Romans 15:1-14

Beginning with Romans 12:1, Paul has been showing practical applications of the righteousness of God. The point is that righteousness is not merely a matter between us and God, but something that must make a change in the way we live and, especially, in the way we treat the people around us—whether our friends, our enemies, our fellow Churchmen, or the government.

In chapter 14, Paul dealt specifically with the problems that might arise between Christians as they sought to live out the righteousness of God. Building directly off that, we have this section. This is the end of the ethical section of Romans and very nearly the end of the body of the letter. As Paul approached the end of this work, he wanted to give one last appeal to his readers--an appeal for unity within the church.

This section picks up directly where the last section ended. You remember that in the last section, we talked about these two groups—the “stronger brother” and the “weaker brother.” The weaker brother had a lack in faith which led to his being overly conscientious and holding onto a number of scruples that the rest of the church—those who had stronger faith and understanding—were free of. And Paul's general advice was that those who were strong shouldn't despise or reject their weaker brothers, but instead should regulate their own lives in such a way that they wouldn't put a stumbling block before others.

Suppose you had a group of people traveling on foot through wild and desolate territory. This group contains people of all ages and varying strength levels. But this trip is a community effort—the plan and the desire is for the entire group to travel together and reach their destination—this isn't a free-for-all but a group project. Obviously, in that case, those in the group who are strongest are going to end up doing the biggest share of the work. That doesn't mean that those who are weaker—the young children and the elderly—won't have valuable things they can do to contribute; it doesn't mean they are just dead weight. But by the very nature of the case, those who can do the most will have to do the most if the group is going to succeed at all.

This is true of physical strength and it is also true of spiritual strength. Those who were strong in faith might have felt it was unfair they should have to make sacrifices and change their own practices to avoid causing problems for their weaker brothers. But Paul insists that this is exactly what they should do—the very fact of their strength gave them an obligation to help those who were weaker. This is an idea we've met with before in Romans. For Paul, blessing led to responsibility. To whom much is given shall much be required.

But I want you to keep in mind that picture of a group of travelers working together to reach their goal. In verse 2, Paul says that everyone should please his neighbor in that which will do him good and lead to his being built up. And I'm sure to some people that sounds a little strange. They would say that everyone should just try to help themselves instead of everyone helping someone else; that sounds like a little roundabout way of doing things. But I think that misses the point. It is not that we should do for others what they could do for themselves; it is that we should do what they can't do for themselves. We are working together to help on this Christian journey, using our various gifts and experiences to help those who lack in some area. Paul picks up this thought again in verse 14, where he states his assurance that his readers have the goodness and knowledge to teach one another. The writer of Ecclesiastes pictures this kind of cooperation: “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

We will come back to this picture of a journey later, but there is something to note before we leave it. There is one thing that is very necessary when on a long journey and that is also the thing that is very necessary when it comes to working together with other people—and that one thing is patience. In verse 4, Paul says that God intended for us to have hope through patience. And in the very next verse, Paul refers to God as the God of patience. As Christians, we must have patience—we must endure the problems we face with other people as well as the other problem inherent in life—just as God has patience with us.

But people can have patience and work together for many reasons and with many attitudes. Many people, even in the world, recognize that cooperation is necessary for survival. Even opposing politicians will sometimes work together against a common enemy. Paul wanted the Roman Christians to have a deeper unity than that—in verse 5 he prays for them to be likeminded one toward another—this is a unity that comes from the heart and the soul; not something that is forced by circumstances.

But what does it mean to be likeminded? Obviously, even Christians don't all think exactly the same way or have the same views on everything—as we saw in chapter 14. But I think that, despite all that, Christians can be likeminded because their minds are all fixed on the same thing. Immediately after that prayer, Paul goes on in verse 6 to say that his desire is that they would “with one mind and one mouth glorify God.” This is an appeal for worship, and maybe I'm wrong, but I think that may be the likemindedness we are supposed to have—if all of our minds are turned to God, they should not be that opposed to each other, even if we don't agree on everything regarding God. 

