of our life we shall thank God that we had the spirit and the strength to forgo what would have pleased ourselves, that we might bear the infirmities of the weak, and thus help them to gain their victory and to win their crown.William Clarkson, B.A.
Rom. 15:2. On pleasing all men.
1. This duty incumbent on all, especially on all those who are entrusted with the oracles of God. The pleasing is to every mans neighbouri.e., every child of man; but in view of the words, If it be possible, etc., we are to please all men. Strictly speaking, this is not possible.
2. Observe in how admirable a manner Paul limits this direction. We are to please men for their good; also for their edificationto their spiritual and eternal good.
3. All treatises and discourses on this subject are defective, so far as Wesley has seen. One and all had some lower design in pleasing men than to save their souls; therefore they do not propose the right means for the end.
4. Some take exception to this; yet
5. e.g., Chesterfield advises his son, but badly. Wesley then proceeds to show the right method of pleasing men.
I. In removing hindrances out of the way.
1. First avoid everything which tends to displease wise and good men of sound understanding and real piety, such as cruelty, malice, envy, hatred, revenge, ill-nature.
2. Also the assumption of arrogant, overbearing behaviour. Whoever desires to please his neighbour for his good must take care of splitting on this rock.
3. Avoid also a passionate temper and behaviour. Passionate men have seldom many friends, at least for any length of time.
4. Also put away all lying. It can never be commendable or innocent, and therefore never pleasing.
5. Is not flattery a species of lying? Yet it is pleasing. Truly it pleases for a while, but not when the mask drops off.
6. Not only lying, but every species of it; dissimulation, e g., is displeasing to men of understanding. So also guile, subtlety, cunningthe whole art of deceiving
II. In using the means that directly tend to this end.
1. Let love not visit you as a transient guest, but be the constant temper of your soul. Let there be in your tongue the law of kindness.
2. If you would please your neighbour for his good, study to be lowly in heart. Be clothed with humility, as against the maxim of the heathen, The more you value yourself, the more others will value you. God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace unto the humble.
3. Labour and pray that you may also be meek; labour to be of a calm, dispassionate temper.
4. See that you are courteous toward all men, superiors or inferiors; the lowest and the worst have a claim to our courtesy.
5. Honour all men; and the Masser teaches me to love all men. Join these, and what is the effect? I love them for their Redeemers sake.
6. Take all proper opportunities of declaring to others the affection which you really feel for them.
7. Also speak to all men the very truth from your heart; be a man of veracity.
8. To sum up all in one word: if you would please men, please God! Let truth and love possess your whole soul; let all your actions be wrought in love; never let mercy and truth forsake thee. So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.John Wesley.
Rom. 15:2-3. Pleasing our neighbours.There is a pleasing of our neighbours which is very different from that here described,a pleasing of him by chiming in with his prejudices; by flattering his infirmities; by complying with his sinful wishes; by laughing at his wicked jokes; by countenancing him in his evil ways; in short, by doing, or not doing, that which will ensure us popularity with our neighbour, though at the expense of principle in ourselves. What we all must learn is to seek our neighbours well-being, so that his evil should be our burden, and his good our happiness and reward. We must learn so to love him, that we shall, if necessary, displease him, and put him to pain, and make him perhaps angry with us for a time, if in this way only we can do him good in the end; just as a kind surgeon will put us to pain in order to save our lives. Every one of us must thus please his neighbour, because every one has some neighbour thus to please. If we first please God, by giving Him our hearts for our own good to salvation, then we cannot but choose to please our neighbour for his good to edification. Should any one still ask, Who is my neighbour? we should refer them to the reply given by our Lord to the same question, in the parable of the good Samaritan. Few errors are more common in daily life than supposing, either that others are of no importance to us, or that we are of no importance to others. These errors stand and fall together. The moment we discover how much our state is affected by others, that moment we also discover how much the state of others is affected by our own. Our neighbour has learned this grand lesson from his Masternot to please himself, but to please us for our good; he has trampled underfoot the selfish and unchristian saying, I keep myself to myself; and he has put in its place one more worthy a follower of ChristI give myself to thee. And though this neighbour is of little importance to the big, noisy world, he is of great importance to us. He is like the candle or the food in our house,if the one were extinguished, and the other removed, neither would be missed by the world, but they would be very greatly missed by us and by our family. Some of our neighbours have hard or indifferent thoughts of us, as we once had of the world. Go and change them. Some are saying, We have heard of Christianity; we should like to see a Christian. Go and show them one, by opening to them a Christians heart and life, and not a Christians opinions merely. And as that good neighbour made us feel he was of importance to us, so may we as good neighbours make ourselves felt to be of importance to others. We repeat it, we need nothing else than a heart which truly loves God and manthat is, the heart of a child of Godto be an unspeakable blessing and of immense importance in our present place in society. But the apostle further sets before us Jesus Christ as the great example of self-sacrificing love, when he says, Even Christ pleased not Himself. Even Christ! He who is the firstborn of every creature, heir of all things, in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead, who is God over all, blessed forever, even He pleased not Himself, but sacrificed Himself for His neighbour; and we need not ask of Him who His neighbour is, who Himself not only perfectly loved the Lord His God, but His neighbour as Himself. Christs neighbour was every man. Even Christ pleased not Himself. These words discribe His character. For the sake of others He came into the world; for others He lived; for others He prayed; for others He wept; for others He died; for others He intercedes; and for others He will come again! The works and words of every day He spent upon earth are a comment upon this beautiful pictureHe pleased not Himself. He ever sought to please His neighbour, but only for his good, by the sacrifice of self. Every other pleasing is but a pleasing of self by the sacrifice of good. Thus only, let us add, can Jesus please us now, or bless us, by doing us good. Well might the apostle say, He pleased not Himself! And such is the mind which must be in us if we are in Him. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not Himself. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to [i.e., after the example of] Jesus Christ. Let the enmity to the living God which is in our natural hearts be slain by faith in His love to us through Christ, and then shall all enmity to our fellowmen be slain also. Let Gods love to us be shed abroad upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and then shall these hearts be shut no longer by wicked selfishness against our neighbour. Let us carry our Lords cross, and then we shall carry our brothers burden.Dr. Macleod.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom. 15:1-3
Pleasing of others to be innocent.Not as if His undertaking our cause was against His will, or that He ever felt it to be a task and a grievance. He was voluntary in the engagement and cheerful in the execution, and could say, I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! But He never followed the indulgence of His natural inclination. He preferred the glory of God and our benefit to His own gratification. He did not consult His ease; but denied the demands of sleep when duty required exertion. He rejected, with anger, Peters proposal to spare Himself from suffering. He did not consult ambitious feelings; but refused the people when they would have made Him king. He stood not upon rank and consequence, but washed His disciples feet, and was among them as one that serveth. He was far more delighted with Marys reception of His word than with Marthas preparation for His appetite. He was not only thirsty, but hungry, when the disciples left Him at the well to go and buy meat; but when they returned, and said, Master, eat, He replied, I have meat to eat which ye know not of. In your absence I have had something above corporeal satisfactionI have been saving a soul from death. And observe the use the apostle makes of it. Because Christ pleased not Himself, therefore He let the strong bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please themselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. He indeed limits the duty. We are not to humour our brother in a sinful course, but only in things innocent and lawful; and we are to do this with a view to secure and promote his welfare, and not for any advantage of our own. But we are not to consult our own little conveniences and appetites and wishes. We are not even to follow our convictions in every disputed matter. Let us not therefore judge one another: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Here again the apostle calls in Jesus as a motive and an example. He denied Himself for this weak brother, and will you, says Paul, refuse to deny yourself in a trifling forbearance on his behalf?W. Jay.
Self-pleasing not Christs motive.For even Christ pleased not Himself. This does not mean either that well-doing or self-denial was distasteful to Christ; it does not mean that the exercise of benevolence was something for which He had to nerve Himself up from day to day; but it means that considerations of personal ease and comfort, of mere sensual gratification, were not paramount, did not occupy the first place. As He went here and there doing good, His mind was wholly intent on the benefit to others. Self-pleasing, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, was not His aim; so He said, I delight to do Thy will, O My God. Self-pleasing, as such, commonly implies selfishness, and not infrequently indolence. Self-pleasing is living for oneself to the disregard of the claims, needs, or happiness of others. The highest, noblest form of self-pleasing, which finds delights in every good work, is not meant or alluded to in the passage under consideration. When Christ took upon Himself the form of a servant, self-pleasing was not His motive. He desired to undertake and accomplish what no other man could, and that not for His own honour, but for mans benefit. When He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, restored hearing to the deaf, cleansed the leper, and raised the deadwhen He comforted Martha and Mary concerning their brotherwhen He healed the broken-hearted, what was His motive? Not self-pleasing, certainly. Was His last journey to Jerusalem undertaken for any profit, honour, or worldly satisfaction? Too well He knew what was before Him: the trial, the agony, the suffering, the shame. Father, if this cup may not pass from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done, is a striking comment on the words, Christ pleased not Himself. We watch Him drinking the bitter cup, enduring the agony of unknown sufferings, placing Himself in the position of sinners, exhausting their punishment; and all that His Fathers will might be donenot His own will, not what He would Himself as man have desired. Here we see sublime unselfishness! We may desire and seek it, but we cannot attain unto it. Yet look at the self-sacrificing spirit of Judson, Selwyn, Patteson, and Hannington, the martyr of Equatorial Africa; it was not self-pleasing, but Christlike unselfishness. Self-seeking stands in the way of the Churchs progress, and prevents the good that might else be done. It is a blight in the family; for it is the offspring of the rankest selfishness, and militates against true happiness. Peace in the family comes from affection, and a regard for the feelings, rights, and lawful privileges of other members of the household. Forbearance, charity, and true gentleness flourish not where there is self-seeking. Wisdom, like the love that never faileth, seeketh not her ownseeketh the good of others. Unobtrusive acts of kindness, anticipation of others wishesoh, they are gems and stars of happiness, blessing him that gives and him that takes! Self-forgetfulness is the opposite of self-seeking; self-love is the very antipodes of the love that Christ taught us and gave us an example of. Self-seeking looks for its own interest and glory, true charity for the good of others. The great curse of society is selfishness, with its hollow courtesies and feigned politeness: sometimes it is not even gilded with these, and makes earth resemble hell. We read of a certain king who commanded a musician to play and sing before him. It was a time of rejoicing, and many were bidden to the feast. He took his harp, tuned it, and played sweetly and sang beautifully, so that it seemed none could equal him. The company was enraptured, and listened eagerly that not a note or strain might be lost. But what was his theme? Himself; his own excellences; his great achievements. When, however, he presented himself to the king for the expected reward, it was refused. He had had his rewardall that he deserved. Christ Himself spoke of those who did their righteousness before men, and condemned them. Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Benevolence and not selfishness, thoughtfulness for others rather than for oneself, self-sacrifice and not self-seeking, are taught us by Him who pleased not Himself. The worshippers of Diana were called Dianeans, and were expected to be like her; but we are called Christians, and are to be like Christ.Dr. Burrows.
Christs example to be realised.The example of Christ is to the believer the new law to be realised (Gal. 6:2); hence the for also. If, as man, Christ had pleased Himself in the use of His liberty, or in the enjoyment of the rights and privileges which His own righteousness had acquired, what would have come of our salvation? But He had only one thoughtto struggle for the destruction of sin, without concerning Himself about His own well-being, or sparing Himself even for an instant. In this bold and persevering struggle against our enemy, evil, He drew on Him the hatred of all Gods adversaries here below, so that the lamentation of the psalmist (Psa. 69:9) became, as it were, the motto of His life. In labouring thus for the glory of God and the salvation of men, He gave back, as Isaiah had prophesied, neither before shame nor spitting. This certainly is the antipodes of pleasing ourselves. Psalms 69 applies only indirectly to the Messiah (Rom. 15:5 : My sins are not hid); it describes the righteous Israelite suffering for the cause of God. But this is precisely the type of which Jesus was the supreme realisation. We need not say, with Meyer, that Paul adopts the saying of the psalmist directly into his text. It is more natural, seeing the total change of construction, like Grotius, to supply this idea: but he did as is written; comp. Joh. 13:18. Paul, Rom. 15:1-2, had said us; it is difficult indeed to believe that in writing these last sayings he could avoid thinking of his own apostolic life. But divine succour is needed to enable us to follow this line of conduct unflinchingly; and this succour the believer finds only in the constant use of the Scriptures, and in the help of God which accompanies it (Rom. 15:4-6).Godet.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 15
Rom. 15:3. Indian chief.There was an Indian chief who lived in North-west America, amongst the cold and the ice and the snow. This chief had a visitor, a white man, who came and spent a night with him. In the morning the chief took his visitor outside the wigwam or hut in which he lived, and asked him a question. How many people do you think, said the chief, passed by this hut last night? The visitor looked at the snow very carefully, and saw the foot-marks of one man distinctly imprinted upon it. There were no other foot-marks to be seen, so he said to the chief, Only one man has passed by. The chief, however, told him that several hundred Indians, in fact a whole tribe, had passed his wigwam in the night. And then he explained to him that when the Indians did not want it to be known in which direction they had gone, the chief of the tribe walks first, and all the rest of the tribe follow in single file, each man placing his feet exactly in the foot-marks of the chief, so that no new foot-marks are made, and it looks as if only one man had gone by instead of hundreds. By this clever trick the enemies of the tribe are not able to find out in which way they have gone, nor to overtake them. Now Jesus Christ is our chief. He has gone first over the path of life, and He has left us His foot-marksHis example. We must place our feet where He placed His.
Rom. 15:3. Narcissus and the fountainOne day Narcissus, who had resisted all the charms of others, came to an open fountain of silvery clearness. He stooped down to drink, and saw his own image, but thought it some beautiful water-spirit living in the fountain. He gazed, and admired the eyes, the neck, the hair, and the lips. He fell in love with himself. In vain he sought embraces from the beautiful water-spirit. He talked to the charmer, but received no responses. He could not break the fascination, so he pined away and died. The moral is, Think not too much nor too highly of yourselves. However, it is not by the mere presentation of the fable, but by the consideration of the glorious fact, that we must endeavour to be delivered from the injurious spirit of self-pleasing. For even Christ pleased not Himself. Look not to the fable of Narcissus, regard not mere prudential considerations, but consider Christ, your elder brother, who lived a life of self-denial, and who left us an example, that we should follow His steps. His affection for God the Father induced Him to take to Himself the reproaches that were cast upon God; His compassion for men induced Him to bear their sorrows and to suffer for their welfare. Let us seek to be ruled by affection for God and by compassion for our fellow-men.
Rom. 15:3. Imitation of Christ.In Paris the weavers of the Gobelin Tapestries sit concealed behind the fabrics working the pattern designed by a great artist. Passing through the room, one is struck by their loveliness; the work grows thread by thread under the busy fingers. The pattern they copy from is placed above their heads, and they have to look up for direction and guidance. We must look up to Jesus as our perfect pattern while weaving the trials, experience, and daily mercies our heavenly Father has placed as threads in our hands. And no stitch can be wrong if worked by faiths steadfast gaze. Looking unto Jesus, let us be content to stand behind our work, leaving the result to Him.J. K. Corving.
Rom. 15:3. Chinese plaque.A gentleman had a Chinese plaque with curious raised figures upon it. One day it fell from the wall on which it was hung, and was cracked right across the middle. Soon after the gentleman sent to China for six more of these valuable plates, and, to ensure an exact match, sent his broken plate as a copy. To his intense astonishment, when six months later he received the six plates and his injured one, he found the Chinese had so faithfully followed his copy that each new one had a crack right across it. If we imitate even the best of men, we are apt to copy their imperfections; but if we follow Jesus and take Him as our example, we are quite sure of a perfect pattern. No fear of a flaw in His life; no fear of any mistake through following Him.Our Own Magazine.
Rom. 15:3. A Japanese girls simile.At a meeting in Japan the subject was, How to glorify Christ by our lives. One girl said, It seems to me like this: One spring my mother got some flower seedslittle, ugly, black thingsand planted them. They grew and blossomed beautifully. One dlay a neighbour, seeing the flowers, said, Oh, how beautiful! Wont you, please, give me some seeds? Now, if the neighbour had only just seen the flower seeds, she wouldnt have asked for them. It was only when she saw how beautiful was the blossom she wanted the seed. And so with Christianity. We speak to our friends of the truths of the Bible; they seem to them hard and uninteresting. But when they see these same truths blossoming out in our lives into kindly words and good acts, then they say, How beautiful these lives! Thus by our lives, more than by our tongues, we can preach Christ.E. J. B.
Rom. 15:3. The Vatican picture.Years ago, in a Roman palace, there hung a beautiful picture, upon which crowds went to gaze. Among them a young painter unknown to fame went daily to look upon it, until his soul was refreshed by its beauty, and a great longing came into his heart to copy it; but he was sternly refused permission. He returned repulsed, but not discouraged. Day and night its beauty haunted him. Copy it he must. Daily be came to the palace, coming early and leaving late, and, sitting before the picture, gazed upon it till it grew into him and became a part of himself; and one day he hurried home to his easel and began to paint. Each day he came and gazed at the picture, and then went home and reproduced, bit by bit, unweariedly, patiently, something of its beauty. Each fresh days look corrected the last days faults; and as he toiled his power grew, and his hidden genius blazed out. Months after, in that humble studio, there stood such a wonderful copy of the Vatican picture that those who saw it could not rest until they had seen the beautiful original. We who have seen Jesus must represent Him; but only as we look to Him daily, kneeling at His feet and gazing up into His face, do we gain power to reproduce His beauty. Daily looking unto Jesus we get power, skill, courage, and love, and are full of the one desire to be like Him.Our Own Magazine.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Text
Rom. 15:1-12. Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Rom. 15:2 Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. Rom. 15:3 For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me, Rom. 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. Rom. 15:5 Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus: Rom. 15:6 that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God. Rom. 15:8 For I say that Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given unto the fathers, Rom. 15:9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written,
Therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles,
And sing unto thy name.
Rom. 15:10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
Rom. 15:11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; And let all the peoples praise him.
Rom. 15:12 And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, And he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles; On him shall the Gentiles hope.
374.
Chapter fifteen discusses the obligations of one brother. Who is it?
375.
Why should the strong give in? In what manner should the strong bear the infirmities of the weak?
REALIZING ROMANS, Rom. 15:1-13
598.
Why would it be displeasing to anyone to bear the infirmities of the weak?
599.
What is the nature of the weakness here described?
600.
Should we make some definite effort to please our neighbor, or should this happen in the so-called ordinary way of life?
601.
In what sense did Christ not please himself?
602.
Who is the thee of Rom. 15:3 b? What is the meaning of such an expression?
603.
Show the connection of Rom. 15:3-4.
604.
Should not the holy scriptures be a source of comfort to us every day? Why is this not true in our life?
605.
Our God is one of patience and comfort. How can we find this to be true personally?
606.
How was Pauls prayer of Rom. 15:5-6 to be answered?
607.
We are to glorify God with our mouth. If you were to attempt to fulfill such an admonition right now, how would you do it?
608.
Verse seven presents a principle whereby all hesitation in receiving one another should be removed. Why?
609.
What truth of God is referred to in Rom. 15:8? What are the promises? Name two.
610.
Who is singing in Rom. 15:9? Why?
611.
Why this array of references to the Gentiles? cf. Rom. 15:10-12.
Paraphrase
Rom. 15:1-12. We then, who are well instructed in the Christian doctrine, ought so to behave towards the ignorant, that their errors may hurt them as little as possible; and should not please ourselves only in what we do.
Rom. 15:2 Wherefore, let every one of us please his neighbor in things innocent, to the promoting of his virtue and peace, for the sake of edifying the body of Christ.
Rom. 15:3 For even Christ pleased not himself: his own pleasure was not the object of his actions, but the glory of God and the good of others; as it is written, The reproaches of them who reproached thee, have fallen on me: the punishment due to the wicked, who by their speeches and actions dishonored God, was laid to me.
Rom. 15:4 But whatever things were before written in the scriptures, were written for our instruction, that through our recollecting the patience wherewith holy men have borne reproaches and sufferings for the glory of God, and the consolation which they received, all recorded in the scriptures, we might have hope of attaining the like patience and consolation in the like circumstances.
Rom. 15:5 Now may God, the author of the patience and consolation of the saints, grant you to have the very same disposition towards one another always, according to the will and example of Christ Jesus;
Rom. 15:6 That, joining together in religious worship, unanimously with one voice ye may praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for his love to man.
Rom. 15:7 Wherefore hold communion [have fellowship] with one another, notwithstanding ye differ in opinion about meats and days, even as Christ also hath received us all into his church, to the glory of God.
Rom. 15:8 To Christs receiving the Gentiles, it is no objection that he never preached to them: for I affirm, that Jesus Christ became a minister of the circumcision, on account of establishing the truth of God, in order that, by converting the Jews, and sending them to preach to the Gentiles, he might accomplish the promises made to the fathers concerning the blessing of the nations;
Rom. 15:9 And that the Gentiles might praise God on account of the mercy showed them, as it is written, Thou hast made me the head of the heathen; therefore I will glorify thee, O Lord, among the heathen: My disciples will glorify thee for making me the head of the heathen; and sing unto thy name, on account of their being saved by me.
Rom. 15:10 And again, Moses, foretelling the subjection of the Gentiles to God, saith, Rejoice ye Gentiles with his people.
Rom. 15:11 And again, O praise the Lord, all ye nations; praise him, all ye people. Praise the Lord, because ye enjoy the privileges of the gospel along with the Jews, whereby his merciful kindness is great towards us.
Rom. 15:12 And again, Isaiah saith, (Isa. 11:10). In that day there shall be the root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; and to it the Gentiles shall seek for protection, government, and salvation, And his rest shall be glorious.
Summary
The strong are under obligation to bear with the weak, even though it subjects them to inconvenience. This was the course pursued by Christ, and he is our example. As the Savior has accepted us, notwithstanding our imperfections, so must we accept one another regardless of differences on immaterial questions, such as eating meat and the like. The whole section is devoted to unity of feeling, forbearance, and harmony in action. Every form of alienation among the children of God is wrong, and therefore to be studiously guarded against.
376.
How shall we determine when we are indulgent and not helpful?
377.
Give the meaning of the expression Even Christ pleased not himself.
378.
Explain how the Old Testament scriptures are a source of help in our helping the weak.
Comment
3.
Exhortations to Mutual Helpfulness. Rom. 15:1-13
Chapter fifteen continues the thought of fourteen. We are to further understand the proper relationship of the strong to the weak. Particularly is this a discussion of how the strong are to act toward the weak. Those who have no scruples about meats and days should patiently bear with those who do. Since the conscience of the strong would not be violated by observance or lack of observance of these matters, it is altogether reasonable to call on the strong to acquiesce in the matter. Let the strong behave as God does with thembear (not begrudgingly) with the imperfections of the weak. If the strong in faith were to assert himself and rebuke the weak, it would be on a matter of opinion, and would only please the strongnot God, nor the weak. None of us must act with the thought of self-indulgence.
Our efforts as those who are strong are to be only for the purpose of help. When our neighbor (weak or strong) asks for assistance in doing anything contrary to the will of God, he should be rebuked, not helped. A great deal of wisdom is necessary in determining when we are helpful and not indulgent. If we have a sincere desire to see our fellow Christian advance in wisdom and grace, we shall find ways of helping such a growth.
The attitude of Christ toward others is here given as an example for the action of the weak. Was it always easy for our Lord to bear with the ignorance and misunderstanding of his followers? It would have been easier to please himselfand his pleasure was always rightbut this he did not do. If he who had such a divine prerogative did not take it, who are we to insist upon pleasing ourselves? The prophecy of Psa. 69:1-36 finds a fulfillment in the attitude of Christ toward the weak. The reproaches of men fell upon Christ. If Christ was willing to bear so much to help all, can we not manifest something of the same love toward one another?
Paul makes an explanation of the purpose of using this reference from the Psalms. He says: The Old Testament scriptures were written for our instructionparticularly in the area of helping the weak. The scriptures are a great source of patience and comfort. When we do what is right, we retain our hope.
Verse five seems to have the element of a prayer. It is Pauls deepest desire that the God who can produce patience and comfort should so work in their lives as to cause them to be of the same mind, according to the example of Christ.
The true purpose of receiving one another is seen in Rom. 15:6 : That we might present to the world one choir of praise to God. This God is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, the conclusion: Let us accept one another in the same way we were accepted by God in Christ. If God is willing to overlook all our imperfections, why should we hesitate, especially when we know it brings glory to God. God will be honored even by the unbelieving when they see his power and love in the lives of his followers.
Verse seven begins a new thought, yet one which is associated with the preceding. Christ came to reconcile both Jew and Gentile in one body, and this he did. The application isif he came to do this, are we not frustrating his purpose if we divide among ourselves? The details of this argument are: Christ was born of the Jewish race in order to save them. He came in fulfillment of promises made by God to the fathers. Not one promise failednot one word proved untrue. The end result was the salvation of all the world.
We are yet developing the thought of mutual helpfulness. Rom. 15:9-12 contain a series of Old Testament prophecies which show in their promise and fulfillment the unity of Jews and Gentiles. Note: In Rom. 15:9 b David is in the midst of the Gentiles confessing the name of God and singing with the Gentiles. In Deu. 32:43 are the words of Rom. 15:10 a. Moses is here called to support the thought. In this example the Gentiles are represented as rejoicing among the Jews. Once again in Psa. 117:1 the acceptance of the Gentiles is stated. The joy they have in this acceptance is described. The inference is obvious: Christ has accepted all; do you then accept one another.
The final word on the subject is given by Isaiah. The root out of Jesse was to be exalted at Gods right hand for the purpose of ruling the world. All in the world who accept his rule shall find salvation. This is for both Jew and Gentile. The point still carries of mutual acceptance of one another.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) We then that are strong.The opening verses of the chapter are intimately connected with the close of the last. Not only ought those who are strong in faith to be careful what they do in the matter of meat and drink, but in all things they should show sympathy and consideration for their weaker brethren. This unbroken continuity in the two chapters would be enough to show that the Epistle cannot originally have ended with Romans 14.
Bear the infirmities.Take them upon ourselves, act as if they were our own, and, at the same time, by our sympathy relieve the consciences of the weak.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 15
THE MARKS OF THE FELLOWSHIP ( Rom 15:1-6 ) 15:1-6 It is the duty of us who are strong to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please our neighbour, but always for his good and always for his upbuilding in the faith. For the Anointed One of God did not please himself, but, as it stands written, “The insults of those who were insulting you fell upon me.” All the things that were written long ago were written to teach us, so that, through our fortitude, and through the encouragement which the scriptures give, we may hold fast to our hope. May the God who inspires us with fortitude, and gives us encouragement, grant to you to live in harmony with one another as Christ Jesus would have you to do, so that your praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may rise from a united heart and a united voice.
Paul is still dealing with the duties of those within the Christian fellowship to one another, and especially with the duty of the stronger to the weaker brother. This passage gives us a wonderful summary of the marks which should characterize that fellowship.
(i) The Christian fellowship should be marked by the consideration of its members for each other. Always their thoughts should be, not for themselves, but for each other. But this consideration must not degenerate into an easy-going, sentimental laxity. It must always be designed for the other person’s good and for his upbuilding in the faith. It is not the toleration which tolerates because it is too lazy to do anything else. It is the toleration which knows that a man may be won much more easily to a fuller faith by surrounding him with an atmosphere of love than by attacking him with a battery of criticism.
(ii) The Christian fellowship should be marked by the study of scripture; and from that study of scripture the Christian draws encouragement. Scripture, from this point of view, provides us with two things. (a) It gives us the record of God’s dealing with a nation, a record which is the demonstration that it is always better to be right with God and to suffer, than to be wrong with men and to avoid trouble. The history of Israel is the demonstration in the events of history that ultimately it is well with good and evil with the wicked. Scripture demonstrates, not that God’s way is ever an easy way, but in the end it is the only way to everything that makes life worth while in time and in eternity. (b) It gives us the great and precious promises of God. It is said that Alexander Whyte sometimes had a habit of uttering one text when he left some home during his pastoral visitation; and, as he uttered it, he would say: “Put that under your tongue and suck it like a sweetie.” These promises are the promises of a God who never breaks his word. In these ways scripture gives to the man who studies it comfort in his sorrow and encouragement in his struggle.
(iii) The Christian fellowship should be marked by fortitude. Fortitude is an attitude of the heart to life. Again we meet this great word hupomone ( G5281) . It is far more than patience; it is the triumphant adequacy which can cope with life; it is the strength which does not only accept things, but which, in accepting them, transmutes them into glory.
(iv) The Christian fellowship should be marked by hope. The Christian is always a realist, but never a pessimist. The Christian hope is not a cheap hope. It is not the immature hope which is optimistic because it does not see the difficulties and has not encountered the experiences of life. It might be thought that hope is the prerogative of the young; but the great artists did not think that. When Watts drew “Hope” he drew her as a battered and bowed figure with one string left upon her lyre. The Christian hope has seen everything and endured everything, and still has not despaired, because it believes in God. It is not hope in the human spirit, in human goodness, in human achievement; it is hope in the power of God.
(v) The Christian fellowship should be marked by harmony. However ornate a church may be, however perfect its worship and its music, however liberal its giving, it has lost the very first essential of a Christian fellowship if it has lost harmony. That is not to say that there will not be differences of opinion; it is not to say that there will be no argument and debate; but it means that those who are within the Christian fellowship will have solved the problem of living together. They will be quite sure that the Christ who unites them is greater by far than the differences which may divide them.
(vi) The Christian fellowship should be marked by praise. It is no bad test of a man to ask whether the main accent of his voice is that of grumbling discontent or cheerful thanksgiving. “What can I do, who am a little old lame man,” said Epictetus, “except give praise to God?” The Christian should enjoy life because he enjoys God. He will carry his secret within him, for he will be sure that God is working all things together for good.
(vii) And the essence of the matter is that the Christian fellowship takes its example, its inspiration and its dynamic from Jesus Christ. He did not please himself. The quotation which Paul uses is from Psa 69:9. It is significant that when Paul speaks of bearing the weaknesses of others he uses the same word as is used of Christ bearing his Cross (bastazein, G941) . When the Lord of Glory chose to serve others instead of to please himself, he set the pattern which every one who seeks to be his follower must accept.
THE INCLUSIVE CHURCH ( Rom 15:7-13 ) 15:7-13 So, then, welcome one another as Christ welcomed you, that God may be praised. What I mean is this–Christ became a servant of the Jewish race and way of life for the sake of God’s truth, not only to guarantee the promises which the fathers received, but also that the Gentiles should praise God for his mercy. As it stands written: “Therefore I will offer praise to God among the Gentiles and I will sing to your name.” And, again it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles with his people.” And, again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.” And again Isaiah says: “There shall live the scion of Jesse, even he who rises up to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles set their hopes.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in your faith, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may overflow with hope.
Paul makes one last appeal that all people within the Church should be bound into one, that those who are weak in the faith and those who are strong in the faith should be one united body, that Jew and Gentile should find a common fellowship. There may be many differences but there is only one Christ, and the bond of unity is a common loyalty to him. Christ’s work was for Jew and Gentile alike. He was born a Jew and was subject to the Jewish law. This was in order that all the great promises given to the fathers of the Jewish race might come true and that salvation might come first to the Jew. But he came, not only for the Jew, but for the Gentile also.
To prove that this is not his own novel and heretical idea Paul cites four passages from the Old Testament; he quotes them from the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, which is why they vary from the translation of the Old Testament as we know it. The passages are Psa 18:50; Deu 32:43; Psa 117:1; Isa 11:10. In all of them Paul finds ancient forecasts of the reception of the Gentiles into the faith. He is convinced that, just as Jesus Christ came into this world to save all men, so the Church must welcome all men, no matter what their differences may be. Christ was an inclusive Saviour, and therefore his Church must be an inclusive Church.
Then Paul once again goes on to sound the notes of the Christian faith. The great words of the Christian faith flash out one after another.
(i) There is hope. It is easy in the light of experience to despair of oneself. It is easy in the light of events to despair of the world. Someone tells of a meeting in a certain church at a time of emergency. The meeting was constituted with prayer by the chairman. He addressed God as “Almighty and eternal God, whose grace is sufficient for all things.” When the prayer was finished, the business part of the meeting began; and the chairman introduced the business by saying: “Gentlemen, the situation in this church is completely hopeless, and nothing can be done.” Either his prayer was composed of empty and meaningless words, or his statement was untrue.
It has long ago been said that there are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown hopeless about them. It is told that there was a cabinet meeting in the darkest days of the last war, just after France had capitulated. Mr. Churchill outlined the situation in its starkest colours. Britain stood alone. There was a silence when he had finished speaking, and on some faces was written despair, and some would have given up the struggle. Mr. Churchill looked round that dispirited company. “Gentlemen,” he said, “I find it rather inspiring.”
There is something in Christian hope that not all the shadows can quench–and that something is the conviction that God is alive. No man is hopeless so long as there is the grace of Jesus Christ; and no situation is hopeless so long as there is the power of God.
(ii) There is joy. There is all the difference in this world between pleasure and joy. The Cynic philosophers declared that pleasure was unmitigated evil. Anthisthenes made the strange statement that he would “rather be mad than pleased.” Their argument was that “pleasure is only the pause between two pains.” You have longing for something, that is the pain; you get it, the longing is satisfied and there is a pause in the pain; you enjoy it and the moment is gone; and the pain comes back. In truth, that is the way pleasure works. But Christian joy is not dependent on things outside a man; its source is in our consciousness of the presence of the living Lord, the certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God in him.
(iii) There is peace. The ancient philosophers sought for what they called ataraxia, the untroubled life. They wanted all that serenity which is proof alike against the shattering blows and the petty pinpricks of this life. One would almost say that today serenity is a lost possession. There are two things which make it impossible.
(a) There is inner tension. Men live a distracted life, for the word distract literally means to pull apart. So long as a man is a walking civil war and a split personality, there can obviously be for him no such thing as serenity. There is only one way out of this, and that is for self to abdicate to Christ. When Christ controls, the tension is gone.
(b) There is worry about external things. Many are haunted by the chances and the changes of life. H. G. Wells tells how in New York harbour he was once on a liner. It was foggy, and suddenly out of the fog loomed another liner, and the two ships slid past each other with only yards to spare. He was suddenly face to face with what he called the general large dangerousness of life. It is hard not to worry, for man is characteristically a creature who looks forward to guess and fear. The only end to that worry is the utter conviction that, whatever happens, God’s hand will never cause his child a needless tear. Things will happen that we cannot understand, but if we are sure enough of God’s love, we can accept with serenity even those things which wound the heart and baffle the mind.
(iv) There is power. Here is the supreme need of men. It is not that we do not know the right thing; the trouble is the doing it. The trouble is to cope with and to conquer things, to make what Wells called “the secret splendour of our intentions” into actual facts. That we can never do alone. Only when the surge of Christ’s power fills our weakness can we master life as we ought. By ourselves we can do nothing; but with God all things are possible.
THE WORDS REVEAL THE MAN ( Rom 15:14-21 ) 15:14-21 Brothers, I myself am quite sure that you, as you are, are full of goodness and replete with all knowledge and well able to give good advice to one another. I write to you with a certain amount of boldness, as it were, with the purpose of reminding you of what you already know. My ground for doing so is the God-given grace which made me the servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, and gave me the sacred task of telling the good news, and my aim in doing so is to make the Gentiles an offering acceptable to God, an offering consecrated by the Holy Spirit. Now, in Christ, I have good reason to take a legitimate pride in my work in God’s service. I can say this for I will not venture to speak of anything other than the things which Christ has wrought in me, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring the Gentiles into obedience to him. Thus from Jerusalem right round to Illyricum, I have completed the announcing of the good news of God’s Anointed One. But it has always been my ambition to announce the good news, not where Christ’s name has already been preached, because I want to avoid building on another man’s foundation. but as it stands written: “Those to whom the good news has not been told shall see; and those who have not heard will understand.”
Few passages reveal Paul’s character better than this. He is coming to the end of his letter and is wishing to prepare the ground for the visit that he hopes soon to pay to Rome. Here we see something at least of his secret in winning men.
(i) Paul reveals himself as a man of tact. There is no rebuke here. He does not nag the brethren at Rome nor speak to them like some angry schoolmaster. He tells them that he is only reminding them of what they well know, and assures them that he is certain that they have it in them to render outstanding service to each other and to their Lord. Paul was much more interested in what a man could be than in what he was. He saw faults with utter clarity, and dealt with them with utter fidelity; but all the time he was thinking, not of the wretched creature that a man was, but of the splendid creature that he might be.
It is told that once when Michelangelo began to carve a huge and shapeless block of marble, he said that his aim was to release the angel imprisoned in the stone. Paul was like that. He did not want to knock a man down and out; he did not criticize to cause pain; he spoke with honesty and with severity but always because he wished to enable a man to be what he could be and never yet attained to being.
(ii) The only glory that Paul claimed was that he was the servant of Christ. The word he uses (leitourgos, G3011) is a great one. In ancient Greece there were certain state duties called liturgies (leitourgiai, G3011) which were sometimes laid upon and sometimes voluntarily shouldered by men who loved their country. There were five of these voluntary services which patriotic citizens used to undertake.
(a) There was choregia ( G5524) , which was the duty of supplying a chorus. When Aeschylus and Sophocles and Euripides were producing their immortal dramas, in each of them a verse-speaking chorus was necessary. There were great festivals like the City Dionysia when as many as eighteen new dramatic works were performed. Men who loved their city would volunteer to collect, maintain, instruct and equip such a chorus at their own expense.
(b) There was gumnasiarchia. The Athenians were divided into ten tribes; and they were great athletes. At certain of the great festivals there were the famous torch-races in which teams from the various tribes raced against each other. We still speak of handing on the torch. To win the torch-race was a great honour, and there were public-spirited men who at their own cost would select and support and train a team to represent their tribe.
(c) There was hestiasis. There were occasions when the tribes met together to share in a common meal and a common rejoicing; and there were generous men who undertook the task of meeting the expense of such a gathering.
(d) There was archetheoria. Sometimes the city of Athens sent an embassy to another city or to consult the oracle at Delphi or Dodona. On such an occasion everything had to be done in such a way that the honour of the city was maintained; and there were patriotic men who voluntarily defrayed the expenses of such an embassy.
(e) There was trierarchia. The Athenians were the great naval power of the ancient world. And one of the most patriotic things that a man could do was voluntarily to undertake the expenses of maintaining a trireme or warship for a whole year.
That is the background of this word leitourgos ( G3009) . In later days, as patriotism died, such liturgies became compulsory and not voluntary. Later the word came to be used of any kind of service; and later still it came to be used especially of worship and service rendered in the temple of the gods. But the word always had this background of generous service. Just as a man in the ancient days laid his fortune on the altar of the service of his beloved Athens, and counted it his only glory, so Paul laid his everything on the altar of the service of Christ, and was proud to be the servant of his Master.
(iii) Paul saw himself, in the scheme of things, as an instrument in the hands of Christ. He did not talk of what he had done; but of what Christ had done with him. He never said of anything: “I did it.” He always said: “Christ used me to do it.” It is told that the change in the life of D. L. Moody came when he went to a meeting and heard a preacher say: “If only one man would give himself entirely and without reserve to the Holy Spirit, what that Spirit might do with him!” Moody said to himself: “Why should I not be that man?” And all the world knows what the Spirit of God did with D. L. Moody. It is when a man ceases to think of what he can do and begins to think of what God can do with him, that things begin to happen.
(iv) Paul’s ambition was to be a pioneer. It is told that when Livingstone volunteered as a missionary with the London Missionary Society they asked him where he would like to go. “Anywhere,” he said, “so long as it is forward.” And when he reached Africa he was haunted by the smoke of a thousand villages which he saw in the distance. It was Paul’s one ambition to carry the good news of God to men who had never heard it. He takes a text from Isa 52:15 to tell his aim.
“Ye armies of the living God,
His sacramental host,
Where hallowed footstep never trod,
Take your appointed post.”
PLANS PRESENT AND FUTURE ( Rom 15:22-29 ) 15:22-29 And that is why on many occasions I found the way to come to you blocked. But now, since I have no longer a sphere for work in these areas, and since for many years back I have had a great desire to come to you, when I shall go to Spain I hope to see you on my way through; and, I hope, after I have first enjoyed your company for a while, to be sped on my way by you. But at the moment I am on my way to Jerusalem, to render some service to God’s dedicated people there. For Macedonia and Achaea re solved to make a contribution to the poor among God’s dedicated people in Jerusalem. For that was their resolve and indeed they owe a debt to them. For if the Gentiles have received a share in spiritual blessings they also owe a debt to render service to them in material things. When I have completed this business, and when I have duly delivered the gifts to them intact, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I do come to you, I will come bringing a full blessing from Christ.
Here we have Paul telling of an immediate and of a future plan.
(i) His future plan was to go to Spain. There were two reasons why he should wish to go there. First, Spain was at the very western end of Europe. It was in one sense the then limit of the civilized world, and the very fact that it was such would lure Paul on to preach there. He would characteristically wish to take the good news of God so far that he could not take it farther.
(ii) At this time Spain was experiencing a kind of blaze of genius. Many of the greatest men in the Empire were Spaniards. Lucan, the epic poet, Martial, the master of the epigram, Quintilian, the greatest teacher of oratory of his day, were all Spaniards. Above all, Seneca, the great Stoic philosopher, who was first the guardian and afterwards the prime minister of Nero, was a Spaniard. It may well be that Paul was saying to himself that if only he could touch Spain for Christ tremendous things might happen.
(iii) His immediate plan was to go to Jerusalem. He had had a plan which was very dear to his heart. He had arranged for a collection to be taken from his young churches for the poor in the Church of Jerusalem. There is no doubt that that collection would be necessary. In a city like Jerusalem much of the available employment must have been connected with the Temple and its needs. All the priests and the Temple authorities were Sadducees, and the Sadducees were the supreme enemies of Jesus. It must therefore have happened that many a man, when he became a Christian in Jerusalem, lost his job and was in sore need. The help the younger churches could give was much needed. But there were at least three other great reasons why Paul was so eager to take this gift to Jerusalem.
(a) For himself it was the payment of a debt and a duty. When it had been agreed that Paul should be the apostle to the Gentiles, one injunction had been laid upon him by the leaders of the Church–that he would remember the poor ( Gal 2:10). “Which very thing,” said Paul, “I was eager to do.” He was not the man to forget a debt, and now that debt was about to be paid, at least in part.
(b) There was no better way of demonstrating in the most practical way the unity of the Church. This was a way of teaching the young churches that they were not isolated units but members of a great Church extending throughout all the world. The value of giving to others is that it makes us remember that we are not members of a congregation but of a Church which is worldwide.
(c) There was no better way of putting Christianity into practical action. It was easy enough to talk about Christian generosity; here was a chance to turn Christian words into Christian deeds.
So Paul is on the way to Jerusalem, and he is planning a journey to Spain. As far as we know he never got to Spain, for in Jerusalem he encountered the trouble which led to his long imprisonment and his death. It would seem that this was one plan of the great pioneer which never was worked out.
OPEN-EYED INTO DANGER ( Rom 15:30-33 ) 15:30-33 Brothers, I call upon you by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, to strive along with me in prayer to God for me; for I need your prayers that I may be rescued from those in Jerusalem who do not believe, and that the help that I am bringing to Jerusalem may prove acceptable to God’s dedicated people there. I want you to pray that by God’s will I may come to you with joy, and enjoy a time of rest with you. The God of peace be with you all. Amen.
We came to the end of the last passage by saying that as far as we know Paul’s plans to go to Spain were never realized. We know for a certainty that when he went to Jerusalem he was arrested and spent the next four years in prison, two in Caesarea and two in Rome. Here again his great character comes out.
(i) When Paul went to Jerusalem he knew what he was doing and was well aware of the dangers that lay ahead. Just as his Master steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem ( Luk 9:51) so also did Paul. The highest courage is to know that something perilous awaits us and still to go on. That is the courage that Jesus showed; that is the courage that Paul showed; and that is the courage that all Christ’s followers must show.
(ii) In such a situation Paul asked for the prayers of the Christian Church at Rome. It is a great thing to go on knowing that we are wrapped in the warmth of the prayers of those who love us. However far we are separated from those we love, we and they can meet around the mercy-seat of God.
(iii) Paul leaves them his blessing as he goes. It was no doubt all that he had to give. Even when we have nothing else, we can still bear our friends and loved ones in prayer to God.
(iv) It was the blessing of the God of peace that Paul sent to Rome and it was with the presence of the God of peace that he himself went to Jerusalem with all its threats. The man who has the peace of God in his heart can meet all life’s perils unafraid.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
Duty of the strong to the weak, Rom 15:1-7.
1. Then Rather, but. This particle marks the transition from the last paragraph (Rom 14:14-23) to the present. In the former paragraph the duty of the strong toward the weak is treated negatively; namely, requiring them to avoid injury, and specifically in regard to meats and drinks and days. In the present paragraph the duty is stated positively to bear the infirmities of the weak, and generally without limitation to any particular weaknesses. And this contradicts the assertion of Renan that this paragraph is a mere repetition.
Strong Every Church may be divided into the many weak and the few strong. The few may be strong in faith, in talent, in wealth; and it is these generally who must manage to carry the Church along. The large body of the membership do not contemplate and study the interests of the Church as a whole; they gather in to be interested, perhaps to be profited, and to save their souls.
Infirmities It is often easier for the strong to bear up and carry along the weakness of the weak rather than to endure their weaknesses, that is, their infirmities. Those infirmities are often vacillation, petulance, and strife.
Please ourselves The desire to please ourselves is the weakness of the strong. They like to have their own way in the Church; not only because they think it best, but because it is their own way. The man of faith is liable to be overbearing in his zeal. The man of talent is sure that he understands the best methods.
The man of wealth expects to foot the bill, and so thinks that he should control the policy. And so all three may forget the command not to please ourselves.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5. Treatment of Weaklings in Faith, Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:14 .
The vegetarian and over-sabbatarian, Rom 14:1-6. We all live under one final Judge, the Lord Jesus, Rom 14:7-13. Avoidance of fatal offence to morbid consciences, Rom 14:14-23; continued, Rom 15:1-7.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Now we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the frail (powerless), and not to please ourselves.’
Paul commences with the general statement, to be read in the light of the previous chapter, that ‘we who are strong’ ought to have consideration for the ‘powerless’, by ‘bearing their infirmities’, just as Christ ‘bore our infirmities’ (Isa 53:4). The phrase Paul uses probably has Isaiah in mind. This will include living among their weaker brothers and sisters in subjection, while among them, to the things that they in their weakness see as necessary for religious living, but it also has wider application. Paul is drawing out a general lesson from the particular situation. We are to seek to please others rather than ourselves in all things which are matters of relative unimportance so as to ‘bear their infirmities’. That a more general principle is in mind is confirmed by the change in vocabulary, He no longer speaks of the ‘weak’ but of the ‘powerless’. Thus the statement is to have wider application, although having the previous situation in mind. We are reminded here of Php 2:5-11 where there is the same injunction to follow the example of Christ’s humility for the good of others.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Strong Should Help The Weak, And Unity Must Be Foremost (15:1-15:6).
Paul now brings out the underlying lesson, that among believers those who are strong should have consideration for weaker brothers and sisters. They should be pleasing to their brothers and sisters in order that they might ‘at one’ together, and might help to build each other up, in the same way as Christ did not please Himself but bore our reproach. He did not put self-interest first. He could have continued in Heaven and not subjected Himself to the vagaries of men, but instead He chose to come among us, pleasing not Himself but men by whose standards He lived. (We tend to overlook the fact that Jesus was never Himself criticised by the Pharisees for failing to live up to their injunctions on matters of cleanliness, demonstrating that He faithfully observed them).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A Call To Make Real In The Church And In The World The Righteousness Which They Have Received (12:1-15:33).
This section moves from the indicative to the imperative. Having outlined the ways of God in salvation:
in applying to His people the righteousness of Christ (Rom 3:24 to Rom 4:25),
in uniting them with Christ in His death and resurrection (Rom 6:1-11),
in making them righteous within by His Spirit (Rom 8:1-18),
and in having demonstrated God’s sovereign activity in the world which has resulted in a new olive tree composed of both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 9:6 to Rom 11:32),
Paul now calls on all Christians as a consequence (‘by the mercies of God’) to totally consecrate themselves to God’s service. It is an urgent call to action in response to what God has done for them. He is calling on them to live out the ‘newness of life’ (Rom 6:3) that they have received, something which will result in:
their consecration of themselves to God (Rom 12:1-2).
their commitment to help each other (Rom 12:3-8).
their living of a consistent Christian life before outsiders (Rom 12:9-21).
their having a right attitude towards the powers that be (Rom 13:1-7).
their responsibility to reveal the love of Christ through them (Rom 13:8-10).
and their living in the light of the urgency of the times (Rom 13:11-14).
We must not see these chapters as simply moral instruction added on to the main letter, but as in integral part of the letter. They describe the behaviour that will result from following the mind of the Spirit. Without them that would have been incomprehensible to many of them. And we should note how similar exhortation has been made earlier (Rom 6:12-23). Here, however, that is expanded on.
The section may be divided up as follows:
1). Christian Living (12:1-13:14).
A call to total consecration (Rom 12:1-2).
Each member to play his appropriate part in building up Christ’s body (Rom 12:3-8).
A call to fulfil the Law of Christ (Rom 12:9-21).
The Christian’s attitude towards the state (Rom 13:1-7).
The Christian’s responsibility to love (Rom 13:8-10).
Living in crisis days (Rom 13:11-14).
2). Christian Freedom And Consideration For The Views Of Others (14:1-15:6).
Christian freedom to be tempered by consideration for the brethren with regard to food fetishes and sabbath observance (Rom 14:1-23).
The strong should help the weak, and unity must be foremost (Rom 15:1-6).
3). The Ministry Of The Messiah Is To Both Jews And Gentiles (15:7-33).
Christ made a minister of circumcision in order to confirm the promises to the Jews and reach out with mercy to the Gentiles (Rom 15:7-13).
The extent and focal point of Paul’s own ministry to the Gentiles as a minister of the Messiah Jesus to the Gentiles (Rom 15:14-21).
His aim to visit Rome after he has ministered to Jewish believers in taking the contributions of the Gentile churches to the churches in Jerusalem, in view of which he requests prayer that he may be delivered form the hands of antagonistic Jews (Rom 15:22-33).
4). Final Greetings (16:1-27).
Final greetings and exhortations (Rom 16:1-16).
Exhortation to beware of those who divide the church and of the need to be wise to what is good, with the assurance that God will cause them to triumph against Satan’s deceitfulness (Rom 16:17-20).
Greetings from fellow-labourers in the Gospel (Rom 16:21-23).
Final ascription of praise to God for His faithfulness and ability to establish His people in the light of the mystery of the Gospel now revealed (Rom 16:24-27).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2). Christian Freedom And Consideration For The Views Of Others (14:1-15:6).
Having laid down the principles of Christian living, Paul now moves on to what he clearly conceives of as a problem in the Roman church, the problem of disagreement on the question of religious observance. Such disagreement was inevitable. The Roman church was very much a mixture of people from many religious backgrounds, who had brought with them certain ideas about religious observance, and it especially included a large number of Jews and Jewish sympathisers, many of whom were probably still connected with the synagogue. That this latter meant that relationships between Christians and Jews in Rome were reasonably cordial, so that Christians were not necessarily seen as contrary to Judaism, comes out in the fact that later the leading Jewish elders were quite content to meet with Paul on his arrival in Rome so as to hear what he had to say (Act 28:17-24; Act 28:29). They still saw Christianity as a sect of Judaism (Act 28:22). But it did mean that the Jewish Christians conformed to the norms of Judaism with respect to clean and unclean foods, and with respect to the Sabbath and to feasts.
The certain consequence would be that many Roman Christians considered the observance of the Sabbath and the observance of Jewish feasts as binding on them, together with the Jewish food laws in respect of cleanness and uncleanness. It was true that the gathering of leading Jewish Christians in Jerusalem described in Acts 15 had given concessions on these matters to Gentile Christians, but these had not been given to Jewish Christians, and even then for Gentile Christians they had stipulated abstention from eating things sacrificed to idols, from eating blood, and from eating things strangled (Act 15:29). Thus it appears that in Rome there would be many carrying out Judaistic practises.
That the minority involved in what he is describing were of some considerable size comes out in the importance that Paul places on the subject. He clearly saw it as something that could divide the church. This again points to Jewish practises being in mind. While it is perfectly true that on top of this there might be others, such as Pythagoreans, who had their own reasons for vegetarianism (the avoidance of eating what they saw as having a living soul), and converts from other religions who saw certain days as ‘unlucky’, there can really be no doubt that it was aspects of Judaism which were mainly in mind. They themselves saw the laws of uncleanness and the Sabbath as marks of distinction, distinguishing them from the rest of mankind, and Paul the former Pharisee could hardly have referred to unclean meat and the observance of a special day to a church containing as many Jewish Christians as the Roman church did without either signifying them, or making a careful distinction between them and what he was describing. As he did not do the latter we must assume the former. We should in regard to these things recognise that ‘the church of the Romans’ was, like churches in all the big cities in those days, divided up into groups meeting in various parts of the city. And they would have had many different flavours. Thus that Paul addressed the whole church on the subject in such detail suggests that many in those church groups were affected by the issue, and they would contain many Jewish Christians.
Paul was apparently not concerned about abstinence from unclean foods and observance of the Sabbath, as long as such things were not made ‘necessary for salvation’. As long as it did not interfere with their loyalty to Christ he was willing to accept such differences. What he was concerned about, however, was that the church should not be divided over the issue. And he desired not only harmony, but also a position of mutual respect between the parties concerned. It is this that he now goes about enforcing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Practical Applications of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Our Everyday Lives After Paul declares the Gospel in the first eleven chapters, he devotes rest of the chapters to the practical application of the Gospel in the life of the individual. This two-fold aspect of doctrinal and practical teachings is typical of the Pauline epistles. Rom 1:16-17 serves as a summary of the Gospel of Jesus, which Paul spends much of this Epistle expanding upon. These are the key verses of the book of Romans in which Paul declares the power of the Gospel, revealing God’s plan of redemption for mankind. The Almighty God will affect His purpose and plan for man through the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He will spend the first eleven chapters show to us God’s role in bringing about this Plan of Redemption to mankind. He will take the rest of his Epistle teach us our role in supporting this plan in the societies that each of us live in, as we apply the Gospel to our relationships with others.
Paul explains how believers, both Jews and Gentiles, are united as one body in Christ (Rom 12:1-8). The Church is also united within a society, so that this obligates us to social duties with our fellow man (Rom 12:9-21). The Church is also related to the government of that society. Therefore, it has civil duties in relation to its leaders (Rom 13:1-7). These civil duties do not conflict with the Mosaic Law found within Scripture. In fact, these principles are found within the Law (Rom 13:8-10). Paul then exhorts the church at Rome to treat one’s fellow believer with love as an example to the society and government in which they live (Rom 13:11 to Rom 15:13). Christ’s eminent return is reason enough to follow Paul’s exhortations (Rom 13:11-14). He takes a special problem, which is foods, to show the believers how to work together despite their differences (Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13). Thus, we see in a nutshell how to apply the Gospel in our relationship to the Church, to society in general, to governmental authorities, and finally to individual believers. We see that the Church is structured within the society, which is structured under a ruling government. Within this structure, the believers are to be an example of love in how they treat one another so that the society of unbelievers may see the love of God. This is how the Gospel is taken to a nation, which is the third and supporting theme of Romans.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Gospel in Relation to One Body in Christ Rom 12:1-8
2. The Gospel in Relation to Social Duties Rom 12:9-21
3. The Gospel in Relation to Civil Duties Rom 13:1-7
4. The Gospel in Relation to the Law Rom 13:8-10
5. The Gospel in Relation to Other Believers Rom 13:11 to Rom 15:13
Application of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Living Sacrifices – Paul now leaves the doctrinal teachings found in the first major part of this epistle (1-11) and moves into exhortations on how to apply these divine doctrines to daily life (12-15). After having explained how God is still working in the nation of Israel as well as the Church to fulfill all things according to His election through divine foreknowledge, Paul first calls them all, both Jewish and Gentile converts in the church at Rome, to unity in the body of Christ (Rom 12:1-8). They are also to conduct themselves in the love of God towards the society in which they live (Rom 12:9-21), knowing that they are a light to the world and God wants to redeem all men. Although the Jews in Rome as well as in Palestine were considered troublesome by Roman officials, Paul exhorts the Church at Rome to set themselves as examples of respectable citizens by being submission to government authority (Rom 13:1-7). In doing this, they are not breaking the Mosaic Laws, but rather fulfilling them (Rom 13:8-10). Paul then writes a lengthy passage to the church at Rome discussing particular issues that explain how to walk in love among themselves, in light of the fact that the Day of the Lord’s Return is near (Rom 13:11 to Rom 15:13).
Since Rom 12:1-2 command us to give ourselves to God as a servant, the following passages show us how to give ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. Rom 13:14 seems to summarize these two verses, since it is a closing verse to these two chapters.
Rom 13:14, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
Romans 12-15 serve to show how the believers in Rome could offer themselves as a living sacrifice; in their relationships with one another, with society and under government authorities.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Gospel in Relation to Other Believers – Paul then exhorts the church at Rome to treat one’s fellow believer with love as an example to the society and government in which they live (Rom 13:11 to Rom 15:13). Christ’s eminent return is reason enough to follow Paul’s exhortations (Rom 13:11-14). He takes a special problem, which is foods, to show the believers how to work together despite their social differences (Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13).
Christ’s Eminent Return In Rom 13:11-14 Paul gives the church at Rome one reason for walking in love, which is because Christ’s return in eminent and each one will soon have to give an account of their lives to God.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Respecting Cultural Differences Among Believers – The church at Rome was composed of both Jewish and Gentile converts. Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13 is about the eating of meats by some Church members and abstinence by others very likely includes a reference to the cultural differences between the Roman Gentiles and Jews. The Jewish converts were still being particular about observing the Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. But for such observances the Romans had no interest. The Jews also carried many traditions of meats and other foods, which the Romans did not observe. Thus, Paul was telling each culture to respect the cultural differences of the other seeing they are doing it as unto the Lord. The Jews observed their cultural traditions as a way of worshipping the Lord. The Romans avoided such traditions as a way of expressing their liberties in Christ Jesus.
Rom 14:1 Word Study on “receive” BDAG says the Greek word “receive” ( ) (G4355) means, “to receive or accept in one’s society or home or circle of acquaintances, into Christian fellowship.”
Scripture Reference – Note:
Rom 15:7, “ Wherefore receive ye one another , as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”
Rom 14:1 Word Study on “doubtful disputations” BDAG says the Greek word “doubtful disputations” ( ) (G1253) means, “a quarrel.” BDAG says that they are to “welcome [the weak], but not for the purpose of getting into quarrels about opinions.” ( 2)
Rom 14:3 “for God hath received him” Comments – If God has received a weak Christian brother into His fellowship and saving grace, even though he may be weak, how much ready should we be willing to welcome him into our fellowship (Rom 15:7).
Rom 15:7, “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”
Rom 14:7 Comments – Note that not even the lost man is able to live and die without affecting others.
Rom 14:8 Comments – Rom 14:8 explains that our life and death serve for Christ Jesus’ advantage. Verse 6 says that “to the Lord” we either regard a day or disregard it.
Rom 14:9 “that he might be Lord birth of the dead and living” – Comments – Jesus is Lord of all things in heaven, earth and under earth (Php 2:9-11). Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus is Lord of those spiritually dead, and these dead also will confess Him as Lord one day.
Php 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 Rom 14:11
1Ki 17:12, “And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth , I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
Heb 6:13, “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself ,”
Rom 14:11 “every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God” – Comments – Even the lost man is indebted to praise the lord. For God has created Him also.
Php 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Rom 14:15 “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably” – Comments – Col 3:14 says that love is the bond of maturity. In other words, everything we do must be governed by love. Love is what brings together everything that we do in a manner that pleases God. Goodspeed translates Rom 14:15 to read, “For if your brother’s feelings are hurt by what you eat, your life is not governed by love”
We are to govern our lives by love in everything that we do. Kenneth Hagin teaches us that our conscience is the voice of the Holy Spirit. [224] Col 3:15 tells us to govern our decisions by whether or not we have a peace in our hearts. When we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, we find that a peace in our heart indicates that a decision is within God’s will and a check in our spirit indicates that something is not God’s will. Thus, we allow the peace of God to be our guide. If we do this, we will be allowing love to govern our decisions (Rom 3:14).
[224] Kenneth Hagin, The Human Spirit (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1985), 26.
Col 3:14-15, “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
Rom 14:17 Comments – It is our position of righteousness that brings true peace in our hearts. This peace will allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with a joy unspeakable and full of glory (1Pe 1:8).
1Pe 1:8, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:”
We see this same order of righteousness, peace, and joy in Rom 14:17.
Rom 14:18 Scripture References – We see a similar verse in Pro 3:3-4.
Pro 3:3-4, “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man .”
Rom 14:19 “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace” Scripture References – Note:
Heb 12:14, “ Follow peace with all men , and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:”
Jas 3:18, “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
Rom 14:20 Comments – Eating with offence refers to those who cause others stumble while not having a pure conscience in himself about partaking of a matter.
Rom 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Rom 14:21
Luk 17:2, “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
Rom 14:22 “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God” – Comments – There are times that we must keep our faith quiet when we believe God for things. If we tell our family or friends, they may speak to us in doubt and unbelief. We do not want them to stumble at our faith, which appears to them foolish.
Illustration – Rahab is an example of someone who kept her faith in God quiet for a season.
Jos 2:20-21, “And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.”
Rom 14:23 “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin” Comments – Heb 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God.
Heb 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Rom 15:2 Comments – Note that Paul opened a lengthy passage in Rom 13:9-10 on loving our neighbours and is still on this same topic in chapter 15.
Rom 13:9-10, “For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Rom 15:2 Scripture References – Note similar verses about edifying our neighbour:
Rom 14:19, “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”
1Co 9:19, “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.”
1Co 10:24, “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.”
1Co 10:33, “Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.”
Rom 15:3 Old Testament Quotes in the New Testament – In Rom 15:3 Paul quotes from Psa 69:9.
Psa 69:9, “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me .”
Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Rom 15:4
Psa 102:18, “ This shall be written for the generation to come : and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.”
1Co 10:11, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition , upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
Heb 8:5, “ Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things , as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.”
Rom 15:6 “That ye may with one mind” Comments – This word is used in the book of Acts. It refers to having the same purpose or impulse.
“and one mouth glorify God” Scripture References:
Jas 3:10
Rom 15:6 Comments – Rom 15:6 explains the purpose of being of same mind. God is not in the presence of sin. We cannot do it without one mind due to strife, etc.
Jas 3:16, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
Rom 15:6 Illustration – As an illustration, see Act 2:46-47. God will be able to do great works among us in this state. How to do this? Rom 12:1-2; Rom 12:16.
Act 2:46-47, “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
Rom 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Rom 12:16, “Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”
Rom 15:7 “Wherefore receive ye one another” – Scripture Reference:
Rom 14:1
Rom 15:7 “as Christ also received us to the glory of God” Comments The pronoun “us” refers to the church at Rome, especially as Gentiles. So, in Rom 15:9 they are to glorify God for his unspeakable grace and gift of salvation.
Scripture Reference:
Rom 14:3
Rom 15:8 Comments Jesus Christ was born of Jewish lineage (Rom 15:8 a) in order to confirm the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah (Rom 15:8 b), and to bring the Gentiles into covenant with God (Rom 15:9 a).
Scripture References – Note supporting verses:
Mat 15:24, “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Act 3:25-26, “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”
Rom 15:9 “And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy” – Comments The second purpose of Jesus coming as Jew was to provide redemption to the Gentiles. The Gentiles would take note of how God grafted them into the vine and they would glorify God because of His mercy that saved them (Rom 9:22-24).
Rom 9:22-24, “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?”
“as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name” – Comments In Rom 15:9 b Paul now gives the first of four testimonies from the Old Testament prophets to confirm the fact that Jesus came to grant mercy and redemption to the Gentiles. He first cites a psalm of David in Psa 18:49, “Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.”
Rom 15:10 Comments In Rom 15:10 Paul gives the second of four testimonies from the Old Testament prophets to confirm the fact that Jesus came to grant mercy and redemption to the Gentiles. He cites Moses in Deu 32:43, “ Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people : for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.”
Rom 15:11 Comments In Rom 15:11 Paul gives the third of four testimonies from the Old Testament prophets to confirm the fact that Jesus came to grant mercy and redemption to the Gentiles. He cites an additional psalm authored by someone other than David in Psa 117:1, “O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.”
Rom 15:12 Comments In Rom 15:12 Paul gives the fourth of four testimonies from the Old Testament prophets to confirm the fact that Jesus came to grant mercy and redemption to the Gentiles. He cites the prophet Isaiah in Isa 11:10, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
An Admonition to Patience and Harmony.
Christians should not please themselves:
v. 1. We, then, that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.
v. 2. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good, to edification.
v. 3. For even Christ pleased not Himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me.
v. 4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
v. 5. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus,
v. 6. that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the preceding section Paul had spoken of things indifferent and of the consideration which the strong in faith ought to show to the weak in this respect. He now extends the notion of strong and weak somewhat and speaks of the behavior of the Christians in general, with reference to the example of Christ. But it is the duty of us that are strong to tolerate the weaknesses of the weak and not please ourselves. The strong, or able, are the Christians that are enjoying a strong, vigorous Christianity, without, indeed, being perfect; the weak, on the other hand, are the unsteady, the feeble, that are weak in both knowledge and Christian life. Luther says of the latter: “Such weak ones are they that sometimes stumble in open sin, or those that we in German call strange heads and peculiar people, that fly up at a slight provocation or have other weaknesses, for which reason it is difficult to get along with them; as this may happen especially between husband and wife, between master and servant, between government and subjects. ” It is the duty of the strong to tolerate, to bear, the weak, to hold them up in their weakness, in their prejudices, errors, and faults, the purpose of such kindness being to aid our fellow-Christian in getting rid of his faults, in being cured of his weakness. For the object and aim of a Christian’s life and conduct is not to please himself, to live only for his own benefit; such behavior as aims only at its own edification is the height of selfishness and smug hypocrisy.
Paul teaches that a real Christian shows an altogether different disposition and conduct: Let every one of us please his neighbor unto good, for edification. Instead of being concerned about their own advancement in spiritual knowledge only, true Christians will always be ready, though not officious, in endeavoring to promote the spiritual life of their neighbors in the Church as well, for the good which we must chiefly have in mind is the religious improvement of others, especially if they have not had the advantages which we have enjoyed by the grace of God. In doing so we are inspired and urged onward by the highest possible example: For also Christ did not please Himself, but He acted according to what was written concerning Him: The reproaches, the vituperations, of them that reproached Thee have fallen on Me. The apostle here quotes from Psa 69:9, from a Messianic psalm; for the Savior Himself spoke through the inspired prophet and pictured some of the incidents of His suffering. See Joh 2:17; Joh 15:25; Joh 19:28; Act 1:20. Even Jesus, though exempt from such obligations by the fact of His being true God, did not live for His own pleasure only, did not live merely to enjoy the glory which had been imparted to His human nature, but was concerned without ceasing for the deliverance and salvation of sinful mankind, being undeterred in this object by all the blasphemous reproaches of all the enemies that attempted to frustrate His work. If Christ, therefore, laid aside all consideration of self and made the welfare of sinners the chief aim of His life, surely no Christian will consider himself too good to follow that example and endeavor in every possible way to aid in the edification of his neighbor unto eternal life. There can and must be no thought of burden, but only of privilege.
Paul now justifies his use of the Old Testament passage and shows that the facts recorded in Scriptures are designed for our instruction and may therefore readily be applied in their fulfillment. For all things written beforehand, in olden times, for our instruction were they written, in order that through the patience and through the consolation of the Scriptures we might have the hope, v. 4. The reference of the apostle is to the entire Old Testament as it was then in use. The books which were known under the collective title “The Scriptures” were not composed by their authors to serve only their own contemporaries, but the Holy Ghost, the Editor-in-chief, the real Author of the Bible, had in mind the conditions of all times to the end of time. The Bible, therefore, is the teacher, the instructor, of the Church after Christ as well as before Christ. Such an application of Scripture, then, as here made by the apostle is entirely in accord with the purpose of the holy Book; it should serve for strengthening Christians in their faith. One of the aims of Scriptures is named by the apostle, namely, to give us instruction, in order that we through the patience and the consolation which Scripture produces and works in us might have and hold firmly the hope of the future glory. This object may be attained in us because the Bible not only admonishes us to hold out patiently and steadfastly to the end, but also comforts us with the assurance of the help of the Holy Spirit, and thus works in us both patience and consolation to wait and to endure, since the realization of our hope is a matter of only a short time. If we use Scripture regularly and properly, then we draw out of it from day to day more strength, comfort, courage, and confidence, and thus ever keep before our eyes the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls.
The apostle now concludes his admonition with the cordial wish: But the God of patience and consolation give to you to think the same thing toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you, of one mind and in one mouth, may praise God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, vv. 5 -6. As the Scriptures were just called the instruction for our patience and consolation, so the same titles are here applied to God: He is the God of patience and comfort, inspiring steadfastness and encouragement in our hearts through the use of the Scriptures in which He reveals Himself. And if these gifts of God are found in us by the gift of God, then we and all Christians will be like-minded toward one another, then there will be God-pleasing harmony among us, then we shall consider one another as brothers and show a true brotherly spirit, free from all selfishness. Such brotherly harmony according to the spirit of Jesus Christ is presupposition and foundation of the mutual bearing, of the mutual furtherance and edification which should be found in every Christian congregation. That is the will of Christ, whose prayer for this gift should always be kept in mind by all believers, Joh 17:11. And thus it will follow that those who are really a unit in the Spirit of God will also, with one accord, unite in a chorus of praise to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all these great spiritual gifts are derived, whose love in Christ Jesus has made them possible and transmitted them to us. Note: God is the God as well as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; it is a most singular relation, assumed, however, for the salvation of mankind.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Rom 16:1-24
IV. SUPPLEMENTARY. Questions have been raised and much discussed as to the connection of the last two chapters, 15. and 16., with the rest of the Epistle. The facts and the opinions founded on them may be summarized as follows.
(1) There is sufficient proof that in early times copies of the Epistle existed without these two chapters. The evidence is this
(a) Origen (on Rom 16:25-27) speaks of some copies in his time being without the concluding doxology, and also without any part of these two chapters, attributing the omission to Marcion, for his own purposes, having mutilated the Epistle. His words are, “Caput hoc (i.e. Rom 16:25-27) Marcion, a quo scripturae evangelicae et apostolicae interpolatae sunt, de hac Epistola penitus abstulit; et non solum hoe, sod ab hoc loco ubi scriptum est, Omne autem quod non ex fide est peccatum est (i.e. Rom 14:23) usque ad finem cuncta dissecuit.” Tertullian also speaks of Marcion having mutilated this Epistle, though not specifying these two chapters.
(b) In Codex Amiatinus (a manuscript of the Latin Bible of the sixth century) there is a prefixed table of contents, referring by numbers to the sections into which the Epistle was divided, and describing the subject of each section. In this table the fiftieth section is thus described: “On the peril of one who grieves his brother by his meat,” plainly denoting Rom 14:15-23; and the next and concluding section is described thus: “On the mystery of the Lord kept secret before his Passion, but after his Passion revealed,” which description can only refer to the doxology of Rom 16:25-27. Hence it would seem that in some Latin copy of the Epistle to which the table of contents referred, the doxology followed Rom 14:23 with nothing between.
(c) Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Cyprian. who quote largely from the Epistle, have no references to Rom 15:1-33. and 16. It may be observed, however, that mere omission to quote is not in itself conclusive, though it may be corroborative of other evidence.
(2) The concluding doxology (Rom 16:25-27), though placed, as in the Textus Receptus, at the end of Rom 16:1-27. in the uncials generally and by the Latin Fathers, is found at the end of Rom 14:1-23. in the uncial L, in most cursives, in the Greek Lectionaries, and is so referred to by the Greek commentators. Some few manuscripts have it in both places, and some few omit it altogether. Origen also (loc. cit.) says that in some copies of the Epistle which contained Rom 15:1-33. and 16., the doxology was placed at the end of Rom 16:1-27., and in others at the end of Rom 14:1-23.
(3) In one manuscript (G) all mention of Rome in the Epistle is omitted; and in one cursive (47) there is a marginal note to the effect that “some one” (i.e. probably, some commentator) makes no mention of the words either in the interpretation or the text.
In view of these facts, it may be held that the Epistle, as first written, ended at Rom 14:1-23. with the doxology appended, Rom 15:1-33. and 16. (ending at Rom 15:24 with the usual concluding benediction, “The grace,” etc.) having been an addition. Baur, after his mannerand this partly on supposed internal evidencedisputes the two last chapters having been written by St. Paul at all, regarding them as an addition by a later hand. But his reasons are too arbitrary to stand against the authority of existing manuscripts, to say nothing of the internal evidence itself, which really appears to us to tell the other way. Such internal evidence will appear in the course of the Exposition. One view, put forth by Ruckert, and recently supported by Bishop Lightfoot, is that St. Paul, having originally written the whole Epistle, including the two chapters, but without the doxology, reissued it at a later period of his life in a shortened form for general circulation, having then appended the doxology. This theory, however, is but a conjecture, put forward as best accounting for all the facts of the case, including that of all mention of Rome having been apparently absent from some copies. This, however, might be accounted for by the Epistle having been issued, after St. Paul’s time, in a form suited for general circulation. On the whole, we may take it as probable that the apostle, having first concluded his Epistle with Rom 14:1-23. and the doxology, felt himself urged to resume a subject which lay so near his heart, and so appended Rom 15:1-33., and then the salutations, etc., in Rom 16:1-27., before the letter was sent.
This supposition would in itself account for copies of the Epistle having got into circulation without the additions to it. Possibly Marcion took advantage of finding some such copies to deny the genuineness of the two final chapters altogether; and his doing so would be likely to promote circulation of the shorter copies. It will be observed that the Epistle, as a doctrinal treatise practically applied, is complete without the last two chapters; and also that Rom 15:1-33., though connected in thought with the end of Rom 14:1-23., might be, and indeed reads like, a resumption and further enforce-merit of its ideas. It seems, indeed, as if three appendices, or postscripts, had been added by the apostle; the first ending with the benediction of Rom 15:33; the second (commending Phoebe, who was to be the bearer of the letter, and sending salutations to persons at Rome) with the benediction of Rom 16:20; and the third (which might be added at the last moment) with that of Rom 16:24. All the benedictions are thus accounted for, being the apostle’s usual concluding authentications (cf. 2Th 3:17; Col 4:18).
As to the proper position of the doxology, if the view last given be correct, its original one would be most naturally at the end of Rom 14:1-23.; since otherwise the Epistle, as first completed, would have nothing answering to the usual benedictions in conclusion. And though this is not a benediction, but a doxology, embodying in solemn terms the main idea of the preceding treatise, such a conclusion is in keeping with the peculiar character of the Epistle to the Romans.
Finally, though uncial authority is decidedly in favour of the position of the doxology at the end of Rom 16:1-27., this does not seem to be a sufficient reason for con-eluding it to have been originally there. If there existed anciently two editions, one with, and the other without, the two chapters appended, transcribers of the longer edition would be likely to place the doxology at the end of what they believed to be the true conclusion of the original Epistle.
After all, the question cannot be considered as settled. It has been deemed sufficient here to state the main arguments for or against the various views that have been taken.
Rom 15:1-13
H. Renewed admonition to bear with the weak, enforced by Scripture and the example of Christ.
Rom 15:1-3
We then (rather, but we, or now we. The here certainly seems to link this chapter to the preceding section; but it is not inconsistent with the chapter being an addition to a completed letter, of which it takes up the concluding thought) that are strong (St. Paul, here as elsewhere, identifies himself with the more enlightened party) ought ( expresses obligation of duty) to bear the infirmities of the weak (cf. Gal 6:2), and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good (rather, for that which is good) to edification. For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. The quotation is from Psa 69:9; one in which a righteous sufferer under persecution calls on God for deliverance, and to some parts of which even the details of Christ’s Passion strikingly correspond. The first part of the verse here quoted, “The zeal of thine house,” etc., is applied to him in Joh 2:17.
Rom 15:4
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning (in the old sense of teaching, or instruction), that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures (or, as the form of the Greek rather suggests, and as is confirmed by the repetition of the words conjoined in Rom 15:5, through the patience and the comfort of the Scriptures) might have hope. This verse, introduced by , gives the reason why the words of the ancient psalmist are adduced for the instruction of Christians. Christ, it is said, exemplified the principle of it, and it is for us to do so too. By bearing the infirmities of the weak, and submitting, if need be, to reproach, we exhibit Christ-like endurance (), such as Scripture inculcates; and therewith will come comfort, such as Scripture contains and gives, and so a strengthening of our hope beyond these present troubles. The psalm quoted was peculiarly one of endurance and comfort under vexations and reproaches, and of hope beyond them. It was written afore-time for our instruction, that so it may be with us, as it was with Christ. In the next verse the apostle returns definitely to the subject in hand.
Rom 15:5-7
Now the God of patience and comfort (the same word as before, though here in the Authorized Version rendered consolation) grant you to be like-minded (see on Rom 12:16), one with another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one accord with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (so certainly, rather than, as in the Authorized Version, “God, even the Father of,” etc.). Wherefore receive ye one another (cf. Rom 14:1, and note), even as Christ also received us (or you, which is better supported, and, for a reason to be given below, more likely) to the glory of God. As in Rom 15:3, the example of Christ is again adduced. The connection of thought becomes plain if we take the admonition, “Receive ye one another,” to be mainly addressed to “the strong,” and these to consist principally of Gentile believers, the “weak brethren” being (as above supposed) prejudiced Jewish Christians. To the former the apostle says, “Receive to yourselves with full sympathy those Jewish weak ones, even as Christ, though sent primarily to fulfil the ancient promises to the house of Israel only (see Rom 15:8), embraced you Gentiles () also within the arms of mercy” Thus the sequence of thought in Rom 15:8, seq., appears. “Unto the glory of God” means “so as to redound to his glory.” Christ’s receiving the Gentiles was unto his glory; and it is implied that the mutual receiving of each other by believers would be so too. The idea of God’s glory being the end of all runs through the whole passage (cf. Rom 15:6, Rom 15:9, Rom 15:11).
Rom 15:8, Rom 15:9
For (the reading is much better supported than . The essential meaning, however, of is the same as of ) I say (i.e. what I mean to say is this; cf. 1Co 1:12; Gal 4:1 : Gal 5:16) that Jesus Christ was (rather, has been made, being the more probable reading than ) a minister of the circumcision (i.e. of the Jews) for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (literally, the promises of the fathers): and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. Observe the expressions, , etc., and , with reference respectively to the Jews and Gentiles. Christ’s primary ministry was to “the house of Israel” (cf. Mat 15:24), in vindication of God’s truth, or faithfulness to his promises made through the patriarchs to the chosen race: his taking in of the Gentiles was an extension of the Divine mercy, to his greater glory. The infinitive , in Rom 15:9, seems best taken in the same construction with in Rom 15:8, both being dependent on . As it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy Name. This quotation from Psa 18:49 or 2Sa 22:50, with those that follow, are for scriptural confirmation of God’s purpose, which has just been spoken of, to include the Gentiles in his covenanted mercies to Israel, so that they too might glorify him. St. Paul, after a manner usual with him; follows cut a thought suggested in the course of his argument, so as to interrupt the latter for a while, but to return to it in 2Sa 22:13. All, in fact, from the beginning of 2Sa 22:8 to the end of 2Sa 22:12, is parenthetical, suggested by “even as Christ received you,.” at the end of 2Sa 22:7. All this, it may be observed, is confirmatory of Pauline authorship. The first quotation introduces David, the theocratic king, confessing and praising God, not apart from the Gentiles, but among them. The second, from Deu 32:43, calls on the Gentiles themselves to join in Israel’s rejoicing; the third, from Psa 117:1, does the same; the last, from Isa 11:10, foretells definitely the reign of the Messiah over Gentiles as well as Jews, and the hope also of the Gentiles in him.
Rom 15:10-13
And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye peoples. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust (rather, hopewhich is the word in the LXX.; thus brining back the thought of the hope spoken of in Rom 15:4, with a prayer for the abundance of which to his readers, as the result of peace in the faith among each other, the apostle now concludes his exhortation). Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye my abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Rom 15:14-33
I. Expression of confidence in the general disposition of the Roman Christians, and of the writer’s desire to visit them, and his intentions in accordance with that desire.
Rom 15:14
And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye yourselves also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. It is St. Paul’s courteous as well as kindly way to compliment those to whom he writes on what he believes to be good in them, and to cling to a good opinion of them, even where he has some misgivings, or has had reason to find fault (cf. 1Co 1:4, seq.; 2Co 1:7; 2Co 3:1, seq.; 2Co 7:3, seq.). Here “I myself also” ( ) may have tacit reference to the general good report of the Roman Church (cf. Rom 1:8 and Rom 16:19), which he means to say he himself by no means doubts the truth of, notwithstanding his previous warnings. “Ye yourselves also” ( ) implies his trust that even without such warnings they would of themselves be as he would wish them to be; “full of goodness” (), so as to be kind to one another, as they were enlightened and replete with knowledge ().
Rom 15:15
But I have written unto you the more boldly, brethren, in some measure (so, as in the Revised Version, or, in part ( ), rather than in some sort, as in the Authorized Version. The allusion seems to be to the passages in the Epistle in which he has been bold to admonish urgently; such as Rom 11:17, seq.; Rom 12:3; and especially Rom 14:1-23.), as putting yon in mind (reminding you only of what you doubtless know), because of the grace given me of God; i.e., as appears from what follows, of apostleship to the Gentries (cf. Rom 1:5, Rom 1:14; also Act 22:21 : Gal 2:9). Though the Church of Rome was not one of his own foundation, and he had no desire, there or elsewhere, to build on another man’s foundation (Rom 14:20), yet his peculiar mission as apostle to the Gentiles gave him a claim to admonish them. The reason thus given is, it will be observed, a confirmation of the view, otherwise apparent, that the Roman Church consisted principally of Gentile believers.
Rom 15:16
That I should be the minister () of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles, ministering () the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified in the Holy Ghost. As to the words and , see on Rom 13:6; and on , on Rom 1:9 and Rom 12:1. Here they are evidently used in their sacrificial meaning, but applied metaphorically; the “acceptable offering” which Paul offers to God is that of the Gentiles whom he brings to the faith. “The preaching of the gospel he calls a sacrificial service (), and genuine faith an acceptable offering” (Theodoret). “This is my priesthood, to preach and to proclaim” (Chrysostom); cf Php 2:17.
Rom 15:17
I have therefore whereof I may glory through (rather, I have my boasting in) Christ Jesus in the things that pertain unto God ( the same phrase as is used in Heb 5:1 with reference to priestly service). St. Paul’s purpose in this and the four following verses is to allege proof of his being a true apostle with a right to speak with authority to the Gentiles. It is evident, he says, from the extent and success of my apostolic labours, and the power of God that has accompanied them. So also, still more earnestly and at length, in 2Co 11:1-33. and 12. As to his reason for frequently thus insisting on his true apostleship, and for asserting it in writing to the Romans, see note on Rom 1:1.
Rom 15:18, Rom 15:19
For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought through me unto the obedience of the Gentiles (meaning, I will not dare to speak, of any mere doings of my own, but only of those in which the power of Christ working through my ministry has been displayed) by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders (i.e. displays of miraculous power. It is noteworthy how St. Paul alludes incidentally in his letters to such “signs and wonders” having accompanied his ministry, as to something familiar and acknowledged, so as to suggest the idea of their having been more frequent than we might gather from the Acts of the Apostles. Had the alleged “signs and wonders” been unreal, we might have expected them to be made more of in the subsequent narrative of an admirer than in contemporary letters), by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about as far as Illyricum, I have fully preached (literally, I have fulfilled) the gospel of Christ. In thus designating the sphere of his ministry the apostle is denoting its local extent, rather than the course he had taken. He had, in fact, preached first at Damascus (Act 9:20), and afterwards at Jerusalem (Act 9:29); but he mentions Jerusalem first, as being the original home of the gospel in the East, and, indeed, the first scene of his own preaching in fellowship with the original apostles. Thence he had extended it in various quarters, and carried it into Europe, Illyricum being the western limit so far reached. It is true that there is no mention in the Acts of his having actually visited Illyria. In the journey of Act 17:1-34. he plainly got no further west than Betted, which is, however, not far off; and he might possibly mean here only to say that he had extended the gospel to the borders of Illyricum, but for the word , and his seeming to imply afterwards (Act 17:23) that he had gone as far as he could in those regions, and consequently contemplated a journey to Spain. Hence, the narrative of Acts not being an exhaustive history, it may be supposed that he had on some occasion extended his operations from Macedonia to Illyricum, as he may well have done on his visit to the latter mentioned in Act 20:1-38. 1-3, where allows for a visit into Illyricum.
Rom 15:20
Yea (or, but), so striving (or, earnestly desiring, or making it my aim. The word is , cf. 2Co 5:1-21. 9; 1Th 4:11) to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation. In the compact between St. Paul and the apostles of the circumcision referred to in Gal 2:1-7, it was agreed that he should confine his apostolic ministry to the Gentiles. Consequently, we find him selecting as centres of his work the principal cities of the heathen world. But he was further careful to avoid places, wherever they might be, in which Churches were already founded. It was the function of an apostle to extend the gospel by founding new Churches, rather than to invade the provinces of others. Those founded by himself, and thus under his immediate jurisdiction, as e.g. the Corinthian Church, he visited as need arose, and addressed them in authoritative letters, commanding as well as exhorting. But his rule in this respect did not preclude his writing also letters of general encouragement and admonition to any whom his peculiar commission as apostle of the Gen- tiles gave him a claim to be heard by. Thus he wrote to the Colossians, though he had never seen them (Col 1:4; Col 2:1); and thus also to the Romans, at the same time (as we have seen, Rom 15:15, seq.) almost apologizing for doing so; and, though he proposes visiting them, it is nor with the view of staying among them long, so as to take up the superintendence of them, but only on his way to Spain for mutual comfort and edification (see Rom 1:11, Rom 1:12; Rom 15:24).
Rom 15:21-24
But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand (Isa 52:15, as in the LXX. The passage is Messianic; but St. Paul need be understood to be quoting it as predictive or directive of the rule he follows. Enough if it expresses his meaning well). For which cause also I have been much hindered (or, was for the most part, or many times hindered) from coming to you. The hindrance had been, mainly at least, as is evident from (Rom 15:22), the obligation he was under of completing his ministry in the first place in other quarters (see on Rom 1:13). But now having no longer place in these regions (i.e., according to the context, there being no additional sphere for my activity there. He had now planted the gospel in all the principal centres, leaving disciples and converts, and probably an ordained ministry, to carry on the work and extend it in the regions round. In this his proper apostolic work consisted; cf. 1Co 1:14-17), and having a great desire these many years to come unto you; whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I hope to see you on my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. The sense of this verse is no way affected by the omission of “I will come unto you,” which authorities are against retaining. If “for,” after this omission, be retained, the sentence is incomplete, as St. Paul’s sometimes are. The omission of “for” (for which there is some little authority) leaves the sentence improved. The apostle’s selection of Spain as his next intended sphere of labour might be due to the notoriety of that Roman province, and the facility of communication with it by sea. His omission of Italy, except for a passing visit, is accounted for by his principle, already enunciated, of not building on other men’s foundation, there being already a flourishing Church at any rate at Rome. He hoped, as appears from this verse, that some of the members of it might join him in his mission to Spain. For the word would imply their going all the way in the ease of a sea-voyage. For the use of the word, cf. Act 15:3; Act 20:38; Act 21:5; 1Co 16:6; 2Co 1:16. Observe the characteristic courtesy of the concluding clause, which is literally, “should I be first in part“ (i.e. not as much as I should wish, but to such extent as my short stay with you will allow) “filled with you,” i.e. enjoy you.
Rom 15:25-27
But now I go to Jerusalem ministering unto the saints. For it hath pleased (, implying good will) Achaia and Macedonia to make a certain contribution (, intimating the communion of Christians with each other, evinced by making others partakers of their own blessings; of Rom 12:13; 2Co 9:13; 1Ti 6:18; Heb 13:16) to the poor of the saints which are at Jerusalem. As to this collection for the poor Christians at Jerusalem, which St. Paul seems to have been intent on during his journeys, and which he was now on the point of carrying to its destination, of. Act 19:21; Act 24:17; 2Co 8:1-9:15. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister (; here in the general sense of ministry; see on Rom 13:6) to them in carnal things. Here we have the same idea of salvation being derived to the Gentiles from the Jews as is prominent in Rom 11:17, Rom 11:18, and apparent in Rom 15:7, seq.
Rom 15:28, Rom 15:29
When therefore I have accomplished this, and sealed to them (i.e. ratified and assured to them) this fruit, I will come away by you into Spain. And I know that when I come to you ( here is intended emphatically) I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ. How different from his anticipations were the circumstances of his first visit to Rome we know from the Acts. So man proposes, but God disposes, and all for final good (cf. Php 1:12, seq.). That he afterwards carried out his intention of visiting Spain cannot be alleged with certainty, though there is distinct evidence of an early tradition that he did so (Canon Muratori, Eusebius, Jerome, Theodoret. Cf. Clem. Romans, Eph 1:1-23, who speaks of St. Paul having gone to “the boundaries of the West”). Certainly before the end of his detention at Rome he had given up any idea he might have had of going thence at once to Spain; for cf. Php 2:19; Phm 1:22; which Epistles are believed, on good grounds, to have been written during that detention. Still, he may have gone during the interval between his release and his final captivity at Rome, during which the pastoral Epistles were probably written.
In what follows (verses 30-32) some apprehension of dangers attending his visit to Jerusalem, which might possibly thwart his intentions, already appears; sounding like an undertone allaying the confidence of the hope previously expressed. In the course of his progress to Jerusalem this apprehension appears to have grown upon him; for see Act 20:22, Act 20:23, Act 20:28; Act 21:4, Act 21:11-14). It may be here observed that such signs, evidently unintentional, of conflicting feelings in the letter, and such consistency between the letter and the narrative, are strong confirmations of the genuineness of both.
Rom 15:30-33
Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. Here he seems to imply a possibility of even the Jewish Christians not receiving him, with the alms he brought them, kindly. In 2 Oct. Rom 8:18, seq., he had shown signs of being anxious to avoid any possible suspicion of malversation with regard to the contribution. The danger probably arose from the suspicions against himself, his authority, and his motives, entertained by the Judaistic faction. That this faction was then strong at Jerusalem appears from the precautions he was advised to take on his arrival there (see Act 21:20-24). That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all Amen.
HOMILETICS
Rom 15:1-3
Self-pleasing and self-denial.
The controversy which gave rise to this statement of Christian principle was local and temporary, and seems to us somewhat trivial. It was, however, the occasion for an inspired publication of important, practical moral truths and precepts, of world-wide and lasting application. When a difference arises between two parties, who are accustomed to think and act together, there is danger of each party becoming bitter and overbearing, and resolving to thrust its own convictions and preferences upon the other. Paul teaches us that the true remedy for this evil is unselfishness, and that the true motive to unselfishness is to be found in the cross of Christ.
I. THE MORAL PRECEPT. The authoritative counsel of the apostle is both negative and positive, dissuasive and persuasive.
1. Selfishness is forbidden. It need scarcely be said that undue opinion of self, an undue confidence in one’s own judgment, an undue regard to one’s own interest, are common faults. We are all naturally prone to please self, even when to do so is injurious to others and displeasing to God. The unrenewed man is in the habit of following the lead of his own appetites, tastes, and inclinations, though these be worldly and sinful. This is not to be wondered at. Of the wandering sheep it is said, “They have turned every one to his own way.” Few are the sins, vices, crimes, which cannot be traced to the action of this powerful principle, which induces men to prefer their own gratification to all beside. But it must not be supposed that this is a fault from which the disciples of Christ are universally or generally free. They are not only tempted to please themselves in worldly pursuits; they are in danger of carrying selfishness into their very religion. How often do we find Christians trying to thrust their own views, their own tastes, their own practices, upon their neighbours, whether these are willing or unwilling! There may be a want of consideration and forbearance within Christian societies, and in the relation of such societies to one another. And there are too many whose one idea of religion is thishow they may themselves be saved and made happy. Let it be remembered that the admonition of the text was addressed to Christians. If these Romans needed it, perhaps we may likewise.
2. Unselfishness is enjoined. This passage reminds us that this self-denying posture of mind is to be maintained with regard to a special class. Suppose that you are strong; yet it must not be lost sight of that some are weak. Are their infirmities to be despised? The apostle enjoins us to consider them, and to bear with them. There may be those whose infirmity is owing to youth and inexperience, and those whose infirmity is that of age. There are some who are weak physically, and who perhaps are therefore irritable Many are weak mentally; their ability is small, their education has been neglected. And some are weak spirituallybabes in Christ, though perhaps men in years. Such are not to be despised or derided by such as are strong. Deal patiently, tenderly, forbearingly with such as these. The admonition is more general. We are to please our neighbour, i.e. every one we have to do with, whether weak or strong. This does not mean that we are to gratify all his foolish whims and capricesto try, as some do, to please everybody, at all costs; to flatter the vain, and cajole the ignorant, and humour the petulant. By “pleasing here we may understand benefiting and serving. If there be any doubt about this, the limitation here introduced by the apostle solves such doubt; it is “for that which is good,” and “unto edifying.” As regards our fellow-Christians, our service will naturally take the form of helpfulness to them in their need, and spiritual ministrations according to our capacity and opportunity, with effort for their elevation and happiness. As regards our irreligious neighbours, our unselfish service will be mainly effort for their enlightenment and salvation. Probably such effort will displease, rather than please, the careless and self-indulgent, whom we seek to awaken to a better life. Yet the time may come when even such will look back with thankfulness and delight upon benevolent effort and earnest prayer, by which they have received imperishable good. Selfishness, then, is the curse of the world and the bane of the Church; whilst, on the other hand, they obey their Lord, and promote their own welfare and that of society, who are considerate and forbearing towards the weak, and who aim at pleasing and benefiting all who come within the range of their influence.
II. THE RELIGIOUS GROUND FOR THE PRECEPT. Christianity bases every duty. upon a Divine foundation.
1. The virtue of unselfishness is for Christians a virtue springing from their relation to their Lord. Sympathy is in its rudiments a natural principle; but this stands a poor chance when it comes into conflict with natural self-love. Both these principles are good, and virtue lies in their proper adjustment. It is the sacrifice, the spirit, the example of our Divine Saviour, which assure victory to unselfish benevolence.
2. In Christ we observe the sublimest illustration of self-denial and self-sacrifice. We cannot fail to see these qualities in his giving up his own ease and pleasure, and accepting a life of poverty and homelessness. He would not accept an earthly kingdom or worldly honours. In carrying out the purposes of his mission, he set himself against the powerful and the influential among his countrymen. There was no day and no act of his public ministry which was not a proof of the assertion, “Even Christ pleased not himself.”
3. We remark in the Lord Jesus perfect obedience to the Father. Prophecy put into his lips the language, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God.” He himself declared that he came to do the will of him that sent him, and he was conscious that this purpose was carried out. “I do always those things that please him.” He even shaped this principle into the remarkable prayer, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” Consider that the only way to make sure that life is not self-seeking and self-pleasing is to consecrate it to the high end of pleasing God.
4. Our Saviour endured reproaches and wrongs in the procuring of human salvation. These revilings and injuries were inflicted by sinners, and they came upon the innocent. He “endured the contradiction of sinners against himself;” he endured the cross, despising the shame.” And this he did willingly and without a murmur. For “with his stripes we are healed.” The “joy that was set before him” reconciled him to hardship and privation, to insult and mocking, to anguish and death. Thus the pleasing of self was utterly absent; the mortification and crucifixion of self were conspicuously present; reproaches were welcomed, that the reproachers might be redeemed.
5. The passage presumes the action of the distinctively Christian principle in such a way as to influence the conduct of Christ’s people. Not only. have we, in our Lord’s spirit and conduct, the one perfect example of self-denial and of devotion to the cause of human welfare. We have a provision for securing that Christ’s people shall resemble their Lord. His love, personally apprehended and experienced, becomes the motive to their gratitude, affection, and consecration; and is the seed of its own reproduction and growth in their renewed nature. His Spirit is the Agent by whose energy men’s natural selfishness is vanquished, and the new life is fostered and sustained.
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. Admire the Divine wisdom in the provision made for overcoming the natural selfishness Of mankind. What inferior agency could suffice for such a task?
2. If unhappy, consider whether self-seeking is not at the root of restlessness and dissatisfaction; and fall in with the Divine plan, by seeking earnestly the welfare of your neighbours. And you shall find such action will bring its own reward.
3. Cherish the divinely justified hope for the world’s future welfare. Neither interest nor philosophy can effect what Christianity is capable of doing. The prospects of humanity are bound up with the rule and the grace of him of whom we read, “Even Christ pleased not himself.”
4. Let the strong please, and bear with the infirmities of, the weak, by supporting such institutions as are designed to relieve suffering and to supply need.
Rom 15:4
The Scriptures.
In many ways the New Testament lends its support and sanction to the Old. Our Lord himself bade his auditors and disciples “search the Scriptures.” The evangelists support the Divine authority of Christ’s ministry, by exhibiting many of its incidents as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. And the Epistles abound with quotations from the ancient Hebrew writings which they approve as of inspired authority. In this passage, Paul records in explicit language his own view of the character and purposes of Old Testament Scripture.
I. THE INTENTION THAT THE SCRIPTURES SHOULD BE OF PERPETUAL USE. “These things were written for our learning,” i.e. for our instruction and improvement. This may be shown to be the case with the historical lessons, the biographical examples and warnings, the moral precepts, the prophetic promises, of the Word of God. Nothing is purposeless or valueless.
II. THE METHOD IN WHICH THE SCRIPTURES PROVE SERVICEABLE. They are not like an amulet, a charm, the mere possession of which is supposed to be advantageous. They are to be used in conformity with our intellectual and moral nature. Only by entering into the soul, and acting upon its passions, principles, and powers, can the teachings of inspiration profit and help us. The apostle mentions two ways in which the Scriptures thus act.
1. By patience. That is to say, the Scriptures represent our human nature and life as exposed to suffering, temptation, and many evils, against which the power of religion alone can fortify, and from which it alone can deliver. The Scriptures contain representations of God himself which are fitted to sustain his people to endure, and to inspire them to persevere. They contain actual illustrations of the power of patience exhibited in the life of many of the saints of God.
2. By comfort. If patience is exercised by man, consolation is afforded by God. The strengthening and consolatory power of Divine grace is exhibited both in the declarations and doctrines, and also in the practical and living exhibitions and manifestations of piety, which abound in Holy Scripture.
III. THE ULTIMATE AND EXACT PURPOSE FOR WHICH THE SCRIPTURES HAVE BEEN GIVEN. That is, that we may have hope.
1. Why is this needed? Because in this life, and in our experience, there is very much to occasion depression and despondency. Our own weakness and liability to error and to sin, and the ills of human society, are such as to account for frequent discouragement.
2. How is hope awakened and fostered by the Scriptures? By their express declarations of Divine mercy, and their explicit promises of succour and guidance and blessing.
3. Whither are our hopes directed? Primarily to God: “Hope thou in God.” And then also to earthly deliverance and to heavenly rest.
4. What is the moral power of hope? It both cheers and sustains the soul, and makes it brighter and more confident in fulfilling Christian service.
Rom 15:5, Rom 15:6
Unity.
Mutual forbearance and considerateness tend to true spiritual unity. In the presence of a hostile world, it was evidently of the highest practical importance that the early Christians should exhibit the power of the truth and the Spirit of God to draw them together, and to make them one. How dear this aim was to the heart of Christ, is evident alike from his frequent admonitions and from art urgent petition in his great intercessory prayer.
I. THE DIVINE SOURCE OF UNITY. That true unity is from God appears:
1. From the nature and character of God, as “the God of patience and of comfort.”
2. From the apostolic prayer, “grant you to be like-minded,” etc., from which it is apparent that, in the view of the inspired apostle, the true fountain of concord and brotherly love is in heaven, in the heart of the infinite Father.
3. From the mediation of Jesus Christ, whose design in redemption was first to “make peace” between a righteous Ruler and rebellious subjects; and then to break down every wall of partition that divided man from man, and to constitute one new, unbroken humanity in himselfthe glorious Head.
II. THE MANIFESTATIONS OF UNITY.
1. Where this grace exists, there is one mind, with mutual love. By “the same mind” the apostle does not mean “of the same opinion.” This is not possible where men think freely and independently. But he means “of similar disposition towards Christ,” “of like sentiments of brotherly love one towards another.” This is pleasing to the God of peace and love.
2. Where this grace exists there is “one mouth,” with common praise. There is a sacrifice in which all devout souls, all holy assemblies, constantly uniteit is the sacrifice of gratitude and praise. The several voices in this offering to Heaven blend in sweetest concord, and form a Divine and exquisite harmony. The more the notes, the vaster the variety, the more marvellous and beautiful is the spiritual concert. As with one only mouth, the living Church offers to the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” the anthem of spiritual, acceptable, and unending praisethe Church on earth herein preparing for the eternal song of heaven.
APPLICATION. Unity must be, not merely in word or in outward association, but in the spirit of love and in the tribute of grateful adoration.
Rom 15:13
The office of the Holy Spirit.
Paul was not one of those upon whom the Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost. He was at that time a scholar; living probably in Jerusalem, and certainly studying the Law and the traditions of his nation, with all the energy of an ardent, zealous, and persevering mind. He may have known at the time of the remarkable events which occurred; but if he did, they made no great impression on him. For only two or three years afterwards, when Stephen was stoned, Saul was one of those who “consented to his death.” And, as we read, he “made havoc of the Church,” and “breathed out threatenings and slaughter” against the disciples of the Lord. But if for a while neither the crucifixion of Christ nor the descent of the Holy Spirit had any effect upon the Pharisee who boasted himself to be of the school of Gamaliel, the time came when the faith which he despised and persecuted laid hold upon his great heart, and assumed the lordship over his active life. And now observe two things very noticeable in Saul’s history. First, when Anauias was sent to the smitten and blinded persecutor, to release him, in the name of Jesus, from his privation and doubt, and, in the same name, to commission him as the apostle to the Gentiles, the servant of the Lord declared the purport of his visit to be that, Saul might be “filled with the Holy Ghost!” And secondly, when, at Antioch, the Holy Ghost called Barnabas and Saul to a missionary enterprise, they are said by the inspired historian to have been “sent forth by the Holy Ghost.“ So, although Paul was not present when Peter and the rest of the brethren were made partakers of the spiritual outpouring by which the new dispensation was inaugurated, it is clear that he received, and that he knew that he received, the Holy Ghost as well as they. In his conversion, his whole nature was influenced by the Divine enlightenment and quickening; in his commission, the impulse and the authority of his missionary life were conferred by the living Spirit of God. It is not to be wondered at, then, that the apostle of the Gentiles, in his preaching and his writings, laid stress upon the office of the Divine Comforter. He could not have exalted the Spirit more constantly and gratefully even if he had listened to the Master’s discourses in which the Paraclete was promised; even if he had been amongst the favoured company on the Day of Pentecost, when cloven tongues of fire sat upon the heads of the disciples of the Lord. In fact, just as the mediatorial work of Christ is at least as fully stated and explained by Paul as by the other apostles, so is he not behind them in the exposition of the offices of the Comforter, and the results of his perpetual indwelling in Christian hearts, in Christian society. It needs not be said that the offices of the Holy Spirit are not only precious, but manifold. Paul was well aware of this fact. But attention is asked especially to one result of the dispensation of the Spirit; to one valuable fruit which all Christians growingly appreciate. The Divine Spirit is set before us in the text as the Author and Inspirer of a cheerful and hopeful disposition of the mind: “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” It is often observed that, in a cultivated and reflective state of society, there is a tendency to a mournful and even desponding disposition. When people have much leisure to think, and large knowledge of human life and history, they often cherish gloomy and hopeless forebodings. Unable to resolve their own difficulties, disappointed with efforts made to improve society, they are prone to abandon themselves to scepticism, and to ask whether all things do not exist in vain, and whether the philosophy of the royal sage is not sound and just: “Vanity of vanities,” saith the preacher; “all is vanity!” The Holy Spirit was given to banish such a temper of mind, and to inspire us with cheerfulness and with hope. He is the Spirit of life, quickening the spiritually dead; the Spirit of truth, revealing the realities of the Divine character and government; the Spirit of holiness, fostering in the soul of man all pure thoughts and purposes. And our text brings before us the welcome truth that the Spirit of God has power to fill us with “joy and peace in believing,” and to cause us to “abound in hope.” There is no broader and more obvious distinction between Christians and unbelievers than that which is suggested by our text. The Christian, speaking generally, is the man who hopes; the infidel is the man who is hopeless. The preacher has known in the course of his life, and has conversed with, many unbelieverssome of them honourable, virtuous, and, within limits, benevolent men. But they have been, without exception, neither happy nor hopeful. Their view of human life is invariably melancholy, and their forebodings for humanity’s future are usually dark and despondent. At the time when our Divine faith was first preached in the world, observant and thoughtful men were under a cloud of depression. Dissatisfied with the superstitions of their fathers, disgusted with the corruptions of society, they were without any faith that could sustain and cherish a lofty hope for the race. It did not enter into their minds that any moral power could be introduced into the world capable of even attempting, far less achieving, the regeneration of societyof raising the uncivilized, and redeeming those who were civilized and cultivated, but corrupt and cynical and selfish. What a revelation must Christiansnot merely Christianity, but Christianshave brought to the ancient society! Here was a sect of men, distinguished, indeed, by their beliefs and practices, their pure and beneficent life, from those around them, but in nothing more distinguished than in thisthey were the men in the world who hoped! Whilst the multitude, and even many of the philosophers, were saying, “Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die;” whilst the thoughtful and high-minded mourned the corruptions of the times, and despised their degraded fellow-creatures, and saw no prospect of the salvation of society; the followers of Christ appeared, each one with a hope which death could not tear from him, for himself; each one with a yet sublimer hope, that no disappointment could quench, for the unhappy but not forsaken race of which he was a member. You remember the honour which was bestowed upon a patriotthat, in days of darkness and of threatening, he did not despair of his country. Of every lowly Christian the yet more remarkable eulogy would have been true, that he did not despair of his race. And this, in days when Christianity had yet its triumphs to win, its great renown to achieve! The Holy Spirit was given to reveal to the disciples of Christ a “God of hope.“ Men’s dejection and despair arise from their want of faith in God. And nothing but a sound and rational belief in God can bring them to a better mind. What so fitted to inspire with cheerfulness as the conviction that a God of righteousness and of grace lives and reigns, takes the deepest interest in men, and provides for their true well-being? Now, when the Holy Ghost was given, on the Day of Pentecost, he was given as “the promise of the Father,” as the bestowal of a gracious God. Let the truth be recognized that a good hope must begin in God. The counsel of the ancient psalmist was sound as well as pious: “Hope thou in God.” Fix your hopes, as many do, upon human beings, upon human institutions, upon human plans, and their failure will involve you in cruel disappointment. But if for you the Lord liveth and reigneth, if he be the God of man, the God of salvation, then there is a sound basis for your hopesa basis which no power on earth, and no power from hell, can overturn or even shake. It was the power of the Spirit that ratified the words and sealed the authority and authenticated the mission of Christ. Jesus had promised that, if he went away, he would” send the Comforter.” He knew that the approach of his departure filled their hearts with sorrow, and he bade them rather rejoice, inasmuch as this was the condition of the gift of the Comforter. And when, in fulfilment of his assurance, he shed forth the gifts they needed for their spiritual quickening and for their qualification for apostolic service, the friends of Christ must have felt the encouraging and inspiring influence of the faithfulness and grace of their Lord. After his resurrection, the disciples were “glad when they saw the Lord” After his ascension, “they returned to Jerusalem with great joy” And when the Spirit was poured out, their confidence in their Saviour was naturally confirmed; and their habitual demeanour was that of happy and hopeful spirits. They “ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God;” and, when persecuted, they retraced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name.” It was Jesus Christ who brought hope, even as he brought every other blessing, to this benighted and unhappy world. That he cherished hope, is known full well. His parables regarding the progress of his kingdom, his assurance that when lifted up he would draw all men unto him, his prediction of his reign and his returnall show an unwavering confidence and a calm expectation regarding the future. And in order that this attitude might be shared by his disciples, he provided for the descent of his Spirit, by whose influences they should be brought into living sympathy with himself. Our hope may be said to have three main outlooks:
(1) towards our personal future;
(2) towards the prospects of Christianity and Christ’s Church; and
(3) towards the progress and destiny of humanity.
In all these respects is apparent the power of the Holy Ghost to inspire us with, and to cause us to rejoice in, hope.
I. HOPE CONCERNING ONE‘S SELFconcerning one’s own futureis generally supposed to be matter of temperament. There are persons of a sanguine temperament, who always expect the best possible, and sometimes are confident in hope, though on the slightest ground. And others are given rather to foreboding, and their forecasts are of evil. Now, Christianity does not destroy temperament; but it gives a just bent to the outlook of the hopeful, and instils into the despondent a different spirit. Based, as the Christian life is, upon faith, it must proceed to hope. The God who has loved us With an everlasting love will never leave and never forsake us. The Saviour who has “loved his own” will “love them unto the end.” The Word in which we trust is a “Word which liveth and abideth for ever.” It is the office of the Spirit of God to bring these great and inspiriting truths home to the minds of Christians, to make them a power real and effective. If hope were based upon confidence in chance and good fortune, or if it were based upon the character and promises of fallible fellow-men, it would in such cases need rather to be checked and sobered than to be encouraged. But just as faith depends for its value upon the person on whom it rests, so is hope justifiable and wise only when based upon the promises of the Being whose character is unchanging, and whose word is never broken. The Christian’s hope extends beyond this earthly life. There have been cases in which the followers of Jesus have been tempted to exclaim, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” But nothing is more distinctive of the Christian revelation than the clearness with which it speaks of a life to come. By the resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the dead, we are begotten “unto a living hope, of an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” And the hope which we have is “an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, that entereth into that within the veil.” By the power of the Holy Spirit, this blessed hope is awakened and fostered. His gracious influences counteract the earthly and depressing powers by which we are all beset, and make the mediation and the promises of our Saviour effective and helpful to us; so that we are led to abound in hope. The text reminds us that faith, and the joy and peace which faith brings, and these in Divine fulness, are the antecedents of the abundant hope of the Christian. And this is so. The heart that knows nothing of the cheerful gladness which religion imparts to the present can know nothing of the glowing anticipations which religion inspires with reference to the future. If we are to judge the future merely by what we see now, our outlook might be dim and cheerless. But the present is beheld by the medium of faith; and the same glass, when turned towards the coming ages, affords to us the blessed prospect of Christian hope. It is instructive to observe the close connection between the joy and peace which Christians now have in believing, and the hope to which they are introduced by the gospel. The cheerful mind is likely to be the hopeful mind. The rule and the love of God have reference alike to the present and to the future. Our earthly privileges are the earnest of our immortal prospects. And these, in turn, cast something of their inspiring radiance upon the difficulties and the sorrows of the present.
“Oh, who. in such a world as this,
Could bear his lot of pain,
Did not one radiant hope of bliss
Unclouded yet remain?
That hope the Sovereign Lord has given,
Who reigns above the skies;
Hope that unites the soul to heaven
By faith’s endearing ties.”
II. But HOPE, THAT IS WORTHY OF THE NAME, WILL TRANSCEND OUR INDIVIDUAL PROSPECTS. We are united, by innumerable bonds, to our fellow-Christians and to our fellow-men; and our hopes must include others within their scope and range. Nothing was further from the generous heart and expansive charity of the apostle than any thought of limiting within narrow bounds the prospects and the hopes born of Christianity. Our religion is emphatically unselfish. And being so, those who come under its sway and share its spirit are constrained to take a wide, expansive view. They are members of a mystical body, and are concerned for the health and well-being of the whole. It is not enough to have a good hope of our own salvation; if the mind of Christ is in us, we shall desire “the edification of the body,” as St. Paul phrases it. Enlightened and large-hearted Christians are more interested in the spread of Christianity than in anything beside on earth. It is their hope and prayer that the holy leaven may penetrate and vivify the whole mass of human society; that the tree of life may grow and spread, until all nations shall sit with delight beneath its shadow. Taught by the Spirit of truth, they rely upon the faithful word of Christ, who has unfolded before humanity hopes so bright and glorious. Error may seem to prevail, and we may tremble for the truth. Superstition may encroach upon the simplicity of the gospel, and we may askIs the old paganism to revive? Lukewarmness may seem to steal over nominal Christians, and to paralyze the activities of the Churches. Yet the Christian is not daunted by these “signs of the times,” distressing though they be. He can join in the triumphant chant, “We will not lear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge!” When the infidel rejoices over what seem to him tokens of the decrepitude of the Church of Christ; when the atheist foretells the destruction of all religion, and the approach of the millennium of animalism; Christ’s followers do not yield to fear. They remember that their Divine Lord has promised that “the gates of Hades shall not prevail against” his Church. Its dead branches may be lopped off, and its living branches may be pruned; but life shall only be the more vigorous, and fruit the more abundant. The gold may be cast into the furnace, and the dross be consumed; but the precious metal shall only be refined and purified, and shall shine with brighter lustre, and be fitter for the Master’s use.
III. Is there HOPE FOR HUMANITY? Is this race of man destined to deteriorate; is it doomed to remain for ever a prey to strife, to vice, to sin; or is it appointed to sure progress and to final happiness? Questions these which have disturbed many a sensitive and philanthropic mind; clouded many a generous, disinterested life with sorrow and with gloom. The pessimism which is a sort of fashion in some circles refuses to take any comfort in looking forward to the future of mankind. As the individual is of necessity unhappy, as life is of necessity a calamity, a disaster, and death the only alleviation, annihilation the only thing worth looking forward to; so for the race, composed of units thus unhappy, no destiny that is desirable can be in reserve. Progress is an illusion, and the general happiness a baseless dream. The Spirit of Godthe God of hopehas taught the Christian a very different lesson from this. That Spirit encouraged Hebrew prophets of old to anticipate a universal reign of righteousness, knowledge, and peace. That Spirit directed evangelists and apostles to base, upon the incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God, the broadest of all beliefs and the brightest of all hopes. That Spirit has sustained the faith and inspired the energy of Christ’s people, amid the darkness of human ignorance, the din of human conflict, and the desolation of human despair. The omen of the birth of Christ and Christianity has not been falsified. The progress of the truth has been slow, the hindrances have been many, the corruptions and distortions have been serious. War, cruelty, slavery, vice, ignorance, brutality, are still scourging this human race. But no candid observer can say that the religion of Christ has attacked these evils in vain. And no Christian, convinced of the supernatural powers of his religion, can do other than bravely hope in the progress of enlightenment, the victory of righteousness, the reign of Christ.
“Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring!
Oh hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!
“The promised time is hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its undimmed splendours fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing!”
Observe the richness and fulness of the apostle’s prayer: “That ye may abound in hope.” This is an emotion which admits of many degrees. There are cases in which men say, “There is no hope!” and melancholy indeed was the inscription which the poet read over the infernal portals: “Leave every hope behind, all ye who enter here.” Sometimes there is a little hope, a faint glimmer, as it were, to relieve the darkness. Hope can grow, as the dawn brightens into the morning. And hope can become a strong, happy, unhesitating persuasion, with no shade of anxiety, fear, or doubt. When the wish is uttered that we may “abound in hope,” it is implied that hope is good, and so good that there is no possibility of our having too strong a hope. Abundance is “more than enough;” and what is besought for Christ’s people is the “full assurance of hope.” This is a “living hope,” a hope whose life is vigorous and vital; a “hope which maketh not ashamed,” which is confident, and which produces happiness and peace. The Christian should be the possessor of such a hope. Let the unbeliever walk, if he will, in the twilight; it is for us to come out into the fulness of the noonday light. This we may enjoy, not through the power of reason, or of fancy, or of public opinion; but through the power of the Holy Ghost. It is the Divine Spirit, and not a spirit of error or illusion, that prompts our hope. Hope is of God, and is in God; and such a hope may well be abundant. For there is no hope which he inspires which he cannot and will not satisfy; and when Divine fulness meets with human hope, our vessel is filled, and filled to overflowing, from the heavenly, the perennial spring.
Rom 15:13
Hope.
Perhaps ordinary and even Christian moralists would not assign to hope the place which it occupies in the teaching of the apostle. But Paul had good reason for extolling and enjoining this beautiful and most inspiring and influential virtue. In this verse he sets forth
I. THE SOURCE OF HOPE. His language is a prayer, and the prayer is addressed to “the God of hope.” He is so called because there can be no true, well-founded, far-reaching hope which is not fixed on God, on his providential rule, on his gracious purposes, on his consolatory promises. He suggests and inspires hope; he justifies and expects hope; he approves and rewards hope. All true and worthy hope for ourselves and for others is fixed on God, centres in God.
II. THE POWER OF HOPE. The Holy Spirit is represented as the Agent by whose aid hope is experienced and enjoyed. When the spirit is downcast and sad, when the prospect is gloomy and dark, when human help seems far and feeble, then the Comforter brings near the grace of God, unveils a glorious prospect, and inspires a blessed confidence.
III. THE MEANS OF HOPE. If any one is bidden to cherish hope, he will reply, “Where is the ground upon which I may hope? By what means can I arise from the Slough of Despair?” The steps by which rational hope can be fostered are here described.
1. Believing; i.e. in Christ as the true Object of hope”Christ our Hope.”
2. Joy; i.e. the emotion produced by a believing appropriation of the blessings of the gospeljoy which may even rise to be “unspeakable, and full of glory.”
3. Peace; i.e. another of the fruits of the Spirit, the growth from the root of Christian faith. A disturbed mind is a mind uncongenial to hope; tranquillity in the present is contributive to hopefulness as to the future.
IV. THE ABUNDANCE OF HOPE. When God gives, he gives liberally, royally. Observe in what respects the Christian’s hope abounds.
1. For himself, his personal future being gilded with radiant, celestial light.
2. For the Church, that it shall arise and shine and fulfil the ministry it has received.
3. For the world, that it shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
4. For both time and eternity.
Rom 15:29
Fulness of blessing.
Commissioned and endowed as he was, the apostle might lawfully and confidently speak thus. Yet every minister of Christ may, in his measure, cherish the same assurance, and look forward to intercourse with those to whom he ministers with a similar expectation and hope.
I. THE ORIGIN AND GIVER OF BLESSING. The word “blessing” has something vague in it; yet this is because of its comprehensiveness. We cannot always be sure what is best to wish for on behalf of others; but we cannot err in seeking for them blessing from God. Poor and few are the gifts man can bestow upon his fellow-men; but “the blessing of God maketh rich, and with it he addeth no sorrow.”
II. THE CHARACTER AND IMPORT OF BLESSING. What the apostle anticipates is “the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” Here there opens up to us a boundless field, for in this are comprehended all that Christ can bestow, all that man can receive; e.g. Christ’s blessing of peace, of life, spiritual and eternal, of confidence and hope, of purity and strength, of fellowship, of service.
III. THE MEASURE OF BLESSING.
1. Fulness corresponding to the Giver, whose riches and resources are inexhaustible. The expression “fulness” is a favourite one with the apostle, and indicates his sense of the abundance of the gifts and promises of that new covenant which it was his privilege to explain to the Jews and the Gentiles.
2. Fulness for every applicant and partaker. The nature of each Christian is such that he is capable of receiving from the fulness of God in Jesus Christ. Consider the multitudes who have sought and found in the Mediator the supply for all their spiritual wants; and you will feel what a witness is such a fact to the infinite provision of Divine mercy and beneficence.
3. Fulness unexhausted and inexhaustible for each participant. When Paul came to a city, he had some conception of the immense variety of human need; and when he ministered to a congregation, he did so knowing that it contained individuals with many, varied, urgent, incessant needsall to be supplied from the fulness which is in Jesus Christ. It is a most encouraging and inspiring thought that, whatever the heart may crave of blessing, may be surely appropriated and enjoyed upon application to God through Jesus Christ. The preacher may be but an earthen vessel; but the treasure he conveys is both priceless and inexhaustible.
IV. THE CONDITION AND OCCASION OF BLESSING. “When I come unto you.” It appears that Christians meeting in fellowship are the means of such mercy to human souls. On the one hand, there is the faithful preacher and teacher of the Word; on the other hand, there are receptive and believing hearers of the Word. The Lord gives to the disciples, and the disciples distribute to the multitude.
V. THE ASSURANCE OF BLESSING. The language of Paul is very confident: “I am sure.” Such a conviction must be based upon confidence in Divine declarations and promises, and upon past experience of Divine faithfulness and grace. Such persuasion, and the sober yet confident expression of it, are honouring to God.
APPLICATION.
1. Here is an example of the spirit in which bishops, pastors, and evangelists should approach those whose spiritual welfare is entrusted to their charge.
2. Here is also an example of the expectations which Christians should cherish when they place themselves under the influence of an enlightened and spiritual ministry.
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN
Rom 15:5, Rom 15:13, Rom 15:33
The Divine character in relation to the human.
“The God of patience and consolation;” “the God of hope;” “the God of peace.” The great object of Christ’s coming into the world was to save sinners. He does this by revealing God. He is Emmanuel, “God with us.” “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” Christ reveals the Divine character. He reveals it in his teachingthe Divine holiness. He reveals it in his crossthe Divine mercy. He reveals it in his resurrectionthe Divine power. Christ saves us also by reproducing or restoring in us the image of God. In the renewed nature God becomes part of us. He dwells in us and we in him. The law of heredity emphasizes the fact that children bear not only the bodily, but the mental and moral characteristics of their parents. The character of the parent reappears in the child. So the character of God reappears in his people. Three features of God’s character St. Paul speaks of here, and wants his readers to think of them in relation to their own character and life.
I. THE GOD OF PATIENCE.
1. The Divine Being manifests patience in waiting. He waits patiently for the fulfilment of his plans. Thousands of years he waited for the sending of the Saviour. All that time he occupied in the training of Israel, and in the preparing of the nations, till, at the time when Jesus came, the world was ripe and ready for his coming. What a lesson for us! How impatient we are! If we do not see immediate results, we think our work is a failure. “Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
2. The Divine Being is patient in enduring. How he bore with Israel, with all Israel’s backsliding and. repeated sins! How he bears with us, with our disobedience and our inconsistencies! His patience with us is in marked contrast with our impatience toward our fellow-men. How impatient we are with our subordinates or our fellow-workers, with the slowness and stupidity which they sometimes manifest! Let us imitate the patience of God. We need to learn how to bear with others. Strife is the result of impatience, of intolerance. Unity is the result of patience. This was the apostle’s idea, and his practical purpose in referring to the patience of God. “The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus” (Rom 15:5). Let us be patient in enduring all suffering and trial.
“Angel of patience! sent to calm
Our feverish brows with cooling palm;
To lay the storms of hope and fear,
And reconcile life’s smile and tear;
The throbs of wounded pride to still,
And make our own our Father’s will!
“There’s quiet in that angel’s glance,
There’s rest in his still countenance!
He mocks no grief with idle cheer,
Nor wounds with words the mourner’s ear;
But ills and woes he may not cure,
He kindly trains us to endure.
“O thou who mournest on the way
With longings for the close of day:
He walks with thee, that angel kind,
And gently whispers; ‘Be resigned;
Bear up; bear on; the end shall tell
The dear Lord ordereth all things well.'”
II. THE GOD OF HERE. Nature is full of hope. Day follows night. Spring follows winter.
“And ever upon old decay
The greenest mosses cling.”
The life of humanity is a life of hope. We are always looking forward. The little child looks forward eagerly to its school-days. The boy or girl at school looks forward to the time of manhood or womanhood. In hope the young man leaves his father’s roof. Hope leads the emigrant across the seas. Yet nature and humanity unaided have no hope beyond the grave. The ancient heathen had indeed their goddess of hope. But the lamp of hope flickered as old age came on, and expired with the last breath that left the body. The heathen symbol of death is the broken column, or the torch of life turned upside down. But our God is in truth the God of hope. Do we enjoy life? He tells us of a better life beyond. Is this world fair and beautiful? He tells us of a better country, even an heavenly. Are we weary with the toils and burdens of this life? He tells us that there remaineth a rest for the people of God. Hope in itself can hardly with strictness be called a part of the Divine character, any more than faith. But it is part of the Divine character, and peculiar to it, that he produces in the human heart hope of the life to come. Hence he is truly called “the God of hope.” We see the impress and influence of his Divine hope on God’s people in all ages. Abraham and the patriarchs “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” And “they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.” The prophets in Israel’s exile spoke of a hope which they knew they would never see fulfilled. The apostles and martyrs, and the missionaries of today, have laboured and suffered in hope. Here also is the practical influence of the Divine character in relation to the human. “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope“ (Rom 15:13). In sorrow: in adversity; in the day when the wicked seem to triumph, and injustice and oppression seem to gain the upper handChristians, hope on! The truth will prevail over falsehood and error; purity over impurity; righteousness over wickedness. Abound in hope!