But verse 6 isn't the only mention of worship here. In verse 7, Paul says that the whole plan of salvation was for the glory of God. In verses 9-11, Paul points to some Old Testament prophecies concerning the Gentiles worshiping and praising God. 

As we talked about all the way back in our introduction to Romans, the Roman church was seemingly a hybrid church, containing both Jews and Gentiles. This probably led to a certain amount of tension and disagreement within the church. It is even possible that the divide between the stronger and weaker brother in chapter 14 was  a divide between the Jews and the Gentiles. Perhaps it was largely to address this issue that Paul wrote this entire section.

In the opening chapters of Romans, Paul showed that the Jews and Gentiles were equally under the wrath of God and equally in need of God's mercy. Here he shows the Gentiles rejoicing and praising God—just as the Jews did. They could not be at odds with each other if they were both worshipping the same God. The word Jew comes from Judah, which means praise. Earlier in Romans, Paul said that the true Jew was the one who was praised or approved by God. But you could also say that the true Jew is the one who praises God regardless of their ancestry. 

So this is the appeal that Paul makes to the Roman church—he calls upon them to work together with patience while worshipping God—this is an appeal for true unity, a unity of spirit and action. This may sometimes be a costly unity—as we saw in chapter 14—but it is still the path that Paul asked his readers to follow and which God, through the scripture, is asking us to follow.

But why and how? What is the basis or foundation of this call?

First, it is the scriptures. This is verse 4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.” Taken on its own, this is a simple, straightforward statement—the Bible was written for the purpose of instruction; it was written so people could learn from it.

But we have to remember the context of when Paul was writing. The Bible, as we know it, did not yet exist. The New Testament was still in the process of being written and probably had not yet been collected into any combined form. And here Paul is speaking specifically of that which had been written in the past—and more specifically of Psalm 69 which he had quoted in the previous verse.

So we have the Old Testament—which was written almost exclusively by the Jews and for the Jews and primarily centers around the Jews and Jewish issues. So I can't help but wonder if there may have been some Gentiles in the first century who wondered how much value this old Jewish book had for them—as there are still Christians to do who doubt the value and worth of the Old Testament for the Christian. We have no idea whether this thought was around in the first century, but Paul's assurance remains the same—that those things written aforetime were written for our learning. The Jews might have thought that the scriptures were their special property, but God was the true writer of the Old Testament and He intended not just for the Jews but for all those who would follow Him. 

The Bible is the foundation of all the Christian life, but it is especially the foundation for unity because we all look to the Bible as our guide. The Old Testament (and most of the New Testament) was written by Jews, but we all, Jew and Gentile, find in it our hope and guide for life.

In verse 8 Paul makes a strange statement: “Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” And then we have verse 9: “That the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written.”  God had made promises through his words, promises regarding both the Jews and the Gentiles—and God had kept his promises. Things hadn't worked out the way anybody expected, but in the end, God had kept his promises. Jesus had served the Jews, and He brought salvation to the Gentiles. Barnes comments that we tend to treat the word 'Christ' as if it were Jesus' last name. But it is His title; it is equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, and connects Jesus to all the prophecies made regarding Him in the Old Testament. God kept His promises; there is a foundation for our faith.

Paul says that Jesus was a minister of the circumcision. The circumcision probably simply means the Jews. Jesus, during his earthly ministry, almost exclusively ministered to the Jews, and the earliest work of the church was to the Jews. But as I looked at that phrase something else came to my mind—something which probably goes beyond Paul's words here but does fit with it. This is what Jesus said about His mission: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:17-18) Even if many of the Jews had given the law a false meaning or importance, God had given the law for a reason. God had given circumcision for a reason. God's seemingly bizarre dealing with the Jewish people throughout the Old Testament had a reason, and the reason was to lead to Christ. The Jews practiced circumcision to represent the fact that they were a separate, distinct people. That distinction was an arbitrary and often a superficial one. But Jesus came to make a truly separate, distinct people, a new race of redeemed humanity marked not by a physical difference but a difference of heart. He was the minister of circumcision because He came to bring the reality of which circumcision was only a prediction.