“We hope in thee, O God,
In whom none hope in vain;
We cling to thee in love and trust,
And joy succeeds to pain.”
To the sinner also the message of Divine hope extends. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
III. THE GOD OF PEACE. “The God of peace be with you all” (Rom 15:33). Peace is essentially a part of the Divine character. No storms disturb his rest. No sinfulness is in his being, and therefore no conflict in his moral nature. If the God of peace is with us, then peace will pervade our own spirit and life. There will be not only the peace that comes from pardon, but also the peace that comes from the victory over indwelling and besetting sin. There is a striking phrase in the next chapter: “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom 16:20). If the God of peace is in our hearts, we shall cultivate peace with our fellow-men. “Live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you” (2Co 13:11). Thus we see how profitable it is to contemplate the character of God, the God of patience, the God of hope, the God of peace, so that endurance and forbearance, hopefulness and joy, unity and peace, may be manifest in our lives.C.H.I.
Rom 15:7-27
The mutual relationship of Jews and Gentiles.
The apostle tries further to heal any existing differences between the various sections of the Christian community at Rome, and still further to enforce the duties of charity, self-denial, and mutual helpfulness, by reminding them of how much they have in common. This is the true method of uniting Christians. Some Christians think they will succeed in bringing others to their view of the truth by exposing the errors of those who differ from them. Consequently, we have bitter controversies between the various denominations, because Christians will persist in emphasizing the points on which they differ, rather than the pointsoften far more numerous and more importanton which they agree. To draw nearer to Christ, and to draw one another nearer to Christ, this is the true eirenicon.
I. THEIR MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP TO CHRIST. “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us” (Rom 15:7). Both have been received by Christ: why not, then, by one another? Why should our views of Episcopacy or Presbytery, Calvinism or Arminianism, interfere with our relationship as brethren in Christ? St. Paul shows that both Jews and Gentiles have a direct personal interest in Christ and relationship to him. “Jesus Christ was a Minister of the circumcision” (Rom 15:8). Therefore the Jew should not look upon Jesus of Nazareth as an alien, but as his kinsman according to the flesh. He came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil. But because he is a Jew, he is not, therefore, without an interest in the Gentiles. The apostle shows how even the Jewish writings looked forward to an incorporation of the Gentiles with the people of God, and to their sharing the blessings which the Messiah was to confer (Rom 15:10-12). “In him shall the Gentiles trust.” How precious, then, should be the Name of Jesus to all the children of humanity! How the universal brotherhood of Christians is here enforced!
II. THEIR MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP TO THE GOSPEL, Not only was it predicted that both Jews and Gentiles would be joint partakers in the benefits of the Messiah’s kingdom, but in actual fact the gospel has come to both. St. Paul, who was himself a Jew, experienced the blessings of the gospel. He, in his turn, communicated those blessings to the Gentiles. He was “the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God” (Rom 15:16). Truly, the gospel is a great reconciler. How it breaks down the prejudices of race and class and caste! Let the gospel only become a real, living power in our own heart and life, and we shall go forth, like St. Paul, to share its blessings with others, winning them by a spirit of love, no matter what our prejudices against them may have been.
III. THEIR DUTY OF MUTUAL HELPFULNESS. At the time of writing this Epistle St. Paul was on an errand which gave practical proof of the mutual sympathy between Gentile and Jewish Christians. He was on his way to Jerusalem (Rom 15:25). He was taking with him a contribution which the Gentile Christians of Macedonia and Achaia had made for their Jewish brethren at Jerusalem, who at this time were in poverty (Rom 15:26). He takes the occasion to say that this act of generosity, cheerfully performed, was indeed a Christian duty. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things” (vet, 27). Here is a reason for missionary efforts among the Jews. They have been the channel through which blessings have flowed to us: shall we not be the channel through which the blessings of the gospel shall flow to them? Here is a reason for the support of the Christian ministry. It is wise and prudent that those who are to be teachers and preachers of the Word, and pastors of the flock, should devote themselves to that work only. How, then, are they to be supported? By the generosity of those to whom they minister. If the latter are “partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.” Such mutual helpfulness all Christians ought to cultivate towards one another.C.H.I.
Rom 15:29
An apostle’s confidence.
St. Paul has been stating his plans as regards the future, and especially regarding his intended visit to Rome. There is much that is uncertain. But one thing was a certainty to him. “I am sure that, when I come to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” Had Paul any grounds for this expectation? Was his confidence warranted by facts? Let us see. About two years after this he came to Rome a prisoner. What was his chief occupation then? Preparing his defence? No. “Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him ‘ (Act 28:31). There were two elements in his confident expectation.
I. HIS CONFIDENCE IN THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL. “The fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” St. Paul felt that the best blessing he could bring to any city, or any people whom he visited, was the blessing of the gospel. Four features in the gospel have made it a blessing to the world.
1. It is a gospel of love and mercy. This was a new message to the world. What a contrast to the cruel gods of heathenism is the merciful God whom the gospel proclaims!
2. It is a gospel of salvation. It not only shows us the evil of sin and the guilt of it, but it tells us of a Saviour. Here is its transcendent superiority over the best of the heathen religions. Not only so, but the Saviour of whom it speaks is a Divine Saviour. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him.
3. It is a gospel of everlasting life. What hopes it opens up! What a stimulus it gives us to exertion to remember that they that are faithful unto death shall receive the crown of life that fadeth not away! It teaches us that this life is eternal in its consequences, and thus exercises a purifying and elevating influence upon the lives of men. What comfort it brings to the bereaved to know that the grave does not end all, but that there is another and a better life beyond! The hope of the agnostic has recently been expressed in a popular novel, ‘John Ward, Preacher.’ The heroine expresses her hope for the future by speaking of it as “an eternal sleep.” Where is the stimulus to exertion there? Where is there any comfort for the bereaved? When death is drawing nigh, the dying Christian and those who are to be left behind can appreciate the blessing of that gospel which has brought life and immortality to light.
4. It is a gospel of light and guidance. It points out to us the path of duty. It gives us not only wise precepts, but the personal example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here also it transcends all human systems of religion and morality. The best of human teachers have not been free from imperfection and sin. Christ alone can truly say, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” He alone has the right to say to usa right vindicated not only by his Divine authority, but by his perfect character”Follow me.” The influence of Jesus Christ and his example is one of the most precious blessings of the gospel. In the year 1876 the centennial of the United States was celebrated. General Grant was then president. The editors of the Sunday School Times wrote to him, requesting him to give them a message for children and youth in their centennial number. In his reply he said, “My advice to Sunday schools, no matter of what denomination, isHold fast to the Bible as the sheet-anchor of your liberties, write its precepts on your hearts, and practise them in your lives. To the influence of this book are we indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future.” He, too, had confidence in the gospel, and in the blessings which it brings to the individual and the nation.
II. HIS CONFIDENCE IN THE CHRISTIAN‘S POWER TO COMMUNICATE THIS BLESSING. The apostle’s words express not only his belief in the blessing of the gospel, but also his confidence that he can and will communicate that blessing. “I am sure that, when I crone to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.” And yet it was not a confidence in self, in his own lemming or eloquence. It was a confidence in Christ. He knew whom he had believed. Twenty-five years he had been serving him, and he had more than once proved the Divine power of Christ’s presence and help. Our power to communicate the blessings of the gospel depends on two things.
1. A personal knowledge of the gospel.
2. Constant communion with Christ. A life of prayer is indispensable if we would live a life of usefulness. These two things, personal knowledge of the gospel and personal communion with Christ, will make us independent of time and circumstances. They impart strength and confidence. It was all the same to St. Paul how or when he went to Rome. As if he said, “No matter how, no matter when I come to you, one thing I am sure of, that I shall bring the rich blessing of Christ’s gospel with me.” As a matter of fact, he came there as a prisoner, but even thus he brought a blessing. Whether we are rich or poor, learned or unlearned, we shall be sure to carry a blessing to the circles in which we move, if only we have first of all experienced the power of the gospel in our own hearts, and then realize our constant dependence upon Christ. There are two ways in which we can communicate this blessing.
1. By our Christian character. The Corinthian Christians became living epistles (2Co 3:2, 2Co 3:3). Their changed life was a remarkable testimony to the power of the gospel.
2. By our personal testimony. If we know by personal experience the preciousness of Christ and the blessings of the gospel, let us be more ready to proclaim them to others.C.H.I.
HOMILIES BY T.F. LOCKYER
Rom 15:1-13
Union in God.
Here, as Godet says, “the particular question treated in Rom 14:1-23. broadens; the point of view rises, and the tone is gradually heightened even to the elevation of a hymn, as at the end of all the great parts preceding (Rom 5:12, et seq.; Rom 8:31, et seq.; Rom 11:33, et seq.). Paul first exhorts, by the example of Christ, to mutual condescension (Rom 14:1-3); he points out (Rom 14:4-7), as an end to be reached, the common adoration to which such conduct will bring the Church; finally (Rom 14:8-13), he indicates the ‘special’ part given to Jews and to Gentries in this song of the whole redeemed race. It as not now so much the particular question which has just been dealt with, as the whole question of which that was but a part, viz. the relation of a free, spiritual Christianity to the more or less Judaic Christianity of some, to which the apostle here directs his words. They are to be of one mind, that they may with one mouth glorify God.
I. A MUTUAL LOVE. The strong ought to show their strength by bearing the infirmities of the weak. And not only will their strength thus be most perfectly shown, but the love, which is more than strength. For this love is the law of the new life. Shall we then please ourselves, by pluming ourselves on our liberty, our superior faith? Nay, rather, we must seek, in love, to please our neighbour. But not merely as pleasing him, though this is an end to be sought; but as pleasing him in harmony with all right principle, viz. for his good, unto edifying. There must be the desire to contribute comfort, joy; but, above this, and as controlling all else, the desire to contribute to his building up in holiness and love. And what is our great inspiration to this helpfulness of sacrificing love? We have the mind of Christ! Did he please himself? How, then, had we been saved? Nay, rather, for our sake he gave up all. In him was seen pre-eminently the spirit of sacrifice expressed in the ancient words, “The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me.” And as generally the ancient Scriptures were written that we might also endure all things for God’s sake, being comforted of God, and so have hope of the perfect salvation at last, ought we not in this particular respect to make the sacrifice required, bearing even the weak scruples of our brethren, that together, through God’s comfort, we may have hope of heaven? Yes, we must be “of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus.”
II. A COMMON PRAISE. What shall be the result of loving like-mindedness, in which all differences are sunk? A glorifying of God, with one accord. And the one united psalm shall be but the expression of one common thanksgiving, filling the hearts of all, for the love wherewith God hath loved them. Is not this the end of all God’s redeeming work, that all should join in loving praise to God, being redeemed with one common redemptiona praise shown forth, not only with the lips, but in the lives? So should all things be made new. To this end was Christ’s work, that Jew and Gentile together might be saved by a true and merciful God. The ancient Scriptures foresaw this grand result, the blending of Gentile and Jewish praise in one large harmony. So David’s declaration (Psa 18:49); so the invitation of Moses (Deu 32:43); so again the psalmist (Psa 117:1); and so Isaiah’s prophecy of hope: all of which could find their true fulfilment only in such a loving union of the Jewish and Gentile world in the glad service of their one God and Christ as now filled the apostle’s view.
One chief guarantee of the mutual love and common praise shall be the united hope of a perfect salvation. Let them look to God for this, and he shall grant them a faith, and a realized power of God through faith, which shall give them joy and peace now, amid whatever outward disturbances, as being the pledge of all things good guaranteed to us for that future. So should their songs abound; so should their hearts be one: praise helping love, and love helping praise, and God all in all!T.F.L.
Rom 15:14-33
Farewell words.
The apostle in these verses touches, as at the first (see Rom 1:1-15), on his personal relations to the Church at Rome. And he reintroduces the subject with much delicate courtesy. He may have seemed to be speaking somewhat boldly, to have assumed a knowledge and goodness superior to theirs: not so! They, he was sure, were “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge,” and therefore “able to admonish one another.” But he might at least remind them of what they knew; and this, not by any superiority of himself to them, but only by the grace of God; not as a better or wiser Christian man, but as an apostle commissioned by God. We have here set forth, then, much as before, his apostleship, his purpose respecting them, and his request for their prayers on his behalf. By this last, again, with much delicacy, making prominent his dependence on them, rather than theirs on him.
I. HIS APOSTLESHIP. He was put in trust by God with the gospel for the Gentiles. And his fulfilment of this trust was as a priestly service, which he should perform, not proudly, but faithfully. And what a service! ministering the gospel in this great temple of the new kingdom, that he might offer up as a sacrifice the whole Gentile world! His thoughts, perhaps, revert to the words he has used in Rom 12:1; and what a vision greets his view as he looks into the futureall the kindreds, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues of this manifold world, praising God with the harmonious psalm of a consecrated life, offering themselves a living sacrifice! Better this than all the bleeding victims of the older dispensation; all man’s intellect and affection and energy of action, all science and art, all industry and commerce, all the multifarious activities of all lives, offered to God! And this was his work, to minister the gospel that the offering might be made, acceptable because sanctified by the Holy Ghost. He would glory in such a work as this, for Christ’s sake! For all was through Christ, and the great work already done was only Christ’s work
II. HIS PURPOSE. Now, there was one aim which governed him in the fulfilment of this workhe would preach the gospel only where it was not known before. Thus from place to place he went, proclaiming the glad tidings to those who had not heard. And hence to this present, having so much room for such work in those eastward parts, he had been hindered from visiting Rome. Now the hindrance was removed: he had “no more any place in these regions.” And still impelled by the constraining purpose to preach the gospel to those “to whom no tidings of him came,” he must now turn westwards, even to Spain. And, m passing to Spain, there is every reason why he should pause for mutual refreshment, as he delicately puts it, amongst a people who were, indirectly at least, the fruit of his laboursthe Christians at Rome. And coming to them, he would come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ.
III. HIS REQUEST. But, meanwhile, there is another mission to fulfilthe mission of charity to the poor saints at Jerusalem. Prominence of this matter among the Churches (see 1Co 16:1-24.; Act 20:4). Probable cause of necessity, withholding of custom from Christians on the part of their fellow-Jews. Mere charity demander that help should be given; and not only so, the Gentiles were bound in honour to pay, as it were, in this way, a debt they owed; for their salvation was “of the Jews.” But what further constrained Paul to be urgent in this matter was his desire that the charity of the Gentile Churches might overcome all the prejudices that still subsisted amongst the Jewish Christians against the full and free admission of the Gentiles into the Christian Church. And for this, and also for his own security amongst many enemies, he asks the prayers of the Christians at Rome. Then he shall come to them in joy, and find rest. In any case, be he troubled or not, may the God of peace be with them!
So does he exemplify, by his yearning love and courtesy of love, the spirit which he seeks to foster in them; so does he, as he would have them do, refer all his doings to the Lord Christ and the will of God. Most surely the God of peace was with him!T.F.L.
HOMILIES BY S.F. ALDRIDGE
Rom 15:3, Rom 15:4
Unselfishness.
That alliance is beneficial which lends the aid of the strong to bear the burdens of the weak. Sympathy renders this possible by its real participation in another’s distress. Sometimes the infirmities of others are succoured by yielding up our own gratification, or by restricting our own liberty in order not to shock the scruples of the less enlightened. What is our guide in such cases? The reply isTo live in the spirit of Christ, to walk as he walked.
I. CHRIST HAS INTRODUCED INTO MORALS A BEAUTIFUL MODEL AND A POWERFUL MOTIVE. His pattern life is best appreciated by comparing it with ancient heathen manners. The impossibility of inventing such an ideal is the proof of the genuineness of the Gospel narratives. The story is vivid and consistent because a record of fact. An example instructs more than any prolixity of statement or precept. Lecturers know this by their illustrations and experiments. It is one thing to hear of truth, goodness, beauty, from the lips of Plato; quite another to see it live and breathe before our eyes. Cicero could describe the “perfect man” according to his conceptions of perfection; Christ alone exemplified it. And the relationship of Christ to his followers, as not only Teacher but Saviour, imparts tenfold force to his example. He has definite claims upon our obedience, and dearest links of love bind us to the imitation of our Master. His life on earth has been a stream irrigating the parched desert, and has taught us how to make canals of philanthropic benevolence, deriving their idea and element from the river of his love. In fanatical Jerusalem and luxurious Antioch, in philosophic Athens and pleasure-loving Corinth, in colonial Philippi and imperial Rome, this river of grace proved its power to fertilize and beautify. And today we trace a likeness to Christ in the missionary, content to dwell in malarial swamps, and yield his life for the salvation of the degraded; in the tired mother cheerfully continuing at her household toil whilst she uplifts her thoughts to the Redeemer; and in the Church officer leaving his comfortable fireside after his day’s work is done to minister to a brother in sickness. In the repression of a hasty word and biting sarcasm, in the gift unostentatiously placed in the hands of the poor, we behold reflected the self-sacrifice of Christ.
II. THE FEATURE OF CHRIST‘S LIFE ON WHICH STRESS IS HERE LAID. He was unselfish; he “pleased not himself.” This does not imply that he felt no personal pleasure in his mission of mercy. “I delight to do thy will, O my God.” But:
1. He sought not to promote his own ease and comfort, but the edification of others. He would not pander to vitiated taste; he taught what men most needed to know, not what gratified the vanity of his hearers, though he, thereby aroused their enmity and created the storm which burst in wrath upon his head. At great cost of physical labour and spiritual weariness he performed works of love. See him asleep from fatigue in the heaving vessel, and fainting under the load of his cross.
2. He gloried not himself, but the work he came to accomplish. He might have summoned angels to his side, he might have led an uprising of the populace, have overawed the rulers, and selected the wisest and wealthiest as his companions and disciples. But the truth was more than all to him. His meat and drink were to do the will of his Father. He had left for this the splendour of the upper realms, and stooped to the form of a servant, and the obedience of a shameful, agonizing death.
III. To FOLLOW CHRIST IS TO MAKE THE OLD TESTAMENT A WELLSPRING OF PATIENCE AND HOPE. The persecution which Christ met with showed him treading in the steps of Scripture heroes. The language of the psalmist is quoted by the apostle as typically expressing the lot of Christ. The chief pangs of a devoted life are caused by the opposition of an ungodly world. Our Lord exposed the hollow pretensions of the Jewish religionists by declaring that true love to God in the heart would listen to the teachings of his Son, would acknowledge in him the promised Messiah, and would recognize in his deeds the echo of the Scriptures. It fortifies Christian sufferers to know that they are in the line of the faithful. No new thing hath happened, for the same afflictions were accomplished in our brethren before. If, then, others have bravely endured and maintained their confidence, so may we. And the ancient writings testify that men, in pleasing God and serving their day and generation, realized true satisfaction, an inward peace and joy indestructible. So we, too, may discover that the road to happiness is holy self-denial. We are slow to learn that the bitter rind covers grateful fruit, that death is the gate to life, and humility the stepping-stone to honour. Obedience prepares us to wield authority; and to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing is to prove how inseparably the kingdom of God and our own good are combined. Miserly selfishness overreaches itself; the restricted heart dies of inanition. He who will always get from others knows not the blessedness of giving. The wine of Christian charity flushes the spirit with a generous emotion, pure and God-like, the nectar of the skies.S.R.A.
Rom 15:7
Warm-hearted Christian courtesy.
Many points of dispute arose in Churches composed of Jews and Gentiles. Not easily or joyfully could Jewish Christians throw off the trammels formed by the habits and traditions of ages, and welcome the admission into the new brotherhood on equal terms of men who had never been trained to compunction on account of ceremonial regulations neglected. Like the mother in the days of Solomon, more anxious for the safety of her child than for the strict settlement of a legal problem, the apostle was concerned for the welfare and peace of the community. He would have both parties waive their rights, and unite in holy fellowship instead of holding aloof. A chief part of our modern difficulties consists in the proper treatment of others, especially of our fellow-Christians. More anxiety, embarrassment, sin, is displayed here than in any other direction. The ancient matters of controversy do not perhaps trouble us, though signs are not wanting on the horizon of clouds no bigger than a man’s hand which may at any time overspread the sky and disturb the harmony of the Churches. We still need guidance lest trivial differences in thought and behaviour should estrange us from one another. Let us look at the rule of behaviour laid down. It is contained in those golden words, the pivot of Christian conduct, “Even as Christ also.” Our treatment of others is to resemble Christ’s behaviour towards us. Here is the path we are to tread, and the source of skill and strength to enable us to proceed therein.
I. CHRIST RECEIVES MEN GLADLY. Not reluctantly, but heartily, with outstretched arms and promise of blessing. See this evinced in the Gospel narratives. He was moved with compassion toward the multitudes; gave royal invitations”If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink;” “Come unto me, all ye that labour.” This can be verified in our own experience; for Christ lives and rules over our hearts and lives, dispenses his favours freely; and the peace and joy that filled our hearts in trusting him were the testimony of his delight, the fire descending from heaven to certify the acceptance of our sacrifice. Contrast Christ’s interest in Saul’s conversion with the latter’s cool reception by the Church at Jerusalem, where the apostle had been abandoned to utter neglect but for Barnabas. The kingdom of God is no close corporation, like a city company, afraid of its membership growing too large for the spoils to be divided; or a House of Lords, where a large influx lessens individual importance. But our desire must be for the Church to increase till it sways the globe. Our Christian societies should be as a fostering greenhouse to young life, or as a warm bath that dissipates spiritual rheumatism, where the outside chill may be forgotten, and men may rise from a hostile crowd to a sanctuary of peace and love.
II. CHRIST RECEIVES MEN IN SPITE OF THEIR IMPERFECTIONS Though sin-stained and despairing of righteousness, helpless with frequent falls, ignorant with a dulness which is realized more each day, yet our worthlessness was not spurned by the Saviour. For this reason he drew us to himself, to heal and save us, to instruct and improve us, to develop into maturity any latent germ of good. He sees what men may become under genial influencesthe image of God renewed; the dry stick swelling into life and blossom; the plot of barren ground a garden. If we wait till our brethren are faultless, we shall have little communion this side of heaven. If they are not as cultured or as large-hearted, all the more do they need our stimulating converse; and if not doctrinally perfect, they will learn.
III. CHRIST RECEIVES MEN IMPARTIALLY, making no invidious distinctions. This was Peter’s argument for the admission of the Gentiles (Act 11:17; Act 15:9). One presented, at court may demand the countenance of any ambassador; for whom the sovereign hath received, all her servants must honour. Whom Christ hath admitted to his grace we are bound to acknowledge. The Saviour on earth demanded sincerity in would-be followers. This is the explanation of any apparent sternness. He would have none enter on a Christian career without counting the cost, and showing a wholehearted readiness to obey. Feeble faith, if genuine, he never refused to bless. Hypocrisy, delusion, he pitilessly unmasked; but trembling seekers he smiled upon with Divine encouragement. Why distrust his magnanimity now? Why fear a scornful rejection of your prayers and service?
IV. CHRIST REGARDS IN ALL THINGS THE GLORY OF GOD. Note his constant reference to the Father’s will. He preached that misunderstandings respecting God might be cleared away. He relieved and cheered the suffering that they might know and praise the mercy of God. He gave his life that the dark shadow of human guilt might no longer eclipse the glory of the Divine government. The end cometh, when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, having subjected all things to God. And through him the same principle actuates his disciples. It is men who have some noble end in view that can rise above petty meannesses and jealousies, caring no longer for personal rank and power, content to be abased if thereby the kingdom of God may be advanced. The zeal of God’s house consumes the fleshly, ease-loving, envious “me,” and substitutes a bright blaze of pure, affectionate solicitude for God and man. There are doubtless seasons when individual dignity must be asserted; there is no season when it is not in place to consider the glory of God. That glory includes our own highest good. It is no ear of Juggernaut trampling on the devotees; any contradiction is on the surface merely, and in the future life a lasting reconciliation shall be seen established between man’s satisfaction and the authority of his Maker.S.R.A.
Rom 15:13
Hopefulness prayed for.
The sense of a passage is clearer if the connection with the context be ascertained. The Revised Version, by translating the same root-word in the same manner, enables the reader to take up the thread of thought from the twelfth verse. Guests introduced to the same host are placed on terms of fellowship with each other. So Jew and Gentile had been received by Jesus Christ, in whom the veracity of God towards the Jews had been confirmed, and his mercy displayed towards the Gentiles. Thus both could unite in praising God, as had been predicted by the Law, the Psalms, and the prophets. “In him shall the Gentiles hope.“ And this leads the apostle to utter the supplication of the text.
I. THE TITLE GIVEN TO GOD. “The God of hope.” The names of God in the Scriptures emphasize his personality and close relationship with his creatures more than any designations in philosophy or mythology. He has established a plan of salvation which is the substantial warrant for hope, and, besides this objective provision, does himself inspire hope subjectively in his people. The bestowment of every grace is attributed to him. Naturally does the apostle, in his anxiety for the hopefulness of Christians, invoke a blessing from the God of hope. Our prayers are fashioned according to our conception of the Hearer of prayer. Hope concerns two thingswhat we desire, and what we anticipate. When either of these characteristics is absent, hope fails. And we are not to imagine that hope belongs only to us limited beings; for though to the omniscient eye the future is visible, God, like ourselves, cherishes confident expectations. He, too, welcomes the era when his fair dominions shall not he defiled with sin. He is as much delighted with the prospect of triumphant grace as any of us can be. If we wonder why the period is not hastened, the solution is to be found in the nature of man. Forcibly to overcome man’s power of resistance would be to destroy the plant in the moment of its flowering, or to crush the drowning in the very act of rescue. The trophies of redemption are to be monuments of moral suasion. The kingdom spreads not by sword and garments rolled in blood, but by the kindling of the fuel of love in the heart of man. What an idea of the patience of the Almighty is presented in the myriad ages through which this earth has been slowly prepared for the residence of man! We are like children, who cannot wait cheerfully for the coming feast; we lose heart if the chariot delays.
II. THE PRAYER. “Fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” We may lawfully seek, not only to obey the precepts, but to enjoy the comforts of the gospel. True, the gospel ideal is blessedness rather than happiness; yet its intent is to bring present serenity and gladness, not to leave us all our life trembling in doubt. It is a remedy for present ills, a foretaste of coming bliss. Peace and joy are virtues; there is no merit attached to disquiet and mournfulness. Faith is the ground of peace and joy, or the instrument through which God communicates these blessings. “In believing” is put for the whole of Christian conduct. Expect peace and joy whilst you hold fast to the message which imparted glad tranquillity at the first, whilst you remember the obligations and partake of the privileges of the gospel. Without faith, joy and peace can no more enter the soul than hunger and thirst can be relieved without eating and drinking. Faith grows by exercise, mounts aloft on experience like the vine on the trellis. It is not honourable to be for ever questioning the credibility of Christ. Faith knocks at the door and gains admittance into the mansion of light and song; unbelief examines the door, and questions the resources of the palace. When our right to our inheritance is challenged, we may examine again the title-deeds; but it is not in the law courts that we learn to prize our possessions. The prayer of the text teaches not to rest content with meagre supplies. How exuberant the apostle’s language! “Fill you with all peace,” etc. There is joy of every kind arising from service and communionjoy intellectual and emotional; joy in our own advance and in the widening bounds of the kingdom of Christ. We are too apt to sink to a certain level of monotony. Our course is circular, too seldom spiral reaching upwards.
III. THE END IN VIEW. “That ye may abound in hope.” Here again see the spiritual vehemence of the apostle. He knew that every Gentile believer cherished hope; but he would have this hope to abound in every season, under every circumstance. Some Christians, like birds in an eclipse of the sun, are sure that the shades betoken night. Now, the Christian who is rich in peace and joy cannot help reasoning from the present to the future; his ecstasy tints every cloud with roseate hues. He is youthful in spirit, lives in a
“… boyhood of wonder and hope,
Present promise and wealth of the future beyond the eye’s scope.”
Hope is imprinted on his countenance, radiates from every action. Advancing age brings him nearer the westering sun; there is a rich ripeness of harvest glory. Two old men, alike in everything else but in the possession of this buoyant expectancy, are really wide as the poles asunder. The one laments that he has seen the best of his days; the other has something better than the best to prepare for. Christian hope is set on an excellent object, rests on a stable foundation, works a purifying, elevating gladness. The hope desired for the Romans was a collective hope, to be fostered as a common solace and strength. Only by dwelling in harmony could it produce its proper fruits. There should be no panic amongst the followers of Christhence the importance of the prayer.
IV. THE CONDITION EXPRESSED. “Through the power of the Holy Ghost.” The human condition was “believing;” the Divine is the energy of the Spirit. And since he dwells in believers, his aid may surely be reckoned on. This hope, therefore, is neither painted in water nor written in dust. It is not made so much dependent on our reasonings or struggles as on that life from God which is the answer to all man’s pleas and excuses. He says, “I am weak, I cannot.” God says, “I will pour my Spirit upon you.” How vast the difference between the dull, timid disciples and the same when “filled with the Spirit “enthusiastic, vigorous, ready to preach and to take joyfully the spoiling of their persons and property! Let our cry be, “Come, Holy Sprat, come. Breathe about our wintry chills, scatter our darkness, raise our plane of thought and feeling!S.R.A.
Rom 15:27
Debts pleasurably paid.
The ties formed by the reception of the gospel exhibited the expulsive power of a new affection to cast out national jealousies and antipathies. Macedonians and Achaians united in solicitude for their destitute fellow-believers in Jerusalem and in an active endeavour to send them relief. Stronger than the bonds of kinship and race were the new feelings of attraction to each other through their relationship to the one Saviour.
I. EVERY BENEFIT RECEIVED LAYS US UNDER AN OBLIGATION TO OUR BENEFACTORS. As stewards of the gospel the saints in Judea had betrayed their trust if guilty silence restrained their lips from communicating to the world the panacea revealed for human ill. But this fact did not set the Greeks free from indebtedness to the Churches which, recognizing their responsibility, had sent to them the message of life. Whatever the reason that has procured us some kindness or favour, gratitude is incumbent upon us. Not to acknowledge it betrays baseness of soul. And the greatest benefits are those pertaining to our spiritual well-being. These are nobler, more satisfying, more lasting than any treasures of gold or marble, any appeasing of temporal hunger or nakedness, or any rescue from earthly distress or danger. The knowledge, the consolation, the stimulus which a missionary, a teacher, or a pastor imparts are of incomparable value. Is it a matter for wonder that, in return for spiritual gifts, men bestow of their carnal things? Those who clamour for a cheap ministry display woeful inappreciation of the riches of Christ. The return which our Lord demands for his own self-sacrifice is that his servants and brethren be honourably treated and succoured. He still regards his poor; hence our collections at the Lord’s Supper.
II. To THE RIGHT–MINDED THE DISCHARGE OF SUCH AN OBLIGATION IS A SOURCE OF PLEASURE. Not in order to get rid of any sense of liability; this would be mean, even if possible; but we are glad of an opportunity of visibly certifying our gratitude. The outward expression of any inward feeling is a delight. A generous emotion ministers a pure joy, which ever seeks for ways and means of demonstration. The memory of Christ’s gift of himself to us bestirs us to seek out worthy objects, needy souls on whom the mantle of charity may fittingly fall. “He became poor for our sakes/’ The disinclination to give liberally melts away under the impulse of Divine love. Men who grudge the demands of the tax-collector will voluntarily, cheerfully contribute to the dissemination of Christian truth.
“The poorest poor
Long for some moments in a weary life
When they can know and feel that they have been
Themselves, the fathers and the dealers out
Of some small blessings; have been kind to such
As needed kindness; for this single cause,
That we have all of us one human heart.”
That is the office of religion to make the stern face of duty break forth into a smile. The task blossoms into a joy; one kind act prompts to further and larger benevolence.
III. THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE REQUITAL MUST BE MEASURED BY OUR RESOURCES AND THE WANTS OF OTHERS. God provides for his family by the mutual interdependence and assistance of the members thereof. Whilst unlimited competition and the survival of the strongest tend to make life s battle of hell, unrestricted helpfulness blesses every heart and laud. The Christian law of supply and demand is designed to correct the injuries and supplement the deficiencies of close-fisted political economy. Power is, rightly understood, a capacity to help, not a weapon of destruction to the weak. The men of leisure can visit the sick and suffering; the rich have ability to relieve the needy; and the cultured may bestow on others the results of their mental diligence. “Such as I have give I you.” “It is accepted according to that a man hath.” As the world is one great market supplied by every land, so the special distress of one country appeals to all for relief. “We do not well, if this be a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace.”S.R.A.
Rom 15:29
A promised visit.
A great writer in her preface to a story of Florence pictures an inhabitant revisiting his city after four centuries. He notes many changes. The towers and walls are gone; different questions are mooted in trade, scholarships and politics; garments of altered texture and form are worn. But as the sunlight and shadows are the same, so the dawn still breaks upon rosy sleeping children and hardhanded labourers arising to their toil; the same chants are sung in the churches, and the faces of worshippers still turn to the same image of Divine anguish for a beneficent end. Like the river-courses which shape the lives of men, so those other currents which ebb and flow in human hearts have scarcely altered, pulsating to the same needs, the same great loves and terrors. The broad features of the moral landscape alter not. It is this essential sameness of the human lot which lends to the Bible perennial interest. We have the same battle to fight, the same need of divinely instructed wisdom and divinely furbished weapons. We are taking the same journey as ancient heroes, and share their perplexities and convictions.
I. AN INTENSE LONGING. The apostle frequently alluded to his desire to visit Rome and see the brethren there. Aquila and Priscilla must often have conversed with him respecting the famous city, and the vast influx of strangers to be witnessed there continually. The apostle had high hopes kindled in his breast, thoughts of the metropolis as the “pulpit“ of the world. The words of a speaker amid the seven hills would, like the faith of the disciples there, be trumpeted to every part of the globe. After some years the apostle resolved to carry his desire into effect (see Act 19:1-41.). This Epistle offers explanations of the circumstances which had hitherto prevented the realization of the wish. Here is a lesson of patient submission to the guidance of God. Whilst doors of entrance and utterance were opening in the East, and the Gentiles were becoming obedient by word and deed, the Holy Spirit plainly signified that fields so ripe for the sickle must not be deserted. Let those impatient for another sphere of labour beware lest through some burning impulse they neglect the crops ready to the reaper’s hands. The wider scope may be presented hereafter. We learn, too, the apostle’s missionary method. He liked not to build on another’s foundation. He chose of two regions the one most like fallow ground. He loved to evangelize rather than proselytize, and whilst unoccupied territory was near it did not seem right to visit a Church where Christ had been already proclaimed. It is matter for thankfulness that denominations and missionary societies are beginning to recognize the evil and sin of overlapping agencies and districts. Note the apostle’s justification of his desire to see Rome. He intended to make it not his terminus, but a temporary resting-place, and a starting-point for further excursions. His eager vision beheld Churches rising in the furthest western limits of Europe, his ear caught the sounds of prayer and praise soon to ascend from countries debased by superstition and vice. The victories won over Satan in Asia Minor and Greece he hoped to repeat in Italy and Spain. He perhaps projected tours through France, for to this Christian warrior, as to Alexander of Macedon, there could be no rest as long as there were kingdoms, if not conquered, at least unassailed. Oh for more of this crusading spirit, this holy ambition!
II. AN UNCERTAINTY as to the time of the expected visit. “When I come.” There seemed no reason why Paul should not proceed to Rome immediately after the Pentecostal feast at Jerusalem. But he saw a cloud arising which contained the materials for a storm, though in what way it would burst, or whether it might not pass over, he could not foresee. He knew the vindictive watchfulness of “them that did not believe in Judaea,” enemies who never forgave his desertion of their cause. The story in the Acts tells how his suspicions were confirmed by the predictions of Agabus, and how the apostle’s yielding to the excessive caution of the saints furnished an occasion for the fury of the fanatical Jews. Imprisonment and shipwreck lay on the apostle’s course, and when ultimately his wish to visit the metropolis was gratified, he entered as a prisoner with a prospect of a wearisome captivity. How strangely the hoped-for differed from the actual! Nor is it by any means rare to find the fruition of our hopes attended with far other than the bright-hued environment imagination forecasted. Plans are executed, the projected castles built, the rank secured, the home obtained, yet the accompaniments vary in toto from those anticipated. Sometimes we have asked selfishly, and the cup petitioned has held a bitter potion indeed. Yet the Christian may say confidently, “The will of the Lord be done.” There are times when our Master leads his servants purposely through flood and flame. Then be it ours like Paul to accept the post of honour and bravely do our best.
III. A FULL ASSURANCE that his arrival would be fraught with good. “I know that I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ.”
1. He would enter the city as a messenger of Christ. Not for purposes of pleasure and sight-seeing, but as the bearer of sacred tidings would he in any case approach Rome. Along the Appian Way had many a renowned general returned laden with the spoils of conflict, many an orator and philosopher had passed through the gates, but none more honoured by posterity than this servant of Christ. When seeking our own ends we may ever doubt of a celestial convoy, but when seeking the things of Christ, the ambassador of Christ shall be treated as such.
2. He could not conceive of the absence of that spiritual power which had thus far attended him. “Lo, I am with you alway,” was the promise. Like Joseph in Potiphar’s house, and the ark in the house of Obed-Edom, a true man of God brings a blessing where’er he sojourns. Who should separate the apostle from the love and equipment of his Lord? To rely on this is not presumption, but God-honouring confidence.
3. No scanty measure of spiritual gifts ever satisfied or was expected by this devoted labourer. He made little mention of tongues and healing, of priestly functions and intellectual displays; he looked to the blessing which maketh endlessly, joyously rich; that knowledge, proclamation, and practice of the gospel which bears fruit unto eternal life. Next to the presence of the Lord himself the advent of a faithful minister profits our gatherings. With what delight, like members of a family long separated, would these primitive Christians confer on the holy theme of the new faith! Let our anxiety be not to fritter away time in idle gossip, but to make each other wiser and better for the meeting. If we more often expected seasons when, like the river Jordan in harvest-time, our hearts should be filled to overflowing, the testimony would more frequently rejoice us: “It was good to be there.” Prepare the vessels for the fulness of the blessing which alone can banish poverty and weakness of the spirit. This conviction did not preclude the apostle from requesting the prayers of the Church for the fulfilment of his beloved project. To our short-sighted reason it is unnecessary to pray to the Father who orders all things aright. But our conclusion is based on too narrow premisses; there are other ends subserved by prayer. It has respect to the plans of the Almighty and the character of his creatures. Prayer is one of the laws of the kingdom, and “effectual fervent prayer availeth much.”S.R.A.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR
Rom 15:1-13
The Christ-like duty of pleasing our neighbour.
Having just counselled the strong to defer as far as possible to the consciences of the weak, the apostle continues the subject in the thirteen verses now before us. He urges as the principle of the Christian life, not self-pleasing, but neighbour-pleasing. He limits this, of course, by the condition of edification. In short, a Christian is to be a public character, regulating his life by the spiritual interests of all around him. In this respect he will be following Christ.
I. THE PLEASING OF OTHERS, NOT THE PLEASING OF OURSELVES, IS TO BE THE RULE OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIVING. NOW, this does not mean:
1. Popularity-hunting. For this is securing a selfish end by means of gratifying our neighbours. It is self-pleasing in a subtle and deceptive shape. It is self-pleasing, even though it may involve the degradation of our neighbour. And it does mean:
2. The conciliation and even humouring of our neighbour with a view to his edification. This is real love, going all lengths to serve and edify a neighbour. We will bear with him, even humour him, with the thoroughly unselfish end of securing his edification. It is the very essence of public service. What a contrast it presents to the self-seeking which, alas! goes on among men under the name of public services!
II. IN THIS LIFTING UP OF OUR FELLOWS WE SHALL BE STRENGTHENED BY LOOKING UP TO CHRIST. For the whole spirit of our Master’s ministry consisted in pleasing ethers and not himself. Not, indeed, that men understood his plan. The gospel does not appear at first to promote men’s pleasure. It humiliates, it breaks them down, it calls for penitential tenderness; but it secures peace through pardon, and the joy which comes through believing. Our Lord’s sufferings were consequently in the long run with a view to the real and abiding pleasure of men. And so he was constantly lifting them up, so far as they would allow him. His very crucifixion was to please others, and secure their edification. A broad view of Christ’s history, therefore, shows it to have been a pleasing of others, not of himself. He became a servant of the circumcision that the Jews might be brought to peace and joy; he became the Saviour and so the Joy of the Gentiles. In both respects he was pleasing and edifying others, not pleasing himself. HIS self-sacrificing life becomes thus the fountain-head for public service.
III. THE GOSPEL THUS DISTINGUISHES ITSELF FROM UTILITARIAN TEACHING. For instead of directing us to regulate our conduct by self-pleasing, which is at bottom the utilitarian principle, it directs us to please our neighbour unto edification, and in the spirit of Christ. Nor is our pleasing of our neighbour to secure personal comfort; this may ultimately be given into the bargain, but it will assuredly be missed if made our end. “A great German poet and philosopher,” says Dr. Martineau, “was fond of defining religion as consisting in a reverence for inferior beings. The definition is paradoxical; but though it does not express the essence of religion, it assuredly designates one of its effects. True, there could be no reverence for lower natures, were there not, to begin with, the recognition of a Supreme Mind; but the moment that recognition exists, we certainly look on all that is beneath with a different eye. It becomes an object, not of pity and protection only, but of sacred respect; and our sympathy, which had been that of a humane fellow-creature, is converted into the deferential help of a devout worker of God’s will. And so the loving service of the weak and wanting is an essential part of the discipline of the Christian life. Some habitual association with the poor, the dependent, the sorrowful, is an indispensable source of the highest elements of character.”
IV. A BUOYANT, HOPEFUL SPIRIT SHOULD BE OURS IN ALL OUR PUBLIC WORK. For it is “the God of hope” with whom we have to do. And humanity is being lifted up by the Christian spirit of service. And great things are in store for the earth. Peace, joy, hope, should in consequence characterize every one who names the name of Jesus and professes to follow him in service. God grant it to us all!R.M.E.
Rom 15:14-33
The apostle’s programme.
The didactic and hortatory portions of the Epistle are now over, and a few personal explanations and salutations are all that remain. They need not detain us long. And here we have
I. PAUL‘S REASONS FOR WRITING TO THE ROMANS. (Rom 15:14-21.) It is not because the Church at Rome is deficient in either knowledge or preaching power. The list in last chapter shows how many able men and women composed the Church. But the reason is:
1. Because Paul is apostle to the Gentiles. The Church at Rome should enjoy his care as well as the other Gentiles. The only difference is that in this case he has not been the pioneer, as he had been in so many other Gentile Churches. And regarding this apostleship he is careful to speak of:
(1) Its sacred character. He has not only been a minister of Jesus Christ (), but has also been “doing holy service” () in the matter of the gospel of God, that the Gentiles might be got ready as an offering. It is a pre-eminently holy office which the apostle has been exercising.
(2) The means employed have been the gospel of God. Paul carried “good tidings” from God to the Gentiles, and this splendid Epistle shows how full a message he brought. Then:
(3) Its end was that the Gentiles should become an acceptable offering. Consecration is the great purpose of salvation, to make them obedient in word and deed and dedicated in heart and life to God’s glory.
(4) He has had a wide success in his enterprise. Signs and wonders have been wrought by the power of the Spirit of God round a large district of the heathen world.
2. But having been prevented hitherto frets coming to Rome, he indites this Epistle to them. It is as a token from the unavoidably absent apostle that he writes the Epistle.
II. HE SKETCHES HIS PROGRAMME FOR THEM. (Rom 15:22-28.) And first he has to go up from Corinth with money for the poor saints of the mother Church at Jerusalem. From that Church the gospel has come to the Gentiles, and it is only reasonable that there should be now a return in the time of their need. A return in carnal things is to be expected after the reception of spiritual things. He hopes when he has got through this service at Jerusalem to come by Rome to Spain. He hoped to make his advent to Rome as a free manhe did not then think it would be as a prisoner.
III. HE IS CERTAIN HE WILL COME AS A BLESSING TO THEM. (Rom 15:29.) He is inspired with moral certainty that his advent will not be in vain. It is such an assurance of blessing through us that should animate every worker for the Master. Rome was to feel the effects of Paul’s visit for years. And so it did.
IV. PAUL‘S REQUEST FOR INTERCESSION. (Rom 15:30-32.) His assurance of blessing, instead of minimizing, only intensified his prayer, and led him to ask others to intercede for him. And here we notice:
1. The ground of the request. It is “for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit.” By all that Christ has been for them and the Spirit has been with them and in them, he asks them to intercede.
2. The substance of the request. For deliverance from unbelievers in Judaea, for acceptance among the poor saints, and for a joyful and refreshing advent to Rome. Of these the last two were answered and the first was denied. Yet his apprehension by the unbelievers was overruled for great spiritual good.
V. THE BENEDICTION. (Rom 15:33.) The God of peace, the great Peace-maker, is asked to be with them, making them a peaceful, happy Church at Rome. It is a message of peace that an apostle brings.R.M.E.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Rom 15:1. We then that are strong, &c. According to our translation, one would suppose that this verse is an inference from the latter part of the foregoing chapter:as if it were, We therefore who are strong, &c. whereas it is in the Greek, But we who are strong: and it stands in immediate connection with the last verse of the former chapter, by way of opposition; thus: “The weak brother, who puts a difference between meats, is condemned, if he eateth without observing a distinction: But we who are strong,meaning the Gentile Christians,are so far from being condemned, if we bear the infirmities of the weak, that we are bound in duty to do it.” Therefore these two verses cannot be separated without destroying the sense. To please ourselves, signifies, to follow our own humours. See Locke, Heylin, and the last note.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 15:1 . Connection: To the preceding exposition of the perniciousness of the eating indicated in Rom 14:23 , Paul now subjoins the general obligation , [9] which is to be fulfilled by the strong, over against ( ) that imperilling of the weak. The contrast of and is just as in chap. 14; the of more precise definition in Rom 14:1 is so fully understood of itself after the preceding discussion, that we have here no right either to generalize the contrast (Hofmann: of the soundness and frailty of the Christian state of the subjects generally ), or to single out the as a peculiar extreme party , which in their opposition to the weak had gone further and had demanded more than the remaining members of the church who did not belong to the weak (Mangold, employing this interpretation in favour of his view as to the Jewish-Christian majority of the church, as if the had been a Gentile-Christian minority). Against this, is already decisive, whereby Paul, in agreement with Rom 14:14 ; Rom 14:20 , has associated himself with the strong, making his demand as respects its positive and negative portions the more urgent.
] the actual manifestations, which appear as results of the (Rom 14:1 ). The word is not found elsewhere. These imbecillitates are conceived as a burden (comp. Gal 6:2 ) which the strong take up and bear from the weak, inasmuch as they devote to them, in respect to these weaknesses, patience and the helpful sympathy (2Co 11:29 ) of ministering love. [10] Thus they, in themselves strong and free, become servants of the weak, as Paul was servant of all, 1Co 9:19 ; 1Co 9:22 .
] not to please ourselves (1Co 10:33 ); “quemadmodum solent, qui proprio judicio contenti alios secure negligunt,” Calvin. This is moral selfishness .
[9] In opposition to Hofmann, who, assigning to the concluding verses of the epistle (Rom 16:25-27 ) their place after Rom 14:23 , places in connection with . . ., Rom 16:25 ; see on Rom 16:25-27 .
[10] can the less indicate, as the subjects of the present exhortation, persons who were distinct from those addressed by , Rom 14:1 (Mangold), because in fact . recurs in ver. 7. How frequently does Paul give different forms to the same injunctions! Mangold also lays an incorrect stress on the , with which chap. 15 opens, as though, according to our view, should have been used.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Rom 15:1-13 . [8] More general continuation of the subject previously treated: Exhortation to the strong to bear with the weak, according to Christ’s example (Rom 15:1-4 ); a Messing on concord (Rom 15:5-6 ); and a summons to receive one another as brethren, as Christ has received them, Jews and Gentiles (Rom 15:7-12 ). Blessing (Rom 15:13 ).
[8] According to Lucht, p. 160 ff., the entire passage vv. 1 3 is post-apostolic , not merely in the mode of its presentation, hut also in that of its view. In comparison with chap. 14, all is delineated too generally and abstractly; the example of Christ has in no other place been applied by Paul as it is here in vv. 3 7; the citations are after the manner of a later point of view; the argument in vv. 9 12 is not free from Jewish-Christian prejudices, etc. All of them grounds, which do not stand the test of an unprejudiced and unbiassed explanation of details evil legacies from Baur’s method of suspicion.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
See Rom 14:1 ff for the passage quote with footnotes.
Rom 15:1. Now we that are strong ought [ . The does not stand for , as the E. V. indicates (so Hodge), although it connects with what precedes (Meyer, Philippi, &c.).R.] Tholuck finds in continuative a proof that the division of the chapter has been improperly made at this verse. As far as conviction is concerned, the Apostle stands on the side of the strong; see Rom 14:14; Rom 14:20; 1Co 8:4.
[To bear, ]. After the Apostle has shown what the strong have to avoid, he shows what is now their duty toward the weak. In natural life, weakness is often oppressed and made to suffer violence by power; in the kingdom of the Spirit, on the contrary, strong expresses both the appointment to, and the duty of bearing, the infirmities of the weaker.
Infirmities of the weak [. Meyer, Lange: Glaubensschwachheiten; but, with Philippi, Alford, &c., it seems best to regard the term as general, including, of course, the scruples above referred to.R.] These are undoubtedly a burden, and thus an impediment to the progress of the strong; but in order to take the weak ones along with them, their weaknesses must be taken upwhich is the rule in a caravan. But the bearing does not consist merely in suffering, but rather in forbearance. [Comp. Gal 6:2, Langes Comm., p. 149, where the same verb is used.R.]
And not to please ourselves. ; see Gal 1:10 [1Co 10:33].
C. Reciprocal edification, in self-denial, according to the example of Christ, Rom 15:2-4.
Rom 15:2. Let every one of us [. See Textual Notes1 and 20]. Thus the Apostle here comprehends both parties.[For his good (with a view) to edification, .] Bengel: Bonum () genus, dificatio species. There is, first, , then, . In order that one may aid the other in what is good, he should promote his edification, his sense for the fellowship of what is good. The good chiefly meant here is self-denying love, the constant exercise of humility.
Rom 15:3. For even Christ pleased not himself [ . Dr. Lange renders: Denn (selbst) auch Christus lebte nicht sich selber zum Gefallen. The E. V. is more literal.R.] See Php 2:6; 2Co 8:9. Pleasing ones self denotes the inconsiderate and unfriendly pursuit of the ideals of our own subjectivity in the selfish isolation of our personal existence.
But, as it is written, &c. [ , … See Textual Note2.] Psa 69:9. The sentence is literally cited. On the different supplements suggested with , see Meyer, who would not supply any thing.3 Grotius suggests the most natural one: fecit. The citation is from the LXX. The theoretical sufferer, who was reproached for the Lords sake, was a type of Christ; but Christs subjecting himself to the reproaches of the world proceeded from His steadfast fellowship with humanity for Gods sake. For himself, He might have had joy; Heb 12:2-3. [Alford: The words in the Messianic Psalm are addressed to the Father, not to those for whom Christ suffered; but they prove all that is here required, that he He did not please himself; His sufferings were undertaken on account of the Fathers good purposemere work which He gave Him to do.R.]
Rom 15:4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime [ . Justification of the previous citation (Philippi), and a preparation for the subject to be introduced next, viz., the duty of unanimity (Alford). In , just before the emphatic , Meyer correctly finds the thought: All before our timei. e., the whole Old Testament.R.] This does not apply merely to the messianic prophecies (Reiche). The immediate design of the entire Old Testament Scriptures for the Jews does not preclude their universal purpose for all ages.
That we through the patience and the comfort of the Scriptures [ . See Textual Note4. The repetition of seems to favor the view that depends on alone; yet many commentators, who adopt this reading, claim (and with reason) that such a construction would be ungrammatical. Still, Dr. Lange seems to favor it. We paraphrase: the patience and comfort produced by a study of the Scriptures.R.] Two things should support the believer, particularly in looking at the retarding, obstructing prejudice of the weak: First, the patience immanent in the Christian spirit (patience evidently suits better here than constancy, which Meyer prefers). [So Philippi, De Wette, &c.] Second, the comfort of the Holy Scriptures, which, in the present connection, consisted in the fact that, in spite of all the impediments to spiritual life in the Old Testament, the development to the New Testament nevertheless proceeded uninterruptedly.
Might have our hope [ . Dr. Lange: might hold fast hope. Others: might have more and more of the Christian hope.R.] And then, this comfort was an encouragement to hold fast hope as the hope of better times; that is, of the ever newer and more glorious developments of Gods kingdom, in Speners, sense. Beza, and others, properly explain: teneamus, which is opposed by Meyer. We can, indeed, preserve hope by patience, but not acquire it. According to Meyer, indeed, patience should also be referred to . (against Grotius, and others), and this should therefore imbue Christians. But yet the patience and comfort of the Scriptures could not mean, without something further: the patience and the comfort with which the Scriptures imbue us. [The genitive is joined with also, by Chrysostom, and by most modern commentators. In fact, this is the only view which can be justified grammatically. The patience and comfort produced by, arising from, a study of the Scriptures, is the simplest and best sense. So Alford, and most.R.]It is justifiably urged by Meyer, against Reiche, and others, that hope must here be taken subjectively. Of course, he who lets go his subjective hope, gives up thereby its object. [The hope is undoubtedly to be regarded as subjective, but the article (which we preserve in English by rendering: our hope) points to a definite Christian hope, viz., of future glory. It would then seem appropriate to understand we might have hope as referring to the obtaining of a higher degree of this hope through the patience, &c. (So Meyer, Philippi, De Wette).R.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The present section contains a confessional Eirenicon of the Apostle. It requires: (1) Reciprocal recognition of the common ground of faith. (2) The balancing of the conviction of faith with the conduct of love. (3) Above all, watchfulness against particular ethical errors on both sides. [The profound insight into human nature manifested in this chapter, combines, with the unparalleled adaptation of its precepts to the social life of men in all ages, to prove the God of peace its author. In America, where society is newest, most experimental, and yet public opinion so tyrannical, where, perhaps, the extremes of the weak and the strong are found, it deserves especial study.R.]
2. As the name, the weak, is not an unconditional reproach, so the strong is not unconditional praise. The weak ones prejudice is a certain protection so long as he keeps his weakness purethat is, does not make it a rule for others; the strong ones justifiable sense of freedom leads to the danger of self-boasting, particularly against love, which can draw in its train the loss of faith. These propositions can be proved by the example of pious Catholics and of wicked Protestants. Yet the standpoint of the strong man is in itself higher, and though he becomes very guilty by the abuse of his freedom of faith, the Apostle yet portrays, with very strong expressions, the ruin of those who eat in doubt. The unliberated ones, who would not be free in a positive, but in a negative, and therefore insufficient way, become the most unmitigated anomists and antinomians both in a religious and moral respect. If, in the time of the Reformation, all Protestants had become positively free by Christ, Protestantism would hardly have experienced in its history such great impediments of reaction as that of unbelief.
[Weak and strong, old and new, conservative and radicalthese antitheses are not precisely synonymous, yet, in their leading features, the same. He does what Paul has not done, who throws himself entirely with one class or the other. The Church has ever contained, and has ever needed, both elements. Yet sometimes those are deemed radical who answer to the description here given of the weak brethren; and those who are truly strong are often classed with the old-fashioned.The caution about judging is prophetic of what is so manifest in the history of Christs Church in her imperfection: that more divisions and discords have arisen from the questions, about which the Apostle himself gives no definite decision, than from the discussion of the weightier matters of the earlier chapters.R.]
3. It is almost impossible to emphasize sufficiently the two distinctions to which the present section leads us. The Apostle shows, first, that we should not deny our free conviction, but should deny ourselves in reference to the inconsiderate conduct according to conviction in practical things, that do not belong to the testimony of faith. How often is this rule exactly reversed, by ones asserting a narrow view in order to please the weak (for example, in the condemning art, concerts, innocent relaxations, &c.), while he himself willingly enjoys occasionally the forbidden fruit.5 The second distinction is brought just as closely homenamely, between doing and leaving undone. What one cannot do with the inward assurance of his conscience, must not be done at all.
4. The opposite tendencies that are presented to us as a germ in the Church at Rome, extend in continual gradations through the books of the New Testament, and confront each other in the second century as the matured opposites of Ebionitism and of Gnostic antinomianism.On the relation between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians at the time of Justin Martyr, see Tholuck, p. 704.
5. On the idea of weakness in faith, and conduct which is not of faith, see the Exeg. Notes on Rom 15:1; Rom 15:23; comp. Tholuck, p. 706 ff.
6. For God is able to make him stand; Rom 15:4. How gloriously this has been fulfilled! see the Exeg. Notes.
7. On the duty of striving after a certain conviction, and the means for attaining it (self-knowledge and gratitude), see the Exeg. Notes on Rom 15:5.
8. On Rom 15:6. Thanksgiving makes every pure Christian enjoyment a real peace-offering ().
9. On Rom 15:8. On the Lordship of Christ, see Tholuck, p. 715 ff. Discussions on the divinity of Christ, on Rom 15:10, see Philippi, p. 572.
10. Every thing is pure. According to Olshausen (in respect to the laws on food), creation has again become pure and holy through Christ and His sanctifying influence. The proposition cannot be opposed, but how far must it be more specifically defined? As the creature of God, it has again been recognized as pure and holy. As a means of enjoyment, it has again been freely given in a religious sense. But as a real enjoyment, it is only pure and holy to the one enjoying, when he has the full assurance of his conscience, and therefore eats with thanksgiving. But in this the natural repulsion, practice, law, and a regard to love, limiting the circle of the means of enjoyment, as well as of the enjoyment itself, come into consideration, because they also limit that assurance.
11. The understanding of the present section has been rendered much more difficult by not regarding the manner in which the offence is divided into the two fundamental forms of irritation and presumption. See the Exeg. Notes on Rom 15:13; Rom 15:21.
12. Luthers expression, the Christian is a master of all masters, a servant of all servants, comes into consideration here. Gregory the Great had expressed the same sentiment, but in a reverse order and application: Free in faith, serving in love. The parable beginning with Mat 18:23 tells us that the consistent and conscious offence against love weakens faith.
13. Bearing with the weak has: (1) Its foundation in the fact that the Almighty God bears in love the world, which in itself is helpless; (2) Its power and obligation consist in the fact that Christ has borne the guilt of the helpless world; (3) And its dignity lies in the fact that the strength of the strong first finds in this function its whole truth, proof, and satisfaction.
14. On the idea of edification, see the Exeg. Notes on Rom 14:19.
15. The word of the Old Testament Scriptures is still of application; how much more, therefore, is this the case with that of the New Testament! Yet, in this relation, we dare not overlook the truth, that Christian life may have but one rule of faith, but yet two fountains: the Holy Scriptures, and the immediate fellowship of the heart with Christ, from which the patience of Christ flows.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Rom 14:1-12
On the proper reciprocal conduct of the strong and weak in faith. 1. What form should it take? a. The strong should receive the weak, and not despise them; b. The weak should not judge the strong. 2. On what should it be established? a. On every bodys remembering that God has received the other as well as himself; b. Therefore he should consider that, in whatever the other one does or leaves undone, he does it or leaves it undone to the Lord; c. Do not forget that the decision on our course of action belongs to the Lord alone, to whom we all belong, and before whose judgment-seat we must all appear (Rom 14:1-12).Who art thou that judgest another mans servant? Two things are implied in this question of the Apostle: 1. Directly, a warning to guard against any judgment of faith on our brethren; 2. Indirectly, an admonition rather to judge ourselves, and to perceive the weakness of our own faith (Rom 14:4).In matters of conscience, each one standeth or falleth to his Lord (Rom 14:4).The great value of a strong religious conviction. 1. To ourselves, a. We act according to fixed principles; b. We do not vacillate; c. We preserve our inward peace. 2. To others, a. They know where they are with us; b. They therefore entertain confidence in us; c. Their own life is improved by our example (Rom 14:5).The possibility of thanksgiving to God as a test of enjoying that which is allowed (Rom 14:6).As Christians, we are the Lords possession. 1. What is this? a. No one liveth to himself, and no one dieth to himself; that is, whether in life or in death no one belongs to himself; but, b. Whether we live, let us live to the Lord, or whether we die, let us die to the Lord; that is, we belong, in life and death, to Him: we are His. 2. By what means have we become the Lords property? a. By Christs death; b. By His resurrectionand glorification (Rom 14:7-9).We shall all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ! This is said: 1. To the weak in faith, that he may not judge his brother; 2. To the strong, that he may not despise his brother; 3. To both, that they may examine themselves (Rom 14:10-12).The great account which every one of us shall have to give in future. 1. Of whom? Of himself, on all that he has done and left undone. 2. Before whom? Before God, who knoweth the heart, and seeth what is secret (Rom 14:12).
Luther: There are two kinds of Christians: the strong in faith, and the weak. The former arrogantly despise the weak, and the latter easily get offended at the strong. Both should conduct themselves in love, that neither offend or judge the other, but that each do and allow the other to do what is useful and necessary (Rom 14:1).
Starke: If one should be certain of his opinion in the use of things indifferent, how much more necessary is it in matters of faith! (Rom 14:5.)Hedinger: Stones in an arch support each other; so should you support your neighbor. You may know much, but your neighbor may be very useful; you should at least bear him witness that he has a tender conscience (Rom 14:1).Bengel: Gratitude sanctifies all acts, however different, that are not inconsistent with gratitude (Rom 14:6).The art of dying well is nothing else than the art of living well (Rom 14:7).
Gerlach: An article of food is only unclean when eaten without thanksgiving; but every thing is holy to him who thankfully acknowledges that the earth is the Lords, and the fulness thereof (1Co 10:25-31). Let him, on the other hand, who, through fear of breaking a Divine commandment, eats but one kind of meat, be thankful even for that which he does enjoy. Every thing depends on our acting in full obedience to the Lord, and in doing nothing wilfully and independently.
Heubner: The less scrupulous one must show tender forbearance; the more scrupulous one must guard against decrying the more liberal (Rom 14:3).It is not becoming in us to pronounce any definitive opinion on the inward worth of a man.We should not condemn even the fallen (Rom 14:4).Christianity, as a free institution for the training of mankind, allows freedom in regard to services and in the choice of holy-days (Rom 14:5).Every believer renounces his own will, lives to the Lord, who has purchased and redeemed him, and accordingly dies in harmony with the Lord.This dependence on the Lord is something quite natural to the Christian. He, therefore, who will not be led by love to place a restraint upon himself on account of his weaker brother, but is obstinate, acts against that fundamental principle (Rom 14:7-8).He who judges, arrogates to himself Christs office; he who bears in mind that Christ will judge us all, will no more condemn.
Besser: To despise and to judgeeach is as bad as the other, for in both man encroaches upon Gods right, and arrogates to himself a judgment on anothers state of faith and heart, which becomes an injury to his own life of faith (Rom 14:3).
Schleiermacher: New-Years Sermon on Rom 14:7-8. The language of the text is placed before us as a motto on entering this new year of life: 1. In relation to what shall happen to us; 2. In relation to what we shall be required to do.
[Charnock: Christ, by His death, acquired over us a right of lordship, and hath laid upon us the strongest obligation to serve Him. He made himself a sacrifice, that we might perform a service to Him. By His reviving to a new state and condition of life, His right to our obedience is strengthened. There is no creature exempt from obedience to Him. Who would not be loyal to Him, who hath already received: 1. A power to protect; 2. A glory to reward?
[John Howe: Receive the poor weakling, for God is able to make him stand. Every new-born child is weak, and we must remember that this is the case with every regenerate soul.
[Bishop Hopkins: On Rom 14:12. All the wickedness that men have brooded on and hatched in the darkest vaults of their own hearts, or acted in the obscurest secrecy, shall be then made as manifest as if they were every one of them written on their foreheads with the point of a sunbeam. Here, on earth, none know so much of us, neither would we that they should, as our own consciences; and yet those great secretaries, our own consciences, through ignorance or searedness, overlook many sins which we commit. But our own consciences shall not know more of us than all the world shall, for all that has been done shall be brought into public notice.
[Henry: Though some Christians are weak and others strong, though of different sizes, capacities, apprehensions, and practices, in lesser things, yet they are all the Lords. They serve Christ, and approve themselves to Him, and accordingly are owned and accepted of Him. Is it for us, then, to judge or despise them, as if we were their masters, and they were to make it their business to please us, and to stand or fall by our sentence?
[Wesley, Sermon on the Great Assize, Rom 14:10 : Consider: 1. The chief circumstances which will precede our standing before the judgment-seat of Christ; 2. The judgment itself; 3. Circumstances which will follow it; 4. Application to the hearer.
[Robert Hall: The proper remedy for a diversity of sentiment is not the exercise of compulsory power, much less a separation of communion, but the ardent pursuit of Christian piety, accompanied with an humble dependence on Divine teaching, which, it may reasonably be expected, will in due time correct the errors and imperfections of sincere believers. The proper conduct to be maintained is a cordial coperation in every branch of worship and of practice with respect to which we agree, without attempting to effect a unanimity by force.
[Richard Watson, on Rom 14:7-8 : The extension of the work of Christ in every age goes upon the same principle. The principle of selfishness and that of usefulness are distinct and contrary. One is a point, but the centre is nothing; the other is a progressive radius, which runs out to the circumference. The one is a vortex, which swallows up all within its gorge; the other is the current-stream, which gushes with an incessant activity, and spreads into distant fields, refreshing the thirsty earth, and producing richness and verdure. The principle of one is contraction; of the other, expansion. Nor is this a sluggish or inactive principle. Lively desires for the acknowledgment of Christ by men, strong and restless jealousies for His honor, tender sympathies with the moral wretchedness of our kind, deep and solemn impressions of eternal realities, and of the danger of souls; these are the elements which feed it; and they carry Christian love beyond even the philanthropy of the natural law.
[Hodge: Owing to ignorance, early prejudice, weakness of faith, and other causes, there may and must exist a diversity of opinion and practice on minor points of duty. But this diversity is no sufficient reason for rejecting from Christian fellowship any member of the family of Christ. It is, however, one thing to recognize a man as a Christian, and another to recognize him as a suitable minister of a church, organized on a particular form of government and system of doctrines.
[F. W. Robertson: It is always dangerous to multiply restrictions and requirements beyond what is essential; because men, feeling themselves hemmed in, break the artificial barrier, but, breaking it with a sense of guilt, thereby become hardened in conscience, and prepared for transgressions against commandments which are divine and of eternal obligation. Hence it is that the criminal has so often, in his confessions, traced his deterioration in crime to the first step of breaking the Sabbath-day; and, no doubt, with accurate truth.If God has judgments in store for England, it is because we are selfish menbecause we prefer pleasure to duty, party to our church, and ourselves to every thing else.J. F. H.]
Rom 14:13-16
On avoiding offence. 1. Offence cannot be avoided at the expense of personal freedom; 2. Just as little can it be avoided at the expense of love toward a brother (Rom 14:13-16).If you would avoid stumbling or offence, then preserve: 1. Your personal freedom; 2. But do not injure love toward a brother, for whose salve Christ died (Rom 14:13-16).Nothing is unclean in itself; much is unclean if one so regard it (Rom 14:14).Take care that your treasure be not evil spoken of! 1. What is this treasure? Spiritual freedom. Comp. Rom 14:6; 1Co 10:30; 1Ti 4:4. 2. How can it be protected against slander? When the strong man in faith rejoices in its possession, but at the same time walks charitably (Rom 14:16).
Luther: The gospel is our treasure, and it is evil spoken of when Christian freedom is so boldly made use of as to give offence to the weak.
Starke, Hedinger: Take heed, soul, lest you give offence! No stumbling-stone, no sin, however small you think it may be, is really small if it can make a weak one fall. Use the right which you have, but use it aright; Mat 17:24 (Rom 14:13).
Gerlach: It is not our office to judge our brother, and to decide on his relation to God; but it is every Christians office to pronounce decidedly against uncharitableness, which can condemn another to his fall.
Heubner: The treasure is Christian freedom, deliverance from outward ordinances. It is evil spoken of either by the enemies of the Church, when they see the dissension of Christians, or by the weaker brethren, when they condemn the stronger, and use their freedom presumptuously, or by the stronger, when they give offence to the weaker, and injure their conscience (Rom 14:16).
Besser: It is a true proverb: Though two do the same thing, it is not really the same thing, for not the form of the deed, but the sense of the doer, decides as to whether any thing is unclean or holy, or contrary to faith and love (Rom 14:14).
[Jeremy Taylor: In a ripe conscience, the practical judgmentthat is, the last determination of an actionought to be sure and evident. This is plain in all the great lines of duty, in actions determinable by the prime principles of natural reason, or Divine revelation; but it is true also in all actions conducted by a right and perfect conscience. There is always a reflex act of judgment, which, upon consideration that it is certain that a public action may lawfully be done, or else that that which is but probable in the nature of the thing (so far as we perceive it) may yet, by the superadding of some circumstances and confidential considerations, or by equity or necessity, become more than public in the particular. Although, I say, the conscience be uncertain in the direct act, yet it may be certain, right, and determined, in the reflex and second act of judgment; and if it be, it is innocent and safeit is that which we call the right and sure conscience (The Rule of Conscience, Works [Bishop Hebers edition], vol. xi. pp. 369522).
Clarke: It is dangerous to trifle with conscience, even when erroneous; it should be borne with and instructed; it must be won over, not taken by storm. Its feelings should be respected, because they ever refer to God, and have their foundation in His fear. He who sins against his conscience in things which every one else knows to be indifferent, will soon do it in those things in which his salvation is most intimately concerned. It is a great blessing to have a well-informed conscience; it is a blessing to have a tender conscience, and even a sore conscience is better than none.
[Barnes: Christ laid down His precious life for the weak brother as well as for the strong. He loved them; and shall we, to gratify our appetites, pursue a course which will tend to defeat the work of Christ, and ruin the souls redeemed by His blood?Do not so use your Christian liberty as to give occasion for railing and unkind remarks from your brother, so as to produce contention and strife, and thus to give rise to evil reports among the wicked about the tendency of the Christian religion, as if it were adapted only to promote controversy.J. F. H.]
Rom 14:17-23
The glory of Gods kingdom as a kingdom: 1. Of righteousness; 2. Of peace; 3. And of joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom 14:17).Gods kingdom is: 1. Not a kingdom of dead ordinances, by which the conscience is oppressed; but, 2. A kingdom of living, evangelical truth, by which righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost are planted and promoted (Rom 14:17).Gods kingdom is a kingdom which: 1. Rests on righteousness; 2. In whose borders peace reigns; 3. To belong to which brings joy to the hearts of all its citizens (Rom 14:17).The blissful service of Christ. 1. The service is in righteousness, &c.; 2. The blessing: a. That we are acceptable to God; b. That we are approved of men (Rom 14:17-18).
For what should members of the Christian Church strive, if in most important matters they are one, but in unessential matters they have different views? 1. For what makes for peace; 2. For what contributes to edification (Rom 14:19).Even the weaker brothers Christian life is Gods work; therefore be indulgent toward his conscience! (Rom 14:20.)Rather deny self than offend a brother (Rom 14:21).The happiness of Christian freedom (Rom 14:22).The condemnation of the doubting conscience (Rom 14:23).What is not of faith is sin. 1. How often is this expression misunderstood! a. When it is supposed that all the virtues of the heathen are glaring sins; b. When all the civic righteousness of unconverted people is condemned in like manner; c. When the whole civilized life of the present day receives the same judgment. Therefore, 2. There arises the serious question, How should it be understood? a. As a declaration which has no application whatever to the heathen, or to unconverted people in Christendom, but strictly to awakened professors of religion; and, in consequence thereof, b. Contains an appeal to them to do nothing which cannot be done with the full joy of faith (Rom 14:23).
Luther, on Rom 14:23 : Observe, that all this is a general declaration against all works done without faith; and guard against the false interpretations here devised by many teachers.
Starke: A reconciled and quiet conscience is the workshop of spiritual joy (Rom 14:17).Osiander: The most certain rule of conduct for using Christian freedom, is to contribute to our neighbors edification and improvement, but not to his downfall and ruin (Rom 14:19).
Spener: The Apostle would say (Rom 14:17), that you should be careful of nothing but Gods kingdom. Where this is promoted, it should make you rejoice, and it should grieve you when it suffers. That, on the other hand, which does not concern Gods kingdom, should be regarded by you as a small matter.
Gerlach: The righteousness which avails in Gods kingdom is not an outward observance of the law, but inward holiness; the peace with God which we have in it overflows to our brethren, and holy joy destroys both all anxiety and every thing which can offend and grieve our neighbor (Rom 14:17).
Lisco: To attach importance to eating and drinking, to hold that there should henceforth be no scruple at certain kinds of food, or that, on the other hand, this or that should be renounced, is no sign of true Christianity (Rom 14:17).
Heubner: The mistaking of what is essential in Christianity, makes us petty; while laying stress on merely secondary matters unfits us for accomplishing the principal object (Rom 14:17).That which is allowed may be sin: 1. When we do it against our conscience; 2. When we thereby offend others (Rom 14:21).
Besser: Every Christian and all Christendom are Gods work and building (1Co 3:9). It is blasphemy against Gods sanctuary to destroy this work by ruining a brother sanctified by Christs blood (Rom 14:15), and by sundering the bond of peace, which keeps the blocks of the divine building in place (Rom 14:20).Every thing which is of Christian faith is truly good, because the doer is good by faith, and his deed is love, the fulness of all good deeds (Rom 14:23).
[Leighton: There is no truly comfortable life in the world but that of religion. Religion is joy. Would you think it a pleasant life, though you had fine clothes and good diet, never to see the sun, but still to keep in a dungeon with them? Thus are they who live in worldly honor and plenty, who are still without God; they are in continual darkness, with all their enjoyments.The public ministry will profit little any way, where a people, or some part of them, are not one, and do not live together as of one mind, and use diligently all due means of edifying one another in their holy faith.Burkitt: Observe: 1. That the love and practice of religious duties, such as righteousness and peace, is a clear and strong argument of a persons acceptance with God; 2. That such as are for those things accepted by God, ought by no means, for differing from us in lesser things, to be disowned of us, and cast out of communion by us.
[Henry: Ways by which we may edify one another: 1 By good counsel; 2. Reproof; 3. Instruction; 4. Example; 5. Building up not only ourselves, but one another, in the most holy faith. None are so strong but they may be edified; none so weak but they may edify; and while we edify others, we benefit ourselves.Clarke: If a mans passions or appetite allow or instigate him to a particular thing, let him take good heed that his conscience approve what his passions allow, and that he live not the subject of continual self-condemnation and reproach. Even the man who has a too scrupulous conscience had better, in such matters as are in question, obey its erroneous dictates, than violate this moral feeling, and live only to condemn the actions he is constantly performing.
[Hodge: Conscience, or a sense of duty, is not the only, and perhaps not the most important, principle to be appealed to in support of benevolent enterprises. It comes in aid of and gives its sanction to all other right motives; but we find the sacred writers appealing most frequently to the benevolent and pious feelingsto the example of Christto a sense of our obligations to Himto the mutual relations of Christians, and their common connection with the Redeemer, &c., as motives to self-denial and devotedness.As the religion of the gospel consists in the inward graces of the Holy Spirit, all who have these graces should be recognized as genuine Christians; being acceptable to God, they should be loved and cherished by His people, notwithstanding their weakness or errors.The peace and edification of the Church are to be sought at all sacrifices, except those of truth and duty; and the work of God is not to be destroyed or injured for the sake of any personal or party interests.An enlightened conscience is a great blessing; it secures the liberty of the soul from bondage to the opinions of men, and from the self-inflicted pains of a scrupulous and morbid state of moral feelings it promotes the right exercise of all the virtuous affections, and the right discharge of all relative duties.Ridgeway, on Rom 14:22-23 : The reason that the Church is so cold in her devotions, and so little comparative success attends her evangelizing efforts, is, that her confidence in Gods promises and methods is paralyzed by a self-accusing consciousness of delinquency. There cannot be an overcoming faith in the people of God, except the Spirit of Him who fulfilleth all righteousness breathes and works in their hearts and lives.
[Homiletical Literature on Rom 14:17.A. Burgess, Spiritual Revivings, part 1:123; J. Abernethy, Of the Kingdom of God, Serm., vol. iv. 155; S. Clarke, In what the Kingdom of God Consists, Serm., vol. vii. 233; H. Whishaw, The True Nature of the Kingdom of God, Serm., vol. ii. 91; S. Bourn, On the Nature of the Christian Religion, Disc., vol. ii. 259; L. Holden, Righteousness Essential to True Religion, Serm., 314; J. Dodson, Joy in the Holy Ghost, Disc., 152; James Foster, The Kingdom of God, under the Dispensation of the Gospel, Serm., vol. 2:313; Bishop Shipley, Serm., Works, vol. i. 265; John Venn, The Nature of True Religion, Serm., vol. iii. 132; I. B. S. Carwithin, The Brahminical System in its Operations on the Intellectual Faculties, Bampton Lectures, 213; T. Dwight, Joy in the Holy Ghost, Theology, vol. 3:208; John Garnons, True Religion, Serm., vol. ii. 15; R. P. Buddicom, The Inward and Spiritual Character of the Kingdom of God, Serm., vol. ii. 234; Bishop Jebb, Serm., 71; H. Woodward, Essays, &c., 467; R. Montgomery, The Church, Viewed as the Kingdom of the Spirit, God and Man, 118.J. F. H.]
Rom 15:1-4
Let us bear the infirmity of the weak without pleasing ourselves; for in this: 1. We seek to please our neighbor for his good, to edification; 2. We herein choose Christ as our pattern, who did not please himself (Rom 15:1-4).For what purpose should the strong use the infirmity of the weak? 1. To humble himself; 2. To please his neighbor; 3. To imitate Christ (Rom 15:1-4).On pleasing ourselves. 1. In what is its ground? a. In a mans regarding his views as the most correct; b. His efforts as the best; c. His words as the wisest; d. His deeds as the most godly; e. And, consequently, himself as insurpassable. 2. How is it shown? a. In the severe condemnation of the weak; b. In immoderate self-praise; c. In pretentious manners in society. 3. How is it to be overcome? a. By discipline in bearing the infirmities of the weak brethren; b. By an honest effort to please our neighbor for his good, to edification (comp. 1Co 10:33); c. By a believing look at Christ, who did not please himself, but bore the reproaches of His enemies (Rom 15:1-4).The blessing of the Holy Scriptures for our inward man (Rom 15:4).The Holy Scriptures a fountain of hope (Rom 15:4).Examples of patience and comfort, which the Scriptures present to us for awakening joyous hope: 1. From the Old Testament; 2. From the New Testament (Rom 15:4).
Roos: Bearing the infirmity of the weak is an exercise of meek love, which neither lightly esteems him who is weak, nor would seek to change him in a rough, vehement manner. To please ourselves, means to act according to our own views, whether another can be offended at them or not; or to so conduct ourselves as if we were in the world for our own sake alone, and not also for our weak brothers sake (Rom 15:2-3).
Gerlach: The Apostle here sets up Christ not merely as a pattern, but as a motive, and the living Author and Finisher of our life of faith (Rom 15:3).
Heubner: The reason why a man does not place himself under restraint, is pleasure with himself; and this hinders all peace, destroys the germ of love in the heart, and is a proof of spiritual weakness, prejudice, and a corrupt heart. He is not strong who cannot bear with others near him, nor tolerate their opinions (Rom 15:21).The Bible is the only real and inexhaustible book of comfort; Paul said this even when there was nothing more than the Old Testament.The Bible is not merely a book to be read, but to be lived [nicht Lese-, sondern Lebebuch.], Luther, vol. v., pp. 1707 (Rom 15:4).
[Jeremy Taylor: There is comfort scattered up and down throughout the holy book, and not cast all in a lump together. By searching it diligently, we may draw our consolation out of: 1. Faith; 2. Hope; 3. The indwelling of the Spirit: 4. Prayer; 5. The Sacraments.Burkitt: The great end for which the Holy Scriptures were written, was the informing of our judgments, and the directing of our practice, that, by the examples which we find there of the patience of holy men under sufferings, and of Gods relieving and comforting them in their distresses, we might have hope, confidence, and assurance, that God will also comfort and relieve us under the like pressures and burdens.
[Henry: Christ bore the guilt of sin, and the curse for it; we are only called to bear a little of the trouble of it. He bore the presumptuous sins of the wicked; we are called only to bear the infirmities of the weak.There are many things to be learned out of Scripture; the best learning is that which is drawn from that fountain. Those are most learned that are most mighty in the Scriptures. As ministers, we need help, not only to roll away the stone, but to draw out the water; for in many places the well is deep. Practical observations are more necessary than critical expositions.
[Scott: Many venture into places and upon actions against which their own conscience revolts; because they are induced by inclination, or emboldened by the example of those who, on some account, have obtained the reputation of pious men. But they are condemned for indulging themselves in a doubtful case. In order to enjoy freedom from self-condemnation, we must have: 1. A sound judgment; 2. A simple heart; 3. A tender conscience; 4. Habitual self-denial.
[Robert Hall: Paul enjoins the practice of forbearance, on the ground of the conscientiousness of the parties concerned, on the assumption not only of their general sincerity, but of their being equally actuated, in the very particulars in which they differed, by an unfeigned respect to the authority of Christ; and as he urges the same consideration on which the toleration of both parties rested, it must have included a something which was binding on the conscience, whatever was his private judgment on the points in debate. The Jew was as much bound to tolerate the Gentile, as the Gentile to tolerate the Jew.
[Hodge: The desire to please others should be wisely directed, and spring from right motives. We should not please them to their own injury, nor from the wish to secure their favor; but for their good, that they may be edified.Barnes: Christ willingly threw himself between the sinner and God, to intercept, as it were, our sins, and to bear the effects of them in His own person. He stood between us and God; and both the reproaches and the Divine displeasure due to them met on His sacred person, and produced the sorrows of the atonement.His bitter agony in the garden and on the cross. Jesus thus showed His love of God in being willing to bear the reproaches aimed at Him, and His love of men in being willing to endure the sufferings necessary to atone for these very ones.
[Homiletical Literature on Rom 15:4 : Bishop Latimer, Sermons of the Plough, Works, vol. i. 59; Seven Sermons, Ibid., vol. i. 85; Bishop Patrick, The Use of the Holy Scriptures (London, 1678); W. Wotton, Serm. (1722); John Guyse, Serm. (1724); Dispositions for Reading the Scriptures; Pitman from Osterwald, 1st Course, vol. i. 15; J. Brailsford, Revelation of a Future State in the Scriptures, an Argument for Comfort and Patience, Serm., 247; Thomas Adam, Works, vol. iii. 334; H. Draper, The Authority, Excellence, and Use of the Holy Scriptures. On the Collects, vol. i. 24; John Hewlett, The Things Written Aforetime for our Learning, Serm., vol. iv. 209; The Duty of Studying the Holy Scriptures with Patience, Ibid., vol. iv. 227; The Patience, the Comfort, and Hope to be Derived from the Holy Scriptures, Ibid., vol. iv. 246; R. L. Cotton, Study of the Scriptures, Serm., 376; W. Macdonald, The Scriptures. Plain Sermons, 24; C. Girdlestone, Holy Scripture. Farewell Sermons, 165; G. R. Gleig, Sermons for Advent, &c., Rom 39: T. Bowdler, The Scriptures Given, for Comfort. Sermons on Privileges, &c., vol. i. 48; F. E. Tuson, The Blessings and Importance of the Written Word of God, Serm., 110; Arthur Roberts, The Uses of Gods Word. Plain Sermons, vol. i. 12; J. W. Donaldson, The Patience and Comfort of the Holy Scriptures, A. Watson, 2d Series, vol. i. 26; J. Garbett, Christ Speaking in Holy Scripture. Christ on Earth, &c., vol. i. 30; Bishop Medley, The Old Testament in its Relation to the New, Serm., 121; Isaac Williams, The Scriptures Bearing Witness, Serm., vol. i. 12.J. F. H.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rom 15:2[After , the Rec. reads , which is found in no MS.; omitted by versions, fathers, and modern editors generally.
[2]Rom 15:3.[A verbatim citation from the LXX., Psa 68:10 (Heb. Psa 69:10; Eng. Psa 69:9). The LXX. is a literal rendering of the Hebrew.
[3][So De Wette, Philippi, and others. The E. V., by putting a comma after but, gives the same interpretationi, e., but the reproaches, as it is written, &c. The absence of any formula of citation favors this construction.R.]
[4]Rom 15:4.[. A. B. C. D. L., repeat before . Omitted in Rec., D. F., versions and fathers. It is adopted by Griesbach, Bengel, Lachmann, De Wette, Alford, Wordsworth, Tregelles; rejected by Hodge, Philippi, Meyer, because the transcriber might so readily repeat it before occurring a second time. Still, the most careful editors retain it. Dr. Hodge says, in his first and last editions: The preponderance of evidence is greatly against it; and yet, in citing the authorities in favor of it, omits B. and ., the two most important uncials, both of which had been collated carefully before his last edition appeared.R.]
[5][The emphatic deliverances of ecclesiastical bodies as matters of minor morals (even making doubtful matters terms of communion) must often be regarded by the careful reader of this chapter as overpassing the limits here set to bearing the infirmities of the weak. When that about which the Word of God makes no distinct utterance, is made a term of communion, those who are thus wise above what is written are not acting to edification. It is but an attempt to make holy by an ecclesiastical law. If Gods law could not do this in that it was weak through the flesh, mans law is not likely to accomplish the result arrived at. Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that scruples about lesser matters almost always involve some dereliction of duty in greater and more obvious ones (Jowett). Comp. the very valuable dissertation of this author on Casuistry, Comm. ii. pp. 322357.R.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 1919
SELF-DENYING LOVE INCULCATED
Rom 15:1-3. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee, fell on me.
WHILST many scarcely ever dwell upon the atonement of Christ, and on that righteousness which he has wrought out for the redemption of a ruined world, others insist on these, almost to the utter exclusion of all other topics. But the Apostle Paul, who certainly was inferior to none in his regard for that fundamental doctrine of the Gospel,salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus, was yet delighted to exhibit his Divine Master as a pattern and example of universal holiness. In respect to love in particular, he constantly urges us to love one another, as Christ loved us. In the words before us, he seems almost to go out of his way (if we may so speak) to introduce Christ to our notice in this view. He brings forward, as illustrative of it, a passage of Scripture, in which a person less conversant with the spiritual import of Scripture, or less alive to this important point, would scarcely have found any thing bearing upon his subject. Indeed he almost appears to apologize for this particular quotation, by observing, that Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning; and that, consequently, this prophecy, even though it should not be thought to bear so directly and obviously upon his subject as some others, may properly be adduced in illustration of it. But this very circumstance tends so much the more to shew the importance of the subject in the precise view in which he has placed it. Let us consider then,
I.
The example here propounded to us
Two things are said of our blessed Lord,
1.
He pleased not himself
[And how true is this! View him in his incarnation: Was it to please himself that he left the bosom of the Father, and divested himself of all the glory that he had with the Father from all eternity? Was it to please himself, that, when he was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant? Was it to please himself that he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, partaking of all our infirmities, and being made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted? View him in his life: Was it to please himself that till the age of thirty he worked as a common carpenter: and that, from the time he took upon him his ministerial office, he was subjected to evils and distresses of every kind; being from first to last a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, as his daily and hourly companion? So poor was he, that he had not a place where to lay his head: and so hated, that he was a sign spoken against, a butt of contradiction to all the people of Israel. There was not any thing he either said or did, that did not subject him to fresh reproaches, and prove an occasion of offence to all around him. Incessantly was he represented as a deceiver, a blasphemer, and a devil, yea, as one who should not be suffered to live. His very first sermon would have been his last, if he had not miraculously withdrawn himself from his persecutors. Was all this undertaken and submitted to, to please himself? View him in his death. Was it to please himself that he consented to drink the cup of bitterness which his Father put into his hands; or that he was bathed in a bloody sweat in the garden of Gethsemane; or that he endured the hidings of his Fathers face, and expired under all the shame and agonies of crucifixion? No: at no one moment of his life do we find him consulting his own pleasure: his only object, his very meat and drink, was to do the will of Him that sent him.]
2.
He submitted to all manner of indignities purely for our sake
[It had been foretold by David that he should do so. The passage cited by the Apostle undoubtedly refers to Christ. Whatever reference in a subordinate way it had to David, its main import is that affixed to it in our text [Note: Psa 69:9; Psa 69:20. The other passages connected with these in ver. 9 and 21. shew infallibly that the Apostle cites the text in its true, and not in an accommodated, sense.]. Every one that was an enemy to God the Father, was an enemy to him: and every shaft directed against the Majesty of heaven, pierced his breast. Nor did he withdraw himself from this inconceivably distressing situation, till he had accomplished all that his sufferings were intended to effect. Such was his stupendous love to God, whose glory he sought; and to men, whose souls he had undertaken to redeem! This was the end which he proposed to himself in all: and this was the joy that was set before him, as his only inducement to endure the cross, and to despise the shame. Consult all the sacred records, the types and prophecies of the Old Testament, or the uniform declarations of the New Testament, and the salvation of man will be found to have been the one end of all that he either did or suffered: He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ]
Let us now proceed to consider,
II.
The instruction founded upon it
This is two-fold:
1.
That we also should not please ourselves
[There is a proneness in men to follow their own inclinations, without considering what may be the effect of their conduct on the minds of others. But in no case whatever should we be guilty of this: it is directly contrary to love, the invariable character of which is, that it seeketh not her own. We have perhaps a clearer insight into the nature and extent of Christian liberty than others: but shall we therefore use that liberty in a way that may ensnare them, or wound their feelings? No: the strong ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and not to please themselves. The sacrifice must be made on the part of the strong; and the stronger any profess themselves to be, the more should this self-denial be exercised by them. This is a subject peculiarly worthy the attention of all who profess godliness. It is much to be lamented, that many carry their zeal for religious liberty to a very undue extent: the mere circumstance of a thing being required by law or custom, is sufficient to make them violent against it: and they would rend the Church into a thousand parties, rather than comply with a prescribed rite or ceremony, even of the most innocent kind. We mean not by this observation to justify the imposing of any thing which is wrong, or that admits of any serious doubt: but there must be, and there are in every Church under heaven, some rules and orders of human appointment; and, where there is no moral evil in them, they should be observed for the Lords sake: and to be rigid and fierce in our opposition to them, merely because they are established by law, whilst we conform to others that are established only by this or that particular society of Christians, is unreasonable, inconsistent, and highly unbecoming. Such was not the conduct of our blessed Lord, who, though he had no sin to wash away, submitted to Johns baptism, notwithstanding it had never been enjoined by the Mosaic law; and wrought a miracle to pay a tax, from which he might have justly pleaded his right of exemption. St. Paul also has in this respect set us a beautiful example, making himself the servant of all, and becoming all things to all men, for the Gospels sake [Note: 1Co 9:19-23.]. This was a truly Christian spirit, which we should ever study to imitate; submitting cheerfully to an abridgment of our liberty in matters of indifference, instead of acrimoniously vindicating our rights, and using our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness.]
2.
That we should seek rather the edification of others
[To please our neighbour is an object well worthy our pursuit: for it is by pleasing him that we shall gain the more easy access to him, for the benefit of his soul. Not that we should attempt to please him by any sinful compliance: for if in that sense we please men, we cannot be the servants of Jesus Christ. The proper limit to our compliance is here assigned: we must go so far only as will be for his good to edification. Do we think him too much leaning to the side of needless scrupulosity or superstitious fear? let us not despise his weakness, but act towards him with all imaginable tenderness and forbearance. Do we behold in him a readiness to be offended or grieved at any liberty in which we indulge ourselves? let us cheerfully condescend to his infirmity in a way of conciliation and concession. To win his soul should be in our estimation a rich recompence for all the kindness we can manifest, and all the self-denial we can exercise. This was the line of conduct which St. Paul both enjoined to us, and himself practised: Let no man seek his own, but every man anothers wealth even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved [Note: 1Co 10:24; 1Co 10:33.].
But to recur to the example of our blessed Lord, to which our attention is more especially directed. We see to what an extent he carried these virtues, even to a relinquishment of all the glory of heaven, and to a suffering of all the pains of of hell, for the welfare, not of his friends and brethren, but of his most inveterate enemies: yes, even christ (whose pleasure the whole universe ought incessantly to consult) pleased not himself. Shall we then be backward to deny ourselves? we, whose only hope is founded on the self-denial that Christ has exercised for us; and who are bound even to lay down our lives for the brethren? No: Let the same mind be in us as was in Christ Jesus; and let us look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others [Note: Php 2:4-5.].]
The subject thus viewed may well suggest to us the following reflections:
1.
How extensive and amiable is true religion!
[Religion consists not in notions, nor even in outward actions; but in the habits and dispositions of the mind: it consists in a subjugation of self in all its bearings, and in a conformity of heart to the mind that was in Christ Jesus. And O! what a world would this be, if true religion universally prevailed! Some have thought that piety thus exercised would excite admiration in all who beheld it: but unhappily we know the contrary: for our blessed Lord exhibited it in its utmost possible perfection; and was the more hated on account of the brightness of his example. But still there is something in this conduct that carries its own evidence along with it; and we cannot but feel, that the more it prevails, the more happiness must be diffused all around us. Only conceive, for a moment, every professor of Christianity walking precisely as Christ walked, not pleasing himself in any thing, but studying in all things to please, and benefit, mankind! Conceive him to be so intent on this blessed work, as readily to bear all manner of reproaches and distresses for the furtherance of it! Could this fail of diffusing happiness wherever he went? Let it then be our endeavour to foster, both in ourselves and others, this heavenly disposition: and whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, let us think of these things, and practise these things [Note: Php 4:8.]; that so all men may see that we are Christs, by the Spirit which he has given us.]
2.
How little is there of true religion in the world!
[In polished society we behold some semblance of this: the very essence of good breeding is, so to demean ourselves as to give no offence to any, but pleasure and satisfaction to all. And it is happy for the world, that, where higher principles are wanting, there is a substitute for piety in the established usages of mankind. But however this substitute may answer many valuable purposes in society, it is of no value in the sight of God, since it is almost always laid aside in the domestic circle, and never exercised from any principle of love to God. In truth, we cannot conceive any thing more contrary to the deportment of the Lord Jesus Christ, than the insincere professions, which pass for politeness among men: so that it is in vain to look for any conformity to Christ in the world. Nor shall we find much even in the Church itself. There is a deplorable want of a Christian spirit amongst the generality of those who profess the Gospel. Every party, instead of endeavouring by kindness and concessions to conciliate others, is ready to erect a barrier against others, on purpose to prevent that harmony which should subsist amongst all the members of Christs mystical body. Brethren, these things ought not so to be: they are most offensive to God, and most injurious to yourselves: and yet persons who live in the indulgence of these hateful tempers, will call themselves followers of Christ; as if a fountain could at the same place send forth sweet water and bitter [Note: Jam 3:9-12.]. But woe be to those in whom this earthly, sensual, devilish, wisdom is found [Note: Jam 3:14-15.]: they cannot on earth, nor will they in heaven, be found acceptable worshippers before God. Pray then, brethren, to our common Father, that your souls may be filled with more holy dispositions; and that, being made like-minded one towards another, according to Christ Jesus, ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [Note: ver. 5, 6.].]
3.
How conducive to piety is an intimate acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures!
[In reading the Holy Scriptures, we should aim particularly at our own spiritual improvement: and, in that view, we should notice with peculiar care the spirit that is inculcated in the precepts, and the disposition that is exercised by the saints of God. If we are not principally attentive to this object, we shall lose more than half the benefit that would result to us from the perusal of them. It is probable, that, in the many hundred times that we may have read the 69th Psalm, we never noticed the very point mentioned by St. Paul, notwithstanding he has taken such care to direct our attention to it! Alas! it is to little purpose to read the Scriptures, if we do not read them with a practical application of them to our own souls. But if we read them in this way, behold, what unspeakable benefit we may derive from them! Brethren, let not a day pass without treasuring up in your minds some passage that shall lead you into a fuller knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a more entire conformity to his image. We are told, that whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning [Note: ver. 4.]: and we see in the application of the prophecy before us, what valuable instruction is to be drawn from that sacred source. Treat every passage then in this way. Treasure it up in your minds: consider all that it either expresses or implies: and apply it to your souls for your more abundant edification in faith and love. So shall you grow up into Christ as your living Head, and progressively be changed into his image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
The Apostle exhorts the strong in Faith, to bear the Infirmities of the weak. He recommends the Example of Jesus, and concludes with recommending the Church to the God of Peace.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. (2) Let everyone of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. (3) For even Christ pleased not himself: but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. (4) For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. (5) Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: (6) That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (7) Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
It is always blessed to eye Christ. And, in the use the Apostle here makes of the Lord’s example, as not seeking self pleasing in ease and enjoyment, but Jehovah’s glory, and his Church’s welfare, there is somewhat very blessed, and interesting. It would be well for the Church, if the lovely pattern of the Great Head and Husband of his people were always in view. Both the strong and the weak, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, in the Lord’s household, would find constant blessedness, in taking Christ for their example. It is said, that even Christ pleased not himself. By which is not meant, that Christ’s pleasure, differed from the Father’s. For one and the same mind was in both. Jesus, ages before he openly tabernacled in substance of our flesh, when speaking of the Spirit of prophecy, said: I delight to do thy will, 0 my God; yea, thy law is within my heart. Or, as the words are rendered in the margin of the Bible, in the midst of my bowels; meaning, as wrapped up in his Very nature; so much oneness being between them, Psa 40:8 . But, by not pleasing himself, is intended to shew, that in the accomplishment of the great purpose for which he came upon earth, he had the great object in view of the Father’s glory, and his people’s happiness. And nothing of self-accommodation or ease was considered by the Lord Jesus, while in the pursuit of these important designs. And, among many instances which might have been produced in confirmation of it, (for Christ’s whole life was a life of suffering,) Paul brings forward one, which the Scripture noticed concerning Christ, and which in its bosom comprehended many others: but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached the fell on me. Now this was happily chosen by the Apostle, in the illustration of this great point, as well as to open to the Church, other important views of Christ. For these are the words of Christ himself, addressed to the Father, spoken by the Spirit of prophecy; and serve as a key, to open to the Church the whole Psalm, from whence Paul makes the quotation of them. I beg the Reader before he proceeds further, for his confirmation in this interesting point, to turn to Psa 69 ; and by comparing what is there said, with other Scriptures, he will be led to conclude, that Christ is the sole Speaker, through the whole of it. And a most blessed proof the whole brings to the truth as it is in Jesus. Compare verse 9 (Psa 69:9 ) with Joh 2:17 ; Psa 119:139 . Compare verse 4 (Psa 69:4 ) with Joh 15:25 and Psa 35:19 . Compare verse 3 (Psa 69:3 ), with Joh 14:28 ; Psa 119:82 , and Psa 119:123 . Compare Psa 69:21 with Mat 27:34 and Mat 27:48 . But, when the Reader hath diligently examined those Scriptures, let him not turn away from the passage Paul hath here quoted, before that he hath first considered a little more particularly, the blessedness of it. The reproaches which the Lord Jesus had in contemplation when he thus expressed himself, no doubt, in the first, and principal sense, had respect to Jehovah ; and which Christ, by the humiliation of himself, and his sacrifice on the cross, came on earth to do away. The Church of God, as well as the whole of mankind, in the Adam – nature of a fallen state, had reproached God, His holy name, his attributes, his law, his sanctuary; all had been blasphemed, and polluted. When, therefore, Jesus came to do away sin by the sacrifice of himself; these reproaches were charged upon Christ, as the Church’s representative and surety, Isa 53:6 . And, it was in the view of this blasphemy and prophanation of the Lord in the temple, which gave occasion for Christ to manifest his zeal for his Father’s honor, when he drave the buyers and sellers before him; and brought to mind to the Apostles this very Scripture, Joh 2:15-17 . But God the Father was also reproached, as well as Christ’s own Person, when He, whom God had declared by a voice from heaven, to be his beloved Son, was charged with blasphemy, a glutton, a winebibber, the friend of publicans and sinners, and as having a devil God was reproached in the first instance in all these, and the reproaches fell also upon Christ. And all the reproaches of Christ’s people, in their sins and iniquities, which justly became their reproach, fell on Christ; that is, were put upon Christ. He, as the head of his body the Church, bore the whole in his own body on the tree, when he died the just for the unjust to bring us unto God, 1Pe 3:18 . Then it was, as the Almighty Speaker said, in the sweet Psalm before quoted; I restored that which I took not away. Psa 69:4 . Reader! all these precious things, and no doubt much more are included, in what Paul hath here noticed, of the reproaches which fell on Christ. Judge you then, with what a fullness of propriety, might he recommend the strong in faith, to accommodate themselves to their weaker brethren; when this strong One, this Gheber of his Church, endured such a contradiction of sinners against himself that his redeemed should not be wearied nor faint in their minds, Psa 89:19 ; Jer 31:22 ; Heb 12:3 .
Largely as I have trespassed in looking at this most interesting portion of Scripture, I must not suffer the Reader to depart from it, without first taking with him, the blessed conclusion the Apostle hath made of it: because it not only is applicable in the present instance, but in every other, where God the Holy Ghost leads his servants to make quotations from his holy word, in confirmation of his doctrines. The Apostle saith, that whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. And the Apostle adds a prayer, that these blessed effects might follow in the Church. Now then, from hence we are authorized, as from many other parts of Scripture to conclude, that the whole body of the divine word, as well as the prophecy of Scripture, is not of any private interpretation, 2Pe 1:20 . Every part and portion of it, is given with the express view, under the Almighty Author’s teaching, to make the Church wise unto salvation, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. And God the Holy Ghost, from the continual and unceasing ministry of it, in his Church, is to bring the Church acquainted more and more, with the Person, character, offices, work, and glory, of her right lawful Lord. And these great objects, God the Holy Ghost is continually accomplishing, in the hearts of the Lord’s redeemed ones, by his gracious ministry. Reader! are you acquainted with these things? do you give yourself wholly to them in the concerns of salvation? Is Christ in your view, all and in all? If so, it is the Lord the Holy Ghost, which is your Teacher. For both by his personal Ministry, as Jesus declared of him, (Joh 14:16-17 .) and by his written word, he it is, the Lord which teacheth you to profit. And you yourself become a living witness to this very Scripture, that the God of patience and consolation hath caused these things to be written for your learning, that you through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rom 15:1
‘There’s a text wants no candle to show’t; it shines by its own light It’s plain enough you get into the wrong road in this life if you run after this and that only for the sake o’ making things easy and pleasant to yourself. A pig may poke his nose into the trough, and think o’ nothing outside it; but if you’ve got a man’s heart and soul in you, you can’t be easy a-making your own bed an’ leaving the rest to lie on the stones. Nay, I’ll never slip my neck out of the yoke, an’ leave the load to be drawn by the weak uns.’
Adam Bede, in George Eliot’s Adam Bede.
All men need to have near them, allied in close association with them, either a force to strengthen their weakness or else a weakness which insists upon some demonstration of their strength.
John Oliver Hobbes, in Robert Orange.
References. XV. 1. Expositor (6th Series), vol. xii. p. 271. XV. 1-3. R. W. Church, Village Sermons (2nd Series), p. 263. J. Martineau, Endeavours After the Christian Life (2nd Series), p. 84. XV. 2. W. H. Stephenson, A Book of Lay Sermons, p. 191. F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p. 337. Llewelyn, Davies, The Purpose of God, p. 116. XV. 3. Expositor (6th Series), vol. xi. p. 47. XV. 4. H. H. Henson, The Value of the Bible, p. 39. F. St. John Corbett, The Preacher’s Year, p. 4. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvii. No. 2753. F. Bourdillon, Plain Sermons for Family Reading, pp. 11 and 22. R. Boyne, Church Family Newspaper, vol. xiv. p. 976. H. S. Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. p. 353. H. Hensley Henson, ibid. vol. lxxviii. p. 371. F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. iii. p. 17. G. Body, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. p. 406. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 5. R. W. Church, Village Sermons, p. 1. F. J. A. Hort, Village Sermons (2nd Series), p. 11. C. Parsons Reichel, Sermons, p. 193. R. C. Trench, Sermons New and Old, p. 267. H. D. Rawnsley, Church Family Newspaper, vol. xv. p. 1104. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Notes of Sermons for the Year, pt. i. p. 7.
Rom 15:5
Nature never hurries: atom by atom, little by little she achieves her work. The lesson one learns in fishing, yachting, hunting, or planting, is the manners of Nature; patience with the delays of wind and sun, delays of the seasons, bad weather, excess or lack of water patience with the slowness of our feet, with the parsimony of our strength, with the largeness of sea and land are must traverse, etc.
Emerson.
References. XV. 5, 6. J. M. Gibbon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lix. p. 187. XV. 5, 15, 33. A. Maclaren, After the Resurrection, p. 229. XV. 7. A. P. Stanley, Canterbury Sermons, p. 172. XV. 8. Exspositor (6th Series), vol. ii. p. 411; ibid. (7th Series), vol. v. p. 361. XV. 11. Ibid. (4th Series), vol. iii. p. 117.
An Old Testament Portraiture of the Saviour
Rom 15:12
How infinite is Jesus! And with what almost infinite variety of depiction He is set forth in Holy Scripture! Here are four views rich in suggestion and most uplifting to the contemplator.
I. The Scriptural Jesus. It is eminently characteristic of Paul that he delighted in the Jesus of the Old Testament. And it is very congenial to him that ardent lover of the Bible to say, as here he says, ‘Isaiah saith’. Paul revelled in the prophetic delineation of the Saviour. The Christ of prophecy evoked all his intellectual and spiritual passion.
The Old Testament and Jesus mutually enhance each other. It glorifies Him. How stately, pathetic, tender, winsome, is the Jesus of the Old Testament! And truly He glorifies it. I think little of the Old Testament when the Saviour is ejected from it. But when I see my Saviour there it becomes an astral book: old, yet ever new; remote, yet sweetly near.
II. The Human Jesus. The primary allusion of Isaiah which Paul quotes is mysteriously profound. ‘There shall be the root of Jesse’ (R.V.). Some have explained this as meaning the branch which grows out of Jesse’s root. But the Bible has a marked capacity for saying what it means, and meaning what it says. Otherwhere it declares Jesus to be a branch of Jesse. But here it says ‘the root’ and not the branch. And this is not the only place in which our Incarnate Lord is called the root of Jesse. You may always trust Scripture to differentiate between a root and a branch.
‘There shall be the root of Jesse.’ The origin of Jesse shall be historically originated. The Creator of Jesse shall be born in the latter days. But Jesse lived and died long spaces back. How can his ‘root’ come to ‘be’ in after years? Can the father of David’s father be a descendant of David? This is indeed a great mystery the Creator described as He who ‘shall be’!
If any object to this view of the human Jesus as insuperably mysterious, I would urge that it is infinitely more helpful on the practical side than any merely humanitarian view of Jesus can be. I far prefer Isaiah’s mysterious concept to the Unitarian Jesus. If I cannot comprehend it I feel it meets my needs. Only a Saviour-God can cope with my guilt and sin. If I am to have a human Redeemer He must also be Divine. A Jesus whose personality and birth I could readily understand would be a Jesus to whom I dared not believingly commit myself. Oh let us adoringly receive this so mysterious and so merciful Saviour, who is ‘the Root of Jesse’. A darkness to the intellect, He is the Light of Life to the heart.
Bengel aptly says, ‘Divine worship is implied here as due to Christ even in His human nature’. Most truly it is. His human nature is Divinely miraculous. Late in time he cometh, but it is ‘the root of Jesse ‘who is born of the Virgin Mary.
III. The Kingly Jesus. Isaiah, as quoted by Paul, further describes the Saviour as ‘He that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles’ (nations). He is a King then. He is the rightful if unacknowledged Sovereign of the nations. I told you the Jesus of the Old Testament is a stately figure. He is more; He is regal.
‘He that ariseth,’ in God’s decree, and in the course of human history, is to ‘rule over the nations’. The kingly Jesus pervades both Testaments with a delightsome pervasiveness. The Jesus of the Nativity was peculiarly the kingly Jesus. Gabriel, in his great annunciatory message to Mary, emphasised His kingliness, ‘And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and to His kingdom there shall be no end’. A scholar has superbly retranslated that latter sentence, ‘And to His kingdom there shall be no frontier’. A kingdom unlimited by remotest frontier! An empire universal! It was an inspired instinct which led the Magi to inquire, ‘Where is He that is born King?’
Jesus is the King of the nations. He arose at Bethlehem to be this. Of all the earth He is the predestinated Monarch. His rule is sadly retarded, and has long been. Sin and hell have set themselves to arrest it. Many of the nations do not submit themselves to their rightful King. Even the nations which are supposed to be His loyal subjects have a religion which is rather a veneer than a passion. But His rule is ultimately sure. He will do what He arose to do, ‘rule over the nations’. We must always distinguish between the immediate outlook and the final outlook, or we shall be whelmed in depression. Jesus shall reign. The end is sure, though the way be rough and long.
IV. The Believed Jesus. Isaiah adds that ‘in Him shall the Gentiles trust’. Faith is the factor which unites men to Christ We are not obedient subjects of the Saviour-King till we trust in Him. Loyalty begins in faith. In that remarkable biography to which I have alluded we are told of a Bechuana convert, who said, ‘Faith is the hand which receives the gifts Christ offers us,’ and a great theologian declared it to be one of the finest descriptions of faith he had ever known. The nations shall yet put out their hands to receive the gifts Christ offers them. Have you put out your hands for those precious gifts? No other power but faith in Christ can perfectly renew the nations. It is not finally by legislative or other programmes, but by individual faith in the Saviour-God that the nations shall be transfigured. A new earth will only come by spiritual processes.
Dinsdale T. Young, The Gospel of the Left Hand, p. 17.
Joy and Peace in Believing
Rom 15:13
It is a question that we ought seriously to ask ourselves, at the approach of a Communion season, if we are in possession of the joy and peace which form the benediction of our text Can we truly say that we know in our own hearts what the Apostle calls joy and peace in believing? Is this the deepest result of that religion which we profess and in which we have been bred? And is it so, not only on the Sabbath, and under the calming influences of the sanctuary, but amid the cares, the worries, the distractions that await every worshipper tomorrow?
I. Contrast, for instance, joy and peace in believing with joy and peace in working. Most of us can say with perfect truth that we have experienced joy and peace in working. Not always, certainly, for sometimes work is wearisome, and sometimes it is ill-suited to our bent. And there are days, and sometimes there are years, when men are physically unfit for duty. But granting that, is it not the case that we have experienced joy and peace in working, and that if our work were taken away, much of our joy and peace would also go? Of working, we can say that in sincerity. What I want to ask is, can we say it of believing? Is there anything in our religious life that answers to that feature in our active life?
II. Or think again of joy and peace in loving. There are few who have not had experience of that Perfect love casteth out fear, for fear hath torment. Think, for example, of the Christian home, that beautiful creation of the gospel. Imperfect though it must necessarily be, is it not the dwelling-place of joy and peace? And all the joy of it and all the peace, which are deeper and truer than any passing shadow, rest on, and are continually refreshed by, the presence in the Christian home of love. Deeper than all rebellion of the child, is the child’s love for father and for mother. Mightier than any care or worry, is the love of the mother for her children. And that is the secret of the Christian home, however poorly it be realised; it is the sphere above all other spheres where there is joy and peace in loving. Now Paul does not speak of joy and peace in loving. He speaks of joy and peace in believing. And the one we know. We have experienced it. It has been ours in childhood and in manhood. But the question is, what about the other? Have we known anything of it at all?
III. Think for a moment of the kind of people to whom these words were originally sent. They were sent to a little company of Christians, whose lot was very far from being easy. Separated from us by wellnigh two thousand years, we are prone to think of them as dim and shadowy. If our own woes grow dim with passing years, how much more those of centuries ago. Yet they had sorrows as intense as ours, and trials that were very dark and bitter, and they had hearts which were as full of sin as any that are throbbing here today. They were called to be saints, and yet they were not saints. They were just poor and faulty men and women. And some were slaves, and some were city merchants, and some were mothers in undistinguished homes. Yet Paul when he thought of them made no exceptions. Not one of them was excluded from the blessing. And not one of us within this church today is excluded from the blessing either.
IV. The notable thing is that on the page of Scripture joy and peace are in the closest union. Wherever we light upon the one, we are not long in coming on the other. We sometimes say of inseparable friends that when you find the one you find the other. United in a comradeship of hearts, the one will not long be absent from the other. And so, remember, is it with joy and peace, as joy and peace move on the page of Scripture; the two are linked in a most holy wedlock, and whom God hath joined, let not man put asunder.
(1) Sometimes it may be we lack this inward comfort because we have lost the wonder of salvation.
(2) Sometimes, too, we fail in joy and peace because we meddle with things that are too high for us. We vex ourselves, and vex ourselves in vain, over the hidden things of the Almighty. It is our duty to cast our burden on the Lord, and the burden of many today is intellectual. It is our duty to honour Jesus Christ, if we would not have Him be ashamed of us. And we honour Him when amid all the darkness we believe that all is well for He is King; we honour Him not with a darkened heart, but with a believing full of joy and peace. The night is dark and we are far from home, but we are certain He is in command. And so we serve Him, and we help our brother, and for His sake we do the little we can do; and there we leave it till the morning comes.
G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 65.
Christian Hope (For Second Sunday in Advent)
Rom 15:13
In today’s Epistle we have a concise summary of the purposes of Christ’s first Advent.
I. To bring Hope. By ‘patience and comfort’ of the Scriptures which speak of Him. In what the Sermon on the Mount says of Him is all our hope. To Jew and Gentile alike.
II. To bring Unity. To make us by His Spirit and example ‘like-minded one to another’.
a. Unity of thought (‘like-minded ‘).
b. Unity of feeling (‘with one mind and one mouth’).
c. Unity of purpose (‘the glory of God ‘).
III. To bring Joy and Peace in Believing. ‘As this passage begins, so it ends, with Hope. Christ bring it: the Holy Ghost gives it, with joy and peace in believing.
Rom 15:13
Principal Rainy quoted this text in his Moderator’s address at the Union Assembly of the Scottish Churches in 1900. He said: ‘Let us hope continually. We have been brought to this point remarkably; why should the Church of Christ stint her expectations? Without this gracious dispensation we cannot thrive. Not earnestness, not diligence, not sacrifices will supply the want of it. The whole New Testament is full of hope, as a disposition without which prosperity and progress are not to be expected. The very God of Hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost!’
Rom 15:13
We continually hear of the trials, sometimes of the victories, of faith but scarcely ever of its pleasures…. Set to any work you have in hand with the sifted and purified resolution that ambition shall not mix with it, nor love of gain, nor desire of pleasure more than is appointed for you; and that no anxiety shall touch you as to its issue, nor any impatience nor regret if it fail…. Resolve also with steady industry to do what you can for the help of your country and its honour, and the honour of its God; and that you will not join hands in its iniquity, nor turn aside from its misery; and that in all you do and feel you will look frankly for the immediate help and direction, and to your own consciences, expressed approval, of God. Live then and believe, and with singleness of answer proportioned to the frankness of the trust, most surely the God of peace will fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
From Ruskin’s Pleasures of England, 2
‘Since Saturday last,’ writes Boston in his Memoirs, ‘I have had most sensible experience of the solid joy and peace in believing God to be my God in Christ. I find it is a blessed means of sanctification. It strengthens to duty; for I have been helped in my work of visiting since that time. It nourishes love to the Lord; and consequently love to and desire of the thriving of His work in people’s souls. It creates a sweet calm, and quiet of mind, in doubtful events;… it sweetens other enjoyments, and carries above things which at other times are irritating and create disgust. I have compared flashes of affection with a calm, sedate, tender love to the Lord; and I prefer the latter to the former, and have been, and am, happy in it.’
Christianity… has not penetrated into the whole heart of Jesus. She is still in the narthex of penitence; she is not reconciled, and even the Churches still wear the livery of service, and have none of the joy of the daughters of God, baptised of the Holy Spirit.
Amiel.
I bent before Thy gracious throne,
And asked for peace on suppliant knee;
And peace was given not peace alone,
But faith sublimed to ecstasy.
Wordsworth.
Live greatly; so thou shalt enjoy unknown capacities of joy.
Coventry Patmore.
References. XV. 13. Bishop Moule, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. p. 292. A. Tucker, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. xviii. p. 33. W. H. Evans, Sermons for the Church’s Year, p. 5. F. J. A. Hort, Village Sermons in Outline, p. 213. J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons (3rd Series), p. 120. C. Bradley, Faithful Teaching, p. 187. Phillips Brooks, The Mystery of Iniquity, p. 187. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i. No. 30; vol. xii. No. 692; vol. xxiii. Nos. 1332 and 1384, and vol. xlv. No. 2626. XV. 15. Expositor (6th Series), vol. i. p. 139. XV. 15-21. J. Bunting, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 21.
Rom 15:14
If a reverent ignorance is to be the last word of thought about religion, not only will Christ have died in vain, but science will have toiled to little real purpose.
C. H. Pearson.
Sanctification
Rom 15:16
There are some who preach a salvation from sin’s consequences; but you and I want to be delivered from sin’s tyranny; that is much more than being delivered from hell, from the consequences of sin. Some people look upon salvation as a kind of lifebuoy by whose aid they may enter safely into the harbour of heaven; but salvation is far more than that. The salvation which God offers you and me is not only to free us from the penalty of sin the consequences of sin but also from the power of sin. ‘He shall save His people, His redeemed ones, from their sins.’ When we put our faith in Christ and Him crucified, we are saved eternally and completely, because ‘He hath redeemed us with an eternal redemption’. But I want to live for Christ. I do not only want to die a Christian death, but to live for Christ here, to show forth in my life the power of Christ; I want Christ to be formed in me. This is sanctification, and the work of God the Holy Ghost The cross means for us not only deliverance from sin, but it means the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I. The first work of the Holy Spirit in the redeemed soul is the work of cleansing, of purifying. It is the mission of God the Holy Ghost to come into the heart of the believer and purify the very ‘springs of being’ that have been poisoned by sin, so that out of us shall flow pure and life-giving streams, and we shall be a blessing to others because of the outflow of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth within us.
II. But there is not only the thought of cleansing, there is the thought of strengthening. He is the Comforter. The word ‘comforter’ means one who stands by your side to strengthen you (the Paraclete) to help you. In the margin of the Revised Version the word ‘helper’ is used one ever at our side to help us in living the Christian life. We not only want inward cleansing, we want comforting, cheering; we want a champion some one has translated the word ‘Paraclete ‘as ‘champion’ one who stands for our defence.
III. Again, there is not only the cleansing of the Holy Ghost, and the comforting of the Holy Ghost, but there is the gift of courage to witness for God. This is a special gift of the blessed Spirit. Think of what happened at Pentecost. Think of the cowardly nature of Peter, then look at him after the baptism of fire, after the cleansing fire had gone through his soul and burned out all the fear. It is no good talking religion unless you are living true.
T. J. Madden, Church Family Newspaper, vol. xv. p. 244.
References. XV. 16. L. D. Bevan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxx. p. 326. Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. p. 79. XV. 19. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii. No. 1332. Expositor (6th Series), vol. viii. pp. 231, 236. XV. 20. R. C. Cowell, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. xix. p. 516. XV. 21. Expositor (4th Series), vol. vii. p. 365. XV. 22-28. H. S. Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. p. 65.
Rom 15:26
‘The great problem of human life,’ says Mr. P. G. Hamerton, ‘is the reconciliation of poverty and the soul.’
Macchiavelli once said that ‘the kingdom of the clergy had been long before at an end, if the reputation and reverence towards the poverty of friars had not borne out the scandal of the superfluities and excesses of bishops and prelates’. Bacon, who quotes this in The Advancement of Learning, adds: ‘So a man might say that the felicity and delicacy of princes and great persons had long since turned to rudeness and barbarism, if the poverty of learning had not kept up civility and honour of life.
References. XV. 26. Expositor (6th Series), vol. viii. p. 390. XV. 27. Ibid. (4th Series), vol. viii. p. 332. XV. 28, 29. Bishop Cabrera, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lx. p. 77. XV. 29. J. W. Houchin, The Vision of God, p. 119.
The Holy Spirit’s Love
Rom 15:30
The phrase employed by St. Paul in the text is to be understood as denoting, not the love which we bear to the Spirit, nor yet the love which is produced in us by the agency of the Spirit and which is called the fruit of the Spirit, but the love which the Holy Spirit manifests towards us. We shall limit ourselves on this occasion to four aspects of His love.
I. His Restraining Love. Everywhere sinful men are acting under the dominion of base selfish passions; but men everywhere are conscious that those passions are not allowed to work their evil ways unchecked or unrestrained. In heathen as well as in Christian countries, the universal consciousness testifies that there are mysterious, mighty, persistent forces in active operation on the hearts of men, curbing, restraining, suppressing their malignant passions. Explain it as you please, ascribe to whatever agency you think fit, the fact is undeniable: for every man is a living witness of it. To deliver man from the thraldom of these usurping forces of evil we must have a spiritual agency of authority and power. The economy of redemption supplies such an agency in the Person of the Holy Spirit whose office it is to subdue and expel these ruling powers of evil.
II. His Convicting Love. The gracious provision made by Christ Jesus is ample and adequate to meet the exigencies of a lost world; but when we proclaim its all-sufficiency, a formidable difficulty meets us at the very outset man does not feel his need of it. Blind to his peril, he fondly imagines that he can do without redemption. Logic can never lodge in any heart that conviction of sin which issues in genuine repentance. The economy of redemption provides for this difficulty by the appointment of the Holy Spirit as an abiding active Personality, to work upon conscience, heart, and will a conviction of sin.
III. The Forbearing Love of the Spirit. Why is the sinner pursued in his wanderings, reasoned with in his rebellion, striven with in his obstinacy for years together? The only reason in the universe is the forbearing love of the Spirit, who is long-suffering usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
IV. The Condescending Love of the Spirit. The condescending love of the Spirit is revealed in His selection of the human heart with all its vileness as the material on which to show forth the might of His grace.
Richard Roberts, My Jewels, p. 187.
References. XV. 30. Bishop Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 79. W. P. Balfern, Lessons from Jesus, p. 157. XV. 30-33. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii. No. 1887.
Rom 15:33
When Horace Bushnell was dying, he murmured one day slowly, and in great weakness, to those around his bed, ‘Well now, we are all going home together; and I say, the Lord be with you and in grace and peace and love and that is the way I have come along home’.
Reference. XV. 33. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i. No. 49.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Brotherly Kindness
Rom 15
“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.” If we were under the impression that Christianity is all metaphysics we have been under an impression that is false. There is nothing so practical, so work-a-day-like, as Christianity. It goes into the marketplace and into the family, and into all the holes and corners of life, and sees that everything is done according to the spirit of the eternal sanctuary. Orthodoxy does not look in one direction only, it is not a question of metaphysical correctness alone; it is rather a question of good conduct, lofty character, high quality of soul, fine temper, and inexhaustible charity.
“We then that are strong.” How subtle the praise! How skilfully the compliment is introduced: a general plurality, a “We” that looks so simple in grammar, but that is larger than the sky in inclusiveness and meaning. The Apostle Paul could discriminate, but he could also suspend the faculty of criticism, that he might give heart to those who would be easily cast down. He utters this plural “We” as if it included others as well as himself, and others who were in all respects equal to himself, possibly superior to himself; yet here is a common plurality, a great golden cordon, within which anybody may come, that wants to do so with an honest heart. He talks about the weak as if they were a million miles away, and as if at some time, possibly, we might come in contact with them; and if ever that event should transpire, then we should be kind to them, gentle, civil, courteous, and helpful. He regards those to whom he is writing as if they were all equally strong, and as if he were sending them out on a mission to find the weak that they might nurture them into strength. Oh there is a truthful flattery, there is a subtly blessed eulogy, to be pronounced upon other people in an instructive sense. Sometimes we mean that the people ought to be as good as the compliment. It requires a master to handle such instruments, but when they are skilfully handled they work wonders. A man may be made ashamed of himself sometimes by having a compliment paid to him. He may say I ought to have been that, but I am not: is it possible this man has imagined me to be so good, so generous, so unselfish and so kind? What have I done to deserve this recognition? The man has only seen one glittering point in my character; if he could see the rest he would know that I am as base as I can be. But I must bestir myself; if this is the impression made by anything I have done, I must try to live up to it. Paul was a master teacher, a master builder; he never gave plain, straightforward, and undisguised medicine; he had a thousand little jellies and capsules under which he hid the stuff that would have been bitter in the mouth. Christianity can be courteous, gentle, instructive, eulogistic, without bating jot or tittle of its infinite veracity.
“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.” There is nothing unreasonable in that request. That is the law of the household; and the household best represents Paul’s idea of the Christian Church: a “whole family in heaven and earth” is Paul’s conception of the spiritual fraternity. This is not a metaphysical difficulty; it did not need a written Bible to tell us this doctrine; this is the writing on the heart by invisible fingers in invisible ink; but there it is, never to be obliterated. If this doctrine could give way under any pressure, the world would be lost. A doctrine of this kind has saved the world, and has given the world hope of itself. It is easy for certain lines of thought to go in other directions. There is a surgery which talks about your broken limb as a beautiful case, and the doctor says if he can cure you he will make his name and fortune; it is one of the most interesting cases that ever came under his notice. So talks the man about your broken bones. There are those who say, The weak must go to the wall; the wall was built on purpose to receive them; let their brains be dashed out against the stonework; there will always be a survival of the fittest, and the fittest should eat all the bread, and drink all the wine, and enjoy all the wheatfield and vintage; everything was made for the burly, the big, the rotund, and the radiant, and the full-blooded; and as for little weak, puny, puling cattle, let who will set a foot upon them, and blot them out. Yet these scientific men are not cruel when you come to talk to them one by one: they are only talking from a very high scientific point of view. They never were there, but they talk as if they had always lived nowhere else. It is Christianity that is sympathetic, it is Christ that says, If there is a very little one anywhere about, take care you do not step upon that poor little life: wait; we must not go one step farther until we have gathered up the least of the flock. He shall lead his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs in his bosom; the bruised reed he will not break, the smoking flax he will not quench: “one of the least of these my brethren” is a strain of music that shall be found in the judgment of the eternal throne. We do not want a philosophical religion only: nobody ever understood philosophy or could make any use of it, except in endeavouring to explain it to other people, who would rather not have heard the explanation people who imagine that they did understand something before it was explained to them, but after it was explained all life became one steady and frowning fog. Christianity is a mother, a nurse, a friend, a watcher that sits up all night, a gentle spirit that does not like tears, and therefore drives them away; a sweet, beautiful, summer-like angel that wants to grow a flower wherever there is room for its little root. Christianity would never despise the weak, therefore by so much Christianity is the true religion.
“…and not to please ourselves.” This is the line of discipline. Up to being thought strong we were good; up to paying some little attention to the infirmities of the weak, if they were not too many, we were willing to earn a little Christian reputation; but when the Apostle says, “and not to please ourselves,” he breaks every bone in our body, he grinds us to powder, he roasts us before a slow fire, he drives us away with our hypocritical prayers, that we may breathe them into any bottomless pit that may receive such unsacred desires. Not to please myself! What is life? Is life worth living? May I not do both things may I not help the weak, and still please myself? But the Apostle says you are not to help the amiable weak, the gentle, grateful weak, but you are to help the bearish weak, the ugly, hideous, impatient, furious, spiteful weak. You would not mind sitting up all night to watch some beautiful child in its fitful slumber: but to sit up all night, and to be scolded all the time, is like sitting up all the nights in one’s life at once. Yet this is Christianity; this is the Cross; this is Calvary. You do not know your friends until you have come in direct conflict with them. Do not call a man nice, kind, genial, friendly, when the man has had all his own way with you. You know nothing about that man. Disappoint him, vex him, come in direct conflict with his most cherished opinions; tell him in a friendly and kindly way that he knows nothing about the subject, and ought therefore to keep his mouth shut then you will see really what your friend is. So with the weak: if we have only been nursing the tender-hearted weak, we know nothing about infirmity. It is kindly, genial, gentle; but when everything is crossed, and crossed again, and nothing goes square, or straight, or up, or down, but is everywhere tortuous, winding, twisting, and crooked, and impracticable, it is just along there that we find out how much we can bear, and how much we have in us of the genius of the agony of the Cross. In that high sense there are no Christians. Enough for us, meantime, that we have got so far conquest over the beast that is in us as to want to be Christlike.
“Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.” That is, to building the man up, getting him higher and higher day by day. We must not please the neighbour to his destruction. There is a pleasure that has in it no healthy qualities. There is a way of making work easy. Is there any work at all now? Certainly not in the old sense. Our fathers’ fathers used to work: we make holiday. We have a genius for creating vacations. We are the inventors of labour-saving machinery. To edify a man without seeming to do so is the higher attainment of Christian skill. Let a man feel that you have made a dead set upon him with the view of making him better, and he will fight you; but so to arrange the environment of the man, and so to act that everything you say and do contributes to his upbuilding, is a skill a man must pray himself into. You leave the society of some men conscious that you have lost something. Some men come into your house, and when they have gone you say, Where are we? that man seems to have blown upon everybody: he has not said one kind word about any living soul; are there any gentlemen living, any scholars, any Christians, any preachers, any good people at all? There has been a robbery in the house. Other men come into the house, and redecorate it, hang all its walls with beauteous eloquent colour, and fill the soul with new thought, new hope, new life; so that you say, After all there is a touch of heaven in this old rotten earth; there are some flowers down here that must have been transplanted, brought from celestial climes. There you have been upbuilded, strengthened, made larger and stronger, wholly; and the process has been a pleasure to you; it may have been a pleasure you could not define in words, and yet when the process of communion has closed you feel that you have entertained an angel unawares, a soul that has built you up in your most holy faith, and yet has probably not uttered one single theological sentence.
The Apostle cannot long keep himself away from Christ. He comes to that sweet name in the next sentence “For even Christ pleased not himself.” He will have Christ made the standard and the fountain everywhere. All his reasoning came out of the Cross. The Apostle said, I have nothing that Christ has not given me: if I have said one good, true, musical word, it was because Christ made use of me that I might be a medium of the holy communication. This is the use which the Apostle Paul made of Christ; he found everything in him. We have before endeavoured to get rid of the sophism which says that some preachers read meanings into the text. Nothing of the kind. If it is true it is in the text. Whatever is beautiful is in Christ; in Christ you have all music, all light, all nobleness. Jesus Christ may never have spoken the words which are attributed to him, and yet he may never have spoken anything else in spirit and in substance. We might have more Christ, if we made more of him. We have not realised the fulness of Christ, the plethora; we have not realised that in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. A man may as well attempt to read a pebble into the earth as read any true thought into Christ. All the pebbles are in the earth, and belong to the earth, and are part of the great quarry of the earth: and so all holy, beautiful, tender, musical thoughts are in Christ; without him there is nothing that is of his quality. Let us then have larger sermons; let us betake ourselves to waters to swim in; whatever will plant a flower in a poor man’s window is part of the Cross of Christ; whatever will take up a little child, and clean its face and hands, and give it something to eat, and start it on its little life-journey, comes out of the garden of Gethsemane. We have been fools to allow men to start little rivalries to Christ: we ought to have included all of them as part of the mission of Christ.
The Apostle Paul comes to one of his “Wherefores.” He is always in “Therefore” or “Wherefore,” and reasoning himself out to some new grasp of Divine realities in the great economy of human life: “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” Now he brings both the Christian and Christ himself into one verse. “Wherefore receive one another:” there is room for speculation, room for arrangement, room for consultation, as who should say, How do you think this ought to be done? and, What is your judgment upon this topic? Not so does the Apostle talk: receive ye one another as” here is the standard, here is the pattern, here is the way “Christ also received us.” How were we received? As gentlemen, as equals, as virtuous persons who lent a kind of radiant patronage to the Man of Sorrows, and the soul that was acquainted with grief? No, it was not so. We have only been received as broken-down, crippled, lost, dead, having in us only life enough to say that we do not live. Has Christ received only men of one stature? A curious army is the Lord’s; there are men there of all inches, men of all complexions, men of all languages: some great, buoyant, royal souls that make the earth green all the year round God’s amaranths that cannot be withered by the snows of winter; and others so little you can hardly see them, but you can always hear them, they have voice enough, though they are very much like Euclid’s definition of a point, which is, “position without magnitude”; we are to look after them, and make record of them, and add them up as if they were as good as anybody else. A marvellous democracy! And yet every man goes simply for his own weight, bulk, quality, and force. When the Lord weighs a man he does not tell him any lies as to his weight. He is either a substantial man, or a medium man, or a very small man, and that is written down plainly on his ticket. Who are we, then, that we should say, This man does not belong to Christ, and that man ought not to be in the Church? The Church is large enough to hold us all. The Church can take in the most crooked and perverse persons that ever lived. The Church can carry any burden that wants to be carried. It is only the burden that says, I am an ornament which the Church is tired of carrying. If a man shall say, I am very weak and poor, and not worth looking after, but if you can find time to pray for me, and think of me, and love me, then you will make my life brighter, then all the Church would be turned into a mother and nurse, and we should get a perambulator for the creature, and ride him out in all the prettiest parts of the country on all the longest and brightest days in the summer: but if he said he was as good as anybody else, we should allow him to provide his own means of locomotion, and go, in the jovial companionship of himself, anywhere he liked. Everything depends upon the spirit of brotherliness, kindness, simplicity. Everything depends upon a man knowing exactly what he is himself. Let a man keep within the line of his strength, and he is strong; let him overreach that, and he can strike nothing, he can pluck nothing; he is powerless because he is overstrained. This is the great lesson in all life, in business, in literature, in statesmanship, in public speaking. Keep to those subjects you know; work easily within the limits which God has appointed as your boundary, and then every stroke tells, and every apple in the fence belongs to you of right.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XX
THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY GRACE APPLIED TO PRACTICAL LIFE
Rom 12:1-16:27
The prevalent characteristic of all Paul’s teachings concerning the gospel is the unfailing observance of the order and relation of doctrine and morals. He never “puts the cart before the horse,” and never drives the horse without the cart attached and following after. He was neither able to conceive of morals not based on antecedent doctrine, nor to conceive of doctrine not fruiting in holy living. He rigidly adhered to the Christ-idea, “First make the tree good, and then the fruit will be good.” His clear mind never confounded cause and effect. To his logical and philosophical mind it was a reversal of all natural and spiritual law to expect good trees as a result of good fruit, but rather good fruit evidencing a good tree. So he conceived of justification through faith, and regeneration through the Spirit as obligating to holy living. If he fired up his doctrinal engine it was not to exhaust its steam in whistling, but in sawing logs, or grinding grist, or drawing trains.
The modern cry, “Give us morals and away with dogma,” would have been to him a philosophical absurdity, just as the antinomian cry, “faith makes void the law let us sin the more that grace may abound,” was abhorrent and blasphemous to him.
A justification of a sinner through grace that delivered from the guilt of sin was unthinkable to him if unaccompanied by a regeneration that delivered from the love of sin, and a sanctification that delivered from the dominion of sin.
He expected no good works from the dead, but insisted that those made alive were created unto good works. His philosophy of salvation, in the order and relation of doctrine and morals, is expressed thus in his letter to Titus: “For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men instructing us to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.” “But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and his love toward man appeared, not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men” (Tit 2:11-15 ; Tit 3:4-8 ).
So in every letter there is first the doctrinal foundation, and then the application to morals. But as in this letter we have the most complete and systematic statement of the doctrines of grace as a foundation (Romans 9-11) so in this, the following section (Romans 12-15), we have the moat elaborate superstructure of morals.
The analysis and order of thought in this great section are
1. Salvation by grace through faith obligates the observance of all duties toward God the Father on account of what he does for us in the gift of his Son, in election, predestination, justification, and adoption (Rom 12:1 ).
2. It obligates the observance of all duties toward God the Holy Spirit for what he does in us in regeneration and sanctification (Rom 12:2 ).
3. It obligates the observance of all duties toward the church, with its diversity of gifts in unity of body (Rom 12:3-13 ).
4. It obligates the observance of all duties toward the individual neighbor in the outside world (Rom 12:14-21 ).
5. It obligates the observance of all duties to the neighbors, organized as society or state (Rom 13:1-13 ).
6. It obligates the observance of all duties arising from the Christian’s individual relation to Christ the Saviour (Rom 13:14 ; Rom 14:7-12 ).
7. It obligates the observance of all duties toward the individual brother in Christ (Rom 14:1-15:7 ).
8. The last obligation holds regardless of the race distinctions, Jew and Gentile (Rom 15:8-24 ), and includes the welcome of the apostle to the Gentiles, prayer for the welcome and success of his service toward the Jewish Christians in their need (Rom 15:25-29 ) and prayer for his deliverance from unbelieving Jews (Rom 15:30-33 ).
As to the sum of these obligations
1. They cover the whole scope of morals, whether in the decalogue, as given to the Jews, or the enlarged Christian code arising from grace.
2. They conform to relative proportions, making first and paramount morals toward God, whether Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, not counting morals at all which leave out God in either his unity of nature, or trinity of persons, and making that second, subordinate and correlative which is morals toward men.
The duty toward God the Father, in view of what he has done for us in grace and mercy, is to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God (Rom 12:1 ) and respect his prerogative (Rom 12:19 ) which is illustrated by Paul elsewhere. He says, “I die daily,” meaning that though alive his members were on the rack of death all the time. He says, “I mortify my members,” and, “I keep my body under,” i.e., he kept his redeemed soul on top, dominating his body. He made his body as “Prometheus bound” on the cold rock of Caucasus, vultures devouring his vitals every day as they were renewed every night, a living death.
Our duty toward God, the Holy Spirit, in view of what he graciously does in us is found in Rom 12:2 : Negatively Let not the regenerate soul be conformed with the spirit and course of this evil world, whether in the lust of the eye or pride of life. Positively Be transformed in continual sanctification in the renewing of the mind. That is, working out the salvation which the Spirit works in us, as he, having commenced a good work in us (regeneration) continues it (through sanctification) until the day of Jesus Christ. Or, as this apostle says elsewhere, Christ, having been formed in us the hope of glory, we are changed into that image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The duties toward the church are found in Rom 12:3-13 :
1. Not to think more highly of one’s self in view of -the other members of the church. Here are a lot of people in one church; now let not one member put himself too high in view of the other members of that church.
2. To think only according to the proportion of faith given to him for the performance of some duty. If I am going to put an estimate upon myself in the relation to my church members, a standard or estimate should be, What is the proportion of faith given to me? Say A has so much, C has so much, D has so much, and E has least of all; then E ought not to think himself the biggest of all. The standard of judgment is the proportion of faith given to each member.
3. He must respect the unity of the church as a body. In that illustration used the church is compared to a body having many members. The hand must not say, “I am everything,” and the eye of the body must not say, “I am everything,” nor the ear, “I am everything,” nor the foot, “I am everything.” In estimating we have to estimate the function of each part, the proportion of power given to that part and it is always not as a sole thing, but in its relation to every other part that is a duty that a church member must perform. Sometimes a man easily forgets that he is just one of many in the organism.
4. He must respect its diversity of gifts. That is one part of it that I comply with. If there is anything that rejoices my heart, it is the diversity of gifts that God puts in the church. I never saw a Christian in my life that could not do some things better than anybody else in the world. I would feel meaner than a dog if I didn’t rejoice in the special gifts of any other member in the church. What a pity it would be if we had just one kind of a mold, and everybody was run through like tallow so as to make every candle alike. The duty of the church is to respect the unity of the body, and its diversity of gifts.
5. Each gift is to be exercised with its appropriate corresponding limitation.
The duties to the individual neighbor of the outside world, even though hostile to us, are found in Rom 12:14-21 :
1. To bless him when he persecutes.
2. To be sympathetic toward him, rejoicing in his joy) and weeping in his sorrow.
3. Several Christians should not be of different mind toward him. The expression in the text is to be like-minded. What is the point of that? We are dealing now with individuals outside. Here is A, a Christian; B, a Christian; G, a Christian; and the outsider is watching. A makes one impression on his mind, B makes a different one, and G makes still a different one. The influence from these several Christians does not harmonize; it is not like-minded; but if he says that A, B, G, all in different measures perhaps, be every one of the same mind, then he sees that there is a unifying power in Christians. How often do we hear it said, “If every Christian were like you, I would want to be one, but look yonder at that deacon, or at that sister.” We should be like-minded to those outside so that every Christian that comes in may make a similar impression for Christ’s sake.
4. We should not, in dealing with him, respect big outsiders only, but condescend to the lowly to men of low-estate. Some of them are very rich, some of them are influential socially, some of them are what we call poor, country folk. We should not be high-minded in our dealings with these sinners, but condescend to men of low estate. Let them feel that we are willing to go and help them.
5. We should not let our wisdom toward him be self-conceit, i.e., let it not seem to him that way.
6. When he does evil to us, we should not repay in kind.
7. We should let him see that we are honest men. Ah me, how many outsiders are repelled because all Christians do not provide things honest in the sight of the outside world!
8. So far as it lieth in us we should be peaceable with him. That means that it is absolutely impossible to be peaceable with a man that has no peace in him. He wants to fuss anyhow, and goes around with a chip on his shoulder. He goes around snarling and showing his teeth. There are some people that are not peaceable, but so far as our life is concerned, we should be peaceable with them.
9. We should not avenge on him wrongs done us by him. Vengeance belongs to God; we should give place to God’s wrath.
10. We should feed him if hungry, and give him drink if thirsty.
11. We should not allow ourselves to be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. We should not get off when we come in contact with evil people, but just hang on and overcome evil with good.
The duties to the state are as follows:
1. Be subject to higher powers, and do not resist them, for (1) God ordained them. (2) Makes them a terror to evil works. (3) God’s minister for good. (4) And for conscience sake we must respect the state.
2. Pay our taxes.
3. Whatever is due to each office: “Render honor to whom honor is due.”
4. Keep out of debt: “Owe no man anything but good will.”
5. Keep the moral code: “Do not steal; do not commit adultery; do not covet anything that is thy neighbor’s, and thus love thy neighbor.”
6. Avoid the world’s excesses, revels, and such like.
The duties toward God the Son, in view of what he has done for us and in view of our vital union with him, are set forth in Rom 14:7-12 :
1. Negatively: Live not unto self.
2. Positively: Live unto Jesus, respecting his prerogatives and servants.
Let us now look at the duties to individual Christians. We have considered the Christians as a body. What are the duties to individual Christians? Rom 14:1-15:7 contains the duty to individual Christians. Let us enumerate these duties somewhat:
1. Receive the weak in faith. We have a duty to every weak brother; receive him, but not to doubtful disputations. If we must have our abstract, metaphysical, hair-splitting distinctions, let us not spring them on the poor Christian that is Just alive.
2. We should not judge him censoriously, instituting a comparison between us and him; we should not say to him, “Just look at me.”
3. We should not hurt him by doing things, though lawful to us, that will cause him to stumble. The explanation there is in reference to a heathen custom. The heathen offered sacrifices to their gods, and after the sacrifice they would hang up the parts not consumed and sell as any other butchered meat. Could we stand up like Paul and say, “It won’t hurt me to eat that meat, but there is a poor fellow just born into the kingdom, and he is weak in the faith. He sees me eating this meat that has been offered in sacrifice to idols, and he stumbles, therefore I will not eat meat”? He draws the conclusion that if a big fellow can do that he can too, and he goes and worships the idols. The strong) through the exercise of his liberty that he could have done without, caused his fall into idolatry. That is what he meant when he wrote, “Do not hurt him; do not cause him to stumble.” He gives two reasons why we must not cause him to stumble on account of a little meat. He says, (a) “Because the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. (b) If we consider this weak brother, our consideration will be acceptable to Christ, and approved of men, but if we trample on the poor fellow that is weak in the faith, Christ won’t approve of it, and men won’t approve of it.”
4. Follow the things that make for peace. It is individual Christians that we are talking about, and we come in contact with them where we have A, B, G, D, and E, and the first thing we know a little root of bitterness springs up among them and stirs up a disagreement. The point is that we should follow the things that make for peace, just as far as we can, and sometimes that will take us a good ways. He gives this illustration where he says, “If my eating meat offered to idols causes my brother to stumble, then I am willing to take a total abstinence pledge.” Then he extends it: “Nor drink wine, nor do anything whereby my brother is caused to stumble.” There is meat other than that which is offered to idols.
5. Bear his infirmities. One man said, “There is much of human nature in the mule, but more of the mule in human nature.” The best man I ever knew had some infirmities, and I can see some of mine with my eyes shut, and I believe better with them shut than with them open. We all have infirmities in some direction or another,
6. We should seek to please him rather than to please ourselves. We are not to sacrifice a principle, but if we can please him without sacrificing a principle, rather than please ourselves, why not do it? Let us make him feel good if we can. This is the duty to the individual Christian.
The duties of Christian Jews to Gentile neighbors are found in Rom 15:8-24 . There they are all elaborated. Even in the Jew’s Bible, all through its parts, it is shown that God intended to save the Gentiles. The duty of Gentile Christians to the Jews is found in Rom 15:27 , showing that there is a debt and that it ought to be paid.
QUESTIONS
1. What are the prevalent characteristics of all Paul’s teachings concerning the gospel? Illustrate.
2. What is Paul’s attitude toward the modern cry, “Give us morals and away with dogma,” and how does he express his conviction on this subject elsewhere?
3. How is this thought especially emphasized in this letter?
4. What is the analysis and order of thought in this letter in Romans 12-15?
5. What may we say as to the sum of these obligations?
6. What is the duty toward God the Father, in view of what he has done for us in grace and mercy?
7. What is the meaning of “living sacrifice”? Illustrate.
8. What are our duty toward God the Holy Spirit, in view of what he graciously does in us?
9. What are our duties toward the church?
10. What are our duties to the individual neighbor of the outside world, even though hostile to us?
11. What are our duties to the state?
12. What are our duties toward God the Son, in view of what he has done for us and in view of our vital union with him?
13. What are the duties to individual Christians?
14. What are the duties of Christian Jews to Gentile neighbors?
XXI
SOME FRAGMENTS OF CHAPTERS 14-16
These scriptures have been covered generally in the discussion already. So in this chapter it is our purpose only to gather up the fragments that nothing may be lost. Then let us commence by expounding Rom 14:9 :
1. The revised version here is better than the common version.
2. The death of Christ was on the cross; the living after death is his resurrection life in glory. (Compare Rev 1:18 .)
3. The end of Christ’s dying and reviving is said to be that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living, the dead meaning those sleeping in the grave to be raised from the grave at his coming.
The latter clause of Rom 14:14 does not make our thought of what is sin the standard of sin, but God’s law alone determines that. It means that when a man violates his own conception of law he is in spirit a sinner, seeing that he goes contrary to his standard.
The doctrine of Rom 14:20-21 is that what is not sin per se may become sin under certain conditions arising from our relations to others. For example:
1. Eating meat offered to idols is lawful per se, (Rom 14:14 ; 1Co 8:4 ).
2. But if it cause a weak brother to worship idols, then charity may justify a total abstinence pledge, (Rom 14:21 ; 1Co 8:13 ).
3. This thing lawful per se, but hurtful in its associations and effects on the weak, may be also the object of church prohibition, the Holy Spirit concurring, (Act 15:29 ),
4. And a church refusing to enforce the prohibition becomes the object of Christ’s censure and may forfeit its office or lampstand (Rev 2:14-16 ).
In this whole chapter Rom 14 , particularly in the paragraph, Rom 14:22-23 , (1) what is the meaning of the word “faith,” (2) does the closing paragraph make all accountability dependent on subjective moral conviction, and (3) does it teach that the virtues of unbelievers are sins?
1. Faith, in this chapter throughout, does not so much refer to the personal acceptance of Christ as to the liberty in practice to which that acceptance entitles. So that, “weak in faith,” Rom 14:1 , does not imply that some strongly accept Christ and others lightly. But the matter under discussion is, What liberty in practice does faith allow with reference to certain specified things, the lawfulness or expediency of which may be a matter of scruple in the sensitive but uninformed conscience of some? One may have faith in Christ to receive him though in his ignorance he may not go as far as another in the conception of the liberty to which this faith entitles him as to what foods are clean or unclean, what days are holy or common and as to partaking in feasts of meats which have been offered to idols.
2. The “whatsoever” of Rom 14:23 is neither absolute nor universal in its application. It is limited, first, to the specified things or their kind; and second, to believers, having no reference to outsiders making no profession of faith.
3. Subjective moral conviction is not a fixed and ultimate standard of right and wrong, which would be a mere sliding scale, but it is God’s law; yet this chapter, and particularly its closing paragraph, seems to indicate that the willful violation of conscience contains within itself a seed of destruction as has been intimated in Rom 2:14-16 .
4. If this whole chapter was not an elaboration of the duties of a Christian toward his fellow Christian, both presumed to be members of one body, the particular church, it might plausibly be made to appear that “faith” in this chapter means belief of what is right and wrong. The theme of Rom 16 is the courteous recognition of the Christian merits and labors of all workers for Christ, each in his own or her own sphere. The great lessons of this chapter are
1. As we have in this letter the most complete and systematic statement of Christian doctrine, and the most systematic and elaborate application of morals based on the doctrine, so appropriately its conclusion is the most elaborate and the most courteous recognition of the Christian merits and labors of all classes of kingdom workers in their respective spheres.
2. With the letter to Philemon it is the highest known expression of delicate and exquisite courtesy.
3. It is a revelation of the variety and value of woman’s work in the apostolic churches, and in all her fitting spheres of activity.
4. It is a revelation of the value of great and consecrated laymen in the work of the kingdom.
5. It is a revelation of the fellowship of apostolic Christians and their self-sacrificing devotion to each other.
6. It magnifies the graces of hospitality.
7. It magnifies the power of family religion whether of husband and wife, brother and sister, more distant kindred, or master and servant.
8. It digs up by the roots a much later contention and heresy of one big metropolitan church in a city, with a dominant bishop, exercising authority over smaller churches and “inferior clergy” in that it clearly shows that there was not in central Rome one big church, with a nascent pope, lording it over suburban and village churches. There was no hero, no “church of Rome,” but several distinct churches in Rome whose individuality and equality are distinctly recognized.
9. It shows the fellowship of churches, however remote from each other) and their comity and co-operation in kingdom work.
10. It shows in a remarkable way how imperial Rome with its worldwide authority, its military roads and shiplines, its traffic to and fro from center to each point of the circumference of world territory and its amalgamation of nations, was a providential preparation for the propagation of a universal religion.
11. The case of Phoebe (Rom 16:1 ) in connection with hints here and elsewhere, particularly 1Ti 3:11 , sandwiched between verses 10 and 12, seems to prove the office of deaconess in the apostolic churches, of the propriety and apparent necessity of which there can be no question.
12. The various names of those saluted and saluting, about thirty-five in all, indicating various nationalities, not only show that the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles is broken down in the churches, but that in the kingdom “there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.”
13. But the lesson seems greatest in its mercy and privileges conferred on women and slaves.
14. The homiletic value, in pulpit themes suggested, from these various names, labors and conditions, which Spurgeon seems to have recognized most of all preachers.
Let us now expound the entreaty in Rom 16:17-18 , containing the following points:
1. We need to distinguish between those “causing the divisions” and those “causing occasions of stumbling.” The “divisions” would most likely come from a bigoted and narrow Jew insisting on following Moses in order to become a Christian, as in the churches of Galatia, Corinth, and elsewhere, but those “causing occasions of stumbling” (as in Rom 14:14-22 ) would likely be Gentiles insisting on the extreme of liberty in the eating of meats offered to idols, and like things.
2. While both classes are in the church, and not outsiders, as many teach, yet neither class possesses the spiritual mindedness and charity of a true Christian, but under the cloak of religion they serve their own passions for bigotry in one direction or license in another direction, utterly misapprehending the spiritual character of the kingdom of God.
3. Both classes are to be avoided as enemies of the cross of Christ. Compare Phi 3:18 ; Gal 5:19-23 . In Rom 16:20 there are three points:
1. There is an allusion to the promise in (Gen 3:15 ) that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.
2. This was fulfilled by Christ’s triumph on the cross over Satan (Col 2:15 ).
3. And will be fulfilled in all Christ’s seed at the final advent.
QUESTIONS
1. What three things noted on Rom 14:9 ?
2. Does the latter clause of Rom 14:14 make our thought of what is sin the standard of sin? If not, what does it mean?
3. What the doctrine of Rom 14:20-21 ? Give examples.
4. In the whole of Rom 14 , particularly in Rom 14:22-23 , (1) What is the meaning of the word “faith”? (2) Does the closing paragraph make all accountability dependent on subjective moral conviction? (3) Does it teach that the actions of unbelievers are sins?
5. What the great lessons of Rom 16 ?
6. What preacher seems to have most recognized the homiletic value of this chapter?
7. Expound the entreaty in Rom 16:17-18 .
8. What the three points of Rom 16:20 ?
1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Ver. 1. Ought to bear ] As porters do their burdens, as pillars do the poise of the house, or rather as parents have their babes in their arms. .
And not to please ourselves ] Bis desipit, qui sibi sapit, He is twice foolish who understands himself. Pro 3:7 .
1 13 .] Further exhortations to forbearance towards the weak , from the example of Christ (1 3), and unanimity (4 7) as between Jew and Gentile, seeing that Christ was prophetically announced as the common Saviour of both (8 13).
1. ] By . the Apostle includes himself among the strong , as indeed he before indicated, ch. Rom 14:14 .
. are general , not merely referring to the scruples before treated.
(reff.) to please or satisfy as a habit or motive of action. Tholuck quotes from the Schol. on sch. Prom. 156, , , .
Rom 12:1 to Rom 15:13 .] PRACTICAL EXHORTATIONS FOUNDED ON THE DOCTRINES BEFORE STATED. And first, ch. 12 general exhortations to a Christian life .
Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13 .] ON THE CONDUCT TO BE PURSUED TOWARDS WEAK AND SCRUPULOUS BRETHREN. There is some doubt who the were, of whom the Apostle here treats; whether they were ascetics , or Judaizers . Some habits mentioned, as e.g. the abstinence from all meats , and from wine , seem to indicate the former: whereas the observation of days , and the use of such expressions as [ Rom 14:14 ], and again the argument of ch. Rom 15:7-13 , as plainly point to the latter. The difficulty may be solved by a proper combination of the two views. The over-scrupulous Jew became an ascetic by compulsion . He was afraid of pollution by eating meats sacrificed or wine poured to idols: or even by being brought into contact, in foreign countries, with casual and undiscoverable uncleanness, which in his own land he knew the articles offered for food would be sure not to have incurred. He therefore abstained from all prepared food , and confined himself to that which he could trace from natural growth to his own use. We have examples of this in Daniel (Dan 1 ), Tobit ( Tob 1:10-11 ), [and in] some Jewish priests mentioned by Josephus, Life, 3, who having been sent prisoners to Rome, , . And Tholuck refers to the Mishna as containing precepts to this effect. All difficulty then is removed, by supposing that of these over-scrupulous Jews some had become converts to the gospel, and with neither the obstinacy of legal Judaizers, nor the pride of ascetics (for these are not hinted at here), but in weakness of faith , and the scruples of an over-tender conscience, retained their habits of abstinence and observation of days. On this account the Apostle characterizes and treats them mildly: not with the severity which he employs towards the Colossian Judaizing ascetics and those mentioned in 1Ti 4:1 ff.
The question treated in 1Co 8 was somewhat different: there it was, concerning meat actually offered to an idol. In 1Co 10:25-27 , he touches the same question as here, and decides against the stricter view. See the whole matter discussed in Tholuck’s Comm. in loc., De Wette’s Handbuch, and Stuart’s Introd. to this chap. in his commentary.
Rom 15:1-13 . The fourteenth chapter has a certain completeness in itself, and we can understand that if the Epistle to the Romans was sent as a circular letter to different churches, some copies of it might have ended with Rom 14:23 : to which the doxology, Rom 16:25-27 , might be loosely appended, as it is in A. L. and many other MSS. But it is manifestly the same subject which is continued in Rom 15:1-13 . The Apostle still treats of the relations of the weak and the strong, though with a less precise reference to the problems of the Roman Church at the time than in chap. 14. His argument widens into a plea for patience and forbearance (enforced by the example of Christ) and for the union of all Christians, Jew and Gentile, in common praise. It seems natural to infer from this that the distinction between weak and strong had some relation to that between Jew and Gentile; the prejudices and scruples of the weak were probably of Jewish origin.
Rom 15:1 . : what constitutes the obligation is seen in chap. 14. It arises out of our relation to others in Christ. Looking at them in the light of what He has done for them as well as for us, and in the light of our responsibility to the Judge of all, we cannot question that this is our duty, : Paul classes himself with the strong, and makes the obligation his own. is of course used as in chap. 14: not as in 1Co 1:26 . : the things in which their infirmity comes out, its manifestations: here only in N.T. Paul says “bear” their infirmities: because the restrictions and limitations laid by this charity on the liberty of the strong are a burden to them. For the word and the idea see Mat 8:17 , Gal 6:2 ; Gal 6:5 ; Gal 6:17 . : it is very easy for self-pleasing and mere wilfulness to shelter themselves under the disguise of Christian principle . But there is only one Christian principle which has no qualification love.
Romans Chapter 15
It is well known that between Rom 14 and 15 certain old editors inserted (according to the testimony of many copies, versions, and fathers) the doxology of Rom 16:25-27 . It was not surprising that Matthaei, etc., keeping close to Constantinopolitan manuscripts, adhered to them in this. But there is no sufficient reason to disregard the weightiest witnesses of the ancient text, confirmed as it is by the internal evidence. The Sinai, the Vatican (1209), the Parisian palimpsest, the Clermont, and the St. Germain Greco-Latin Uncials, with several good cursives (16. 80. 137. 176.), the Vulgate, Peschito Svriac, Coptic, etc., give the passage at the close of the epistle. The Alexandrian and the Porphyrian with some other authorities have it in both positions, a corrector of the Clermont MS in neither; while Boerner’s Uncial, now in Dresden, leaves a vacant space at the end of Romans 14 – the Augian of Cambridge has a similar vacancy at the end of Rom 16 ; as opposed to Passionei’s Cod. Angel. (L, now belonging to the Augustinian monks at Rome), backed up by about two hundred cursives, etc. The insertion here is resisted by the connection of the chapters; it is perfectly suitable at the end. The first seven verses of our chapter conclude the subject under discussion, with five transitional verses following which prepare the way for the notices of his ministry among the Gentiles to the end of the chapter.
The apostle identifies himself with the strong, as indeed might have been gathered from the latter part of Rom 14:14-23 . He had no difficulty himself as to any creature of God; nevertheless be maintains the claims of conscience inviolable in the weakest of the saints, and, as we have seen, is anxious to settle, not so much questions, as souls. He puts them all in direct responsibility to Christ as Lord and in view of the judgment-seat. Nevertheless the judgment he had received by grace he does not withhold. Having stated it however, he returns to the exercise of love. It would be wretched and a mere triumph for the enemy to make things in themselves indifferent an occasion of stumbling and of sin. “But we the strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.” (Ver. l.) To press our own convictions is neither the divine nor the human way to convince: not the human, because will only provokes will, and defers the end we most desire; not the divine, because it is not the way of faith either on our part or on theirs whom we hurry. How much better to walk in faith and leave God room to act! He can and will give efficacy to His own grace and truth. “Let each of us please his neighbour for good unto edification.” (Ver. 2.) Love is better than knowledge, seeking not its own things but those of others. “For the Christ also pleased not himself, but even as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me.” (Ver. 3.) Such was the perfection of devoted love in Christ. He identified Himself with God even as He was God. The zeal of His Father’s house ate Him up, and as the image of the invisible God He bore the brunt of all that touched God. How wondrous that we should now stand in a similar place! Yet it is most consistent with the grace which has made Him our life and given us the family interests in all respects.
Thus, if we are called to be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love even as Christ loved us, so also to bear the world’s enmity against God, as feeling for Him and with Him in the midst of a gainsaying generation. By grace we are one with Christ In practice too we are to cherish His portion here below; and thus, what the Old Testament says of Christ, the New says of the Christian. Hence all scripture is not confounded but interwoven, and every scripture becomes of the deepest interest and profit, to us above all who are brought into such an identity of place with Christ. “For as many things as were written before were written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” (Ver. 4.) How gracious is God and how rich His provision! We might have been unprepared and disheartened otherwise. We are here shown that the path of love is the path of Christ, and that patience as well as comfort are meant to be the pathway in which we have our hope. Christ was the perfect pattern of all patience. Near but how far off, yet comparatively nearest to Him, come the apostles, notably Paul himself. May we seek this. It is the proof of power, and in the most excellent way. In the world as it is, it is ever called for, in heaven no longer needed. “May the God of endurance and comfort,” says he, “give you to be of the same mind one toward another according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ver. 5, 6.) If Christ Jesus engages the thoughts and mind of each, there will be the same mind, and the God who made Him the channel, as He was the only full expression of endurance and comfort in a world full of misery, can give us to glorify Him thus. Oneness of mind or feeling is an illusion otherwise. Such unanimity glorifies the creature, the first man, not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want no other motive, no object but Christ. This alone glorifies God. “Wherefore receive one another, even as the Christ also received you unto [the] glory of God.” Certainly Christ did not receive souls for settling points of difference. He who died and rose for us is above the controversies and the scruples and the self-importance of men. Our best wisdom is to worship and serve Him, who glorified God here below and is now glorified by Him on high. But His glory is a safeguard no less than a motive: for, if it blot out by its brightness the questions which are apt to vex Christians in the inverse ratio of their intrinsic importance, it displays the true significance of what is involved in that which otherwise might seem of no moment. Who without it could have conceived that the truth of the gospel was compromised by Peter’s no longer eating with Gentile believers, after certain came to Antioch from James? Who would have written so peremptorily to the elect lady and her children if one sought to visit them who brought not the doctrine of Christ? To receive such would have been to God’s dishonour as distinctly as saints are to be received to His glory. Christ, not this question or that, abides the only unerring test. To receive one in His name is to God’s glory, as surely as to reject those who plead that they are Christians so as to deny the Christ of God.
“For* I say that Christ became a minister of circumcision for [the] truth of God to confirm the promises of the fathers, and that the Gentiles should glorify God for mercy, according as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among [the] Gentiles, and will sing praises to thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, Gentiles, with His people; and again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and land him, all ye peoples. And again Esaias saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, and one that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles: on him shall [the] Gentiles hope.” (Ver. 8-12.) It is plain here that we approach the same twofold line as we have seen from the beginning, where Jesus is viewed is Son of David according to flesh, Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead. He had been made a minister of circumcision for God’s truth in order to confirm the promises made to the fathers; but also that the Gentiles should glorify God for mercy. For the one there were definite covenant grounds on which God entered with Israel: not so with the others, who were dealt with in pure grace. To some the latter may seem vague and insecure as compared with the former; but this only because God is feebly known. In fact His grace flows without limit when the people who had the promises rejected Him in whom alone they can be made good; and as there is no limit to the mercy of God, so there is no question of claim, competency, or desert in our own. Thus, while it did not become the Gentile believers to slight the Lord’s connection in flesh with Israel, it was of great moment for the Jewish believers to note that the ancient oracles testified of that further outgoing in mercy when the truth was overlooked by, and unbearable to, self-complacent unbelief. The Psalms, the Law, and the Prophets bore concurrent witness to that mercy toward Gentiles which the Jew found it so hard to allow, save on conditions exalting to the first man instead of to the praise of the Second. None goes so far as to teach the one body of Christ in which all distinctions should disappear. This was the mystery kept hid from the ages and ages. But prophecy did declare mercy to Gentiles, and joy with Israel, and Messiah their object of hope as well as Governor. The first citation is general; the second joins them in gladness with Israel; the third asserts the universality of the nations’ praise; the fourth speaks distinctly of Messiah’s ruling Gentiles and of their hope founded on Him. The apostle makes no comment: the suggestion was plain, the bearing on the actual state at Rome full of instruction to such as had ears to hear, clenching his previous exhortation. He was led only to add the prayer, “And may the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope by [the] power of [the] Holy Spirit.” (Ver. 13.) Thus He who saves the believers already justified to have peace with Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ is entreated as “the God of peace” to fill them with all joy and peace in believing. Settling points of conscience however wisely could effect no such result; whereas, when hearts are thus filled with divinely-given happiness, not only do questions disappear without controversy, but the power of the Holy Spirit vouchsafes abounding hope, instead of a fleshly contest between the past prestige of the Jew and the present privileges of Gentile saints. He who goes forward with the revealed future in view will desire that whatever he does now, even in such matters as eating or drinking, may be to God’s glory, not occupying those who are to share it with debates, but diffusing the joy and peace which fill himself in believing.
*Much the weightiest authorities give , not like the received text, which breaks or alters the connection.
The application we have seen of the Old Testament to the actual call of Gentiles as well as Jews is the transition to a delicate, dignified, and withal affectionate apology, if such it may be called, which the apostle gives next. He explains why he had thus written to the Christians in Rome, and why he had not yet visited them, intimates what was in his heart as regards his work in relation to them, and asks their prayers, adding his own.
“But I am persuaded, my brethren, even I myself, concerning you, that yourselves also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. But I have written more boldly to you [brethren] in part, as putting you in mind because of the grace given to me by God that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, carrying on sacrificially the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by [the] Holy Spirit. I have then my glorying in Christ Jesus in the things that pertain to God.” (Ver. 14-17.)
Thus the apostle lets these saints know, though a stranger to them as a company, his own personal assurance, spite of his strong expostulation and earnest caution throughout the epistle, of that which grace had already wrought among them in goodness and knowledge as well as in ability to admonish one another. As the apostle John tells the babes in his first epistle, he had written, not because they did not know the truth, but because they did. Yet he wrote the more boldly in part as reminding them, because grace had given him to be an official servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. They therefore came within his domain; but what tender consideration of others, what confidence in the precious fruits of grace and truth, and what a contrast with that haughty assumption which was most of all to go forth from that very city when at a later day she should sit as a harlot queen and make men drunk with the wine of her fornication!
It will be observed that there are energetic figures employed here, as where the apostle describes himself as . ., and yet more, . . ., and again, . . . We can easily understand how ritualism catches at such phrases to eke out the semblance of a sacerdotal character for a servant of the Lord Jesus. But it is vain. Far more distinctly and with less ambiguity does the Spirit assert a priestly place for every Christian as such, as we may see not only in words but in the standing and functions to which all are called expressly; as in Heb 10:19-22 , 1Pe 2:5-9 , Rev 1:6 . The apostle once more magnifies his office; and if the Roman saints felt his weighty words, they must think of him as a public servant of Christ Jesus, occupied with presenting the Gentiles, that it might be an offering acceptable to God; as Aaron of old offered the Levites before Jehovah for an offering of the sons of Israel, the Christians being sanctified by the Holy Spirit as the Levites were by birth and ceremonial rites. The truth is that in this context the apostle uses of the Gentile believers serving the Jewish saints in carnal things, as he has in speaking of the service of the Corinthian and Philippian saints. (2Co 9:12 , Phi 2:17 , Phi 2:25 , Phi 2:30 .) Hence there is not the smallest ground for confounding ministry with priesthood, or for the notion that scripture admits of a sacerdotal caste between the Christian and God. On the other hand no intelligent believer will weaken either the perpetuity of christian ministry, or the extraordinary place of apostles, above all of him who was apostle not from men, nor through man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead. Paul then had his ground of boasting in Christ Jesus in the things regarding God.
“For I will not dare to speak of any of these things which Christ did not effect by me for obedience of Gentiles by word and deed, in [the] power of signs and wonders, in [the] power of [the] Holy Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about Illyricum I have fully set forth the gospel of Christ; and so zealously aiming to preach the gospel, not where Christ hath been named that I might not build upon another’s foundation, but according as it is written, To whom it hath not been told concerning him, they shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand.” (Ver. 18-21.)
Here he comes to matters of fact and how far the mighty offering of the Gentiles had been waved before the Lord. In a few pithy words and with the most genuine modesty he sums up his life of labour in the gospel. Truly it was Christ who effected it by Paul in the power of the Spirit. His principle was to preach Christ where His name was unknown, according to the word of Jehovah in Isa 52:15 . The Roman saints then could understand why he had been labouring elsewhere rather than in the great city where from the beginning of the gospel some seeds of the risen corn of the land had taken root and borne fruit. Labouring in the vast field where none had been borne he adds, “wherefore also I have been often hindered from coming unto you; but now having no longer place in these regions and having a longing to come unto you for many years whenever I go unto Spain; for I hope when I go through to see you and by you to be sent forward thither if first I be in part filled with you [i.e., your company]. But now I go unto Jerusalem ministering to the saints; for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints that [are] in Jerusalem. For they have been pleased, and they are their debtors; for if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they ought also in fleshly things to minister to them. Having finished this then and sealed to them this fruit, I will go away by you unto Spain; and I know that on coming unto you I shall come in fulness of Christ’s blessing.”
There is a time for all and a place for each, of which the Lord only is absolute judge; but He does not fail to give the sense of it to His servants: according to the measure of their spirituality they will gather it. The object which the Master had in view through the apostle being now achieved, he had no longer place in the East; and the old longing to visit the saints at Rome, often hindered, came up again when he proposed to go onward to Spain. For, it will be observed, Spain, not Rome, was the point sought, doubtless according to the measure of the rule which God apportioned him. His eye was on the regions beyond, but he hoped by the way to see the Roman saints and by them to be sent forward thither “if first I be in part filled with your company,” for he will not allow that any time could exhaust his love for them or enjoyment of converse with them: hence he says, if I be in part “filled with you.” Meanwhile he was engaged in an errand of compassion for the poor of the saints at Jerusalem. The saints of Macedonia and Achaia (at that time the two provinces into which the Romans long before separated Greece politically) had raised means to help their brethren; and this the apostle treats rather as a debt of love than its simple outflow. If the Gentiles were partakers in the spiritual privileges of the Jews, ought they not to remember their poor saints in fleshly things? They were pleased, he repeats, but they are their debtors. Grace pleads powerfully, for it sees with single eye and desires the reciprocation of love which exercises and unites the heart in all that are of God. The least things as well as the greatest afford the materials; and he who does not think a deacon’s service beneath an apostle was inspired to write of all for our edification, assured of a fulness of Christ’s blessing for saints at Rome when he came. Whether he attained his desire to visit Spain may be a question, as many have doubted it, though one may not be prepared to affirm it. Much depends on the point so much contested of a second imprisonment in Rome and that which filled up the interval of the apostle’s free labours after the first. Certain it is that he came to Rome, when he did, differently from his expectations, a prisoner of Jesus Christ; but was it with less blessing?
“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.” (Ver. 30-32.)
It is sweet to find the earnest desire of the great apostle for the prayers of the saints, even of those he had never visited. But the knowledge of Christ, whilst it fills the soul with happiness, knits us up with all that are His, and enhances in our eyes the value of their prayers, always effectual on the part of godly men of all ages. Again, the Spirit, as He comes the witness and power of divine love in its perfection, so produces unselfish working of affection Godward as well as toward man. He sought their striving together with him in prayers to God for him: first, that he might be saved from those that believe not in Judea, ever implacable toward him who was once a leader of their unbelief, now a champion of the grace they hated; secondly, that his ministry for Jerusalem might be acceptable to the saints, for alas! the unbelief of believers, especially the Jewish ones, wrought deeply against the apostle, and none the less because he loved them so well and laboured for the relief of their need, in which this ministry of his consisted (Gal 2 ); and both these, in order that he might come in joy to the saints at Rome by the will of God, “that I may be refreshed with you” (not merely you by me) added and most truly felt. How forcibly he closes this with “May the God of peace [be] with you all. Amen.” (Ver. 33.) To seek the peaceful blessing of others is the happy pathway where the God of peace is with us. May we and all saints have Him thus!
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rom 15:1-6
1Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 2Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. 3For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, ” The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” 4For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, 6so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 15:1
NASB”Now we who are strong ought to bear the weakness of those without strength”
NKJV”We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak,”
NRSV”We who are strong ought to put up with the failing of the weak”
TEV”We who are strong in the faith ought to help the weak to carry their burdens”
NJB”We who are strong have a duty to put up with the qualms of the weak”
These are two present infinitives used in the sense of imperatives. The mentioning of the strong and weak shows that Romans 15 continued the discussion begun in Rom 14:1. It seems to reflect the tension within the Roman Church, and all churches, on the way Christians live their lives in
1. biblically ambiguous areas
2. OT requirements
3. reactions to non-moral, cultural issues
A good book that has been very helpful to me in this area is Gordon Fee, Gospel and Spirit.
For modern English readers, to label the two perspectives “strong” and “weak” is to prejudice the groups. This was not Paul’s intent. The strong group referred to those who had been freed from a rule or ritual-oriented religious life. Their relationship with God is not precariously dependent on performing certain tasks or avoiding certain religious taboos. The other group was also a fully Christian, and a fully accepted, and a fully committed group of believers. However, they viewed their faith through the religious ideas of their past experiences. The Jewish believers tended to hold on to the Old Covenant practices of Judaism. The converted pagans tended to retain some of their old religious (pagan) ideas and practices. But notice that Paul did not call this mindset among believers “sin.” It is only when they violated their consciences that it became sin (cf. Rom 15:23).
The term adunatos, “without strength” (cf. Act 14:8) is connected to the term asthene (cf. Rom 14:1; Rom 14:21; 1Co 8:7; 1Co 8:10-12; 1Co 9:22), which also means “without strength.”
This text implies that Christians should not grudgingly tolerate other Christians, but should lovingly “care for” and “work with” each other. The term, “bear” was also used of Jesus’ “cross bearing” in Joh 19:17 and Luk 14:27. Paul knew the tensions that can occur between religious people. He was trained under Gamaliel, who was a rabbi of the liberal school of Hillel.
“and not just please ourselves” This is a present active imperative with the negative particle, which usually means stop an act in process. Self-centeredness is a sure sign of immaturity; following Christ’s example (cf. Rom 15:3; Php 2:1-11) is the sign of maturity. Again, it is the strong who were being addressed (cf. Rom. 14:1,14,16,21,27). This is not to imply they had all the responsibility in maintaining the fellowship. The weak are also addressed in Rom 14:3; Rom 14:20; Rom 14:23; Rom 15:5-7.
Rom 15:2 “Each of us is to please his neighbor” This is “neighbor” used in the sense of fellow Christian. This does not imply personal compromise of convictions, but that one does not push his personal preferences or opinions in the ambiguous areas. The unity and growth of the body of Christ, not personal freedom, is paramount (cf. 1Co 9:19-23; 1Co 10:24-33; Eph 4:1-16).
NASB”for his edification”
NKJV”leading to edification”
NRSV”for the good purpose of building up the neighbor”
TEV”in order to build them up in the faith”
NJB”help them to become stronger Christians”
This is the major theme of Romans 14 (cf. Rom 14:16; Rom 14:19). It is also one of the tests for spiritual gifts found in 1Co 10:23; 1Co 12:7; 1Co 14:26; Eph 4:29.
In this context it refers to the stronger believer limiting his/her freedom in love for the purpose of helping fellow Christians grow in faith. Joseph A. Fitzmyer and Raymond E. Brown, ed., The Jerome Biblical Commentary, vol. 2, has an interesting comment on this verse.
“This phrase is often taken to mean ‘to edify him’ (the neighbor), referring to the personal development of one’s Christian neighbor. But considering that Paul often uses the building metaphor in his letters in a corporate sense, the phrase undoubtedly has a social, corporate meaning, here as well (cf. 1Co 14:12; Eph 4:12; Rom 14:19)” (p. 328).
SPECIAL TOPIC: EDIFY
Rom 15:3 “For even Christ” Christ is our pattern and example. This truth is also stressed in Rom 15:5; Php 2:1-11; 1Pe 2:21; 1Jn 3:16.
“it is written” This is a present passive indicative, which is an idiom for OT Scripture. This is a quote from Psa 69:9. By referring to Christ’s example (did not please Himself, cf. Php 2:5-8) in addition to an OT quote, Paul uses the two most important sources of authority in the early church (cf. Newman and Nida, A Translator’s Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans, p. 271). The selflessness of Christ as He bore the sin of all the world is our example (cf. 1Jn 3:16).
Paul seems to link
1. Jesus’ bearing reproach as the Messiah
2. Paul bearing the reproach of the gospel
There is a price to pay for serving God in a fallen world.
1. the rejected and crucified Jesus
2. Paul tells of his rejection and persecution in 2Co 4:7-12; 2Co 6:3-10; 2Co 11:23-33. Paul, too, was finally beheaded
Rom 15:4 “for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction” The OT was written for NT believers also (cf. Rom 4:23-24; Rom 15:4; 1Co 9:10; 1Co 10:6; 1Co 10:11). It is relevant to new covenant believers (cf. 2Ti 2:15; 2Ti 3:16-17). There is a continuity, but also a discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments.
“so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures” Notice how the truth of God’s Word and believers’ lifestyle response to it are combined. Faith and practice are bound together (cf. Rom 15:5). They result in confidence in life, in death, and at the promised hope of Christ’s return.
“we might have hope” This is a present active subjunctive, which implies our hope is dependant on the actions mentioned earlier in Rom 15:4. In the NT “hope” often referred to the Second Coming when our salvation will be consummated (cf. Rom 8:30; 1Jn 3:2). This Greek term does not have the connotation of uncertainty as the English term. The Second Coming is a certain event with an uncertain time element.
Paul uses this term often in several different but related senses. Often it is associated with the consummation of the believer’s faith. This can be expressed as glory, eternal life, ultimate salvation, Second Coming, etc. The consummation is certain but the time element is future and unknown. It is often associated with “faith” and “love” (cf. 1Co 13:13; 1Th 1:3; 2Th 2:16). A partial list of some of Paul’s uses are:
1. The Second Coming, Gal 5:5; Eph 1:18; Eph 4:4; Tit 2:13
2. Jesus is our hope, 1Ti 1:1
3. Trust in the gospel, Col 1:23
4. Ultimate salvation, Col 1:5; 1Th 4:13; 1Th 5:8
5. The glory of God, Rom 5:2, 2Co 3:12; Col 1:27
6. Assurance of salvation, 1Th 5:8
7. Eternal life, Tit 1:2; Tit 3:7
8. Redemption of all creation, Rom 8:20
9. Faith, Rom 8:23-25; Rom 15:4
10. Title of God, Rom 15:13
11. Paul’s desire for believers, 2Co 1:7
Rom 15:5 “may the God. . .grant” This is a rare aorist active optative, which expresses a wish or prayer. Paul’s prayer, Rom 15:5-6, had two petitions.
1. to be in one mind (cf. Rom 12:16; 2Co 13:11; Php 2:2)
2. to be in one voice of praise (cf. Rom 15:6-7; Rom 15:9)
“the God who gives perseverance and encouragement” This is almost a descriptive title of God (cf. Rom 15:13; 1Co 1:3). These characteristics of God come to believers through the Scriptures (cf. Rom 15:4). See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE NEED TO PERSEVERE at Rom 8:25.
Rom 15:6 “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” This is Deity’s full NT title (cf. 2Co 1:3; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3; 1Pe 1:3; notice a similar title in Rom 1:7). This is not the God of philosophical necessity, but of revelation. Notice the two titles of God in Paul’s prayer of Rom 15:5-6.
1. the God of perseverance and encouragement
2. the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
See Special Topics: Perseverance at Rom 8:25 and Father at Rom 1:7.
We then = And we.
bear. See Rom 11:18.
infirmities. Greek. asthenema. Only here.
weak. See Rom 8:3.
not. App-105.
please. See Rom 8:8.
1-13.] Further exhortations to forbearance towards the weak, from the example of Christ (1-3),-and unanimity (4-7) as between Jew and Gentile, seeing that Christ was prophetically announced as the common Saviour of both (8-13).
Shall we turn to the fifteenth chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Romans.
In the fourteenth chapter Paul was dealing with the subject of walking in love within the body of Christ. Recognizing that we have differences of feelings, convictions, or opinions on the different issues involving the Christian walk. Paul said, “Those that are strong in the faith can eat meat, those who are weak in the faith have convictions against eating meat so they eat vegetables.” But we need to recognize that people have different convictions, that not everybody is going to see the thing the right way like I see it.
You have got to respect the right of people to be wrong and not create a big dissension over the differences is basically what Paul is pleading for. That if we disagree, we disagree agreeably, that we not split over issues and get in a big controversy over these little issues. That is tragic how the church has been split and divided over the most ridiculous things. The encouragement in chapter 14 by Paul is to accept those weaker brothers in the faith. Don’t get into arguments with them, and also, you should not flaunt before them your liberty because you might stumble them when they see the liberty that you have. So walk in love. If your eating meat stumbles the weaker brother, then for the sake of the Lord, don’t eat meat in front of him. You have the liberty to eat the meat, then have it to yourself. Do it in your own home. But do not flaunt your liberties in such a way that you could offend a weaker brother and thus destroy one for whom Christ died, just because you are going to insist on exercising your liberty.
Now he is continuing in that very vein of thought as he begins the fifteenth chapter. And here he puts the final few touches on this subject, but chapter 15 is a continuation of this very subject of our treatment towards the differences within the body, and especially towards the weaker brothers.
We then that are strong [strong in the faith] ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves ( Rom 15:1 ).
I shouldn’t just be thinking about my own pleasure, “I’m going to eat this prime rib; I don’t care what he thinks.” Well, if it is going to stumble and offend him, if I am strong in the faith and eating prime rib doesn’t bother me spiritually, then I need to bear the infirmities of the weak. I need to put up with him and not live for my own pleasure.
Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up ( Rom 15:2 ).
So rather than willing to please myself, I should live to please others. As a Christian, many times we are called upon to live by the standards that other men have set. Not that we share those convictions, not that we would feel guilty if we did them, but walking in love, not living to please myself, but living, actually, to please the others, walking more rigid than I would if I was just following my own convictions. Paul gives to us, then, the example of Jesus Christ.
who did not please himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me ( Rom 15:3 ).
So Christ our example. He came not to please Himself, but when He came He said, “I do always those things that please the Father. For I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” A good rule is live to please God, not live to please myself. Living to please yourself can create a stumbling block for weaker brothers, so in love, because it would please God, be gracious. Don’t exercise your liberty in such a way as to cause offense.
Now he goes on to another subject:
For whatever things were written before time [or aforetime] were written for our learning, that through patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope ( Rom 15:4 ).
So the twofold purpose of the Word of God. The scriptures that were given to us a twofold purpose listed here. First of all, for our learning. The Bible was given to us to reveal God, for our learning about God, our understanding of God. That we, through the patience and the comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
Now God and hope are inextricably connected together. There is no real hope apart from God. But it is amazing how that when you have God, hope is extended, hope is expanded. The psalmist said, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul, why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God” ( Psa 42:5 ). He is our hope. All the way through, the hope of the believer is connected with God. So that God has given us the scriptures to understand His nature, His character, His faithfulness, so that we in the time of trouble will not despair. We will not give up, but we will continue to hope in that work of God and in that work of God’s victory within our lives. That position of despair and hopelessness is not one that the Christian should find himself in. Like the psalmist found himself cast down, but he talked to himself about it, and said, “Why are you cast down? Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Why are you disquieted within me?” The reason why was because he forgot for a while that God was on the throne. When we forget that God is on the throne and ruling over lives, it is possible that we can get discouraged and upset over the situations. It is interesting how quickly we can forget that God reigns. How quickly we forget that it is His church. Suddenly we get all worried and get all concerned and we wonder, “What are we going to do?” Over and over the Lord reminds me that it is His church, and because it is His church, I have no business worrying about it. He can take care of it. He has created it and He is able to maintain it. And I don’t have to lie awake at night wondering, “Oh, what are we going to do now? Or what are we going to do next?”
God is in control. Now I need to bring that into my own life. I need to realize that God is in control, that God is going to work. Not to get upset, not to get discouraged, not to be in turmoil, for the Lord reigns, and He shall bring to pass His work, if I just patiently wait for Him. And that is the problem, isn’t it? That thing called patience. We are exhorted in reading of the Old Testament saints to realize that they through faith and patience inherited the promises of God. And again, we were told that we have need of patience that after we have done the will of God we might obtain the promise. There is that time after I have done all that I can do in following the will of God, there is that time where I have to then by faith, patiently now wait for God to do His work. Now there is where I am tempted to meddle and mess things up, because I don’t wait for God. Somehow He always seems to be slow according to my calculations. Of course, when it all works out, I realize He was right on time. I was fast. But that is because I am impatient. I want God to do His work in their life right now. “God, I don’t want to wait for a week. I don’t want to wait for a month. God, help me. I don’t want, like Abraham, to wait for thirteen years. I can’t take that, Lord.”
So we have need of patience, and through the patience and the comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.
Now the God of patience ( Rom 15:5 )
And isn’t He patient? God is so patient, and another word for it is long-suffering. God is so long-suffering. He is so patient to bring to pass His purposes, but that is because God is outside of our time dimension. God lives in the eternal. I live in seconds. Of course, now in milliseconds, the scientists have divided them down. Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years. God lives in eons, eternity. And a thousand years is as a day to the Lord; a day is as a thousand years. And Lord, it has been so long. When is Jesus coming back? It has only been a couple of days. What is your hurry? Because God is outside of the time dimension, and we move in this dimension of time, it seems that God is so patient in bringing to pass His kingdom, His work upon the earth. So we continue our prayer, “O God, give us patience, right now.”
The God of patience and consolation [the God of comfort He is called] grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Jesus Christ ( Rom 15:5 ):
How are we to be? We are to be patient with one another. As God is the God of patience and consolation, so we are to be to each other. We are to be comforting to one another, and we are to be patient with one another.
Now there is an interesting thing. I appreciate God’s patience with me. I am thankful for that. However, I am not so patient with Him. I appreciate other people’s patience with me, but I am not always so patient with them. Now, as you would that men should do unto you, that is the way you should do to them likewise; comfort, be patient, according to Christ Jesus.
That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God ( Rom 15:6-7 ).
Now, the church, as we minister to each other in the love of Jesus Christ and through the Word of God, we do glorify God through this life of love, consolation, patience with one another, and we are to receive then one another. How? As Christ received us. Now, how did Christ receive you? Were you absolutely the ideal, perfect person? Did He say, “Go out and clean up your act and then I will accept you?” No, He received us with all of our imperfections. Isn’t it amazing how horrible our sins look when someone else is committing them? How blind we are to our own faults. How astute we are in being able to pick out the flaws of others, but as Jesus said, “First take the four-by-six out of your own eye, and then you can see more clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye” ( Luk 6:42 ).
But why is it that I have such a hard time seeing the four-by-six in my own eye, yet I can see so clearly that splinter in your eye? It is all a matter of love. Love covers a multitude of sins, and I just love myself so much I don’t pay any attention, you see. I am to love you as I love myself, and if I love you as I love myself, then I won’t be seeing and picking at all the little flaws in you. But I will then receive you even as Christ has received me.
It was interesting during the counter culture revolution, the hippie period, there were many churches that were willing to receive the hippies and allow them to fellowship with them if they would go out and get a haircut and a three piece suit, a white shirt and a tie. “You will be welcome, come on in. Now you look like us and we will receive you.” But it was amazing how many churches were unwilling to receive them with their long hair, dirty jeans, and the whole hippie attire. Conform to my standards, live like I want people to live around me, and I will accept you as my friend and my associate. You are welcome. But that is not how we are to receive each other. We are to receive each other with our differences. And that love that we have in Christ should be greater than any difference that we possess; it should be the unifying power within the body of Christ.
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers ( Rom 15:8 ):
In other words, He came to the Jews because God had made the promise to the fathers that He would send the savior unto them, the seed of David, the seed of Abraham. He came to minister unto those whom God had made the promise.
And that the Gentiles might glorify God; as it is written ( Rom 15:9 ),
I love Paul. He makes a statement, and then he begins to back it up with scripture. When you can back up your statements with scriptures, three or four references, for in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established, it shows me one, Paul’s vast working knowledge of the Old Testament. He is grabbing scriptures out of several different books, putting them all together on the same subject. This fellow is a walking topical index. Give him a subject and he will quote you all of the scriptures from the Old Testament that deal with that particular subject. So he is introducing the fact that Christ came directly to the Jews, and yet, the prophecy expanded beyond the Jews to the ministry to the Gentiles. He came to confirm the promises to the fathers, which He did. But then, “that the Gentiles might glorify God through the mercies that they received; as it is written,”
For this cause I will confess thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name ( Rom 15:9 ).
Isa 42:6-7 .
And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people ( Rom 15:10 ).
Deu 32:1-52 .
And again, Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people ( Rom 15:11 ).
Of course, you all know where that one is, Psa 117:1-2 .
And again, Isaiah said, There shall be a root out of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust [or hope] ( Rom 15:12 ).
Isa 11:1-16 .
So he is putting together all of these various prophecies out of the Old Testament relating to the gospel coming to the Gentiles through the mercy of Jesus Christ.
Now Paul said,
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing ( Rom 15:13 ),
Again, the subject of hope which comes from the scriptures, the God of all hope. Hope is one of the most important things. We must not lose hope in God. He is the God of all hope. May He fill you. The result of hope is joy and peace. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted?” You see, he is talking about depression and unrest. The opposite of that is joy and peace. The result of the hope that we have is joy and peace in believing. In believing what? The scripture of God, the Word of God. Our belief is based upon the fact that God said it. The result of that belief is joy and peace.
Now people oftentimes put their faith in the joy and peace, or in a feeling that they have. “Are you a child of God?” “Oh yes.” “How do you know you are a child of God?” “Oh, I feel such peace in my heart. Oh, I have such joy. I know I’m saved because I have never felt such joy.” Oh, wait a minute. It isn’t believing in the joy and the peace, it is believing in the Word of God. You see, if you say that you are saved because you have such peace and joy in your life, you may wake up tomorrow morning on one of those Mondays, and it is one miserable day and you feel horrible. You knew you shouldn’t have gone to Bob’s after the service and had onion on the hamburger. Now you are suffering for it and you are irritable, and you’re upset. What does that say? “Oh, I am not saved today, because I don’t have the joy and I am all irritable.” You see, the faith is not in the feeling. It is not believing in a feeling. It is believing the Word of God, what God has said. And so my faith is founded in the fact of God’s Word. It doesn’t change, feelings do. My feelings are changeable.
As you get my age even the weather can change you. I can wake up in the morning and tell you how long the fog is going to last by how much my knee is aching. Stupid things that you can tell the weather by your body.
Feelings can change. They can be altered. The Word of God is forever established. And because my salvation and relationship with God is predicated upon His sure Word, my relationship with God never changes. It is established, and so it is the believing that has brought me the peace and the joy.
Paul said after fourteen days tossed in the ship, “Be of good cheer, for this night the angel of the Lord stood by me, and he assured me that though the ship is destroyed there will not be the loss of life. I believe the Word of the Lord.” Paul was cheerful. He was happy. He was encouraging them to be cheerful when they had lost all hope of ever being saved. They had given up hope of ever being rescued, of ever coming out of this alive. And to have a guy getting up and whistling and smiling, they probably wanted to have him walk the plank. “Be of good cheer.” “Are you kidding, man? I am so seasick. Fourteen days bobbing like a cork on the Mediterranean, haven’t seen the sun and the stars.” He didn’t say, “Be of good cheer. I feel good today. I have a peace in my heart.” No, “I have the Word of the Lord and I believe the Word of the Lord.” So the faith is established and it is solid and it is secure, because it is established in the Word and in the scriptures.
So be careful of that. It is an easy trap to fall into where people get faith in their feelings. And it is interesting, we have to express so often by feelings an experience that we had. We use our feelings to express the experience, but in expressing our experience of say, salvation, “Oh, I had such peace. I never felt such peace in all of my life. Oh, I felt like there was just warm water poured over the top of my head and just down over me whole body, and I just felt this great warmth all over me.” As we are expressing our experiences, then people get in their mind, “Well, I have got to have that kind of experience or I am not saved. Because when he was saved it was like lights turning on. Strobe lights flashing and glory, and I haven’t seen the strobes yet, so I can’t be saved.” Because we describe our salvation by the experiences of feelings or whatever we have, people began to relate to the feelings rather than to the Word of God. You can’t do that.
I am saved because God’s Word declares that if thou shall confess with thou mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead and thou shalt be saved. I know I am saved because here is where God said it. I can point right to it and thus, it doesn’t waver, it doesn’t change, it doesn’t alter with my feelings.
Again, I love the way Paul can just get right to the heart of the issue, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,”
that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit ( Rom 15:13 ).
It is the Holy Spirit who makes the Word of God real to my heart. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches me God’s truth. He leads me into all truth. He shows me the things of God. He makes the Word of God alive in my heart. So through the work of the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God in my life, hope abounds. “Thanks be unto God who hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” A blessed hope of the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. A living hope, a blessed hope, an abounding hope that we have through the Word.
I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another ( Rom 15:14 ).
I am confident, brethren, that you are capable of doing this, full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able, capable of admonishing one another.
Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God ( Rom 15:15 ),
Now I know that you can admonish each other and yet, you have all knowledge. And yet, because of the grace God has given to me, I am writing boldly now these things to you.
That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the good news of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost ( Rom 15:16 ).
Paul, writing to the Gentiles, is declaring unto them that they are accepted by God, the offering up of the Gentiles. That would be the offering of their praises and worship unto God. Because of the work of the Holy Spirit is accepted to God. You don’t need the priesthood, you don’t need the washings and the cleansings of the law, but God accepts you because of the work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God that is given to us.
I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by the word and deed ( Rom 15:17-18 ).
Paul the apostle had a very powerful ministry among the Gentiles. It was more than just the ministry of the Word, it was the Word confirmed by the work of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Mark, the last verse, it says, “They went everywhere preaching the Word, the Holy Spirit working with them confirming the Word with signs following.” Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians, said, “My speech was not with the enticing words of man’s wisdom but with the demonstration and the power of the Spirit.” Paul, in the beginning of this epistle to the Romans, declared that he desired to come to them that he might impart unto to them some spiritual gift to the end that they both might be built up. Paul’s ministry was in word and in deed.
The Word of God is wonderful, it is important, it is powerful, it is alive, sharper than a two-edged sword, but it has to also work in our lives and be demonstrated through our lives. Many times what I say is totally lost on the ears of the hearers because of what I am. If the Word doesn’t work in my life and I cannot demonstrate the power of the Word of God through my life, then all of the principles in the world, if they are not practical, don’t work no matter how good a principal they may be; they are of no value. It is the Holy Spirit that takes the Word and then makes the Word operable in my life and the deeds then are demonstrated–that of love, that of power. And the Holy Spirit can manifest Himself in many different ways.
Paul said, ” I really don’t speak of anything except what the Lord has wrought by me to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed.” Jesus appealed to His works as the verification of the truth of what He said. Philip said, “Lord, just show us the Father and it sufficieth us.” Jesus said, “Have I been so long a time with you Philip, and haven’t you seen Me? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. How is it that you are saying, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? And the works that I do I don’t do of Myself, but the Father that dwells in Me, he does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me, or else believe for the very works’ sake” ( Joh 14:9-11 ).
Jesus spoke of how His works testified of Him. And so our lives are witnesses of that work of God and His Holy Spirit in us. Our lives are a greater witness than our words. We have always thought of our words as witnesses and we have always thought as witnessing in a verbal sense. Verbalizing my faith to someone else. Verbalizing their need for Jesus Christ. But a greater witness than your words are your works wrought through the Holy Spirit in love. “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, that ye love one another.” So it is important that our deeds match the glorious gospel that we proclaim through the Word.
Paul here declares the deeds work,
Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God ( Rom 15:19 );
It must have been exciting to have been around Paul and to see those mighty signs and wonders that were wrought by the Holy Spirit and the power of the Spirit in his life.
So Paul says,
so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ ( Rom 15:19 ).
Or, I have preached the full gospel of Christ.
Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation ( Rom 15:20 ):
It is always rather amusing to me how many people feel called to start churches close around Calvary Chapel here. I must . . . I guess I shouldn’t, but I do . . . I do oftentimes question their motivation. It would appear that they’re seeking to build upon another man’s foundation, because we have stacks of letters of people all over the United States begging for us to start Calvary Chapel ministries in their area because there is such a total dearth of the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. It seems to me the Holy Spirit is sort of not really using talent efficiently by calling them all within a few miles radius of Calvary Chapel here. As though we didn’t have the Word and the Spirit of God working here, so they feel that they have got to come close by here, rather than going where there was a true need. Of course, they know that I am offensive and I shoot from the straight, and all of these people getting upset, so they can always pick up the disgruntles around and get a good start with a new fellowship. I have problems with this.
Paul said, “Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named. I don’t want to build upon another man’s foundation.”
I really believe that every church needs an excuse to exist. I think that you have to be presenting to the people a different ministry than what they can receive elsewhere. Or else you really don’t have any right to exist. Now, I do believe that God has a purpose for many varieties of churches, because there are many varieties of people. Some people do need a highly emotional, highly charged kind of a meeting. God knows that, and so we need churches that are highly emotional and supercharged. There are some people who need things extremely quiet and reverent and very somber. They like the incense and the psyche of the candles, and so has the ritual churches where they can go and touch God and feel blessed. But every church needs an excuse for being. I don’t believe that it is good to have four struggling full gospel churches in a little community, all of them just barely struggling to make it. In fact, some of them hardly making it the pastor is all living on starvation wages. I think that they all should go together and have one strong work. Why duplicate the efforts? And to have twenty-two Southern Baptist churches . . . I think it is thirty-seven now in Tucson, Arizona. It seems to me they would be better if they combined and had one strong work rather than thirty-seven starving pastors. I think you have to have an excuse to exist. You are offering to the people something they can’t get in another church.
Paul sought to preach Christ where He wasn’t heard of. He didn’t want to come in and build on another man’s foundation. He wanted to go where there was a true need, and that is commendable.
But as it is written ( Rom 15:21 ),
You see, he uses even as scripture based for this. Paul is so filled with the knowledge of the Word of God. I love it.
I love reading Spurgeon. That guy was like Paul. He used just all the way through scripture and scripture examples. And oh how I love his sermons, because they are so chalked full of the Word of God.
But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. [ Isa 52:15 ] For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you ( Rom 15:21-22 ).
Because I’ve been wanting to go where there is a need, where people had not heard, I have really been hindered coming to you.
But now, having no more place in these parts ( Rom 15:23 ),
Hey, that is quite a witness. I’ve told everybody around here so I’ve got to move on.
and having a great desire these many years to come to you; Whenever I take my journey to Spain, I intend to drop by: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go to Jerusalem to minister unto the saints ( Rom 15:23-25 ).
Now Paul was in Corinth when he wrote this. He had gone to Corinth and to the churches in Macedonia to collect an offering to take to the poor saints in Jerusalem to help them in their need. He had written to the church in Corinth to take up a collection before I get there, I don’t want any offerings taken while I am there, but each man as he has purposed in his own heart so let him give, but I want to take it to the church in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem had experienced some real financial problems. Probably stemming from that early communal sharing where everyone sold their possessions and brought the money and laid it at the disciples’ feet. And in time, it ran out. So they were left without property and all, they had sold it. So they were in a sad state in Jerusalem, and Paul is seeking to take them help.
So I’m going unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them truly ( Rom 15:25-27 );
This was a good thing that they did.
for they are debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, it is their duty also to minister to them in carnal things ( Rom 15:27 ).
So they have benefited spiritually and so it is only proper that they minister to the carnal needs, or the fleshly, or the body needs.
When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain. And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ ( Rom 15:28-29 ).
The fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. I know when I come that is the way I am going to come. Why? Because that is the way Paul went everywhere. Just in the fullness. His life overflowed.
Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me ( Rom 15:30 );
Paul here is requesting that they join with him in his prayers for himself. I think that one of the great, great blessings, and they sort of pyramid, it has a pyramidal effect, that the more your ministry influences more people, the more people that you have praying for you. The more people you have praying for you, the more effective and broader is the base of your ministry.
It is such a thrill to go places like we went to Tucson this last week. There was close to a 1,000 people who came out there on Tuesday night in Tucson. Afterwards, as I was shaking hands, person after person said, “Oh, you don’t know what a blessing your ministry has been (The Word for Today). I eat breakfast with you every morning. Or you go with me to work every day. My life has been so blessed and I want you to know I am praying for you.” All over the country there are people praying for us. We got a beautiful letter from a body of believers in Siberia. And one of the persons speaks English, and so they have our tapes and he listens and then translates it for these people in Siberia. And they smuggled a letter out and said, “We in Siberia are praying for you and those in Calvary Chapel.” Now how does that make you feel? Siberian believers praying for you. God help us, are we praying for them? They need, I’m sure, our prayers much more than we need theirs. That just made me really feel humbled and convicted, because I haven’t always remembered to pray for those blessed believers in Siberia, and that is where you usually end up if you are a true believer in Russia. There are a lot of believers in Siberia, a lot of beautiful Christians up there in Siberia praying for you. God help us, let’s return the favor. Let’s pray for them.
But Paul here is asking now for prayers of the people. “Join me in my prayers for me,” Paul is saying.
That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted by the saints ( Rom 15:31 );
Paul wasn’t on the best of terms with those in Jerusalem, not because he didn’t want to be, but they were just always suspicious of him. It seemed that wherever Paul went there was trouble with the Jews, and for him to go right back to Jerusalem when he came back, they said, “Now, Paul, the rumor is going around about your preaching among the Gentiles. Look, behave yourself while you are here. Don’t create problems now. Here is a couple of guys and they need to take their vows so they can observe the feast, and why don’t you sponsor them and just show everybody that you are a good Jew. Be good, Paul.” And so Paul was trying to be good and the Jews caught him anyhow, and were going to kill him. But they were concerned whenever Paul would come around, because he was so straightforward. He wasn’t always that welcomed even within the church, and so he is going to take them some money. “So pray that they will accept the money and me.”
That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen ( Rom 15:32-33 ).
Paul is asking that they might pray, that they might come to them with joy according to the will of God. Jesus, when Paul probably had one of the nights of greatest discouragement, he kept arguing with the Lord over the issue that he was sure that if he could preach to the Jews they would listen. God said, “Get out of here. They won’t listen to you.” Paul was obedient and he got out, but he always felt that the Lord was wrong in that issue. “If the Lord would just let me preach to them. I know where they are coming from, Lord. I know how they feel. I was one of them, Lord, and if I could just share with them . . . ” Paul’s moment came. He was there in the temple, going through the purification rites with these two fellows he was sponsoring and some of the Jews from Asia saw him. They said, “This is the guy who has been preaching to the Gentiles that they don’t have to follow Moses’ law, they can be saved by just believing.” They stirred up the Jews and grabbed him and were beating him to death when Lucius, the captain of the Roman guard, came down and rescued Paul. And he got back on the porch of the Antonio Fortress overlooking the temple mount, Paul said to them, “Hey, can I speak to these people?” My big moment, my big chance. The fellow says, “Do you speak Greek?” Paul said, “Of course.” “I thought you were an Egyptian.” “No, you have the wrong guy.” He said, “Go ahead and speak to them.”
Paul said, “Brethren, hearken unto me.” My big moment, and Paul started to say, “You know me. You know where I am from. I was around here. I was zealous just like you guys are. Man, I figured to wipe out the church. I was just ready to murder anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord. In fact, the high priest sent me to Damascus with letters of authority to imprison those who called upon the name of the Lord. While I was on the road, there was a bright light from heaven and the voice spoke to me and said, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord, that I might serve You?’ He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting and I am going to send you to the Gentiles.'” Now the minute he said Gentiles, the thing exploded. The people began to take off and tear their clothes and wave them in the air, throw dirt in the air and scream, “Kill him, kill him.”
Now, he was talking to them in Hebrew, and the captain of the Roman guard didn’t understand him. He said, “Get him inside before they kill him,” and he said, “What in the world did he say to those people that made them so incensed? Scourge him. Find out what he said.” As they got ready to scourge Paul, he said, “Is it customary to scourge a Roman citizen who hasn’t been condemned?” So the executioner went in and said, “You had better be careful. That guy is a Roman Citizen.” The captain came out and said, “Are you a Roman citizen?” Paul said, “You bet I am.” He said, “I am too. I had to buy my citizenship. It cost me quite a bit.” Paul said, “I was free born.”
Now he had his moment, it ended in a riot. Not the revival he was hoping for, and Paul, no doubt, was discouraged. And that night the Lord came and stood beside him and said, “Paul, be of good cheer.” Now when the Lord says, “Be of good cheer,” you’re down. You don’t say, “Be of good cheer” to a person who is happy. You say it to a person who is sad. “Be of good cheer, for as you have borne witness of Me here in Jerusalem,” Paul you had your day, you bore witness of Me here, “so must you also bear witness of Me in Rome.” Did you say Rome? Been wanting to go to Rome, by the will of God. So the Lord is declaring to Paul now, “It’s My will that you go to Rome now.”
Paul began the journey to Rome. He had a little detour in Caesarea a couple of years. And then when he went to Rome, it was not as he expected. He didn’t have to pay his own passage, he was taken care of by the Roman government, room and board. God had a few people He wanted to save on the island of Malta, and so God parked the ship at Malta in order that Paul might have opportunity to witness to the governor and many of the people before going on to Rome. “But pray that I might come by the will of God.”
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Rom 15:1. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
When we are free from scruples upon any point, and feel that there are things that we may do because we are strong, yet let us not do them if thereby we should grieve others who are weak. Let us think of their infirmities; and whatever liberty we may feel entitled to claim for ourselves, let us look at the matter from the standpoint of other people as well as from our Own, that we may bear the infirmities of the weak, and not seek to please ourselves.
Rom 15:2-3. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ
Our Master, and Lord, and great Exemplar: For even Christ
Rom 15:3. Pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on, me.
He took the most trying place in the whole field of battle; he stood where the fray was hottest. He did not seek to be among his disciples as a king is in the midst of his troops, guarded and protected in the time of strife; but he exposed himself to the fiercest part of all the conflict. What Jesus did, that should we who are his followers do, no one of us considering himself, and his own interests, but all of us considering our brethren and the cause of Christ in general.
Rom 15:4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
This is as if somebody had said, Why, Paul, it was David who said what you just quoted Yes, he replies, I know that I quoted David, but he spoke in his own person concerning his Lord, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.
Rom 15:4-5. That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation
Comfort is really the word he used, turning into prayer the thought which had been suggested by his use of the words patience and comfort. Now the God of patience and comfort
Rom 15:5. Grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Make you to be unanimous, not concerning that which is evil, but that you may be of one mind in your likeness to Christ Jesus. What a blessed harmony it would be if, not only all in any one church, but all in the whole of the churches were likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus! It will be so when he gathers those who are now scattered; but may we never hope to have it so here on earth? I cannot tell; but, at any rate, let us all strive after it. Let us all endeavor to pitch our tune according to Christs keynote; and the nearer we get to that, the less discord there will be in the psalmody of the church. We shall be likeminded with one another when we become likeminded with Christ; but not till then.
Rom 15:6-7. That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
Christ did not receive us because we were perfect, because he could see no fault in us, or because he hoped to gain somewhat at our hands. Ah, no! but, in loving condescension covering our faults, and seeking our good, he welcomed us to his heart; so, in the same way, and with the same purpose, let us receive one another.
Rom 15:8. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
It was to Abraham and his descendants that the promise was made that, in him, and in his seed, all the nations of the earth should be blessed. So our Lord came, as a Jew, to be a minister of the circumcision. Let us never forget that he came to those whom we are apt to forget; and, peradventure, even to despise, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.
Rom 15:9-12. And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
There were plain indications, in the Old Testament, that the blessing was meant for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews; but, still, it was made known to the Jews first, and we must never forget that.
Rom 15:13. Now the God of hope
Turn back to the fourth verse, and note the expression, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope; then read in the fifth verse, The God of patience and comfort; and see how Paul here goes back to that last word in the fourth verse, Now the God of hope
Rom 15:13-16. Fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God. That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
Now would have been the time for Paul to say that he had been made a minister to offer the unbloody sacrifice of the mass, if such a thing had been right;to offer up the daily sacrifice, as the so-called priests aver that, they now do; but he says nothing of the sort; and even when he represents the Gentiles as being offered up, he does not speak of any sacrifice going therewith, but says that it might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
Rom 15:1. [151] , [on the other hand] but) [This is in antithesis to Happy-Sin, last ch. Rom 15:22-23]. There is great danger, and we are only kept guarded by the power of God; but we ought [owe that debt to others] to watch over [pay attention to] one another.-) we. He counts himself also in common with others a debtor, as an apostle, and as an apostle of the Gentiles.- , the strong) comp. Gal 6:1, note.-, to bear) It is indeed a burden.-) , I am anxious to please. He who is anxious to please himself, is indifferent about pleasing another, and pays little respect to his conscience. This is a Metonymy of the antecedent for the consequent [end.]
[151] , we ought) for Christs sake, ver. 3.-V. g.
Rom 15:1
Rom 15:1
Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.-This is a continuation of the same subject from the last chapter. He there pointed out the danger to the weak who were liable to be led into idolatry by seeing the strong eating meat offered in sacrifice to an idol. He now speaks of those that are strong, who know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one. (1Co 8:4). We who have this knowledge could eat without conscience of the idol. Howbeit there is not in all men that knowledge: but some, being used until now to the idol, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. (1Co 8:7). These are the weak, and those who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak by refraining from eating meat that would lead them into idolatry. For if a man see thee who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idols temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols ? (1Co 8:10). Thus they are led into idolatry. To bear their infirmities is to refrain from eating on account of their weakness, as though we ourselves were weak. It is to put ourselves in their places, feel their weaknesses, and to act so as to lead them away from temptation. This is an example of becoming all things to all men that we may save some (1Co 9:22), and not to do the things that gratify ourselves.
The most powerful argument for Christian conduct is the example of Christ. He pleased not Himself. The injunction to receive one another is an injunction addressed to Jews and Gentiles. Throughout the letter the apostle had defended the Gentile against the self-satisfied national pride of the Jew, and the Jew against the probable contempt of the Gentile. This is the final injunction on the subject.
Paul closed his argument with a benediction, “The God of hope.” What a wonderful title, suggesting that God is the reason for all the hope that brightens the way, and that because He is Himself full of hope. The Christian should be the greatest optimist because of the optimism of God.
Thus having ended the epistle as it was concerned with its great statement of doctrine, and the application thereof to life, the apostle turned to personal matters. Concerning the triumph of the Gospel, he declared, “Christ wrought through me.” How glorious a commentary on the true position of the Christian worker! In speaking of his appointment, the apostle used language which indicates a phase of priestly office too often lost sight of. He had ministered the Gospel so that there had been an “offering up” of the Gentiles. Too often the priests of the Lord stand empty handed in the holy place in this respect.
Very touching and beautiful was his request for their prayers. Notice the subjects he suggested for prayer. First, that he “may be delivered from them that are disobedient in Judea.” Then also that his ministration, that contribution he is taking from the churches of Asia, may be acceptable. These prayers were most assuredly answered. Yet how often the answer to prayer differs from our expectations. What matters it if it be “through the will of God? That was the qualifying petition which was finally answered. It is this confidence which lends power to this closing benediction, “May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”
15:1. The beginning of chap. 15 is connected immediately with what precedes, and there is no break in the argument until ver. 13 is reached; but towards the close, especially in vv. 7-13, the language of the Apostle is more general. He passes from the special points at issue to the broad underlying principle of Christian unity, and especially to the relation of the two great sections of the Church-the Jewish and the Gentile Christians.
. Such weakness is, it is true, a sign of absence of faith, but we who are strong in faith ought to bear with scruples weak though they may be. not, as in 1Co 1:26, the rich or the powerful, but as in 2Co 12:10, 2Co 13:9, of the morally strong.
: cf. Gal 6:2 . In classical Greek the ordinary word would be , but seems to have gradually come into use in the figurative sense. It is used of bearing the cross both literally (Joh 19:17), and figuratively (Luk 14:27). We find it in later versions of the O. T. In Aq., Symm. and Theod. in Isa 40:11, 56:12; in the two latter in Isa 53:9; in Mat 8:17 quoting Isa 53:3: in none of these passages is the word used in the LXX. It became a favourite word in Christian literature, Ign. Ad Polyc. 1, Epist. ad Diog. 10 (quoted by Lft.).
: cf. 1Co 10:33 , , where St. Paul is describing his own conduct in very similar circumstances. He strikes at the root of Christian disunion, which is selfishness.
2. : cf. 14:16 1 , 19 . The end or purpose of pleasing them must be the promotion of what is absolutely to their good, further defined by , their edification. These words limit and explain what St. Paul means by pleasing men. In Gal 1:10 (cf. Eph 6:6; 1Th 2:4) he had condemned it. In 1Co 9:20-23 he had made it a leading principle of his conduct. The rule is that we are to please men for their own good and not our own.
The after of the T. R. should be omitted. For some authorities (F G P , Vulg., many Fathers) read .
3. … The precept just laid down is enforced by the example of Christ (cf. 14:15). As Christ bore our reproaches, so must we bear those of others.
. St. Paul, instead of continuing the sentence, changes the construction and inserts a verse of the O. T. [Psa_48 (49):10 quoted exactly according to the LXX], which he puts into the mouth of Christ. For the construction cf. 9:7.
The Psalm quoted describes the sufferings at the hands of the ungodly of the typically righteous man, and passages taken from it are often in the N. T. referred to our Lord, to whom they would apply as being emphatically the just one. Ver. 4 is quoted Joh 15:25, ver. 9a in Joh 2:17, ver. 9b in Rom 15:3, ver. 12 in Mat 27:27-30, ver. 21 in Mat 27:34, and Joh 19:29, ver. 22 f. in Rom 11:9, ver. 25a in Act 1:20. (See Liddon, ad loc.)
… In the original the righteous man is represented as addressing God and saying that the reproaches against God he has to bear. St. Paul transfers the words to Christ, who is represented as addressing a man. Christ declares that in suffering it was the reproaches or sufferings of others that He bore.
4. The quotation is justified by the enduring value of the O. T.
, were written before, in contrast with : cf. Eph 3:3; Jud 1:4, but with a reminiscence of the technical meaning of for what is written as Scripture.
, instruction: cf. 2Ti 3:16 .
: the specifically Christian feeling of hope. It is the supreme confidence which arises from trust in Christ that in no circumstances will the Christian be ashamed of that wherein he trusteth (Php 1:20); a confidence which tribulation only strengthens, for it makes more certain his power of endurance and his experience of consolation. On the relation of patience to hope cf. 5:3 and 1Th 1:3.
This passage, and that quoted above from 2Ti 3:16, lay down very clearly the belief in the abiding value of the O. T. which underlies St. Pauls use of it. But while emphasizing its value they also limit it. The Scriptures are to be read for our moral instruction, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness; for the perfection of the Christian character, that the man of God may be complete, furnished unto every good work; and because they establish the Christian hope which is in Christ. Two points then St. Paul teaches, the permanent value of the great moral and spiritual truths of the O. T., and the witness of the O. T. to Christ. His words cannot be quoted to prove more than this.
There are in this verse a few idiosyncrasies of B which may be noted but need not be accepted; (with Vulg. Orig.-lat.) for ; before . (with P); repeated after (with Clem.-Al.). The T. R. with c A L P , &c. substitutes for in the second place, and with Ccor D E F G P, &c., Vulg. Boh. Harcl. omits the second .
5. After the digression of ver. 4 the Apostle returns to the subject of vv. 1-3, and sums up his teaching by a prayer for the unity of the community.
: cf. (ver. 33; Php 4:9; 1Th 5:23; Heb 13:20), (ver. 13), (2Co 1:3), (1Pe 5:10).
: cf. Php 2:2-5 , . .
: cf 2Co 11:17 , : Col 2:8 .: Eph 4:24 (Rom 8:27, which is generally quoted, is not in point). These examples seem to show that the expression must mean in accordance with the character or example of Christ.
for , a later form, cf. 2Th 3:16; 2Ti 1:16, 2Ti 1:18; 2Ti 2:25; Eph 1:17 (but with variant in the last two cases). . . (B D E G L, &c., Boh. Chrys.), not . . A C F P Vulg., Orig.-lat. Theodrt.
6. Unity and harmony of worship will be the result of unity of life.
, with unity of mind. A common word in the Acts (1:14, &c.).
. This expression occurs also in 2Co 1:3; 2Co 11:31; Eph 1:3; 1Pe 1:3. In Col 1:3, which is also quoted, the correct reading is . . Two translations are possible: (1) God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Mey.-W.. Gif. Lid., Lips.). In favour of this it is pointed out that while expects some correlative word, is naturally absolute; and that occurs absolutely (as in 1Co 15:24 ), an argument the point of which does not seem clear, and which suggests that the first argument has not much weight. (2) It is better and simpler to take the words in their natural meaning, The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Va. Oltr. Go. and others), with which cf. Eph 1:17 . .: Mat 27:46; Joh 20:17; Heb 1:9.
7. The principles laid down in this section of the Epistle are now generalized. All whom Christ has received should, without any distinction, be accepted into His Church. This is intended to apply especially to the main division existing at that time in the community, that between Jewish and Gentile Christians.
…: the command is no longer to the strong to admit the weak, but to all sections of the community alike to receive and admit those who differ from them; so St. Paul probably said , not . The latter he uses in ver. 1, where he is identifying himself with the strong, the former he uses here, where he is addressing the whole community. On cf. Eph 2:11; 1Th 5:11: on see 14:1, 3.
is read by A C E F G L Vulg. Boh. Syrr., Orig.-lat. Chrys. by B D P . B is again Western, and its authority on the distinction between and is less trustworthy than on most other points (see WH. ii. pp. 218, 310).
with : in order to promote the glory of God. As the following verses show, Christ has summoned both Jews and Greeks into His kingdom in order to promote the glory of God, to exhibit in the one case His faithfulness, in the other His mercy. So in Php 2:11 the object of Christs glory is to promote the glory of God the Father.
8. St. Paul has a double object. He writes to remind the Gentiles that it is through the Jews that they are called, the Jews that the aim and purpose of their existence is the calling of the Gentiles. The Gentiles must remember that Christ became a Jew to save them; the Jew that Christ came among them in order that all the families of the earth might be blessed: both must realize that the aim of the whole is to proclaim Gods glory.
This passage is connected by undoubted links ( ver. 7; ver. 8) with what precedes, and forms the conclusion of the argument after the manner of the concluding verses of ch. 8. and ch. 11. This connexion makes it probable that the relations of Jew and Gentile were directly or indirectly involved in the relations of the weak and the strong. (Hort, Rom. and Eph. p. 29.)
: not a minister of the circumcised, still less a minister of the true circumcision of the spirit, which would be introducing an idea quite alien to the context, but a minister of circumcision (so Gifford, who has an excellent note), i. e. to carry out the promises implied in that covenant the seal of which was circumcision; so 2Co 3:6 . In the Ep. to the Galatians (4:4, 5) St. Paul had said that Christ was born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them which were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. On the Promise and Circumcision see Gen 12:1-3,Gen 17:1-14.
The privileges of the Jews which St. Paul dwells on are as follows: (1) Christ has Himself fulfilled the condition of being circumcised: the circumcised therefore must not be condemned. (2) The primary object of this was to fulfil the promises made to the Jews (cf. Rom 2:9, Rom 2:10). (3) It was only as a secondary result of this Messiahship that the Gentiles glorified God. (4) While the blessing came to the Jews to preserve Gods consistency, it came to the Gentiles for Gods loving-kindness.
, which should be read with A E L P (); it was altered into the more usual aorist (B C D F G), perhaps because it was supposed to be co-ordinated with .
: cf. 9:4,5.
9. . Two constructions are possible for these words: (1) they may be taken as directly subordinate to (Weiss, Oltr. Go.). The only object in this construction would be to contrast with . But the real antithesis of the passage is between and : and hence (2) should be taken as subordinate to and co-ordinate with (Gif. Mey. Lid., Va.). With this construction the point of the passage becomes much greater, the call of the Gentiles is shown to be (as it certainly was), equally with the fulfilment of the promise to the Jews, dependent on the covenant made with Abraham (4:11, 12, 16, 17).
. The Apostle proceeds, as so often in the Epistle, to support his thesis by a series of passages quoted from the O. T.
…: taken almost exactly from the LXX of Ps. 17:50 (18). In the original David, as the author of the Psalm, is celebrating a victory over the surrounding nations: in the Messianic application Christ is represented as declaring that among the Gentiles, i. e. in the midst of, and therefore together with them, He will praise God. , I will praise thee: cf. 14:11.
10. …: from the LXX of Deu 32:43. The Hebrew, translated literally, appears to mean, Rejoice, O ye nations, His people. Moses is represented as calling on the nations to rejoice over the salvation of Israel. St. Paul takes the words as interpreted by the LXX to imply that the Gentiles and chosen people shall unite in the praise of God.
11. …: Psa_116(117):1. LXX. An appeal to all nations to praise the Lord.
There are slight variations in the Greek text and in the LXX. For C F G L have . . . . agreeing with the order of the LXX. is read by A B C D E Chrys. (so LXX A ) by late MSS. with later LXX MSS.
12. …: from Isa 11:10, a description of the Messianic kingdom, which is to take the place of that Jewish kingdom which is soon to be destroyed. The quotation follows the LXX, which is only a paraphrase of the Hebrew; the latter runs (RV.) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, which standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto him shall the Gentiles seek.
13. The Apostle concludes by invoking on his hearers a blessing-that their faith may give them a life full of joy and peace, that in the power of the Holy Spirit they may abound in hope.
: cf. ver. 5. The special attribute, as in fact the whole of the benediction, is suggested by the concluding words of the previous quotation.
. The joy and peace with God which is the result of true faith in the Christians heart. On see 1:7.
For (most MSS.) B F G have the curious variant . B reads and omits : the peculiarities of this MS. in the last few verses are noticeable. D E F G omit .
The general question of the genuineness of these last two chapters is discussed in the Introduction ( 9). It will be convenient to mention in the course of the Commentary some few of the detailed objections that have been made to special passages. In 15:1-13 the only serious objection is that which was first raised by Baur and has been repeated by others since. The statements in this section are supposed to be of too conciliatory a character; especially is this said to be the case with ver. 8. How can we imagine, writes Baur, that the Apostle, in an Epistle of such a nature and after all that had passed on the subject, would make such a concession to the Jewish Christians as to call Jesus Christ a minister of circumcision to confirm the promises of God made to the Fathers? To this it may be answered that that is exactly the point of view of the Epistle. It is brought out most clearly in 11:17-25; it is implied in the position of priority always given to the Jew (1:16; 2:9, 10); it is emphasized in the stress continually laid on the relations of the new Gospel to the Old Testament (ch. 4, &c.), and the importance of the promises which were fulfilled (1:2; 9:4). Baurs difficulty arose from an erroneous conception of the teaching and position of St. Paul. For other arguments see Mangold, Der Rmerbrief, pp. 81-100.
What sect or party is referred to in Rom_14?
There has been great diversity of opinion as to the persons referred to in this section of the Epistle to the Romans, but all commentators seem to agree in assuming that the Apostle is dealing with certain special circumstances which have arisen in the Church of Rome, and that the weak and the strong represent two parties in that Church.
1. The oldest explanation appears to be that which sees in these disputes a repetition of those which prevailed in the Corinthian Church, as to the same or some similar form of Judaizing practices (Orig. Chrys. Aug. Neander, &c.). In favour of this may be quoted the earlier portion of the fifteenth chapter, where there is clearly a reference to the distinction between Jewish and Gentile Christians. But against this opinion it is pointed out that such Jewish objections to things offered to idols, or to meats killed in any incorrect manner, or to swines flesh, have nothing to do with the typical instances quoted, the abstinence altogether from flesh meat and from wine (vv. 2, 21).
2. A second suggestion (Eichhorn) is that which sees in these Roman ascetics the influence of the Pythagorean and other heathen sects which practised and taught abstinence from meat and wine and other forms of self-discipline. But these again will not satisfy all the circumstances. These Roman Christians were, it is said, in the habit of observing scrupulously certain days: and this custom did not, as far as we know, prevail among any heathen sect.
3. Baur sees here Ebionite Christians of the character represented by the Clementine literature, and in accordance with his general theory he regards them as representing the majority of the Roman Church. That this last addition to the theory is tenable seems impossible. So far as there is any definiteness in St. Pauls language he clearly represents the strong as directing the policy of the community. They are told to receive him that is weak in faith; they seem to have the power to admit him or reject him. All that he on his side can do is to indulge in excessive criticism. Nor is the first part of the theory really more satisfactory. Of the later Ebionites we have very considerable knowledge derived from the Clementine literature and from Epiphanius (Haer. xxx), but it is an anachronism to discover these developments in a period nearly two centuries earlier. Nor again is it conceivable that St. Paul would have treated a developed Judaism in the lenient manner in which he writes in this chapter.
4. Less objection perhaps applies to the modification of this theory, which sees in these sectaries some of the Essene influence which probably prevailed everywhere throughout the Jewish world (Ritschl, Mey.-W. Lid. Lft. Gif. Oltr.). This view fulfils the three conditions of the case. The Essenes were Jewish, they were ascetic, and they observed certain days. If the theory is put in the form not that Essenism existed as a sect in Rome, which is highly improbable, but that there was Essene influence in the Jewish community there, it is possible. Yet if any one compares St. Pauls language in other Epistles with that which he uses here, he will find it difficult to believe that the Apostle would recommend compliance with customs which arose, not from weak-minded scrupulousness, but from a completely inadequate theory of religion and life. Hort (Rom. and Eph., p. 27 f.) writes: The true origin of these abstinences must remain somewhat uncertain: but much the most probable suggestion is that they come from an Essene element in the Roman Church, such as afterwards affected the Colossian Church. But later he modified his opinion (Judaistic Christianity, p. 128): There is no tangible evidence for Essenism out of Palestine.
All these theories have this in common, that they suppose St. Paul to be dealing with a definite sect or body in the Roman Church. But as our examination of the Epistle has proceeded, it has become more and more clear that there is little or no special reference in the arguments. Both in the controversial portion and in the admonitory portion, we find constant reminiscences of earlier situations, but always with the sting of controversy gone. St. Paul writes throughout with the remembrance of his own former experience, and not with a view to special difficulties in the Roman community. He writes on all these vexed questions, not because they have arisen there, but because they may arise. The Church of Rome consists, as he knows, of both Jewish and heathen Christians. These discordant elements may, he fears, unless wise counsels prevail produce the same dissensions as have occurred in Galatia or Corinth.
Hort (Judaistic Christianity, p. 126) recognizes this feature in the doctrinal portion of the Epistle: It is a remarkable fact, he writes, respecting this Epistle to the Romans that while it discusses the question of the Law with great emphasis and fulness, it does so without the slightest sign that there is a reference to a controversy then actually existing in the Roman Church. Unfortunately he has not applied the same theory to this practical portion of the Epistle: if he had done so it would have presented just the solution required by all that he notices. There is no reference, he writes, to a burning controversy. The matter is dealt with simply as one of individual conscience. He contrasts the tone with that of the Epistle to the Colossians. All these features find their best explanation in a theory which supposes that St. Pauls object in this portion of the Epistle, is the same as that which has been suggested in the doctrinal portion.
If this theory be correct, then our interpretation of the passage is somewhat different from that which has usually been accepted, and is, we venture to think, more natural. When St. Paul says in ver. 2 the weak man eateth vegetables, he does not mean that there is a special sect of vegetarians in Rome; but he takes a typical instance of excessive scrupulousness. When again he says one man considers one day better than another, he does not mean that this sect of vegetarians were also strict sabbatarians, but that the same scrupulousness may prevail in other matters. When he speaks of , he is not thinking of any special body of people but rather of special types. When again in ver. 21 he says: It is good not to eat flesh, or drink wine, or do anything in which thy brother is offended, he does not mean that these vegetarians and sabbatarians are also total abstainers; he merely means even the most extreme act of self-denial is better than injuring the conscience of a brother. He had spoken very similarly in writing to the Corinthians: Wherefore, if meat maketh my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I make not my brother to stumble (1Co 8:13). It is not considered necessary to argue from these words that abstinence from flesh was one of the characteristics of the Corinthian sectaries; nor is it necessary to argue in a similar manner here.
St. Paul is arguing then, as always in the Epistle, from past experience. Again and again difficulties had arisen owing to different forms of scrupulousness. There had been the difficulties which had produced the Apostolic decree; there were the difficulties in Galatia, Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years; there were the difficulties at Corinth. Probably he had already in his experience come across instances of the various ascetic tendencies which are referred to in the Colossian and Pastoral Epistles. We have evidence both in Jewish and in heathen writers of the wide extent to which such practices prevailed. In an age when there is much religious feeling there will always be such ideas. The ferment which the spread of Christianity aroused would create them. Hence just as the difficulties which he had experienced with regard to Judaism and the law made St. Paul work out and systematize his theory of the relation of Christianity to personal righteousness, so here he is working out the proper attitude of the Christian towards over-scrupulousness and over-conscientiousness. He is not dealing with the question controversially, but examining it from all sides.
And he lays down certain great principles. There is, first of all, the fundamental fact, that all these scruples are in matters quite indifferent in themselves. Man is justified by faith; that is sufficient. But then all have not strong, clear-sighted faith: they do not really think such actions indifferent, and if they act against their conscience their conscience is injured. Each man must act as he would do with the full consciousness that he is to appear before Gods judgement-seat. But there is another side to the question. By indifference to external observances we may injure another mans conscience. To ourselves it is perfectly indifferent whether we conform to such an observance or not. Then we must conform for the sake of our weak brother. We are the strong. We are conscious of our strength. Therefore we must yield to others: not perhaps always, not in all circumstances, but certainly in many cases. Above all, the salvation of the individual soul and the peace and unity of the community must be preserved. Both alike, weak and strong, must lay aside differences on such unimportant matters for the sake of that church for which Christ died.
APOLOGY FOR ADMONITIONS
15:14-21. These admonitions of mine do not imply that I am unacquainted with your goodness and deep spiritual knowledge. In writing to you thus boldly I am only fulfilling my duty as Apostle to the Gentiles; the priest who stands before the altar and presents to God the Gentile Churches (vv. 14-17).
And this is the ground of my boldness. For I can boast of my spiritual labours and gifts, and of my wide activity in preaching the Gospel, and that, not where others had done so before me, but where Christ was not yet named (vv. 18-21).
14. The substance of the Epistle is now finished, and there only remain the concluding sections of greeting and encouragement. St. Paul begins as in 1:8 with a reference to the good report of the church. This he does as a courteous apology for the warmth of feeling he has exhibited, especially in the last section; but a comparison with the Galatian letter, where there is an absence of any such compliment, shows that St. Pauls words must be taken to have a very real and definite meaning.
: cf. 8:38, Though I have spoken so strongly it does not mean that I am not aware of the spiritual earnestness of your church.
, : notice the emphasis gained by the position of the words. And not I inquire of others to know, but I myself, that is, I that rebuke, that accuse you. Chrys.
: cf. Rom 1:29, where also it is combined with .
: our Christian knowledge in its entirety. Cf. 1Co 13:2 , … is used for the true knowledge which consists in a deep and comprehensive grasp of the real principles of Christianity.
is read by B P, Clem.-Alex. Jo.-Damasc. It is omitted by A C D E F G L, &c., Chrys. Theodrt.
: cf. 2Th 1:11; Gal 5:22; Eph 5:9; used only in the LXX, the N. T. and writings derived from them. Generally it means goodness or uprightness in contrast with , as in Psa 51:5. (52:5.) : defined more accurately the idea seems to be that derived from of active beneficence and goodness of heart. Here it is combined with , because the two words represent exactly the qualities which are demanded by the discussion in chap. 14. St. Paul demands on the one side a complete grasp of the Christian faith as a whole, and on the other goodness of heart, which may prevent a man from injuring the spiritual life of his brother Christians by disregarding their consciences. Both these were, St. Paul is fully assured, realized in the Roman community.
Forms in – are almost all late and mostly confined to Hellenistic writers. In the N. T. we have , , , , : see Winer, xvi. 2 (p. 118, ed. Moulton).
. Is it laying too much stress on the language of compliment to suggest that these words give a hint of St. Pauls aim in this Epistle? He has grasped clearly the importance of the central position of the Roman Church and its moral qualities, and he realizes the power that it will be for the instruction of others in the faith. Hence it is to them above all that he writes, not because of their defects but of their merits.
It is difficult to believe that any reader will find an inconsistency between this verse and 1:11 or the exhortations of chap. 14, whatever view he may hold concerning St. Pauls general attitude towards the Roman Church. It would be perfectly natural in any case that, after rebuking them on certain points on which he felt they needed correction, he should proceed to compliment them for the true knowledge and goodness which their spiritual condition exhibited. He could do so because it would imply a true estimate of the state of the Church, and it would prevent any offence being taken at his freedom of speech. But if the view suggested on chap. 14. and throughout the Epistle be correct, and these special admonitions arise rather from the condition of the Gentile churches as a whole, the words gain even more point. I am not finding fault with you, I am warning you of dangers you may incur, and I warn you especially owing to your prominent and important position.
15. . The boldness of which St. Paul accuses himself is not in sentiment, but in manner. It was , in part of the Epistle; 6:12 ff., 19; 8:9; 11:17 ff.;12:3; 13:3 ff., 13 ff., 14.; 15:1, have been suggested as instances.
. Wetstein quotes , , Demosthenes, Phil. 74, 7 The seems to soften the expression suggesting to your memory. St. Paul is not teaching any new thing, or saying anything which a properly instructed Christian would not know, but putting more clearly and definitely the recognized principles and commands of the Gospel.
. On St. Pauls Apostolic grace cf. 1:5 : 12:3 .
It is probably preferable to read (A B, WH.) for . The TR. adds after against the best authorities ( A B C Boh., Orig. Aug. Chrys.); the position of the word varies even in MSS. in which it does occur. is a correction of the TR. for ( B F Jo.-Damasc.).
16. seems to be used definitely and technically as in the LXX of a priest. See esp. 2 Esdras 20:36 (Neh 10:37) . So in Heb 8:2 of our Lord, who is and : see the note on 1:9. Generally in the LXX the word seems used of the Levites as opposed to the priests as in 2 Esdras 20:39 (Neh. 10:40) , but there is no such idea here.
, being the sacrificing priest of the Gospel of God. St. Paul is standing at the altar as priest of the Gospel, and the offering which he makes is the Gentile Church.
means (1) to perform a sacred function, hence (2) especially to sacrifice; and so means the slain victims and then (3) to be a priest, to be one who performs sacred functions. Its construction is two-fold: (1) it may take the accusative of the thing sacrificed; so Bas. in Ps. cxv ; or (2) may be put for (Galen, de Theriaca ), so 4 Macc. 7:8 (v. l.) : Greg. Naz. (see Fri. ad loc. from whom this note is taken).
. With this use of sacrificial language, cf. 12:1, 2. The sacrifices offered by the priest of the New Covenant were not the dumb animals as the old law commanded, but human beings, the great body of the Gentile Churches. Unlike the old sacrifices which were no longer pleasing to the Lord, these were acceptable (, 1Pe 2:5). Those were animals without spot or blemish; these are made a pure and acceptable offering by the Holy Spirit which dwells in them (cf. 8:9, 11).
For the construction of cf. Heb 10:10 . . .
17. . The should be omitted (see below). I have therefore my proper pride, and a feeling of confidence in my position, which arises from the fact that I am a servant of Christ, and a priest of the Gospel of God. St. Paul is defending his assumption of authority, and he does so on two grounds: (1) His Apostolic mission, , as proved by his successful labours (vv. 18-20); (2) the sphere of his labours, the Gentile world, more especially that portion of it in which the Gospel had not been officially preached. The emphasis therefore is on . ., and . With cf. 3:27, 1Co 15:31; with the whole verse, 2Co 10:13 17 .
The RV. has not improved the text by adding before . The combination A L P, Boh., Arm., Chrys., Cyr., Theodrt. is stronger than that of B D E F G in this Epistle. C seems uncertain.
18. … For I will not presume to mention any works but those in which I was myself Christs agent for the conversion of Gentiles. St. Paul is giving his case for the assumption of authority (). It is only his own labour or rather works done through himself that he cares to mention. But the value of such work is that it is not his own but Christs working in him, and that it is among Gentiles, and so gives him a right to exercise authority over a Gentile Church like the Roman.
With ( A C D E F G L P, Boh.. Harcl., etc.) cf. 2Co 10:12; there seems to be a touch of irony in its use here; with 2Co 12:12, Rom 7:13, &c. with , in speech or action, 2Co 10:11.
19. …: cf. 2Co 12:12 , : Heb 2:4 : 1Co 12:28.
The combination is that habitually used throughout the N. T. to express what are popularly called miracles. Both words have the same denotation, but different connotations. implies anything marvellous or extraordinary in itself, represents the same event, but viewed not as an objectless phenomenon but as a sign or token of the agency by which it is accomplished or the purpose it is intended to fulfil. Often a third word is added which implies that these works are the exhibition of more than natural power. Here St. Paul varies the expression by saying that his work was accomplished in the power of signs and wonders; they are looked upon as a sign and external exhibition of the Apostolic . See Trench, Miracles xci; Fri. ad loc.
There can be no doubt that St. Paul in this passage assumes that he possesses the Apostolic power of working what are ordinarily called miracles. The evidence for the existence of miracles in the Apostolic Church is twofold: on the one hand the apparently natural and unobtrusive claim made by the Apostles on behalf of themselves or others to the power of working miracles, on the other the definite historical narrative of the Acts of the Apostles. The two witnesses corroborate one another. Against them it might be argued that the standard of evidence was lax, and that the miraculous and non-miraculous were not sufficiently distinguished. But will the first argument hold against a personal assertion? and does not the narrative of the Acts make it clear that miracles in a perfectly correct sense of the word were definitely intended?
: cf. ver. 13, and on the reading here see below. St. Pauls Apostolic labours are a sign of commission because they have been accompanied by a manifestation of more than natural gifts, and the source of his power is the Holy Spirit with which he is filled.
This seems one of those passages in which the value of the text of B where it is not vitiated by Western influence is conspicuous (cf. 4:1). It reads (alone or with the support of the Latin Fathers) without any addition. L P &c., Orig.-lat. Chrys. &c., add , A C D F G Boh. Vulg. Arm., Ath. &c. read . Both were corrections of what seemed an unfinished expression.
. These words have caused a considerable amount of discussion.
1. The first question is as to the meaning of .
(1) The majority of modern commentators (Fri. Gif. Mey.-W.) interpret it to mean the country round Jerusalem, as if it were , and explain it to mean Syria or in a more confined sense the immediate neighbourhood of the city. But it may be pointed out that in the instances quoted of it in this sense (Gen 35:5; Gen 41:48) seems invariably to have the article.
(2) It may be suggested therefore that it is better to take it as do the majority of the Greek commentators and the AV. from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum. So Oecumenius , and to the same effect Chrys. Theodrt. Theophylact. This meaning is exactly supported by Xen. Anab. VII. i. 14 , , and substantially by Mar 6:6.
2. It has also been debated whether the words as far as Illyria include or exclude that country. The Greek is ambiguous; certainly it admits the exclusive use. can be used clearly as excluding the sea. As far as regards the facts the narrative of the Acts ( Act 20:2; cf. Tit 3:12) suggests that St. Paul may have preached in Illyria, but leave it uncertain. A perfectly tenable explanation of the words would be that if Jerusalem were taken as one limit and the Eastern boundaries of Illyria as the other, St. Paul had travelled over the whole of the intervening district, and not merely confined himself to the direct route between the two places. Jerusalem and Illyria in fact represent the limits.
If this be the interpretation of the passage it is less important to fix the exact meaning of the word Illyria as used here; but a passage in Strabo seems to suggest the idea which was in St. Pauls mind when he wrote. Strabo, describing the Egnatian way from the Adriatic sea-coast, states that it passes through a portion of Illyria before it reaches Macedonia, and that the traveller along it has the Illyrian mountains on his left hand. St. Paul would have followed this road as far as Thessalonica, and if pointing Westward he had asked the names of the mountain region and of the peoples inhabiting it, he would have been told that it was Illyria. The term therefore is the one which would naturally occur to him as fitted to express the limits of his journeys to the West (Strabo vii. 7. 4).
The word Illyria might apparently be used at this period in two senses. (1) As the designation of a Roman province it might be used for what was otherwise called Dalmatia, the province on the Adriatic sea-coast north of Macedonia and west of Thrace. (2) Ethnically it would mean the country inhabited by Illyrians, a portion of which was included in the Roman province of Macedonia. In this sense it is used in Appian, Illyrica 1, 7; Jos. Bell. Iud. II. xvi. 4; and the passage of Strabo quoted above.
: cf. Col 1:25 , . In both passages the meaning is to fulfil, carry out completely, and so in the AV. to fully preach. In what sense St. Paul could say that he had done this, see below.
20. … introduces a limitation of the statement of the previous verses. Within that area there had been places where he had not been eager to preach, since he cared only to spread the Gospel, not to compete with others. is explained by what follows. (1Th 4:11; 2Co 5:9) means to strive eagerly, having lost apparently in late Greek its primary idea of emulation. See Field, Otium Norv. iii. p. 100, who quotes Polyb. i. 83; Diod. Sic. xii. 46; xvi. 49; Plut. Vit. Caes. liv.
: so named as to be worshipped. Cf. 2Ti 2:19; Isa 26:13; Amo 6:10.
. For cf. 2Co 10:15, 2Co 10:16. St. Paul describes his work (1Co 3:10) as laying a foundation stone: : and so generally the Church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph 2:20).
21. . St. Paul describes the aim of his mission (the limitations of which he has just mentioned) in words chosen from the O. T. The quotation which follows is taken verbally from the LXX of Isa 52:15, which differs but not essentially from the Hebrew. The Prophet describes the astonishment of the nations and kings at the suffering of the servant of Jehovah. That which hath not been told them they shall see. The LXX translates this those to whom it was not told shall see, and St. Paul taking these words applies them (quite in accordance with the spirit of the original) to the extension of the knowledge of the true Servant of Jehovah to places where his name has not been mentioned.
Verses 19-21, or rather a portion of them ( ), are still objected to by commentators (as by Lipsius) who recognize the futility of the objections to the chapter as a whole. In a former case (11:8-10) the clumsiness of an excision suggested by Lipsius was noticed and here he has not been any happier. He omits ver. 20, but keeps the quotation in ver. 21, yet this quotation is clearly suggested by the preceding words . It would be strange if an interpolator were to make the sequence of thought more coherent.
The general objections to the passage seem to be-
(1) It is argued that St. Paul had never preached in Jerusalem, nor would have been likely to mention that place as the starting-point of his mission; that these words therefore are a concession made to the Jewish Christians, and hence that the chapter is a result of the same conciliation tendency which produced the Acts. Most readers would probably be satisfied with being reminded that according to the Acts St. Paul had preached in Jerusalem (Act 9:28, Act 9:29). But it may be also pointed out that St. Paul is merely using the expression geographically to define out the limits within which he had preached the Gospel; while he elsewhere (Rom 11:26) speaks of Sion as the centre from which the Gospel has gone forth.
(2) It is asserted that St. Paul had never preached in Illyricum. There is some inconsistency in first objecting to the language of this passage because it agrees with that of the Acts, and then criticizing it because it contains some statement not supported by the same book. But the reference to Illyricum has been explained above. The passages of the Acts quoted clearly leave room for St. Paul having preached in districts inhabited by Illyrians. He would have done so if he had gone along the Egnatian way. But the words do not necessarily mean that he had been in Illyria, and it is quite possible to explain them in the sense that he had preached as far as that province and no further. In no case do they contain any statement inconsistent with the genuineness of the passage.
(3) It is objected that St. Paul could in no sense use such a phrase as . But by this expression he does not mean that he had preached in every town or village, but only that everywhere there were centres from which Christianity could spread. His conception of the duties of an Apostle was that he should found churches and leave to others to build on the foundation thus laid (1Co 3:7, 1Co 3:10). As a matter of fact within the limits laid down Christianity had been very widely preached. There were churches throughout all Cilicia (Act 15:41), Galatia, and Phrygia (Gal 1:1; Act 18:23). The three years residence in Ephesus implied that that city was the centre of missionary activity extending throughout all the province of Asia (Act 19:10) even to places not visited by St. Paul himself (Col 2:1). Thessalonica was early a centre of Christian propaganda (1Th 1:7, 1Th 1:8; 1Th 4:10), and later St. Paul again spent some time there (Act 20:2). The Second Epistle to the Corinthians contains in the greeting the words , showing that the long residence at Corinth had again produced a wide extension of the Gospel. As far as the Adriatic coast St. Paul might well have considered that he had fulfilled his mission of preaching the Gospel, and the great Egnatian road he had followed would lead him straight to Rome.
(4) A difficulty is found in the words that I may not build on another mans foundation. It is said that St. Paul has just expressed his desire to go to Rome, that in fact he expresses this desire constantly (1:5, 13; 12:3; 15:15), but that here he states that he does not wish to build on another mans foundation; how then it is asked could he wish to go to Rome where there was already a church? But there is no evidence that Christianity had been officially or systematically preached there (Act 28:22), and only a small community was in existence, which had grown up chiefly as composed of settlers from other places. Moreover, St. Paul specially says that it is for the sake of mutual grace and encouragement that he wishes to go there; he implies that he does not wish to stay long, but desires to press on further westward (ver. 24).
THE APOSTLES PLANS
15:22-33. I have been these many times hindered from coming to you, although I have long eagerly desired it. Now I hope I may accomplish my wish in the course of a journey to Spain. But not immediately. I must first take to Jerusalem the contributions sent thither by Macedonia and Achaia-a generous gift, and yet but a just recompense for the spiritual blessings the Gentile Churches have received from the Jews. When this mission is accomplished I hope I may come to you on my way to Spain (vv. 22-29).
Meantime I earnestly ask your prayers for my own personal safety and that the gifts I bear may be received by the Church. I shall then, if God will, come to you with a light heart, and be refreshed by your company. May the God of peace make His peace to light upon you (vv. 30-33).
22. . The reason why St. Paul had been so far prevented from coming to Rome was not the fear that he might build on another mans foundation, but the necessity of preaching Christ in the districts through which he had been travelling; now there was no region untouched by his apostolic labours, no further place for action in those districts. : Gal 5:7; 1Th 2:18; 1Pe 3:7.
, these many times, i.e. all the times when I thought of doing so, or had an opportunity, as in the RV.; not, as most commentators, for the most part (Vulg. plerumque). , which is read by Lips. with B D E F G, is another instance of Western influence in B.
15:23. , seeing that I have no longer opportunity for work in these regions. , as in 12:19, q.v.; Eph 4:27; Heb 12:17, opportunity, scope for action. , tracts or regions (2Co 11:10; Gal 1:21; often in Polybius).
does not occur elsewhere; but (Rom 1:11; 2Co 5:2; 2Co 9:14; Php 1:8; Php 2:26; 1Th 3:6; 2Ti 1:4; Jam 4:5; 1Pe 2:2) and (2Co 7:7, 2Co 7:11) are not uncommon. On its signification, a longing desire, see on 1:11.
: a very favourite word in the Acts of the Apostles (9:23; 18:18, &c.,). It is likely enough that St. Pauls special interest in the Christian community at Rome, though hardly perhaps his knowledge of it, dates from his acquaintance with Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth. This was somewhere about six years before the writing of the Epistle to the Romans, and that interval would perhaps suffice to justify his language about having desired to visit them (a rather vague phrase, but not so strong as the , which was easily substituted for it) Hort, Rom. and Eph. p. 11.
For Western authorities (D F G) read , an attempt to correct the grammar of the sentence. , read by B C 37. 59. 71, Jo.-Damasc., is probably right for , which is supported by all other authorities and is read by R.V.
24. In this verse the words , which are inserted by the TR. after , must be omitted on conclusive manuscript evidence, while must as certainly be inserted after . These changes make the sentence an anacolouthon, almost exactly resembling that in 5:12 ff., and arising from very much the same causes. St. Paul does not finish the sentence because he feels that he must explain what is the connexion between his visit to Spain and his desire to visit Rome, so he begins the parenthesis . Then he feels he must explain the reason why he does not start at once; he mentions his contemplated visit to Jerusalem and the purpose of it. This leads him so far away from the original sentence that he is not able to complete it; but in ver. 28 he resumes the main argument, and gives what is the logical, but not the grammatical, apodosis (cf. 5:18).
. The is temporal: cf. Php 2:23; 1Co 11:34: on this latter passage Evans, in Speakers Comm. p. 328, writes: When I come: rather according as I come: the presence of the points to uncertainty of the time and of the event: for this use comp. Aesch. Eum. 33 .
: 1Co 16:6, 1Co 16:11; 2Co 1:16; need not mean more than to be sent forward on a journey with prayers and good wishes. The best commentary on this verse is ch. 1:11 ff.
Lipsius again strikes out vv. 23, 24 and below in ver. 28 -a most arbitrary and unnecessary proceeding. The construction of the passage has been explained above and is quite in accordance with St. Pauls style, and the desire to pass further west and visit Spain is not in any way inconsistent with the desire to visit Rome. The existence of a community there did not at all preclude him from visiting the city, or from preaching in it; but it would make it less necessary for him to remain long. On the other hand, the principal argument against the genuineness of the passage, that St. Paul never did visit Spain (on which see below ver. 28), is most inconclusive; a forger would never have interpolated a passage in order to suggest a visit to Spain which had never taken place. But all such criticism fails absolutely to realize the width and boldness of St. Pauls schemes. He must carry the message of the Gospel ever further. Nothing will stop him but the end of his own life or the barrier of the ocean.
25. St. Paul now mentions a further reason which will cause some delay in his visit to Rome, and his missionary journey to Spain.
: cf. 2Co 8:4 . The expression ministering to the saints has become almost a technical expression in St. Paul for the contributions made by the Gentile Christians to the Church at Jerusalem.
26. implies that the contribution was voluntary, and made with heartiness and good-will: see on Rom 10:1 (); 1Co 1:21; Gal 1:15.
: of a collection or contribution 2Co 8:4; 2Co 9:13 and Rom 12:13 .
: cf. Gal 2:10 . On the poor Christians at Jerusalem see Jam 2:2 ff.; Renan, Hist. des Origines, &c., vol. iv. ch. 3. In Jerusalem the Sadducees, who were the wealthy aristocracy, were the determined opponents of Christianity, and there must have been in the city a very large class of poor who were dependent on the casual employment and spasmodic alms which are a characteristic of a great religious centre. The existence of this class is clearly implied in the narrative at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. There was from the very first a considerable body of poor dependent on the Church, and hence the organization of the Christian community with its lists (1Ti 5:19) and common Church fund ( Ign. Ad Polyc. iv. 3) and officers for distributing alms (Act 6:1-4) must have sprung up very early.
27. … St. Paul emphasizes the good-will with which this contribution was made by repeating the word ; he then points out that in another sense it was only the repayment of a debt. The Churches of the Gentiles owed all the spiritual blessings they enjoyed to that of Jerusalem, from whom is Christ according to the flesh, and they could only repay the debt by ministering in temporal things.
. Both are characteristically Pauline words. 1Co 9:11 , ; is used without any bad association.
. The word , of which the meaning is of course to be a sharer or participator in, may be used either of the giver or of the receiver. The giver shares with the receiver by giving contributions, so Rom 12:13 (quoted on ver. 26); the receiver with the giver by receiving contributions, so here. The normal construction in the N. T. is as here with the dative: once (Heb 2:14) it is used with the genitive, and this construction is common in the O. T. (Lft. on Gal 6:6).
The contributions for the poor in Jerusalem are mentioned in Rom 15:26, Rom 15:27; 1Co 16:1-3; 2Co 9:1 ff; Act 24:17, and form the subject of the ablest and most convincing section in Paleys Horae Paulinae. Without being in any way indebted to one another, and each contributing some new element, all the different accounts fit and dovetail into one another, and thus imply that they are all historical. For the singular evidence which this passage affords of the genuineness of the Epistle, and what is more important, as it has been impugned, of this chapter in particular, see Paleys Horae Paulinae, chap. ii. No. 1. Jowett, ad loc., and for some further reff. see Introd. 4.
28. . St. Paul resumes his argument and states his plans after the digression he has just made on what lies in the immediate future. With (a Pauline word), cf. Php 1:6; it was used especially of the fulfilment of religious rites (Heb 9:6 and in classical authors), and coupled with above, suggests that St. Paul looks upon these contributions of the Gentile communities as a solemn religious offering and part of their for the benefits received.
, having set the seal of authentication on. The seal was used as an official mark of ownership: hence especially the expression the seal of baptism (2Co 1:22; Eph 1:13; see on 4:11). Here the Apostle implies that by taking the contributions to Jerusalem, and presenting them to the Church, he puts the mark on them (as a steward would do), showing that they are the fruit to the Church of Jerusalem of those spiritual blessings () which through him had gone forth to the Gentile world.
. It has been shown above that it is highly probable that St. Paul should have desired to visit Spain, and that therefore nothing in these verses throws any doubt on the authenticity of the chapter as a whole or of any portions of it. A further question arises, Was the journey ever carried out? Some fresh light is perhaps thrown on the question by Professor Ramsays book The Church and the Empire. If his arguments are sound, there is no reason to suppose that if St. Paul was martyred at Rome (as tradition seems to suggest) he must necessarily have suffered in what is ordinarily called the Neronian persecution. He might have been beheaded either in the later years of Neros reign or even under Vespasian. So that, if we are at liberty to believe that he survived his first imprisonment, there is no need to compress, as has been customary, the later years of his missionary activity.
It is on these assumptions easier to find room for the Spanish journey. Have we evidence for it? Dismissing later writers who seem to have had no independent evidence, our authorities are reduced to two, the Muratorian Fragment on the Canon, and Clement of Rome. We cannot lay much stress on the former; it is possible perhaps that the writer had independent knowledge, but it is certainly more probable that he is merely drawing a conclusion, and not quite a correct one, from this Epistle: the words are sed et profectionem Pauli ab urbe ad Spaniam proficiscentis. The passage in Clement ( 5) runs as follows: , , , , , , , , . This passage is much stronger, and Lightfoots note in favour of interpreting the words as meaning Spain is very weighty; but is it quite certain that a Jew, as Clement probably was (according to Lightfoot himself), speaking of St. Paul another Jew would not look upon Rome relatively to Jerusalem as the , the western limit? We in England might for example speak of Athens as being in the Eastern Mediterranean. There is also some force in Hilgenfelds argument that and should be taken together. For these reasons the question whether St. Paul ever visited Spain must remain very doubtful.
29. : see on 11:12. St. Paul feels confident that his visit to Rome will result in a special gift of Christs blessing. He will confer on the Church a , and will in his turn be comforted by the mutual faith which will be exhibited. Cf. 1:11, 12.
It has been pointed out how strongly these words make for the authenticity and early date of this chapter. No one could possibly write in this manner at a later date, knowing the circumstances under which St. Paul actually did visit Rome. See also ver. 32 .
The TR. reads with c L &c., Vulg.-clem. Syrr. Arm., Chrys. Theodrt. . The words . should be omitted on decisive authority.
30. The reference to his visit to Jerusalem reminds St. Paul of the dangers and anxieties which that implies, and leads him to conclude this section with an earnest entreaty to the Roman Christians to join in prayers on his behalf. Hort (Rom. and Eph. PP. 42-46) points out how this tone harmonizes with the dangers that the Apostle apprehended (cf. Act 20:17-38, Act 20:21:13, &c.): We cannot here mistake the twofold thoughts of the Apostles mind. He is full of eager anticipation of visiting Rome with the full blessing of the accomplishment of that peculiar ministration. But he is no less full of misgivings as to the probability of escaping with his life (p. 43).
. That brotherly love which is one of the fruits of the Spirit working in us (cf. Gal 5:22). That is personal is shown by the parallelism with the first clause.
. He breaks off afresh in an earnest entreaty to them to join him in an intense energy of prayer, wrestling as it were (Hort, op. cit. p. 43). They will as it were take part in the contest that he must fight by praying on his behalf to God, for all prayer is a spiritual wrestling against opposing powers. So of our Lords agony in the garden: Luk 22:44; Mat 26:42. Cp. Origen ad loc.: Vix enim invenies, ut oranti cuiquam non aliquid inanis et alienae cogitationis occurrat, et intentionem, qua in Deum mens dirigitur, declinet ac frangat, atque eam per ea quae non competit, rapiat. Et ideo agon magnus est orationis, ut obsistentibus inimicis, et orationis sensum in diversa rapientibus, fixa ad Deum semper mens stabili intentione contendat, ut merito possit etiam ipse dicere: certamen bonum certavi, cursum consummavi.
31. The Apostles fear is double. He fears the attacks upon himself of the unbelieving Jews, to whom more than any other Christian teacher he was an object of hatred: and he is not certain whether the peace-offering of the Gentile Churches which he was bearing to Jerusalem would be accepted as such by the narrow Jewish Christians at Jerusalem. How strong the first feeling was and how amply justified the Acts of the Apostles show (Act 20:3, Act 20:22; Act 21:11).
In ver. 30 is omitted by B 76, Aeth., Chrys. alone, but perhaps correctly. In ver. 31 for , and for . are instances of Western paraphrase shared by B (B D F G).
32. But the prayer that the Roman Christians offer for St. Paul will also be a prayer for themselves. If his visit to Jerusalem be successful, and his peace-offering be accepted, he will come to Rome with stronger and deeper Christian joy. After the personal danger and the ecclesiastical crisis of which the personal danger formed a part (Hort) he hopes to find rest in a community as yet untroubled by such strife and distraction.
, I may rest and refresh my spirit with you. Only used here in this sense (but later in Hegesippus ap. Eus. H. E. IV. xxii. 2). Elsewhere it is used of sleeping together (Isa 11:6). The unusual character of the word may have been the cause of its omission in B and the alteration in some Western MSS. (see below).
There are several variations of reading in this verse:
(1) A C, Boh. Arm., Orig.-lat. read with some variation in the position of (after , Boh., Orig.-lat.; after A C agreeing in this with other authorities). All later MSS. with the Western group read and insert before . B is alone in having and omitting , but receives support in the reading of some Western authorities; D E read , F G . ., agreeing with most Latin authorities, refrigerer vobiscum.
(2) For (A C L P R, Vulg. Syrr. Boh. Arm., Orig.-lat. Chrys. Thdrt.), Ambrst. have . . , D E F G (with d e f g), fuld. , B . Lightfoot (On a fresh Revision, &c., pp. 106 ff.) suggests that the original reading was used absolutely of the Divine will: cf. Rom 2:18; 1Co 16:12. See also his note on Ign. Eph. 20, Rom. 1 (where some authorities add , others domini), Smyrn. 1, 11. Elsewhere in St. Paul the expression always is , except once, Eph 5:17 .
33. : cf. ver. 5. St. Paul concludes his request for a prayer with a prayer of his own for them. Peace, a keynote of the Epistle, is one of his last thoughts.
A F G and some minuscules omit . On the importance ascribed to this word by some commentators see the Introduction, 9.
Ign. Ignatius.
Lft. Lightfoot.
T. R. Textus Receptus.
F Cod. Augiensis
G Cod. Boernerianus
P Cod. Porphyrianus
Vulg. Vulgate.
B Cod. Vaticanus
Orig.-lat. Latin Version of Origen
Cod. Sinaiticus
Cod. Sinaiticus, corrector c
A Cod. Alexandrinus
L Cod. Angelicus
&c. always qualify the word which precedes, not that which follows:
D Cod. Claromontanus
E Cod. Sangermanensis
Boh. Bohairic.
Harcl. Harclean.
Chrys. Chrysostom.
C Cod. Ephraemi Rescriptus
Mey.-W. Meyer-Weisa.
Gif. Gifford.
Lid. Liddon.
Lips. Lipsius.
Va. Vaughan.
Oltr. Oltramare.
Go. Godet.
Syrr. Syriac.
Cod. Patiriensis
Mey. Meyer.
RV. Revised Version.
Theodrt. Theodoret.
WH. Westcott and Hort.
Orig. Origen.
Aug. Augustine.
Arm. Armenian.
Ath. Athanasius.
Fri. Fritzsche (C. F. A.).
AV. Authorized Version.
Jos. Josephus.
Aeth. Ethiopic.
Eus. Eusebius.
d Latin version of D
e Latin version of E
f Latin version of F
g Latin version of G
Following Christ in Pleasing Others
Rom 15:1-13
This chapter is remarkable for its threefold designation of God. The God of patience and comfort, Rom 15:5; the God of hope, Rom 15:13; and the God of peace, Rom 15:33. Our character may be deficient in these things, but His fullness is there for us to draw upon. There is no stint or lack for those to whom He says, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
We must always be on the lookout for the weak, the heavy-laden, and the downcast. Let us help them with their burdens, anxieties, fears, and questionings-imparting to them something of our cheery hope. Never pleasing ourselves; merciful to others; though merciless in the standard and criticism we apply to our own conduct; comforting ourselves with the Word of God, that we may be able to impart these divine consolations to others. Where such conditions are realized, life becomes a dream of heaven actualized in flesh and blood. But we must fulfill the injunctions of Rom 15:9-13, rejoicing in praise and abounding in hope. The outlook on the earth-side may be dark and depressing, but uncurtain your windows toward God-see, the land is light.
He sums it all up in the first seven verses of chapter 15. The strong should bear the burdens of the weak-as sympathetically entering into their difficulties-and not insist on liberty to please themselves. Rather let each one have his neighbors good in view, seeking his building up and not carelessly destroying his faith by ruthlessly insisting on his own personal liberty. True liberty will be manifested by refraining from what would stumble a weaker one.
In this Christ is the great example. He who need never have yielded to any legal enactment, voluntarily submitted to every precept of the law, and even went far beyond it, pleasing not Himself (as when He paid the temple tax, giving as His reason, Lest we should stumble them), thus taking upon Himself the reproaches of those who reproached God. His outward behavior was as blameless as His inward life, yet men reviled Him as they reviled God.
Verse Rom 15:4 stresses the importance of Old Testament Scripture. Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Link with this 1Co 10:6; 1Co 10:11. All Scripture is not about me, but all Scripture is for me. is a quotation well worth remembering.
He closes this section by praying that the God of patience and consolation may give the saints to be of one mind toward each other, with Christ whose blessed example he has cited, that all may unitedly glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mind and mouth must be in agreement if this be so. And so he exhorts them to receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. If Christ could take us up in grace- whether weak or strong-and make us meet for the glory, surely we can be cordial and Christ-like in our fellowship one with another. Again, I repeat, it is not the question of receiving into the Christian company that is in view here, but the recognition of those already inside.
Properly speaking the epistle as such-the treatise on the righteousness of God-is brought to a conclusion in verses Rom 15:8-13. All that comes afterwards is more in the nature of postscript and appendix.
What has really been demonstrated in this very full treatise? Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. That is, he has shown throughout that our Lord came in full accord with the Old Testament promises. He entered into the sheepfold by the door (as Johns Gospel tells us in Chap. 10), and was the divinely appointed minister to the Jews, come to confirm the covenanted promises. Though the nation rejected Him this does not invalidate His ministry but it opens the door of mercy to the Gentiles in a wider way than ever, though in full accord with the Jewish Scriptures. And so he cites passage after passage to clinch the truth already taught so clearly, that it was foreknown and predetermined that the Gentiles should hear the gospel and be given the same opportunity to be saved that the Jew enjoyed. That this mercy actually transcends anything revealed in past ages we know since the revelation of the mystery, to which he alludes in the last verses of the next chapter. But his point here is that it is not contrary to the predictions of the prophets, but entirely consistent with what God had been pleased to make known beforehand. And so he brings this masterly unfolding of the gospel and its result to a close by saying, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit (vs. Rom 15:13). In believing what? Why, simply in believing the great truths set forth in the epistle-the tremendous verities of our most holy faith-setting before us mans ruin by sin and his redemption through Christ Jesus. When we believe this we are filled with joy and peace as we look on in hope to the consummation of it all at our Lords return, meantime walking before God in the power of the indwelling Spirit who alone makes these precious things real to us.
The balance of the chapter takes on a distinctly-personal character as the apostle takes the saints at Rome into his confidence and tells them of his exercises regarding them and his purpose to visit them. From the reports that had come to him he was persuaded that they were already in a very healthy spiritual state, full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another, so he had no thought of going to them as a regulator but he felt that he had a ministry, committed to him by God which would be profitable for them; and, besides, Rome was part of that great Gentile world into which he had been sent and to which his ministry specially applied, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Israel was no longer the one separate nation but the gospel was for all alike.
It was therefore to be expected that he should visit them whenever the way was opened, and as it seemed to him that his mission to those in Asia Minor and eastern Europe was now in large measure fulfilled, he purposed shortly going westward as far as to Spain and hoped to visit them on the way. Meantime he was going up to Jerusalem to carry an offering from the saints of Macedonia and Achaia to the needy believers of Judea. As soon as this was accomplished he hoped to leave for Spain visiting them en route. What a mercy that the near future was sealed to him. How little he realized what he must soon be called upon to suffer for Christs names sake. Man proposes, but God disposes. And He had quite other plans for His devoted servant-though they included a visit to Rome, but in chains!
Sure that in Gods due time he would get to them and come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ, he beseeches them to pray for the success of his mission to his own countrymen and that he might be delivered from the unbelieving Jews. The prayer was answered, but in how different a manner to what he anticipated!
Rom 15:1-3
Against Self-pleasing.
I. We ought not to please ourselves. “We”: who are the we? Christians, but not that alone. Among Christians, the strong. “We that are strong.” The strength here indicated is not the general strength of the Christian character, although that in a measure is implied, but strength in the one respect of a broad intelligent faith as to the lawfulness of all kinds of food, and as to the complete abrogation of the Mosaic law. It is very noticeable that the Apostle has no corresponding exhortation to the weak. I suppose he foresaw that very few would be willing to accept the terms as descriptive of themselves and their state-that for one who would go and stand under the inscription “the weak” there would be ten ready to stand under the name and inscription of “the strong.” As to self-pleasing, it is never good in any case whatever. (1) It is of the essence of sin. (2) It always tends to meanness of character. (3) It tends to corruption, just as the stagnant water becomes unfit for use. (4) It always inflicts injury and misery on others. (5) It is enormously difficult to the self that is always seeking to be pleased, so difficult, in fact, as to be ultimately quite impossible of realisation.
II. If not ourselves, then whom?” Let every one of us please his neighbour.” But here comes a difficulty, and yet no great difficulty when we look at it more fully. It is this. If the neighbour is to be pleased by me, why should not the neighbour please me in return? If there is to be an obligation at all, it must surely be mutual. Here is the safeguard in the passage itself. “I am to please my neighbour for his good to edification.” The one of these words explains the other. “Good to edification” means good in the spiritual sense, religious good; the building up of the character in spiritual life. That is to be the end and aim of any compliance with his wishes that may be made. We are both to borrow, each from each, and then act for the best. If the spirit be good, there will be but little of practical difficulty in settling the limits of concession-in each pleasing his neighbour for his good to edification.
III. To help us to do this we ought to consider much and deeply the example of Christ. When He was here He never spared Himself. He never chose the easier way, never waited for the weather, never postponed the doing of a duty. Here is an example, high and glorious, and yet near, and human, and touching. And we are to do as He did, and be as He was. Even Christ pleased not Himself.
A. Raleigh, The Little Sanctuary, p. 176.
References: Rom 15:2.-S. A. Tipple, Sunday Mornings at Upper Norwood, p. 250; H. W. Beecher, Forty-eight Sermons, vol. i., p. 22; G. Litting, Thirty Children’s Sermons, p. 1; J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 6th series, p. 39.
Rom 15:2-3
Christ not Pleasing Himself-Christian and Social Tolerance.
I. Note, first, the rule of forbearance as laid down by the Apostle. We have to learn that, within the limits of what is not positively wrong, every one has the right to be himself, to develop his own nature in his own way, and that he cannot be forced into the mould of another without losing his capacity of highest enjoyment, and his power and greatest usefulness to his fellow-men. Our duty under God is to be true to our own nature, but to grant this privilege also to every other, and where we seek to influence them to do it in accordance with the laws of their nature. The question may arise here again, Is there no limit to our self-surrender? and it is pointed out. We are to please our neighbour “for his good to edification.” This is the end, and the end prescribes the limit. Our great object must be not to please our neighbour any more than to please ourselves, but to do him the highest good, and gain an influence that may lead up to truth and duty and God.
II. This forbearance is illustrated by Christ’s example. To prove the disinterested forbearance of Christ, Paul cites a passage that shows His self-devotion to God. He offered Himself to bear the reproach cast on that great name, and thought nothing of self if the honour of God was maintained. There is a broad principle taught us here also-viz., that right action toward men flows naturally from right feeling toward God. If self-pleasing has been sacrificed on the Divine altar, it has received its death-blow in every other form. He who has truly, deeply, entirely given up his will to God is not the man to force it harshly and capriciously on his fellow-men. This is what the Apostle would have us infer regarding Christ in His human bearings. The forbearance of Christ is illustrated (1) in the variety of character which His earthly life drew around it; (2) He interposed to defend others when they were interfered with.
III. Note the advantages that would result from acting on this principle. If we wish those we are influencing to become valuable for anything, it must be by permitting them to be themselves. This is the only way in which we can hope to make our fellow-creatures truly our own. And in pursuing such a course we shall best succeed in elevating and broadening our own nature.
John Ker, Sermons, p. 197.
Rom 15:4
What is the true purpose of Holy Scripture? Why was it written? St. Paul replies, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.” And what kind of learning? we ask. St. Paul answers again, “That we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have, not merely information, but hope.” Scripture, then, is a manual of moral or spiritual learning. It is addressed to the heart and to the will, as well as, or rather than, to the intellect.
I. We need hope. Hope is the nerve-it is the backbone-of all true life, of all serious efforts to battle with evil, and to live for God. For the majority of men, especially as the years pass, life is made up of the disheartening; the sunshine of the early years has gone. The evening is shrouded already with clouds and disappointment. Failure, sorrow, the sense of a burden of past sin, the presentiment of approaching death-these things weigh down the spirit of multitudes. Something is needed which shall lift men out of this circle of depressing thought-something which shall enlarge our horizon, which shall enable us to find in the future that which the present has ceased to yield. And here the Bible helps us as no other book can. It stands alone as the warrant and the stimulant of hope; it speaks with a Divine authority; it opens out a future which no human authority could attest. There are many human books which do what they can in this direction; but they can only promise something better than what we have at present on this side the grave. The Bible is pre-eminently the book of hope. In it God draws the veil which hangs between man and his awful future, and bids him take heart and arise and live.
II. Those who will may find, in Holy Scripture, patience, consolation, hope, not in its literary or historical features, but in the great truths which it reveals about God, about our incarnate Lord, about man-in the great examples it holds forth of patience and of victory, in the great promises it repeats, in the future which it unfolds to the eye of faith, is this treasure to be found.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 848.
Rom 15:4
Practical Use of the Old Testament.
Consider some of the departments of Christian knowledge, for which the study of the Old Testament Scriptures is requisite.
I. The history of the chosen people of God is very full of needful instruction for us. The seed of Abraham were selected as the vehicle of God’s will, and ultimately of the blessings of redemption to the world. But they were also selected for the great lesson to be read to all ages, that the revelation of a moral law of precepts and ordinances never could save mankind. And this fact is one abundantly commented on in the New Testament. A man is equally incapacitated from reading the Gospels and the Acts to much purpose-from appreciating the relative position of our Lord and the Jews in the one, or the Apostles and the Jews in the other-without being fairly read in the Old Testament.
II. Again, one very large and important region of assurance of our faith will be void without a competent knowledge of the prophetical books of the Old Testament. It is only by being familiar with such portions of God’s Word that we have any chance of recognising their undoubted fulfilment, when it arrives as a thing announced to us for our instruction and caution. If God has really given these announcements of futurity to His Church, it cannot be for us who are lying in His hands-the creatures of what a day may bring forth-to neglect them or cast them aside.
III. As an example of life the ancient Scriptures are exceedingly rich and valuable to the Christian.
IV. The direct devotional use of the ancient Scriptures is no mean element in the nurture of the Christian spirit. They are full of the breathings of the souls of holy men of God; full also of the words of life, spoken by Him to the soul. Search the Old Testament Scriptures, for they are they that testify of Christ. To find Him in them is the true and legitimate end of their study. To be able to interpret them as He interpreted them is the best result of all Biblical learning.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. v., p. 260.
The Scriptures Bearing Witness.
St. Paul is here speaking of things in the Old Testament respecting Christ. They are there written, he says, that we may dwell and ponder on the same, as seeing how they have been fulfilled in Him; and, so being supported and comforted by them, may have hope. But as the inspired Scriptures are of no avail unless God Himself, who gave them, enlighten us, he takes up the same words of “patience and consolation,” and proceeds: “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” that God may shed abroad His peace in our hearts, and that His peace may make us at peace with each other; and so, having love to each other, we may render to God acceptable praise and united worship. This, the firstfruits of the Word and of the Spirit, must be by brotherly kindness, uniting Jew and Gentile, bond and free, rich and poor, fragrant as the sacred ointment, and, as the dew from heaven, rich in blessing. “Wherefore receive ye one another,” he adds, “as Christ also received us to the glory of God.”
II. St. Paul then returns to the fulfilment of the Scriptures, showing how the law and the prophets were in Christ altogether accomplished; inasmuch as He fulfilled the righteousness of the law, was the object of its types, the substance of its shadows, and as such the Apostle and High Priest to the Hebrews; and, according to the same Scripture throughout, was to bring the Gentiles to the obedience of faith, that there might be one fold and one Shepherd. The Epistle for the day ends as it begins, with hope as resting on the Scriptures, as strengthened by the fulfilment of them, as imparted by the God of all hope; and this hope is that blessed hope of seeing Christ soon return, and of being accepted by Him. Many and various are the signs of approaching summer, and manifold, in like manner, will be the tokens of Christ’s last Advent which the good will notice-will notice with joy and comfort, as a sick man does the coming on of summer. No light hath been as the light of that day will be; no darkness that we know of will be like that which it brings. O day of great reality and truth! all things are shadows and dreams when compared to thee, and the falling of sun, moon, and stars in the great tribulation will be but as a light affliction, which is but for a moment, compared with thee, like clouds that break away when the sun appears!
I. Williams, The Epistles and Gospels, vol. i., p. 1.
I. There is no book which requires such constant, such daily study, as the Bible. Regard it first merely on what one might call its human side, and quite apart from the fact that it is the wisdom not of man but of God. Scripture is not a hortus siccus, where you can at once find everything you want to find, labelled and ticketed and put away into our drawers; it is a glorious wilderness of sweets, in which under higher guidance you must gradually learn to find your way and discover one by one the beauties it contains, but which is very far from obtruding upon every careless observer. Assume for an instant that Scripture differs in no essential thing from the highest works of human intellect and genius, and then, as other books demand patience and study before they give up their secrets, can it be expected that this book, or rather this multitude of books, should not demand the same?
II. But regard the Scripture in its proper dignity with those higher claims which it has upon us as the message of God to sinful man, and then it will be still more manifest that only the constant and diligent student can hope to possess himself of any considerable portion of the treasures which it contains. For what indeed is Scripture? Men uttered it, but men who were moved thereto by the Holy Ghost. It is the wisdom of God. If all Scripture is by inspiration of God, and all Scripture profitable for instruction in righteousness, must not all Scripture, putting aside a very few chapters indeed, be the object of our most diligent search?
III. Let us read, (1) looking for Christ-Christ in the Old Testament quite as much as in the New. (2) With personal application, for Scripture is like a good portrait, which wherever we move appears to have eyes on us still. (3) Whatever we learn out of God’s Holy Word, let us seek in our lives to fulfil the same and strive to bring both the outward course and inward spirit of our lives into closer and more perfect agreement with what there we search.
R. C. Trench, Sermons New and Old, p. 267.
References: Rom 15:4.-H. P. Liddon, Advent Sermons, vol. i., p. 248; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 204.
Rom 15:4, Rom 15:13
The Twofold Genealogy of Hope.
I. We have here the hope that is the child of the night and born in the dark. “Whatsoever things,” says the Apostle, “were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience”-or rather, the brave perseverance-“and consolation”-or rather, perhaps encouragement-“of the Scriptures might have hope.” The written word is conceived to be the source of patient endurance which acts as well as suffers. This grace Scripture works in us through the encouragement it ministers in manifold ways, and the result of both is hope. Scripture encourages us, (1) by its records, and (2) by its revelation of principles. Hope is born of sorrow; but darkness gives birth to the light, and every grief blazes up a witness to a future glory. Sorrow has not had its perfect work unless it has led us by the way of courage and perseverance to a stable hope. Hope has not pierced to the rock and builds only on things that can be shaken, unless it rests on sorrows borne by God’s help.
II. We have also a hope that is born of the day, the child of sunshine and gladness, and that is set before us in the second of the two verses which we are considering. “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope.” (1) Faith leads to joy and peace. Paul has found, and if we only put it to the proof we shall also find, that the simple exercise of simple faith fills the soul with all joy and peace. (2) The joy and peace which spring from faith in their turn produce the confident anticipation of future and progressive good. Herein lies the distinguishing blessedness of the Christian joy and peace, in that they carry in themselves the pledge of their own eternity. Here, and here only, the mad boast which is doomed to be so miserably falsified when applied to earthly gladness is simple truth. Here “tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” Such joy has nothing in itself which betokens exhaustion, as all the less pure joys of earth have. It is manifestly not born for death, as are they. It is not fated, like all earthly emotions or passions, to expire in the moment of its completeness, or even by sudden revulsion to be succeeded by its opposite. Its sweetness has no after-pang of bitterness. It is not true of this gladness that “Hereof cometh in the end despondency and madness,” but its destiny is to remain as long as the soul in which it unfolds shall exist, and to be full as long as the source from which it flows does not run dry.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, June 24th, 1886.
Reference: Rom 15:13.-G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 240.
Rom 15:29
Christian Confidence.
Consider the sources of our confidence in our Christian influence.
I. There is the constancy of Christ Himself. The constancy of Christ is as much an article of our confidence as His beneficence. His image in the gospel story is that of one without variableness or shadow of turning. When He was on earth, not weariness, nor want, nor scorn, nor cruelty, nor the neglect of His people, nor the imperfections of His disciples, could shake His fidelity, or change the current of His unvarying grace. And now that He has passed away from the gloom and trouble of earth into the serene air of heaven; now that He has laid aside the weakness of humanity, while He retains manhood’s tender sympathy and helpful purpose; now that He has established His kingdom in the world and only lives to direct and to advance it; what room is there for fears of His inconstancy to cross and cloud our souls? We have no such fears. We rise into the region of certainty whenever we approach the Saviour.
II. Christ is not only the object of Christian trust; He is the spirit of the Christian life. The measure of our Christian confidence determines the measure of our Christian usefulness; spiritual influence is only the outward side of Christian character. The heart prepares its own reception. We take with us the atmosphere in which we mix with others. Nothing can finally withstand the affectionate purpose of benediction, the spirit that, daunted or undaunted, cries still, “I have blessed thee, and thou shalt be blessed.” The fact that we have human souls to deal with, each one wrapped in its own experience, often wayward, often perverse, can no more avail than our consciousness of our own imperfection and instability, to suppress the confidence of Christian believers: “I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.”
A. Mackennal, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 284.
References: Rom 15:29.-J. Vaughan, Sermons, 6th series, p. 1; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 1. Rom 15:33.-J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 293. Rom 16:7.-E. Garbett, Experiences of the Inner Life, p. 51. Rom 16:10.-G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 426. Rom 16:23.-A. Maclaren, Week-day Evening Addresses, p. 124.
CHAPTER 15
1. The Example of Christ. (Rom 15:1-7.)
2. The Ministry of Christ. (Rom 15:8-13.)
3. Pauls Personal Ministry. (Rom 15:14-33.)
Rom 15:1-7
An additional motive is brought in why the strong should bear the infirmities of the weak and not please themselves. It is Christ. He did not please Himself, but bore in great meekness and patience the reproaches with which men reproached God, and these reproaches fell on Christ Himself. It was the reproach of God He bore in perfect meekness. We are therefore to be likeminded one to another according to Christ Jesus. Wherefore receive ye one another even as Christ also received you to the glory of God. We have then three instructions concerning the weak brother: 1. To receive the weak, but not to doubtful disputations. 2. Not to judge a brother in those things, because he is Christs servant, and any one must give an account of himself. 3. To bear the infirmities of the weak, to put no stumbling block in their way, not to please ourselves. We are to walk in love and manifest that love by receiving one another as Christ has received us to the glory of God. And blessed are we if we also walk according to those rules and manifest the mind of Christ.
Rom 15:8-13
The exhortations are ended, and what we find in the rest of this chapter is supplementary to the whole Epistle and touches once more on the question concerning the Jews and the Gentiles. Christ was the minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises to the fathers. Thus He appeared in the midst of His people. But the Gentiles also were to receive mercy through Him. Four Scriptures are quoted to prove that it is the purpose of God to bless the Gentiles in mercy with His people Israel (Psa 18:49; Deu 32:43 in Moses great prophetic song; Psa 117:1 and Isa 11:10). But it must not be overlooked that these quotations do not teach that Gentiles are as fellow heirs put into the same body with believing Jews. They show that God had announced that Gentiles would rejoice in salvation and trust in Christ. The fulfillment of the passages quoted awaits the second coming of our Lord when He shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, when Gentiles will rejoice with the saved remnant of Israel. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is our most blessed inheritance. The Holy Spirit indwells the child of God and in believing He manifests His power, the God of hope filling us with all joy and peace, so that we abound in hope, looking forward to that blessed day, the realization of our blessed Hope, when we shall be like Him and see Him as He is.
Rom 15:14-33
Then the great man of God speaks lastly of his own ministry. Much might be written on this interesting paragraph. He had a special ministry conferred upon Himself. It was grace which had given it to him. His ministry he describes as being the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. A closer study of his statements, which tell of his humility, his marvelous service in power, his confidence, as well as other things, will be found helpful and instructive. He looked forward to his coming visit to Rome and requested the prayers of the brethren. And when he came there at last, he came as the prisoner of the Lord, and from Rome he sent forth the greatest of his Epistles.
damned condemned, i.e. as in Rom 14:22.
sin Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
The Privilege of the Strong
We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.Rom 15:1.
1. It was essential that men whose prejudices and instincts were different should live in the same church and eat at the same love feast. Formerly, as in Syria and Palestine, it was the Jews who occupied the position of vantage in the Christian communities, and were not disposed to tolerate the ways of the Gentiles. Now the tables are turned, and the Gentiles are in the majority. And the danger is that those whose instincts are Gentile should bear hardly upon the minority whose prejudices are more or less Jewish. This, St. Paul anticipates, or knows from Priscilla and Aquila, will be the danger among the Roman Christians. To be told he must not use his normal liberty, must not eat his usual meal or drink his usual cup of wine, because it might scandalize some Christian with the ascetic prejudices of an Essene, or even induce him to do the same against his own conscienceto be told this was annoying to a man who held the strong Christian conviction that all kinds of food were indifferently allowable. The weak scruple of his brother Christian had become an annoying burden of self-denial and self-restraint laid on himself.
Wewho are the we? Christians; but among Christians, the strong. It is very noticeable that the Apostle has no corresponding exhortation to the weak. One would expect that he who writes to servants and masters, to wives and husbands, at the same time, would, in a connection like this, address also the weak while speaking to the strong. But it is not so. One reason may be that he foresaw that very few would be willing to accept that term as descriptive of themselves and their statethat for one who would go and stand under the inscription, the weak, there would be ten ready to stand under the name and title of the strong. They might hold those particular opinions and prejudices regarding meats, and regarding the Mosaic law, which the Apostle here expressly declares to be characteristic of the weak, in fact, to constitute the weakness, yet they themselves would be the last to allow or to perceive this. They would rather be disposed to think themselves strong, and firm, and faithful, holding on to truth and Divine commandment amid general defection. The same difficulty would be found now in getting any considerable number of people in a community to acknowledge themselves weak in any matter of Christian faith or intelligence. Therefore we do not need an exhortation to the weak. It is the strong that we are to urge not to please themselves.
How little difference there is between the scruples of the Jewish Christians and those which vex the Church to-day. The scruples which perplex ordinary Christian people, especially young Christians, to-day are commonly connected either with the ritual or with the ethics of religion. Ought fermented wine to be used in the Communion service? Can every line of a hymn honestly express the feeling of those who sing it? Is it wrong to play at cards or to smoke cigarettes? What kinds of recreation are lawful for us on Sunday?1 [Note: T. H. Darlow.]
2. St. Paul applies the law of Tolerance. He would have the followers of Christ forbearing one with another as the Master was forbearing with them. Christ was pre-eminently broad and many-sided, touching and attracting human nature in all its aspects. His disciples represent the extremes of temperament, from the sanguine outspoken Peter to the quiet reflective John, and within these all the rest move and act in their own likeness. He is never careful to stamp on them a hard uniformity, but leaves them to their own natural development, and aids them in it. Then, outside this circle, we have groups of all possible colours,the Pharisee and the Publican, Nicodemus and Zacchus, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene, the woman by the well and the women at the sepulchre, the centurion beside the cross and the thief upon it. He draws all men unto Him, and while there is a change in the depth of their nature, while a higher life is infused into them, it unfolds itself in every direction without constraint, as the earth in spring-time is drawn forth into every form and colour of leaf and flower by the all-sympathetic attraction of the sun. We do not admire enough this generosity of mind in our great Master, so different from that which prevails among the founders of human systems, who cannot be satisfied unless their formulas are repeated, and their minutest features reflected, by all their scholars. His word came with power, not to stamp with the uniformity of death, but to create the manifoldness of life. How very different was the society which gathered round Jesus of Nazareth from that harsh spiritual despotism which Loyola sought to create under His name!
Real tolerance means to have a belief, and to be aware of another mans belief which disagrees with it; to consider the disagreement of essential importance; to have the power, and be able to find an opportunity, of combating, perhaps of extinguishing it; then, to forbear; even to let the adverse, the noxious thing work. Not that I understand by toleration a duty to stand neutral in the contest. Only they in such circumstances can be neutral who do not mind; for whom to be tolerant is no virtue. With genuine tolerance the fullest loyal exercise of the same liberty as is allowed to the other side is entirely consistent. All which is inhibited is the use of unfair weapons in the strife.1 [Note: W. Stebbing, Three Essays, 7.]
In the Life of Cardinal Vaughan, Mr. Wilfrid Meynell gives an account of a visit paid by the Cardinal, when he was Bishop of Manchester, to one of the Salvation Army Shelters. In one room sat a number of women, mostly old women, at various sorts of needlework. Are any of my people here? asked the Bishop, addressing the assembly. And, dotted about the room, aged dames, in the dignity of Poverty, stood up for their Faith. Then the Bishop turned on the Captain: And do these attend Protestant prayers? They attend the praises of God every evening. And what do you preach? We preach Christ and Him Crucified, and we shall be very pleased if you will stay and so preach Him this evening. We are quite unsectarian. This was too much. Well, but if I told them that unless they were baptized they could not be saved? I should tell them that it was not true, said the Captain. And I should tell them that it was not true, echoed Cardinal Manning when we told him the story an hour later; I should explain to them the Churchs doctrine of the Baptism of Desire.2 [Note: Life of Cardinal Vaughan, i. 481.]
Surely we might make more allowance for the roads we walk in if the great ends we aim at are the same. Our paths through life are like the great tracks men map out on the seas. They say they go the same way that the ships of old have gone; they mean they seek the same harbour, round the same headlands, shun the same quicksands, read the same, silent, constant stars. But the waves they plough have changed a myriad times; the great unrest or circumstance has broken into confusion the unquiet road they travel, but they call it still the same, because by the same great eternal sureties, it points them to the same old heaven. So by the sure witness of faith we pass over the restless path of human accident to the great truth harbour that we seek.1 [Note: A. V. G. Allen, Phillips Brooks, 92.]
3. Christ did not merely refrain from interfering with free growth Himself, He interposed to defend others when they were interfered with. His most marked action is in behalf of liberty, and He is strongest in rebuke when He checks the attempt of any one to thrust his own character on another, to the destruction of its genuineness. What a lesson there is to contending, narrow-minded religionists, who can see nothing beyond their own circle, in His answer: Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us (Luk 9:49). Forbid him not; for he that is not against you is for you. It is as if He had said, We must not narrow the cause of God to our own party, but rejoice in goodness wherever it appears. If we are right it is all coming our way.
Crawford had cashiered or suspended his lieutenant-colonel for the sore offence of holding wrong opinions in religion. Cromwells rebuke (March 1643) is of the sharpest. Surely you are not well advised thus to turn off one so faithful in the cause, and so able to serve you as this man is. Give me leave to tell you, I cannot be of your judgment; cannot understand it, if a man notorious for wickedness, for oaths, for drinking, hath as great a share in your affection as one who fears an oath, who fears to sin. Ay, but the man is an Anabaptist. Are you sure of that? Admit that he be, shall that render him incapable to serve the public? Sir, the State in choosing men to serve it takes no notice of their opinions; if they be willing faithfully to serve it, that satisfies. I advised you formerly to bear with men of different minds from yourself; if you had done it when I advised you to do it, I think you would not have had so many stumbling-blocks in your way. Take heed of being sharp, or too easily sharpened by others, against those to whom you can object little but that they square not with you in every opinion concerning matters of religion.1 [Note: John Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 131.]
The Government introduced a Bill to permit an affirmation to be made by Mr. Bradlaugh. Gladstone made one of his most magnificent speeches in support of this Bill. Never did he appear to me to greater advantage. I should think he literally loathed the theologicalor non-theologicalopinions of Mr. Bradlaugh. Between the two men there could be no personal sympathy whatever. But Mr. Gladstone saw in him the sign, symbol, and impersonation of a gross political injustice; and, rising superior to all petty, personal, or sectarian feelings, he pleaded with amazing and overpowering eloquence for justice, equality, and freedom of opinion. He knew the folly of attempting in any way to coerce opinion and to place any kind of penalty upon it.2 [Note: Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 170.]
4. The exercise of this law of tolerance is possible since Christ ascended as it was not possible while He was on earth. His withdrawal from earth in His visible person is in favour of free Christian development, since the very presence of a visible Lord and Lawgiver, however wise and tolerant, must tend to uniformity in the character of His subjects. The principle of working by His Spirit is to enter into each nature by itself, and unfold it from its own germ and centre. It is the lifting up and widening of the first overshadowing canopy of His personal guidance, which was needful in its time, into the grand arch of the heavens, beneath which all can grow up more freely and expansively. It is for wise reasons, in regard to Christian growth, that a visible Head is removed from the Christian Church, and that the liberal unconstrained movements of faith are substituted, meanwhile, for the limitation and fixity of sight. We can perceive how the disciples started up into stronger, broader men, under this new influence, and how their characters struck out on all sides into more marked individuality. There was a presence of Christ to implant the first seeds, and foster them; then a departure, that they might grow up more freely in His absence, till through His Spirit they reach a full stature and firm character. When these are gained, and individuality is fully formed, there can be a safe return to that closest proximity to Him which is their highest happiness, and where, too, they shall feel that the law of love is perfect liberty.
The natural history of toleration seems simple, but it is in truth one of the most complex of all the topics that engage either the reasoner or the ruler; and until nations were by their mental state ready for religious toleration, a statesman responsible for order naturally paused before committing himself to a system that might only mean that the members of rival communions would fly at one anothers throats, like Catholics and Huguenots in France, or Spaniards and Beggars in Holland. In history it is our business to try to understand the possible reasons and motives for everything, even for intolerance.1 [Note: John Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 171.]
Christian freedom is no trifle, although it may concern a trifle.2 [Note: Luther.]
5. Now, if we showed this tolerance after the mind of Christ what effect would it have on the weak? Would not the kindly attention paid to their scruplesthe kindly respect evinced for them by those who did not share themwould it not tend to soften their prejudice against the views of the other side, to make them more ready to weigh arguments from thence, and more open to conviction; winning them, perhaps, to re-examine the subject with a care and a candour they had never previously given it, with a care and a candour that might end in their ultimate conversion to truer ideas? The mistaken are too frequently averted from the truer ideas with which we would possess them, and driven to hug more tenaciously their own, by the contemptuous or derisive treatment which these receive. With a lack of due tenderness and due reverence on our part for what they honestly think, we help to keep them where they are, and prevent the requisite listening to and entertainment on their part, of what might otherwise gradually commend itself to them.
I
The Weak
1. Every community has its contingent of weaklings, who require much study and care, and are more or less of a burden upon their comrades. Indeed, in some places the Church of Jesus Christ seems to be made up of valetudinarians. Its courts are as much thronged by the halt, the maimed, the half-palsied, the crutch-going, as those gay but depressing resorts that are built near hot mineral springs. The weakness and infirmity huddled together in some places where prayer is wont to be made sadden the observer. Men who should be the strength and stay of discipleship, pillars in a spiritual temple, are wind-shaken reeds, and pass through many ignoble moods of faithlessness, wavering, egoism, and caprice. Christian society should be a colony of giants. But to-day it resembles more an institution for sheltering Mephibosheths who are lame in their feet than a training-school of Samsons.
2. Let us look at some of the causes of this lamentable weakness.
(1) In some cases moral and religious weakness is bound up with constitutional infirmities. A hereditary blot, or perhaps an accumulation of blots not flagrantly black, may explain the weakness and wavering of inconsistent members of the Church. Men may be disqualified for success in a Christian society, or in the outside world, by the double handicap of birth and training. They are amongst the stragglers in business matters, and have no compensating record in the Kingdom of God. An obvious lack of vitality shows itself. The movements of hands, feet, blood, and brain are indeterminate. The poor creatures are only half-alive, narrow-chested, shallow-thoughted, shrunken-souled. The pace at which they crawl justifies the most abject words of self-abasement used. The anmic habit follows them into religion. They think feebly, feel languidly, act without promptness and complete decision. Perhaps there is an intermittent touch of hectic spirituality in their lives; but tone, emphasis, strongly marked Christian qualities, are wanting. They may backslide at any moment, and their state calls out many fears.
It is said that when heavy and continuous rain falls on the fells of the north the ground becomes so sodden that the sheep will stand stupefied in the same spot for hours, sinking deeper and deeper into the mire. They make no effort to reach a sure foothold, and, unless dogged out, die in numbers. And some of those who have put themselves within the care of the Church have to be hunted again and again out of the gaming-club, the dram-shop, the place of the scornful, and the scene of tainted pleasure. They seem to be mazed with stupefaction, and to have lost all power of helping themselves.1 [Note: T. G. Selby.]
(2) But religious weakness sometimes appears amongst those for whom little or no excuse can be made. A pious ancestry, with all its benefits, does not always produce moral strength and vigour in the offspring. The descendants of godly forefathers drift on summer tides into a superficial enjoyment of religion, without soul-struggle and sharp sacrifice. The self-protective instincts and equipments of sterner days are lost. Perhaps there is a recoil from the rigour of home discipline, and the attempt to put too much into the child has produced a feeling of satiety. The decrepit are many and the robust few, and the children even of Christians need unsleeping care and attention if they are to be kept in the right path. To-day this man sleeps in the pleasant arbour, and, on waking, finds that his roll is gone; to-morrow he is in Bypath Meadow. Those whose association with the people of God is hereditary get into Doubting Castle, as well as pilgrims who have come straight from the heart of Babylon.
Lord, not for light in darkness do we pray,
Not that the veil be lifted from our eyes,
Nor that the slow ascension of our day
Be otherwise.
Not for a clearer vision of the things
Whereof the fashioning shall make us great,
Not for remission of the peril and stings
Of time and fate.
Not for a fuller knowledge of the end
Whereto we travel, bruised yet unafraid,
Nor that the little healing that we lend
Shall be repaid.
Not these, O Lord. We would not break the bars
Thy wisdom sets about us; we shall climb
Unfettered to the secrets of the stars
In Thy good time.
We do not crave the high perception swift
When to refrain were well, and when fulfil,
Nor yet the understanding strong to sift
The good from ill.
Not these, O Lord. For these Thou hast revealed,
We know the golden season when to reap
The heavy-fruited treasure of the field,
The hour to sleep.
Not these. We know the hemlock from the rose,
The pure from stained, the noble from the base,
The tranquil holy light of truth that glows
On Pitys face.
We know the paths wherein our feet should press,
Across our hearts are written Thy decrees,
Yet now, O Lord, be merciful to bless
With more than these.
Grant us the will to fashion as we feel,
Grant us the strength to labour as we know,
Grant us the purpose ribbed and edged with steel,
To strike the blow.
Knowledge we ask notknowledge Thou has lent,
But, Lord, the willthere lies our bitter need,
Give us to build above the deep intent
The deed, the deed.1 [Note: John Drinkwater, Poems of Men and Hours, 1.]
(3) Some of the laggards who vex and burden the Church have an impaired religious experience because, at the beginning, their surrender to the call of the Gospel was defective. They failed to count the cost of discipleship, and have not hitherto thought it necessary to repair the early omission. Buoyed up with the promises of the evangel, which, like the early disciples, they construed in a somewhat worldly sense, they came in with the others. Perhaps they allowed themselves to be dragged into religion by the pressure of friends, and made no firm, deliberate choice of their own. Upon the promise of the world they are inclined to leanmuch at some times, and not quite so much at other times. The spiritual has never come to them with such convincing demonstration that they can stake all their interests on it. In the comforts, promises, associations of religion, they feel some measure of satisfaction, but would not like to be quite shut up to these things. A strain of respectable selfishness enters into their religion.
Fain would I climb the heights that lead to God,
But my feet stumble and my steps are weak
Warm are the valleys, and the hills are bleak:
Here, where I linger, flowers make soft the sod,
But those far heights that martyr feet have trod
Are sharp with flints, and from the farthest peak
The still, small voice but faintly seems to speak,
While here the drowsy lilies dream and nod.
I have dreamed with them, till the night draws nigh
In which I cannot climb: still high above,
In the blue vastness of the awful sky,
Those unsealed peaks my fatal weakness prove
Those shining heights that I must reach, or die
Afar from God, unquickened by His love.1 [Note: Louise Chandler Moulton.]
II
The Strong
St. Paul advises those who sympathize with him to subdue their impatience with the scrupulosity of the feeble-minded and to put a tax on their own Christian liberty if by such harmless concessions the peace and liberty of the Church could be promoted. To do this is difficult enough, and it is good, but after all it is a low level. Does the Apostle Paul, glowing with zeal and love, mean no more by his exhortation Bear the infirmities of the weak? His words lift us into the high level of suffering. Bear with is not enough. We must bearcarry with difficulty, perhaps bleed underthe burdens of those others who are weaker than ourselves.
We must not only tolerate the blind man who tramples down our flowers. The loss of his sight must be felt by us as a personal loss.
1. The law that the strong are to care for, support, and cherish the weak is not a natural law. We are confronted every day with the spectacle of a life in which, so far from the strong bearing the infirmities of the weak, it is the condition of their very existence that they should crush and destroy the weak. Interesting analogies have often been drawn between the natural and the spiritual life, and attempts have even been made to show that the same laws hold good in both. But here at least we have a case in which the law of the spiritual world is the very reverse of that which obtains in the natural. The law of nature, we are told, in regard to all the lower forms of life, is success to the strong, failure and extermination to the weak. Everywhere around us, it is said, on the surface of the earth, there is going on a struggle for existence, in which, as there is not room for all, the weak must inevitably succumb, while the strong survive and multiply. The order of physical nature constitutes a stern and unchangeable environment which favours, at the expense of all others, those natures which have any special fitness to combat with its hostile, or avail themselves of its favourable, conditions. To all others nature is absolutely merciless. If we can trace advancement or progress in this sphere, it is an advancement every step of which is marked by the crushing out of the feeble, and the survival only of the strongest and fittest.
If you plant a rose tree in the shadow of an oleander, the rose tree will die and the oleander will flourish and fatten on its life. The weak succumbs to the strong. The grip of the strangler is upon all feeble plants in field and forest. The same holds true of animal life. Wolves rend in pieces a wounded member of their pack. The lion devours the lamb, and grows stronger by absorbing the strength of the vanquished.
The same law holds good in politics as in nature. The Survival of the Fittest has ever been the determining factor in international affairs. The weaker nations have gone down, one by one, devoured by the strong, until in our time there is a concentration of authority in a voracious group known as The Great Powers. War is the process by which their supremacy has been accomplished and is being kept up. War is hell, said General Sherman; but what of that? The monopoly must be maintained. Will you appeal to arbitration? Arbitration will work only when war is inexpedient; that is, when both parties to the controversy are afraid to fight.1 [Note: D. J. Burrell.]
2. In Christs Kingdom the law is changed. It is no longer the Survival of the Fittest. It is the Survival of the Unfit. This change was not accomplished easily. It came only through pain. Christ Himself had to come into the world as Gods protest against the Survival of the Fittest. He, the Fittest, had to die, in order that the unfit might survive. It was for this that He came into the world. It was for this that He emptied Himself of heavens wealth, that we, through His poverty, might be made rich. It was for this that He climbed up Calvary with our sins upon His breaking heart. Come down from the cross, they cried, if thou be the Son of God. It was because He was the Son of God that He could not come down. As the Strong, He must die for the weak. Of all in earth and heaven He was the Fittest; and through His self-denial the unfit must live.
3. Having laid, in His own blood, the foundations of a new dispensation of universal love and helpfulness, Christ sent forth a summons to all like-minded with Himself. Follow me, in the setting up of a kingdom of love in the worlda kingdom in which every man shall minister to the weaker man, in which ye shall find life by losing it and serve God in caring for your fellows.
Our Lord served other people to the point of physical weakness and exhaustion, and even unto death. Our service too frequently ends where blood-letting begins. We stop short of the promise of fertility. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Yes, and the blood of the servant fertilizes the field of his service. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood! And it is just at that point of resistance that we begin to win. It is just when our service becomes costly that it begins to pay. Life becomes contagious when it becomes sacrificial. Our work begins to tell when the workman is content to suffer, when he persists even unto blood. But is it not true that for many of us our service ends just when we reach the bitter cup? Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink? No, we are not able, and when our service becomes bitter we give it up. From that timeCalvary in sightmany of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
We may have all things in common with Christ; nay, it is the high sign and seal of fellowship that we do sit with Him at the common board. But here is our frequent mistake, that we regard that table as laden only with welcome provisions, and even with delicate and dainty luxuries. On that table there is the provision of peace, and the provision of joy, and the provision of glory! And over all the table, from end to end of it, there is the soft and healing light of grace. That is how we think of the table, and, blessed be God! all these rare provisions are surely to be found at the feast, and we may have all these things in common with the Lord. But there is also another cup upon the table, a cup that is very near the Masters hand, a cup which we very frequently forget or ignore. It is a bitter cup, the cup of the Lords sufferings.
Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink? Are we prepared to have all things in common? We drink the cup of kindness, the overflowing cup of redeeming grace. Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink? Now, it was upon that cup that the aged Apostle fixed his covetous eyes, that cup that was nearest his Saviours hand, the cup of bitterness and woe. I have tasted, I think I hear him say, I have tasted and seen how gracious He is; I have drunk the cup of His salvation, but I thirst for a deeper communion still; not only the sweet and palatable cup, but that dark and bitter cup would I taste; that cup whose contents are as blood. I would have all things in common. 1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
This mood hath known all beauty, for it sees
Oerwhelmed majesties
In these pale forms, and kingly crowns of gold
On brows no longer bold,
And through the shadowy terrors of their hell
The love for which they fell,
And how desire which cast them in the deep
Called God too from His sleep.
Oh, pity, only seer, who looking through
A heart melted like dew,
Seest the long perished in the present thus,
For ever dwell in us.
Whatever time thy golden eyelids ope
They travel to a hope;
Not only backward from these low degrees
To starry dynasties,
But, looking far where now the silence owns
And rules from empty thrones,
Thou seest the enchanted hills of heaven burn
For joy at our return.
Thy tender kiss hath memory we are kings
For all our wanderings.
Thy shining eyes already see the after
In hidden light and laughter.1 [Note: A. E., The Divine Vision.]
III
The Way of the Strong with the Weak
If the strong neglect the weak they go back to the doctrine of a limited redemption. Did Jesus Christ die only for the strong, the steadfast, the sound-minded? Are morbid, irresolute, wavering souls reprobate from their birth? If we believe in the redemption of the halt, the maimed, the half-palsied in will and religious capacity, let us come back to first principles and act upon them. Strength and perfection are often reached through temporary inconsistency and failure. The Bible is not afraid to lift up its voice for those men and women of an infirm religion who so often vex us to scorn.
Christ stooped to the little children. He took them up in His arms and called them by their names, and breathed over them His blessing. So let me carry the young lambs heart among the full-grown flocks.
He suffered long with backward disciples. He gave them line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little of the Word of Life. He never lost patience with themnever once, however they might provoke Him. So let me bear and forbear.
He welcomed timid and doubting souls. When one came to Him by night, He did not rebuke his tearfulness, but took him and expounded to him the salvation of God. So let me encourage the feeblest seeker after truth; I once groped in the dim twilight myself.
He had hope for the worst. The woman of the city, and the grasping tax-gatherer, and the robber on the treeHe hated their sin, but He redeemed and saved themselves. The jewel had fallen into the mire, and was all encrusted with foulness; but to His eyes it was a jewel still. So let me despair of none.
He loved His enemies. Father, forgive them, He prayed almost with His latest breath. Nothing could kill or destroy His exceeding grace. Nothing could vanquish His blessed optimism. So let me overcome evil with good, and out of ruins help to raise temples to the glory of God.1 [Note: A. Smellie, In the Hour of Silence, 192.]
1. We may help the weak by personal encouragement.When men are poor, meagre-souled, shabby in their standards, wind and wave tossed, without certain anchorage, with loose, shallow, unsubstantial foundations of character beneath them, it is because they have forgotten God and have been living in a universe bereft of its Almighty King. We are babes no longer when we acquire the true sense of God. To the timid, vacillating soul, unstrung by morbid moods, lacking spiritual soundness, we must address the message, God is near. He comes to save you. The foreign sailor or soldier of poor physique, cringing with superstition, prone to panic, afraid of the darkness, puts on the qualities of his European or American leader when there is a sense of comradeship. He is steadied by the strength of the man who shows the way. And so with weak disciples. A rapid change begins when they realize that God is at hand.
Having abandoned the notion of classical honourswhich indeed are not very easily obtainable at Cambridge, even by those who have a bent in their directionthe ordinary B.A. degree presented no difficulty to the always robust intelligence of Lockwood. He seems, however, to have called in the aid of the famous coach for the pollmen of those and many other cheerful days, Mr. Hamlin Smith, affectionately known as Big Smith, whose encouraging countenance was often seen during periods of examination outside the Senate House, where he was accustomed to receive the touching confidences of his pupils, who would run up to him and tell him, as best they could, and in their simple way, how they had fared at the hands of the common enemy. If you have really done three propositions, I once overheard him, with a somewhat painful emphasis, say to a pupil, you are undoubtedly through.2 [Note: 2 A. Birrell, Sir Frank Lockwood, 29.]
O Christian man deal gently with the sinner
Think what an utter wintry waste is his
Whose heart of love has never been the winner,
To know how sweet it is
Be pitiful, O Christian, to the sinner,
Think what a world is his!
He never heard the lisping and the trembling
Of Edens gracious leaves about his head
His mirth is nothing but the poor dissembling
Of a great soul unfed
Oh, bring him where the Eden-leaves are trembling,
And give him heavenly bread.
As Winter doth her shrivelled branches cover
With greenness, knowing spring-times soft desire,
Even so the soul, knowing Jesus for a lover,
Puts on a new attire
A garment fair as snow, to meet the Lover
Who bids her come up higher.1 [Note: Alice Cary, Plea for Charity.]
2. We may help the weak by making their ways smooth.Many name their righteousness in negative termsthey are not thieves, libertines, liars, or drunkards, and therefore they are right with God. But Christianity is positive. When man is enjoined to keep himself unspotted from the world, he is commanded to defend his brother. He is judged by what he leaves undone, and not only by what he does. Though he never placed a stone of stumbling on the highway, he yet is keeper of the road on which his fellows travel. Our task of helping those who are ready to perish must be worked at from two sides. If we neglect the duty of personal succour, encouragement, admonition, some may perish because of our selfish slackness; and the same result may also follow if we forget to consummate our work for the weak by improving the conditions in which they have to move, and making our part of the world an easier sphere for the practice of virtue and godliness.
Here is a poor suicide, who, in a frantic moment in some wretched room to-day, does that most cowardly and miserable sin, and with the pistol or the poison flees from the post where God had put him. You never saw the man. He never heard of you. Have you anything to do with his miserable dying? If you have cheapened life; if you by sordidness and frivolity have made it seem a poor instead of a noble thing to live; if you have consistently given to life the look of a luxury to be kept as long as it is pleasant, and to be flung away the minute it becomes a burden, instead of a duty to be done at any cost, with any pains, till it is finished; if this has been the meaning of your life in the community and in the world, then you most certainly have something to do with that poor wretchs death. You helped to kill that suicide.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks.]
What a gain when the path by which the sick, the maimed, the fainting must travel to their goal of rest is free from roughness, and has no unnecessary windings! The straight, smooth road from the battle-field may make all the difference between life and death to some who have been smitten down in the fight. If cliffs have to be scaled and mountain ranges crossed, the hale and strong may be able to bear it, but it is torment to their less vigorous comrades, and may be fatal. The straight path for the wasting flock of the shepherd means escape from the jackals and vultures. The straight path for an army moving through a strange land means victory, whilst the crooked and the devious path may mean decimation and overthrow. And the straight path in the Kingdom of God means this and more. But for the weariness of the way the pilgrim soul would not be tempted into scenes of jeopardy.2 [Note: T. G. Selby.]
Yes, the actions of a little trivial soul like Hettys, struggling amidst the serious, sad destinies of a human being, are strange. So are the motions of a little vessel without ballast tossed about on a stormy sea. How pretty it looked with its parti-coloured sail in the sunlight moored in the quiet bay!
Let that man bear the loss who loosed it from its moorings.
But that will not save the vesselthe pretty thing that might have been a lasting joy.3 [Note: George Eliot, Adam Bede.]
To-day there is one danger in the road which causes more to stumble than all other dangers. That danger is drink. It does more than anything else to fill the gaol, and to bring men to the workhouse, and to send men to lunatic asylums, to deprive little children of their food, of their education and even of their clothing; it brings cruelty more often than anything else within the sacred circle of domestic life. What are we, the keepers of the road, doing to clear the highway of that danger, so that the weak may walk in safety?4 [Note: Archbishop Temple.]
The Privilege of the Strong
Literature
Allon (H.), The Indwelling Christ, 249.
Burrell (D. J.), The Unaccountable Man, 77.
Caird (J.), University Sermons, 154.
Church (R. W.), Village Sermons, ii. 263.
Darlow (T. H.), The Upward Calling, 235.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, iii. 215.
Doney (C. G.), The Throne-Room of the Soul, 149.
Jowett (J. H.), The School of Calvary, 63.
Ker (J.), Sermons, i. 197.
Martineau (J.), Endeavours after the Christian Life, 426.
Paget (F.), The Spirit of Discipline, 244.
Raleigh (A.), The Little Sanctuary, 176.
Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, iv. 297.
Selby (T. G.), The Divine Craftsman, 274.
Tipple (S. A.), Sunday Mornings at Norwood, 250.
Wilson (S. L.), Helpful Words for Daily Life, 212.
Christian World Pulpit, xxix. 184 (Brooke); xli. 200 (Brooke).
Churchmans Pulpit, v. (Pt. 1), 66 (Littledale).
strong: Rom 4:20, 1Co 4:10, 2Co 12:10, Eph 6:10, 2Ti 2:1, 1Jo 2:14
ought: Rom 14:1, 1Co 9:22, 1Co 12:22-24, Gal 6:1, Gal 6:2, 1Th 5:14
please: Rom 15:3
Reciprocal: Gen 33:14 – be able Exo 26:26 – bars of shittim wood Lev 11:22 – General Deu 22:4 – thou shalt surely 2Sa 10:11 – General 2Ch 28:15 – carried Mat 17:27 – lest Mat 18:6 – offend Mat 18:10 – heed Mat 26:39 – not Mar 8:34 – Whosoever Joh 13:14 – ye also Joh 21:15 – lambs Act 20:35 – how that Rom 6:19 – because Rom 8:26 – infirmities Rom 14:21 – good 1Co 8:9 – weak 1Co 8:11 – shall 1Co 10:23 – edify 1Co 13:5 – seeketh 1Co 13:7 – Beareth 2Co 4:5 – and 2Co 11:29 – is weak Gal 1:10 – for if Gal 5:13 – but Eph 4:2 – forbearing Phi 2:4 – General Phi 3:15 – as Col 3:13 – Forbearing 2Ti 3:2 – lovers Heb 10:24 – consider
THE FIRST PARAGRAPH of chapter 15 sums up and completes this subject. The sum of the instruction is that those saints who are strong in the faith ought to bear the infirmities of their weaker brethren. Instead of pleasing themselves they are to aim at what will be for the spiritual good of the other. The attitude of mind which says, I have a right to do this, and I am going to do it, no matter what anybody thinks! is not the mind of Christ. It is exactly what Christ did not do!
Christ pleased not Himself. The prophet testified this, and the Gospels bear witness to it. He was the only One on earth who had an absolute right to please Himself, yet He lived absolutely at Gods disposal and identified with Him; so completely so that, if any wished to reproach God, they naturally heaped their reproaches on the head of Jesus. He is our great Example. We need to ponder Him, as made known to us in the Scriptures and as we do, the patience and comfort necessary, if we are to follow Him, become ours.
So then, we are to manifest the grace of Christ in our dealings the one with the other: we are to be like-minded… according to Christ Jesus. For this we need not only the Scriptures to direct us, but the very power of God Himself, who is the God of patience and consolation. Thus strengthened we shall be able to glorify Him together. Instead of the mind and mouth of the weak being filled with criticisms of the strong, and the mind and mouth of the strong being filled with contempt of the weak (see, Rom 14:2), the minds and mouths of all are to be filled with the praise of God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This presents a perfectly lovely picture: does it not?
Well, then, in spite of such differences as may exist, we are to receive one another in the happy enjoyment of Christian fellowship, so that the lovely picture may be realized, to the glory of God.
Having dealt with matters of practical life and behaviour, from verse Rom 15:8 the Apostle gives us a little summary of his earlier teaching as to the relations of the Lord Jesus with both Jews and Gentiles. He did come as the Servant of all Gods purposes in regard to His ancient people; so that the promises made aforetime to the fathers have been confirmed, though as yet they have not been all fulfilled. Then as regards the Gentiles, He came as Gods Messenger of mercy to them, so that ultimately they too might glorify God. This showing of mercy to Gentiles, though perhaps quite unexpected by the Jews, was no new thought on Gods part, for it had been indicated in Old Testament Scripture. Moses, David and Isaiah had all borne testimony to it, as verses Rom 15:9-12 show us.
The believers in Rome were mainly Gentiles, hence there is a special force in the Apostles desire in verse Rom 15:13. They had been without God and without hope in the world-as the Gentile believers in Ephesus were reminded-and now God, who is the God of hope, is to fill them with such joy and peace that they abound in hope. This is a most desirable, a most glorious result, which is achieved as the fruit of faith in the Gospel; for it is, in believing, and also, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Believing the Gospel, the Holy Spirit is received, and peace, hope and joy follow, as the fifth chapter of our epistle taught us.
Many there are who earnestly desire peace and joy, but they think to arrive at them in working, in resolving, in praying or in feeling, but none of these things lead to the desired end. It is only in believing. Faith, and faith alone, puts the soul into touch with God. And only by the Spirit are our hearts filled with all joy and peace and hope, which are the proper fruits of the
Gospel. It is very fitting that the Apostle should desire these things for those to whom he wrote, seeing that this epistle unfolds the Gospel which produces them.
In verse Rom 15:14 Paul expresses his confidence in the believers in Rome, and from that point he turns to write of more personal matters, both as regards them and as regards himself.
First, he deals with his own service to the Lord and unbosoms to them his intentions as well as referring to what he had already accomplished. This occupies all the remaining verses of chapter 15.
Pauls ministry has especial reference to Gentiles, and in verse Rom 15:16 he speaks of it in a very remarkable way. He ministered the Gospel amongst them as a sacrificial service, so that he considers those who were converted as being offered up to God for His acceptance in the sanctification and fragrance imparted by the Holy Spirit, who had been conferred upon them as believers. In this perhaps he alludes to the sanctification of the Levites, as recorded in Num 8:1-19. It is expressly said there, And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the Lord.
This shows us the spirit in which the Apostle carried on his gospel service. The apostle Peter speaks of Christians as royal priests who show forth the virtues of the One who has called them, and what we find here is in keeping with that. Paul acted in priestly fashion even in his gospel labours, and the fruit of them was seen in Gentile converts offered to God for His service as a band of spiritual Levites. In all this therefore he could boast, but his boasting was through Jesus Christ, or, in Christ Jesus; for it was all referrable to Him as the great Master-worker.
These thoughts lead to a brief survey of his labours already accomplished. First, as to their great scope and extent, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum. Illyricum lay to the north west of Macedonia, so we can see what a vast district he had fully covered, considering the difficulties of transport in his day. Second, as to their peculiar character of pure and unadulterated evangelization. He was the pioneer of the Gospel in a supreme sense. He addressed himself to the Gentiles in a way that no other apostle did, and he went into strange cities that no other had visited. In this he was helping to the fulfilment of Scripture, as verse Rom 15:21 shows.
Just because this was the special character of his service he had been hindered from coming to Rome. Christians had already gravitated to it as the metropolis of the world of that day, and thus the Gospel already had a footing there. Yet we can see Pauls missionary heart looking beyond Rome to distant Spain, and contemplating a journey thitherward some day, with a call at Rome on the way. For the moment he had before him a visit to Jerusalem in order to carry thither the contribution for the poor saints, made by the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
We find an allusion to this collection for the saints in 1Co 16:1-4, and again at much greater length in 2Co 8:1-24; 2Co 9:1-15. If those passages be read we can at once see why the Apostle here places Macedonia before Achaia. The Philippians were poor as compared with the Corinthians yet they were far more liberal. They talked less and gave more. The Acts of the Apostles furnishes us with a twofold explanation of what gave rise to the need. There was a famine in those days (Act 11:27-30), and also the believers in Jerusalem had been in a special way impoverished by the Christian communism they practised at the beginning (Act 2:44, Act 2:45). Their impoverishment however furnished the occasion for the cementing of practical bonds of Christian fellowship between Gentile and Jew.
There was a strong tendency in those days for Jew and Gentile to fall apart, and this tendency was increased by the scheming of Judaising teachers from Jerusalem. Hence Paul evidently considered this collection a very important matter and insisted on being the bearer of the bounty himself. He was quite aware of the danger he ran, and verse Rom 15:30-31 of our chapter show that he had some premonitions of coming trouble. Whether he was really right in going to Jerusalem has been a much discussed question. We need not attempt to answer it here, but we shall do well to note that the prayer, in which he asked the Roman saints to join with him, was answered, though not in just the way he hoped. He was delivered, but not as a free man. He was delivered from his persecutors by his imprisonment at the hands of the representatives of Caesar.
So also did he finally come amongst the Roman Christians with joy, being refreshed among them, as Act 28:15, witnesses. Another proof this of how God answers our prayers, but in the way that is according to His will, and not according to our thoughts and wishes. We may also be sure that Paul came amongst them in fulness of blessing. Php 1:12, Php 1:13, is proof of this, as also Phm 1:10. Peace was what the Apostle desired, peace in which both the saints of God and the work of God might flourish, hence the chapter closes with the desire that the God of peace might be with them.
We shall do well to notice the three ways in which God is characterized in this chapter. The God of patience and consolation in verse Rom 15:5. The God of hope in verse Rom 15:13. The God of peace in verse 33. Having noted them we shall do well to meditate upon them. What God is at any time He is always, and what He is for any of His people He is for all and for each. Therefore He is all this for you and for me.
5:1
Rom 15:1. This is virtually the same as chapter 14:21.
Rom 15:1. Now we that are strong. Then is incorrect, though the connection is logically with what precedes.
Ought to bear, as a burden is borne.
The infirmities of the weak; all such weaknesses of faith, but particularly those referred to in the previous discussion. This bearing is often simply forbearing, but frequently involves forgiving, and self-denying. Thus they, in themselves strong and free, become the servants of the weak, as Paul was servant of all; 1Co 9:19; 1Co 9:22 (Meyer). He is indeed strong who can thus bear.
And not to please ourselves. Such moral selfishness is involved in disregarding the weaknesses of the brethren who have false scruples.
Observe here, 1. A great doctrine asserted, and a special duty declared, namely, that the strong, that is, such as do thoroughly understand their Christian liberty, should bear with the infirmities, the ignorance, frowardness, and scrupulousness of the weak, and also forbear the doing of that which may scandalize and hurt the souls of men who have not the same measures of knowledge with ourselves; The strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.
Observe, 2. The universality of the duty: We, that is, not only all private Christians, but all church-governors. he puts himself into the number, that he may propose himself as a example of the following duty; we, that are the officers, the pastors, and governors of the church, like parents who bear with children in their waywardness, so must we bear, though not with heresies in doctrine, or enormities in practice, yet with such errors and mistakes in both as proceed from ignorance, or common infirmities.
Observe, 3. A further duty urged and enforced, namely, not to please ourselves, but others: Let every one of us not please ourselves, but our neighbour; that is, not please ourselves by insisting upon the use of our lawful liberty, but rather, for the sake of others, depart a little from our own right.
Yet observe, 4. The limitation and restriction of this duty: for his good to edification. It is not simply and absolutely said, ” Let every one please his neighbour.” The heretic, the drunkard, and others, would like that well, to have every one speak and act as they do: but the rule is, to please every man for his good to edification; thus far we may please them, but no farther. Edification is the rule, the scope, and boundary, of all our complacency in and compliance with others.
Observe, 5. How the apostle urges and enforces this duty, from the example of Jesus Christ: he pleased not himself, therefore such as profess faith in him must study to by as he was. Nothing was more remote from Christ when here on earth, than self-seeking and self-pleasing; he did not consult his own ease or satisfaction, but rather respected others’ benefit than his own; yea, he was so far from pleasing of himself, that he did willingly expose himself to all the reproaches and insults of men, in obedience to his Father’s will; and was so tender of God the Father’s honour, that all the reproaches which fell upon the one affected and afflicted the other: The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
Now from the whole we note, That Christians ought to be very tender towards one another in the use of their lawful liberty; they must not do whatever they please in things of an indifferent nature, without showing any regard to others; much less should they please themselves in a proud reflecting upon their own knowledge, and in contemning those that have not so great a latitude and liberty as themselves. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, &c.
Rom 15:1-3. We then that are strong Who have attained a greater degree of knowledge in spiritual things, have a clearer judgment, and are free from these scruples; ought to bear the infirmities of the weak To accommodate ourselves to their weakness, so far as not to use our liberty to their offence and hinderance in religion; and also to bear with them in their failings, consequent on their ignorance or weakness, and not to condemn or despise them; and not to please ourselves Without any regard to others. On the contrary; let every one of us Without exception; please his neighbour for his good Comply with his opinion in indifferent matters, so far as may tend to his advancement in holiness. For even Christ pleased not himself Had regard to our advantage more than his own. Christ might in his own life-time have declared the law of Moses abrogated, and have eaten of all kinds of meat indifferently, and have freed himself from the burdensome services enjoined by the law. But because his doing so would have been premature, and, by bringing reproach on the gospel, might have marred its success among the Jews, he abstained from the meats forbidden by the law, and performed the services which it enjoined; and thereby, as well as by many other and much greater things, showed that he did not make it an object to please himself, but in all his actions studied to promote the honour of God, and the happiness of men. But as it is written In words which may well be applied to him; The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me The punishment due to the wicked, who, by their speeches and actions, had dishonoured God, was laid on me. See note on Psa 69:9, the verse here quoted. That this Psalm is a prophecy concerning Christ, we learn from Joh 19:28, where their giving Jesus vinegar to drink on the cross is represented as a fulfilment of the 21st verse of it. In like manner, Rom 15:9, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up, was applied to Jesus by the disciples, Joh 2:17. Paul, therefore, hath rightly interpreted Rom 15:22-23, of the same Psalm, of the Jews who crucified Christ. See note on Rom 11:9-10.
Here, according to M. Renan, we return to the text of the copy addressed to the church of Rome; for, according to him, chap. 15 formed the conclusion of the Epistle destined for this church. If this view were well grounded, the first verse of chap. 15 must have immediately followed the last of chap. 11; for chaps. 12, 13, and 14 only belonged to the copies intended for other churches. Is this hypothesis probable? What connection is there between the end of chap. 11, celebrating the wisdom of God in the course of history, and this distinction between the strong and the weak with which chap. 15 begins? This contrast fits in, on the contrary, in the closest possible way to the subject of chap. 14. Schultz feels this so much, that though sharing Renan’s opinion in regard to the three preceding chapters, up to a certain point, he still makes the first six verses of chap. 15 the continuation and conclusion of the passage chap. 14, and not till Rom 15:7 does he find the resumption of the true Epistle to the Romans, which closed, according to him, with our Rom 15:13. Thus in the apostolic copy it was Rom 15:7 : Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received you, which immediately followed the close of chap. 11. But this sudden transition to a hortatory application, after so vast a development as that of chap. 11, is somewhat too abrupt to be probable; and especially when we recognize, as this author does, the close connection between the first six verses of chap. 15 and the whole development of chap. 14, it must also be seen that the exhortation: Wherefore receive ye one another (Rom 15:7), is only the resumption of that which began chap. 14 in these terms: Receive ye him that is weak in faith. Not only is it in both cases the same verb that is used: , to take to oneself. But, moreover, the following words of Rom 15:7 : As Christ took you to Himself, reproduce exactly the end of Rom 14:3 : For God hath taken him to Himself, (thy brother, weak or strong). Our Rom 15:7 is therefore the close of the cycle of teaching opened Rom 14:1-3; and Paul sums up in Rom 15:7 the general exhortation to connect with it the invitation to union between the two parts of the church which forms the subject of Rom 15:8-13. Thus is closed the practical part begun in chap. 12. Everything is so strongly compacted, and forms so fine a whole, that it is hard to understand how it should have entered the mind of intelligent commentators to break such an organism.
We have already said that with chap. 15 there begins, according to Baur, the unauthentic part of our Epistle. We shall examine step by step the objections to which the composition of these two chapters by the Apostle Paul seems to him to be exposed. We shall have to study likewise the reasons which have led a great number of critics, such as Semler, Griesbach, Eichhorn, Reuss, Schultz, Ewald, and others to dispute, not the apostolic origin of the whole or part of the last two chapters, but their original connection with the Epistle to the Romans. As we have stated these very diverse opinions in the Introduction, vol. i. pp. 66-69, we think it unnecessary to reproduce them here.
From the particular question which has just occupied the apostle, he now passes to a more general subject, that of the perfect union which, notwithstanding the difference between the two elements of which it is composed, ought to unite the whole church in a common song of praise to the God of salvation. The goodwill with which all, Jews and Gentiles, have been received by God, ought to make them, as it were, one heart and one mouth to magnify the Lord, while awaiting patiently the consummation of the work He has begun. Such are the contents of this passage, which admirably crowns the practical part. It is really impossible to understand Baur’s affirmation: This piece contains nothing which had not been much better said before, or that of M. Renan, who, adhering to this judgment, thus expresses himself: These verses repeat and weakly sum up what precedes. The particular question treated in chap. 14 broadens; the point of view rises, and the tone is gradually heightened even to the elevation of a hymn, as at the end of all the great parts preceding (chap. Rom 5:12 et seq., Rom 8:31 et seq., Rom 11:33 et seq.).
Paul first exhorts, by the example of Christ, to mutual condescension, Rom 15:1-3; he points out, Rom 15:4-7, as an end to be reached the common adoration to which such conduct will bring the church; finally, Rom 15:8-13, he indicates the special part given to Jews and to Gentiles in this song of the whole redeemed race. He has not before expressed anything like this.
Now [“Now” is progressive; it means, “to proceed with the matter in hand”] we [It is a characteristic of Paul’s to identify himself with those on whom he lays especial burdens] that are strong ought [1Co 9:19-22 . Strength in the gospel always brings upon its owner the obligation and command to serve (Gal 6:2), and the one who would truly serve must eliminate his self-conceit and arrogance] to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Romans Chapter 15
These instructions close the epistle. From Rom 15:8, it is the exordium, the personal circumstances of the apostle, and salutations.
In Rom 15:8-12, he sums up his thoughts respecting Gods dealings with the Jew and the Gentile in the advent of Jesus. He was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to accomplish the promises made to the fathers. For to the Jews God had made promises; but none to the Gentiles. To the latter it was not truth that was in question: but by grace they might through Jesus glorify God for His mercy. For them the apostle quotes passages from Deuteronomy (that is to say, from the Law), from the Psalms, and from the Prophets.
InRomans 15:13, he turns affectionately to the Romans to express his desires for them, and his confidence in the blessing they had received from God, which enabled them mutually to exhort one another, while expressing at the same time his boldness in some sort, because of the grace God had given him, to be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles by fulfilling a public function with regard to them; being, as it were, a priest to offer up the Gentiles as an offering acceptable to God, because sanctified by the Holy Ghost (see Num 8:11). This was his glory before God. This sanctification by the Holy Ghost was that which took the place of sanctification by birth, and it was well worth it.
Moreover he had accomplished his task from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum; notwhere Christ had been preached before, but where they had not yet heard of Him. This had prevented his coming to Rome. But now that there was no more place for him, according to the Holy Ghost-nothing more in those parts for him to do, and having long desired to see them, he thought to visit them on his way to Spain. For the moment he was going to Jerusalem with the collection made in Macedonia and Achaia for the saints.
We see that his heart turns to the Jews; they occupied his thoughts; and while desiring to put the seal of performance on the grace which this collection betokened, he was pre-occupied with them as Jews, as those who had a claim: a mingled feeling perhaps of one who was anxious to shew that he did not forget them; for, in fact, he loved his nation. We have to learn whether, in executing this service (properly that of a deacon), pleasing as it might be, he was at the height of his mission as apostle. However that might be, the hand of God was in it to make all things work for the good of His beloved servant and child, as well as for His own glory. Paul had a presentiment that it would not perhaps turn out well, and he asks the prayers of the saints at Rome, that he might be delivered from the hands of the wicked, and see their face with joy. We know how it ended: the subject was spoken of when we were considering the Acts. He saw them indeed at Rome; he was delivered, but as a prisoner; and we do not know if he ever went to Spain The ways of God are according to His eternal counsels, and according to His grace, and according to His perfect wisdom.
1. But we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Paul is still on the subject setting forth our responsibilities to the weak believers, to be careful and not only keep our own consciences clear but theirs too, doing nothing calculated to jostle their faith, inject doubts or fears; but, on the contrary, do everything possible to build them up.
Rom 15:4. Whatsoever things were written afore-time, by Moses and the prophets concerning Christ, and the calling of the gentiles, were written in order to afford us the greatest comfort, by demonstrating the care of providence over the church in the accomplishment of the promises. Joh 10:16. St. Paul brings in four quotations of those promises, in Rom 15:9-12; and of course the believing jews were evidently too far transported with zeal in their attempts to force the Hebrew yoke on the Roman saints.
Rom 15:18. I will not dare to speak, unless it be of those things which Christ hath wrought by me. We find this turn given to the text by Chrysostom and Theophylact. The apostle always felt a delicacy in speaking in the first person.
Rom 15:23. Having no more place in these parts the Grecian provinces. Eusebius says that the apostles ordained the first fruits of their ministry to be presbyters, evangelists, and deacons. They found in the synagogues pious men, and mighty in the scriptures, who, like Paul at Damascus, began on their conversion to preach Christ, that he is the Son of God. Providence having provided those resources, the apostles could proceed to other cities. Our poor missionaries have not these aids; they have first to conquer gross superstition, stubborn habits, and to teach the first elements of knowledge.
Rom 15:24. Whensoever I take my journey into Spain. On Act 8:4, we have cited authorities, that exiles from Judea, on the massacres that followed Stephens persecution, had settled in Spain. These had long waited to see the first trophy of grace, the terrible wolf, now become the first pastor of the flock.
Rom 15:25. Now I go unto Jerusalem, not knowing, as he says, the things that shall befal me there. Act 20:22. He knew in general, that bonds and afflictions awaited him: such indeed was the issue. After sustaining bonds for two years in Rome, and being delivered from Nero, out of the mouth of the lion, he visited Spain, as is intimated by the testimony of St. Clement, that he preached to the utmost boundaries of the west, as stated in the introduction to this epistle.
Rom 15:29. I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Not only as a well-instructed scribe, not only as having a fountain of eloquence in his own breast, but as possessing power to confer spiritual endowments for the edification of the church. Such an effusion of glory and grace attended his ministry, that those who once fairly gave him audience could not resist the power of his word.
REFLECTIONS.
How admirable, in this and in the preseding chapter, is the spirit of charity which the apostle excites in the church. How opportunely he introduces the example of Christ, who pleased not himself, but lived and died, and rose again, to be Lord both of the living and of the dead, by which he made the church one body. Why then should the judaizing christian grieve his gentile brother about ceremonial rites, which are done away in Christ? How often also is the church now rent with dry speculative opinions, instead of seeking to be filled with all peace and joy through believing.
Rom 15:1-6. Harmony through Self-renouncement.
Rom 15:1 f. Strength carries with it the duty of bearing others weaknesses, not of pleasing oneself (cf. 1Co 10:33). The strong are men of robust faith, in contrast with the weak of Rom 14:1. The Christian is to please his neighbour not by humouring his failings, but by aiming at his good, with a view to building him up in faith and character (cf. Rom 14:19).
Rom 15:3. So the Christ bore Himself, according to Psalms 69 (quoted above in Rom 11:9; cf. Mat 27:27 ff., etc.). The Psalmist in suffering reproach for God imaged our Lords self-negation.
Rom 15:4 reflects, in view of the above reference, on the value of Scripture, which trains us to patience and hope. Like the story of Abrahams faith (Rom 4:23), that of the Psalmists grief was written for our instruction.
Rom 15:5 f. May the God who thus gives endurance and encouragement, grant to you a harmonious mind (an echo of Rom 12:16) according with that of Christ Jesus (cf. Rom 15:3, Php 2:2-5). Your harmony will yield a concert of praise to God, uttered as if with one mouth.
The subject of Rom 14:1-23 continues through verse 7 of Rom 15:1-33. We have seen first the Lord’s authority in regard to men’s consciences, then love toward our brethren a reason for considering their consciences. Now a third reason completes the treatment of the subject – a reason of greatest importance. This care and consideration is for the sake of the glory of God (vv. 5 & 6). When we think of our brethren, do we think seriously and honestly of God’s glory? This is the highest, most blessed object that can be set before our souls. Do we have hearts fully set on glorifying the One whose counsel of grace has destined us to be glorified together with His blessed Son? How searching, solemn a question for every child of God! Shall we in practice honor or dishonor the God of glory? It is one or the other. Let the Christian heart soberly reflect on this most serious of all issues as regards responsibility.
“We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” Does one Christian have the privilege of clear enlightenment whereby spiritual strength is given him? If so, he “ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.” It is a moral responsibility (he “ought to”), that he might properly represent “the God of patience and consolation.” For our God has seen fit in infinite grace that His glory should be intimately connected with the welfare and blessing of all His people. Blessed truth to contemplate! With such thoughts before us, can we dare to callously proceed to please only ourselves? If we are blessed, it is not in order that we might proudly display ourselves, but in order that we might be a blessing to others.
“Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.” This is not the character of the mere “man-pleaser.” The object here is not simply to please our neighbor, but to serve his best interests in edification. I must think of the welfare of others more than of my own.
“For even Christ pleased not Himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me.” How touching, how sobering a word! Do we take time to think much of the lowly Son of Man – He who left the bright glory and majesty of Heaven and came to minister in tenderest compassion and goodness to the need of His creatures? Do we remember that He sought here the Father’s glory and the blessing of man – not insisting upon the rights that were by nature His own? Glory, honor, dominion, and power were His, yet rather than asserting these, He would bear the reproaches of them who reproached God. For His love man returned hatred, yet He went on serving man’s need. It was not pleasing Himself: it was bearing pain, shame, and sorrow for their sakes – because the glory of God was His object. He fully identified Himself, though in humiliation, with the God whom men reproached. How blessed a testimony to the glory of the living God! Does it not attract the fervent adoration of the Christian heart?
But this wondrous character of His is not only for our admiration. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” The Old Testament Scriptures unite in directing our gaze toward the Lord Jesus, that there may be some real effect in our own lives. These things are written for our learning, not for our entertainment. If we marvel at the gracious character of our Lord, do we seek to so learn of Him as to follow Him in the practice of our own lives?
For our learning of Him has this special end in view – “that we through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures might have hope.” This is endurance in following His steps – not fainting in the day of adversity – but enduring all things in view of the glory to be revealed. This endurance stimulates and makes deeply real in the soul that “hope that maketh not ashamed.”
Along with this is “encouragement of the Scriptures.” Do we find encouragement in such a quotation from the Old Testament as in verse 3? It refers directly to Christ, – “The reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon Me.” Yet, if a child of God is bearing patiently and willingly any sort of reproach or trial for Christ’s sake, is this verse not of the sweetest encouragement to him? Ought it not to encourage us to bear much for the glory of God and the blessing of souls?
It is this that verses 5 and 6 apply so tenderly and appealingly. “Now the God of endurance and of encouragement give to you to be likeminded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one accord with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If we would have endurance and encouragement we must look to God who is the source of such virtue, and He can enable us to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, toward one another. This produces, even where there is diversity of opinion and various degrees of progress in the truth, a godly, fervent unity that glorifies the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. How unspeakably blessed when this is the case! To be of one accord, of one mouth, is to have hearts unfeignedly united in honoring and following the Lord Jesus, and not sidetracked by lesser considerations. This is not by any means relinquishing the truth of God, but holding it firmly, while making no issue of small matters that are the affair of the individual conscience.
“Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” This sums up the entire subject that begins with Rom 14:1. Nothing less than the glory of God must be our object: it was to His glory that Christ received us, and we must receive saints in the same spirit and on the same principle. In His receiving us we see grace and truth perfectly blended. We cannot ignore either if we would act for the glory of God. Receiving promiscuously without godly care and watchfulness would dishonor the God of glory no less than would our refusing souls because their consciences would not conform to ours on minor points. May He give us unwavering fidelity to Him and more tender, real care for His own.
The Propriety of the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles
Another subject occupies us from verse 8 to the end of the chapter. The apostle appeals tenderly both to understanding and to conscience in establishing the scriptural propriety of the gospel of grace going freely out to both Jews and Gentiles – showing too the consideration of one another that this would normally produce by the power of the Spirit of God.
First he speaks of Jesus Christ as “minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” This was truly the prime ministry of the LordJesus. Promises had been made to the patriarchs, and the nation Israel was in line to receive them. These promises could be fulfilled only in Christ, and He came as Himself the fulfillment of all the promises of God. How many received Him is, alas, a different matter, but His ministry has been fully presented to that favored yet rebellious nation.
But this was not the limit of the ministry of Christ. There was also the object “that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy.” The Syrophenician woman was not refused when she took the ground of mercy. This was fully according to Old Testament prophecy, however little the Jews would care to notice it. Psa 18:1-50 is clearly the voice of the Messiah, who says, “For this cause I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name.” It is Christ rejoicing in being a blessing to Gentiles, and glory given to God.
Then the word of Jehovah is quoted from Deu 32:43, “Rejoice ye Gentiles, with His people.” This is a prophecy too, of millennial blessing. Gentiles themselves are bidden to rejoice, along with Israel.
Another quotation – again from the Psalms – is a general call to all Gentiles, and all races to praise the Lord. This shortest of all Psalms (117) is most striking in that it speaks only of Gentiles, Israel’s salvation being the occasion of the call. It is “merciful kindness” indeed.
From Isa 11:10 is taken the fourth and final, – “There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall reign over the Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles trust.” This adds greatly to the previous quotations, for it establishes the deity of Him who was to bring the blessing. He was to be “a root” of Jesse, not simply a branch. In the Branch we easily discern the Son of David, He who came of Israel. But in the Root how different a matter. He is both indeed, but as the Root He is the Source of all, and hence His reign extends over the Gentiles, and they find shelter under His wings.
The blessedness of these prophetic scriptures leads Paul to speak of “the God of Hope.” Had these prophecies not a voice to fill with hope the souls of Gentiles once “without hope, without God in the world”? “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Doubtless there is as much voice here for the stricken remnant of Israel as for the stranger – Gentile. Was all hope gone now that the Messiah had been rejected by Israel? Did the godly feel the pathos of it all in hearts that adopted Jeremiah’s language – “My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord”? Let them then rejoice in this, that our God is “the God of hope” – able to “fill” us “with all joy and peace in believing.” His blessed counsel of divine power and grace give us no excuse for the slightest discouragement, but the title rather to “abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Why, alas, do we not respond more fittingly?
Now as we draw near the close of the epistle, the truth having been declared in fullness concerning the counsel and ways of God in grace, the Spirit of God leads Paul to speak of himself and of his own connection with all of this ministry.
Personally he was persuaded that the Roman saints were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another. It is not as though he wrote with any suggestion of superiority over them, as though he were the only one able to instruct or admonish them. Nevertheless he had written with God-given boldness and the more so because he was confident of them. It was only “in part,” for the Word of God has an infinite fullness, and Paul made no boast of communicating everything to them.
God had given him special grace for a special ministry; and by grace he sought to fulfill this ministry. He had been made “minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God.”This ministering of the Gospel was the means by which Paul acted as a sort of priest to offer up the Gentiles to God. They had previously had no place of acceptability to God, but now by grace they had; and Paul was the special minister of that grace. Under law the Levites took the place of all the firstborn of Israel, and were sanctified by natural birth for the outward place of nearness to God. Aaron offered them to the Lord for this purpose (Num 8:11). But this offering up of the Gentiles had a far higher kind of acceptability, “being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.” It was an acceptability for heavenly position and blessing. So it is through Paul’s ministry that God publicly accomplished this.
Consequently he had something in which he could glory or boast in Christ Jesus, in those things that pertained to God. This was no boasting in the flesh, but a boldness begotten by the assurance of God’s having chosen him for this special work, and it the more moved his heart to glory in the Lord, not to exalt himself as the vessel.
He speaks not of other men’s work in which he was privileged to have a share, but of work that Christ had wrought distinctly by him in his going out to Gentiles – words and deeds that had power to bring Gentiles into subjection.
Thus he insists it was the manifest work of the Spirit of God, borne witness to by mighty signs and wonders. This was consistent with God’s ways; such signs marked the beginning of every change in God’s dispensational dealings. It does not follow that we are to expect the miracle to continue the same throughout the dispensation: this would not be consistent with His ways.
But Paul had traveled from Jerusalem and in a circuit to Illyricum (in the north of Greece), traversing all the intermediate territory, fully preaching the gospel of Christ. It was no half-performed work, for he had been laid hold of by the Spirit of God for this very purpose. His great evangelist’s heart had responded with fervent energy to the Old Testament prophecies of the Gospel being declared to those who were afar off and had known no revelation from God. He sought new fields, not generally preaching where Christ had already been introduced by another. It was blessed work, the instrument being equipped, called, and guided by God. This energy of faith is not seen in the other apostles in the same way. Told as they were to preach the Gospel to all nations, they did not leave Jerusalem even when persecution scattered the many believers from the city. Verse 21 is a quotation from Isa 52:15, where the prime application is to the glory of Christ being manifested to the nations when He comes in power and majesty. But the gospel brings home to the souls of men an anticipation of that glory, a sight of it by faith before it is revealed. This is what mightily moved the apostle’s heart – the Word of God apprehended by faith – a faith that longed to see such faith awakened in souls who had heard nothing of Christ before.
Therefore, he had not yet been to Rome. The gospel had already been established there: there were a goodly number of saints in the city. And though he longed to go there, he considered it of first importance to fulfill his mission in all the parts from Jerusalem to Illyricum. But now his work there was finished, and he anticipated the fulfillment of his great desire of many years to see Rome also.
Yet even now his visit to them he intended to make on his way to Spain, another new field entirely. So he had not become weary of his great pioneer work. But there is no record left us of his ever having seen Spain. The Lord may not have allowed him this fresh field. For we know he was kept long in Rome as a prisoner. And eventually he was martyred there (2Ti 4:1-22).
It is touching to note how the heart of the apostle sought the comfort of the fellowship of the saints. He counted on their company being a stimulant and encouragement to his soul for the work he looked forward to in Spain.
But first he was going to Jerusalem – and the reason he gives is “to minister unto the saints.” He was to be the bearer of a contribution from the Gentile assemblies in Macedonia and Achaia, for the poor saints of Jerusalem – a famine having occasioned want there. No doubt it was a sweet testimony of affection and unity – so valuable at the time. Yet we may be sure that this was not all that moved Paul’s heart. He has already told us (Rom 10:1) of his deep longing for Israel’s salvation, and this desire doubtless had much to do with his determination to “keep this feast that cometh at Jerusalem.” Why does he not then speak of it here?Can it be that he mentions no spiritual reason for going because he had the presentiment that it would bear no spiritual fruit? Indeed, we know from elsewhere that he did not have the direct leading of the Spirit of God to go to Jerusalem – in fact was warned by the Spirit not to go. The temporal ministry for the poor saints could as well have been carried by another brother.
In all of this however, we may well admire the fervency and zeal of the apostle, while taking warning to our souls that it does not do to so follow our spiritual desires as to leave no ear for the guidance of the Spirit of God. The first is a poor substitute for the latter. And if we determine to act upon our desires, it is one of the deceits of the flesh to use to advantage any circumstance that might seem to justify it. Can it be that this is seen even in the apostle? “Lord, what is man?”
Yet, nevertheless, this temporal fruit of the Gentiles’ affection toward the poor saints at Jerusalem, is precious to contemplate: “It hath pleased them verily.” This was no mere sense of duty, though duty it surely is for brethren to minister to the need of brethren.
The Gentiles were in some sense debtors to Jerusalem. “Salvation is of the Jews”; and the gospel had originated in this favored though guilty city. So if spiritual blessing had come from there to Gentiles, it is only proper, as well as an opportunity to express thankfulness, that if the Jews are in need, the Gentiles gladly minister to them in carnal things.
But following the performance of this ministry, to the Jews, Paul’s heart was set on going to Spain, by way of Rome, where he would stop by the way. He did indeed get to Rome: whether to Spain or not we are not told. But how much intervened that he had not counted upon! After Jerusalem, two years in prison at Caesarea, the hazardous voyage over the Mediterranean with three months at Melita, then a full two years in a Roman prison before release. His intention had been only to stop briefly there, but God had work for him, and he was forcibly detained.
Nor was he disappointed in his confidence that when he came he would come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Indeed the fruit of his sojourn in Rome is far beyond our ability to measure – not only in the souls blessed there, but through the many inspired epistles he wrote while a prisoner there. If indeed since that time the gospel has been a prisoner in Rome, yet in spite of this it has gone on and prospered in the blessing of multitudes. Blessed testimony of divine power greater than every determination to silence it! “The fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ” does not depend on men’s favorable attitude.
Now in his desire for their earnest prayers, Paul appeals to their allegiance to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to their love in the Spirit – the first objective, the second subjective. How could the Roman saints resist this tender entreaty? It is their striving together with him in prayer that he seeks: it is a battlefield, and he would press them into active service, that they might be fully united with him in the conflict. If we know anything about prayer, we know it means serious conflict with spiritual enemies. Would we rather cease from praying, and allow the enemy to gain the field?Indeed the results of this would be far more dreadful than any conflict! If we would avoid dire consequences, we cannot excuse ourselves from service on this battleground. Nor, if we have any honest devotedness to Christ, would we want to be excused.
But the apostle anticipated strong opposition in Jerusalem, and well he might, for not only was he well aware of the hatred of the unbelieving Jews against him, but the Spirit of God warned him of bonds and suffering awaiting him if he went there. So he asks prayers for his preservation – and as we know, God answered these in His own wise way.
More than this, however, he asks prayers in connection with his ministry to the saints, that this might be acceptable to them. For we must remember that even the believing Jews at Jerusalem were inclined to be somewhat doubtful of Paul (Act 21:21), and he evidently desired to use this opportunity to encourage their confidence in him. This temporal gift of the Gentiles was a sweet testimony of Christian affection and unity, and the apostle was most desirous to have it received as such in a gracious spirit of thanksgiving to God.
Then he closes the epistle proper with a word similar to his avowal at the first (Rom 1:10-21) of his desire and intention to come to Rome. He wanted it to be “with joy by the will of God,” and so it was, despite his bonds. And he commends them all to the presence of the God of peace.
Verse 1
Not to please ourselves; not to act merely with reference to pleasing ourselves.
SECTION 46 THE STRONG OUGHT TO HELP THE WEAK
CH. 15:1-6
Moreover, we owe it as a debt, we the strong ones, to bear the weaknesses of those not strong, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbour, for his good, for edification. For also Christ did not please Himself, but it was with Him according as it is written, The reproaches of those reproaching Thee fell upon Me. For so many things as were before written were written for our teaching, in order that through the endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have the hope. And may the God of the endurance and of the encouragement give to you to have the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus, in order that with one accord, with one mouth, ye may glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 15:1-2. Another reason for abstaining from food which injures others, suggested by the above contrast of those who have much and those who have little faith; followed by a general exhortation.
The strong: cp. Rom 4:20, made strong by faith.
Not-strong: cp. 1Co 8:9; 1Co 8:11. The man weak in faith is altogether weak.
Bear (or carry) the weaknesses etc.: put a restraint upon ourselves because of their various kinds of weakness, thus bearing a burden, light to us who are made strong by faith, but dangerously heavy to them: cp. Gal 6:1-2. Where mutual love is, weakness gives a claim to help from the strong. Thus strength of faith, so far from being a ground of boasting, lays upon us an obligation to help the weak. And if, as is often the case, our stronger faith is a result of more favourable circumstances, our obligation is still greater.
Not to please ourselves: selfishness, the true source of refusal to bear the burdens of the weak.
Please his neighbour: exact opposite of pleasing self.
For his good: our aim in pleasing him. This makes the difference between a right and wrong pleasing of men: Gal 1:10 : Eph 6:6; 1Co 10:33.
For edification: see under Rom 14:19 : the kind of good we are to have in view
Rom 15:3. Supreme example of pleasing, not self, but others. It recalls the argument in Rom 14:15.
As it is written: what Christ did, stated in the words of Psa 69:9. This reminds us that they who follow Christ walk also in the steps of the ancient worthies. In this quotation lies an argument from greater to less. If Christ, instead of gratifying self, submitted to sufferings caused by His countrymens inexcusable hostility to God, in order to save them from the well-merited consequence of their hostility, can we refuse to save a brother-servant of Christ from the terrible danger to which his weakness exposes him, by submitting to a restraint not otherwise needful?
Rom 15:4. Reason for the above quotation, viz. that the O.T. was written to teach us who live in later days, and thus to encourage us to persevere.
Written for our teaching, i.e. to teach us. This purpose, so far above the thought of the human writer, reveals a hand divine in the Jewish Scriptures: so Rom 3:19; Rom 4:24.
In order that etc.: all divine teaching has a further moral and spiritual purpose.
Endurance, or perseverance: as in Rom 2:7; Rom 5:3. Encouragement, or exhortation: see under Rom 12:1; Rom 1:12. Of the Scriptures: source of endurance under hardship and of encouragement to endure.
The hope: described in Rom 5:2; Rom 5:4.
May have or hold the hope: ultimate purpose of the teaching in the Scriptures, and of the encouragement and endurance derived from them.
Rom 15:5. Sudden transition from the means, to the ultimate Source, of our endurance and encouragement: so Rom 15:13; Rom 9:5; Rom 16:25; Eph 3:20. Our perseverance is His gift; and the encouragement derived from the Scriptures is His voice. He thus reveals Himself in a special character as the God of our endurance and encouragement: cp. Rom 15:13; Rom 16:20.
The same mind: as in Rom 12:16. Paul prays that the Author of perseverance may also give them harmony. This mutual harmony must accord with the mind of Christ. Paul prays that each of them may have towards his brethren a disposition like that which moved Christ to suffer reproach in order to save from the punishment of their sins those who reproached God. This prayer is practically an exhortation.
The use of the word endurance, which always implies difficulty, to describe our treatment of weaker brethren, and the example of Christ under the raillery of the enemies of God, remind us how difficult it sometimes is to act towards weaker brethren in a spirit of love. Our Christian character is seldom so severely tried as when we are put to inconvenience by the spiritual childishness of members of the Church.
Rom 15:6. Further purpose to be gained by the same mind, and consequently a further motive for harmony.
With one accord: else the one mouth is hypocrisy. But it is also needful that inward harmony find suitable outward expression.
Glorify: as in Rom 1:21. We glorify God with our mouth when, by telling His greatness and goodness, we express our own admiration and call forth admiration of God in those who hear us. Our oneness of heart and voice, being evidently Gods work, itself shows forth His glory: so Joh 17:21.
God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: a distinctive N.T. name of God: 2Co 1:3; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3; 1Pe 1:3; 2Co 11:31; Eph 1:17. To the Jews, He was the God of Abraham: for through Abraham He revealed Himself as their God. He has revealed Himself to us as God and as the Father who gave for us His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul desires for the Roman Christians a harmony of spirit which will fill every mouth with one song of praise, and exalt God in the eyes of mankind. This cannot be unless the strong in faith deny themselves for the good of their weaker brethren. He urges this as their bounden duty, and points to the example of Christ. By using the word endurance, he admits the difficulty of the task; but he reminds his readers that to prompt such endurance the ancient Scriptures were written. And, knowing that even the divine word is powerless without the divine Speaker, he prays that God, who enables them to maintain their Christian confidence, will also give them the spirit of harmony. He desires this in order that the weak, instead of losing the little faith they have, may join with the strong in praise to God.
15:1 We {1} then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to {a} please ourselves.
(1) Now the apostle reasons generally of tolerating or bearing with the weak by all means, in so far that it may be for their profit.
(a) And despise others.
3. The importance of pleasing one another 15:1-6
Paul now developed the key concept to which he referred in chapter 14, namely, putting the welfare of others before that of self (cf. Gal 6:2). This is love. He cited the example of Christ who lived free of taboos and unnecessary inhibitions but was always careful to bear with the weaknesses of others.
The strong ought to take the initiative in resolving the tension between the strong and the weak. They need to be willing to limit their Christian liberty if by doing so they can reduce the problems of their brethren. The weak need knowledge, and the strong need love. Paul was not saying that the strong must determine to put up with the weak. He meant, "Those of us who are strong must accept as our own burden the tender scruples of the weak." [Note: Revised English Bible.]
Chapter 30
THE SAME SUBJECT: THE LORDS EXAMPLE: HIS RELATION TO US ALL
Rom 15:1-13
THE large and searching treatment which the Apostle has already given to the right use of Christian Liberty, is yet not enough. He must pursue the same theme further; above all, that he may put it into more explicit contact with the Lord Himself.
We gather without doubt that the state of the Roman Mission, as it was reported to St. Paul, gave special occasion for such fulness of discussion. It is more than likely, as we have seen from the first, that the bulk of the disciples were ex-pagans; probably of very various nationalities, many of them Orientals, and as such not more favourable to distinctive Jewish claims and tenets. It is also likely that they found amongst them, or beside them, many Christian Jews, or Christian Jewish proselytes, of a type more or less pronounced in their own direction; the school whose less worthy members supplied the men to whom St. Paul, a few years later, writing from Rome to Philippi, refers as “preaching Christ of envy and strife.” {Php 1:15} The temptation of a religious (as of a secular) majority is always to tyrannise, more or less, in matters of thought and practice. A dominant school, in any age or region, too easily comes to talk and act as if all decided expression on the other side were an instance of “intolerance,” while yet it allows itself sufficiently severe and censorious courses of its own. At Rome, very probably, this mischief was in action. The “strong,” with whose principle, in its true form, St. Paul agreed, were disposed to domineer in spirit over the “weak,” because the weak were comparatively the few. Thus they were guilty of a double fault; they were presenting a miserable parody of holy liberty, and they were acting off the line of that unselfish fairness which is essential in the Gospel character. For the sake not only of the peace of the great Mission Church, but of the honour of the Truth, and of the Lord, the Apostle therefore dwells on mutual duties, and returns to them again and again after apparent conclusions of his discourse. Let us listen as he now reverts to the subject, to set it more fully than ever in the light of Christ.
But (it is the “but” of resumption, and of new material) we are bound, we the able, (perhaps a sort of soubriquet for themselves among the school of “liberty,” “the capables”)-to bear the weaknesses of the unable, (again, possibly, a soubriquet, and in this case an unkindly one for a school,) and not to please ourselves. Each one of us, let him please not himself, but his neighbour, as regards what is good, with a view to edification.
“Please”; . The word is one often “soiled with ignoble use,” in classical literature; it tends to mean the “pleasing” which fawns and flatters; the complaisance of the parasite. But it is lifted by Christian usage to a noble level. The cowardly and interested element drops out of it; the thought of willingness to do anything to please remains; only limited by the law of right, and aimed only at the others “good.” Thus purified, it is used elsewhere of that holy “complaisance” in which the grateful disciple aims to “meet halfway the wishes” of his Lord. {see Col 1:10} Here, it is the unselfish and watchful aim to meet halfway, if possible, the thought and feeling of a fellow disciple, to conciliate by sympathetic attentions, to be considerate in the smallest matters of opinion and conduct; a genuine exercise of inward liberty.
There is a gulf of difference between interested timidity and disinterested considerateness. In flight from the former, the ardent Christian sometimes breaks the rule of the latter. St. Paul is at his hand to warn him not to forget the great law of love. And the Lord is at his hand too, with His own supreme Example.
For even our Christ did not please Himself; but, as it stands written, {Psa 69:9} “The reproaches of those who reproached Thee, fell upon Me.”
It is the first mention in the Epistle of the Lords Example. His Person we have seen, and the Atoning Work, and the Resurrection Power, and the great Return. The holy Example can never take the place of anyone of these facts of life eternal. But when they are secure, then the reverent study of the Example is not only in place; it is of urgent and immeasurable importance.
“He did not please Himself.” “Not My will, but Thine, be done.” Perhaps the thought of the Apostle is dwelling on the very hour when those words were spoken, from beneath the olives of the Garden, and out of a depth of inward conflict and surrender which “it hath not entered into the heart of man”-except the heart of the Man of men Himself-“to conceive.” Then indeed “He did not please Himself.” From pain as pain, from grief as grief, all sentient existence naturally, necessarily, shrinks; it “pleases itself” in escape or in relief. The infinitely refined sentient Existence of the Son of Man was no exception to this law of universal nature; and now He was called to such pain, to such grief, as never before met upon one head. We read the record of Gethsemane, and its sacred horror is always new; the disciple passes in thought out of the Garden even to the cruel tribunal of the Priest with a sense of relief; his Lord has risen from the unfathomable to the fathomable depth of His woes-till He goes down again, at noon next day, upon the Cross. “He pleased not Himself.” He who soon after, on the shore of the quiet water, said to Peter, in view of his glorious and God-glorifying end, “They shall carry thee whither thou wouldest not”-along a path from which all thy manhood shall shrink-He too, as to His Human sensibility, “would not” go to His own unknown agonies. But then, blessed be His Name, “He would go” to them, from that other side, the side of the infinite harmony of His purpose with the purpose of His Father, in His immeasurable desire of His Fathers glory. So He “drank that cup,” which shall never now pass on to His people. And then He went forth into the house of Caiaphas, to be “reproached,” during some six or seven terrible hours, by men who, professing zeal for God, were all the while blaspheming Him by every act and word of malice and untruth against His Son; and from Caiaphas He went to Pilate, and to Herod, and to the Cross, “bearing that reproach.”
“Im not anxious to die easy, when He died hard!” So said, not long ago, in a London attic, lying crippled and comfortless, a little disciple of the Man of Sorrows. He had “seen the Lord,” in a strangely unlikely conversion, and had found a way of serving Him; it was to drop written fragments of His Word from the window on to the pavement below. And for this silent mission he would have no liberty if he were moved, in his last weeks, to a comfortable “Home.” So he would rather serve his beloved Redeemer thus, “pleasing not himself,” than be soothed in body, and gladdened by surrounding kindness, but with less “fellowship of His sufferings.” Illustrious confessor-sure to be remembered when “the Lord of the servants cometh”! And with what an-a fortiori does his simple answer to a kindly visitors offer bring home to us (for it is for us as much as for the Romans) this appeal of the Apostles! We are called in these words not necessarily to any agony of body or spirit; not necessarily even to an act of severe moral courage; only to patience, largeness of heart, brotherly love. Shall we not answer Amen from the soul? Shall not even one thought of “the fellowship of His sufferings” annihilate in us the miserable “self pleasing” which shows itself in religious bitterness, in the refusal to attend and to understand, in a censoriousness which has nothing to do with firmness, in a personal attitude exactly opposite to love?
He has cited Psa 69:1-36 as a Scripture which, with all the solemn problems gathered round its dark “minatory” paragraph, yet lives and moves with Christ, the Christ of love. And now-not to confirm his application of the Psalm, for he takes that for granted-but to affirm the positive Christian use of the Old Scriptures as a whole, he goes on to speak at large of “the things forewritten.” He does so with the special thought that the Old Testament is full of truth in point for the Roman Church just now; full of the bright, and uniting, “hope” of glory; full of examples as well as precepts for “patience,” that is to say, holy perseverance under trial; full finally of the Lords equally gracious relation to “the Nations” and to Israel.
For all the things forewritten, written in the Scriptures of the elder time, in the age that both preceded the Gospel and prepared for it, for our instruction were written-with an emphasis upon “our”-that through the patience and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might hold our hope, the hope “sure and steadfast” of glorification in the glory of our conquering Lord. That is to say, the true “Author behind the authors” of that mysterious Book watched, guided, effected its construction, from end to end, with the purpose full in His view of instructing for all time the developed Church of Christ. And in particular, He adjusted thus the Old Testament records and precepts of “patience,” the patience which “suffers and is strong,” suffers and goes forward, and of “encouragement,” , the word which is more than “consolation,” while it includes it; for it means the voice of positive and enlivening appeal. Rich indeed are Pentateuch, and Prophets, and Hagiographa, alike in commands to persevere and be of good courage, and in examples of men who were made brave and patient by the power of God in them, as they took Him at His word. And all this, says the Apostle, was on purpose, on Gods purpose. That multifarious Book is indeed in this sense one. Not only is it, in its Authors intention, full of Christ; in the same intention it is full of Him for us. Immortal indeed is its preciousness, if this was His design. Confidently may we explore its pages, looking in them first for Christ, then for ourselves, in our need of peace, and strength, and hope. Let us add one word, in view of the anxious controversy of our day, within the Church, over the structure and nature of those “divine Scriptures,” as the Christian Fathers love to call them. The use of the Holy Book in the spirit of this verse, the persistent searching of it for the preceptive mind of God in it, with the belief that it was “written for our instruction,” will be the surest and deepest means to give us “perseverance” and “encouragement” about the Book itself. The more we really know the Bible, at first hand, before God, with the knowledge both of acquaintance and reverent sympathy, the more shall we be able with intelligent spiritual conviction, to “persist” and “be of good cheer” in the conviction that it is indeed not of man (though through man), but of God. The more shall we use it as the Lord and the Apostles used it, as being not only of God, but of God for us; His Word, and for us. The more shall we make it our divine daily Manual for a life of patient and cheerful sympathies, holy fidelity, and “that blessed Hope”-which draws “nearer now than when we believed.” But may the God of the patience and the encouragement. He who is Author and Giver of the graces unfolded in His Word, He without whom even that Word is but a sound without significance in the soul, grant you, in His own sovereign way of acting on and in human wills and affections, to be of one mind mutually, according to Christ Jesus; “Christwise,” in His steps, in His temper, under His precepts; having towards one another, not necessarily an identity of opinion on all details, but a community of sympathetic kindness. No comment here is better than this same Writers later words, from Rome; {Php 2:2-5} “Be of one mind; having the same love; nothing by strife, or vainglory; esteeming others better than yourselves; looking on the things of others; with the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus,” when He humbled Himself for us. And all this, not only for the comfort of the community, but for the glory of God: that unanimously, with one mouth, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; turning from the sorrowful friction worked by self-will when it intrudes into the things of heaven, to an antidote, holy and effectual, found in adoring Him who is equally near to all His true people, in His Son. Wherefore welcome one another into fellowship, even as our Christ welcomed you, all the individuals of your company, and all the groups of it, to our Gods glory. These last words may mean either that the Lords welcome of “you glorified” His Fathers grace; or that that grace will he “glorified” by the holy victory of love over prejudice among the Roman saints. Perhaps this latter explanation is to be preferred, as it echoes and enforces the last words of the previous verse. But why should not both references reside in the one phrase, where the actions of the Lord and His disciples are seen in their deep harmony? For I say that Christ stands constituted Servant of the Circumcision, Minister of divine blessings to Israel, on behalf of Gods truth, so as to ratify in act the promises belonging to the Fathers, so as to secure and vindicate their fulfilment, by His coming as Son of David, Son of Abraham, but (a “but” which, by its slight correction, reminds the Jew that the Promise, given wholly through him, was not given wholly for him) so that the Nations, on mercys behalf, should glorify God, blessing and adoring Him on account of a salvation which, in their case, was less of “truth” than of “mercy,” because it was less explicitly and immediately of covenant; as it stands written, {Psa 18:49} “For this I will confess to Thee, will own Thee, among the Nations, and will strike the harp to Thy Name”; Messiah confessing His Eternal Fathers glory in the midst of His redeemed Gentile subjects, who sing their “lower part” with Him. And again it, the Scripture, says, {Deu 32:43} “Be jubilant, Nations, with His people.” And again, {Psa 117:1} “Praise the Lord, all the Nations, and let all the peoples praise Him again.” And again Isaiah, {Isa 11:10} “There shall come (literally, “shall be”) the Root of Jesse, and He who rises up-“rises,” in the present tense of the divine decree to rule [the] Nations; on Him [the] Nations shall hope” with the hope which is in fact faith, looking from the sure present to the promised future. Now may the God of that hope, “the Hope” just cited from the Prophet, the expectation of all blessing, up to its crown and flower in glory, on the basis of Messiahs work, fill you with all joy and peace in your believing, so that you may overflow in that hope, in the Holy Spirits power: “in His power,” clasped as it were within His divine embrace, and thus energised to look upward, heavenward, away from embittering and dividing temptations to the unifying as well as beatifying prospect of your Lords Return.
He closes here his long, wise, tender appeal and counsel about the “unhappy divisions” of the Roman Mission. He has led his readers as it were all round the subject. With the utmost tact, and also candour, he has given them his own mind, “in the Lord,” on the matter in dispute. He has pointed out to the party of scruple and restriction the fallacy of claiming the function of Christ, and asserting a divine rule where He has not imposed one. He has addressed the “strong” (with whom he agrees in a certain sense), at much greater length, reminding them of the moral error of making more of any given application of their principle than of the law of love in which the principle was rooted. He has brought both parties to the feet of Jesus Christ as absolute Master. He has led them to gaze on Him as their blessed Example, in His infinite self-oblivion for the cause of God, and of love. He has poured out before them the prophecies, which tell at once the Christian Judaist and the ex-pagan convert that in the eternal purpose Christ was given equally to both, in the line of “truth,” in the line of “mercy.” Now lastly he clasps them impartially to his own heart in this precious and pregnant benediction, beseeching for both sides, and for all their individuals, a wonderful fulness of those blessings in which most speedily and most surely the spirit of their strife would expire. Let that prayer be granted, in its pure depth and height, and how could “the weak brother” look with quite his old anxiety on the problems suggested by the dishes at a meal, and by the dates of the Rabbinic Calendar? And how could “the capable” bear any longer to lose his joy in God by an assertion, full of self, of his own insight and “liberty”? Profoundly happy and at rest in their Lord, whom they embraced by faith as their Righteousness and Life, and whom they anticipated in hope as their coming Glory; filled through their whole consciousness, by the indwelling Spirit, with a new insight into Christ; they would fall into each others embrace, in Him. They would be much more ready, when they met, to speak “concerning the King” than to begin a new stage of their not very elevating discussion.
How many a Church controversy, now as then, would die of inanition, leaving room for a living truth, if the disputants could only gravitate, as to their always most beloved theme, to the praises and glories of their redeeming Lord Himself! It is at His feet, and in His arms, that we best understand both His truth, and the thoughts, rightful or mistaken, of our brethren.
Meanwhile, let us take this benedictory prayer, as we may take it, from its instructive context, and carry it out with us into all the contexts of life. What the Apostle prayed for the Romans, in view of their controversies, he prays for us, as for them, in view of everything. Let us “stand back and look at the picture.” Here-conveyed in this strong petition-is St. Pauls idea of the true Christians true life, and the true life of the true Church. What are the elements, and what is the result?
It is a life lived in direct contact with God. “Now the God of hope fill you.” He remits them here (as above, ver. 5) {Rom 15:5} from even himself to the Living God. In a sense, he sends them even from “the things forewritten,” to the Living God; not in the least to disparage the Scriptures, but because the great function of the divine Word, as of the divine Ordinances, is to guide the soul into an immediate intercourse with the Lord God in His Son, and to secure it therein. God is to deal direct with the Romans. He is to manipulate, He is to fill, their being.
It is a life not starved or straitened, but full. “The God of hope fill you.” The disciple, and the Church, is not to live as if grace were like a stream “in the year of drought,” now settled into an almost stagnant deep, then struggling with difficulty over the stones of the shallow. The man, and the Society, are to live and work in tranquil but moving strength, “rich” in the fruits of their Lords “poverty”; {2Co 8:9} filled out of His fulness; never, spiritually, at a loss for Him; never, practically, having to do or bear except in His large and gracious power.
It is a life bright and beautiful; “filled with all joy and peace.” It is to show a surface fair with the reflected sky of Christ, Christ present, Christ to come. A sacred while open happiness and a pure internal repose are to be there, born of “His presence, in which is fulness of joy,” and of the sure prospect of His Return, bringing with it “pleasures for evermore.” Like that mysterious ether of which the natural philosopher tells us, this joy, this peace, found and maintained “in the Lord,” is to pervade all the contents of the Christian life, its moving masses of duty or trial, its interspaces of rest or silence; not. always demonstrative, but always underlying, and always a living power.
It is a life of faith; “all joy and peace in your believing.” That is to say, it is a life dependent for its all upon a Person and His promises. Its glad certainty of peace with God, of the possession of His Righteousness, is by means not of sensations and experiences, but of believing; it comes, and stays, by taking Christ at His word. Its power over temptation, its “victory and triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh,” is by the same means. The man, the Church, takes the Lord at His word; -“I am with you always”; “Through Me thou shalt do valiantly”; -and faith, that is to say, Christ trusted in practice, is “more than conqueror.”
It is a life overflowing with the heavenly hope; “that ye may abound in the hope.” Sure of the past, and of the present, it is-what out of Christ no life can be-sure of the future. The golden age, for this happy life, is in front, and is no Utopia. “Now is our salvation nearer”; “We look for that blissful () hope, the appearing of our great God and Saviour”; “Them which sleep in Him God will bring with Him”; “We shall be caught up together with them; we shall ever be with the Lord”; “They shall see His face; thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty.”
And all this it is as a life lived “in the power of the Holy Ghost.” Not by enthusiasm, not by any stimulus which self applies to self; not by resources for gladness and permanence found in independent reason or affection; but by the almighty, all-tender power of the Comforter. “The Lord, the Life Giver,” giving life by bringing us to the Son of God, and uniting us to Him, is the Giver and strong Sustainer of the faith, and so of the peace, the joy, the hope, of this blessed life.
“Now it was not written for their sakes only, but for us also,” in our circumstances of personal and of common experience. Large and pregnant is the application of this one utterance to the problems perpetually raised by the divided state of organisation, and of opinion, in modern Christendom. It gives us one secret, above and below all others, as the sure panacea, if it may but be allowed to work, for this multifarious malady which all who think deplore. That secret is “the secret of the Lord, which is with them that fear Him”. {Psa 25:14} It is a fuller life in the individual, and so in the community, of the peace and joy of believing; a larger abundance of “that blessed hope,” given by that power for which numberless hearts are learning to thirst with a new intensity, “the power of the Holy Ghost.”
It was in that direction above all that the Apostle gazed as he yearned for the unity, not only spiritual, but practical, of the Roman saints. This great master of order, this man made for government, alive with all his large wisdom to the sacred importance, in its, true place, of the external mechanism of Christianity, yet makes no mention of it here, nay, scarcely gives one allusion to it in the whole Epistle. The word “Church” is not heard till the final chapter; and then it is used only, or almost only, of the scattered mission stations, or even mission groups, in their individuality. The ordered Ministry only twice, and in the most passing manner, comes into the long discourse; in the words {Rom 12:6-8} about prophecy, ministration, teaching, exhortation, leadership; and in the mention {Rom 16:1} of Phoebes relation to the Cenchrean Church. He is addressing the saints of that great City which was afterwards, in the tract of time, to develop into even terrific exaggerations the idea of Church Order. But he has practically nothing to say to them about unification and cohesion beyond this appeal to hold fast together by drawing nearer each and all to the Lord, and so filling each one his soul and life with Him.
Our modern problems must be met with attention, with firmness, with practical purpose, with due regard to history, and with submission to revealed truth. But if they are to be solved indeed they must be met outside the spirit of self, and in the communion of the Christian with Christ, by the power of the Spirit of God.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
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Fuente: The Greek Testament
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Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
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Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
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