And that brings us to the second point—the second foundation of this appeal for unity—that which all the scriptures pointed to and spoke of—Jesus Himself. He is the pattern for the unity of the church.

This is verse 3: “Even as Christ pleased not himself.” If Jesus had been interested in pleasing Himself—if He had been living life for His own personal advantage, then He never would have lived life at all, at least not a human life. There was nothing that Jesus could gain by the incarnation. Many people in life are looking for advancement, for the next step up the ladder. Jesus deliberately took a step down. There was nothing that he could gain, but there was something we could gain. He came, not for Himself, but for us. Therefore, He is the pattern of that meekness and humility which is willing to bear the infirmities of the weak for the sake of unity.

Paul enforces this point with a quotation from Psalm 69. There, the Psalmist is describing the sufferings he experienced because of his dedication to God. “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.” (Psalm 69:8-9)

There is a principle here; what we might call the principle of identification. If a certain person or cause is unpopular, then anyone who is friends or allies with that person or supports that cause will also be unpopular. If you are associated with something hated, you will be hated because you are identified with it. To prove this, try expressing support for your political candidate in front of people of a different party. (I am not liable for any emotional or physical damage that results from the experiment.)

Whether or not this sort of guilt by association is fair, it is a general fact of life. And because of it, most people try very hard to avoid identification with people or causes that are unpopular or hated. One must be very dedicated to the thing in question in order to brave this infamy.

And that is what we see in the Psalm. The writer was so dedicated and consumed by his zeal for God, at a time when God's work was unpopular, that he was willing to brave the enmity of his own family. He was identified with God's work so that he shared in the insults that the sinful aimed at God.

Now, in John 2, we read the account of Jesus driving the moneychangers and merchants from the temple. And we have this comment on the event: “And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” (John 2:17) Jesus was filled with a desire to see God's will fulfilled, even when it meant doing something very unpopular. Even if the Jews would have claimed to be following God, most of them were not really in favor of God's work, and when Jesus stood for God, they were not in favor of Him. The reproaches of them that reproached God fell on Him.

If God Himself was willing to suffer to see God's work succeed, we should be as well.

But this could be taken another way. That a man would be willing to suffer for the sake of another man is noble but not that uncommon. That a man would be willing to suffer for the sake of God is laudable but perhaps not surprising. What is surprising is that God would be willing to suffer for the sake of man. But that is what Christ did.

This is a verse we read earlier in Romans, specifically dealing with the actions of the Jews: “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.” (Romans 2:24) Because God identified Himself with the Jews, because they were His chosen people, therefore their mistakes and wrongdoing became a cause for others to insult God. The reproaches that they received also fell upon God. We see this in the gospels. “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.” (Matthew 12:1-2) Do you notice? It was the disciples who were eating grain on the Sabbath. Jesus defended their actions, but there is no record that He participated in it—yet He was the one that was attacked and accused because of it. The reproaches of them that reproached them was upon Him. And it is still true today in the church. Every folly, every mistake, and every sin of professing Christians is used by some in the world as a reason to insult and attack the name of Christ. The reproaches of them that reproach us are still falling upon Him. If you'll pardon the expression, this is the risk that Christ was willing to take. This was part of the sacrifice He made for us. And if we follow His example, we should be willing to make a few sacrifices for one another.

In the church, there are many different people; people of very different backgrounds and dispositions and levels of faith and knowledge—those are the differences that lead to the clashes we read of in the last chapter. Are we really expected to receive in and treat as brethren, are we actually bound to make these kinds of sacrifices and risks for the sake of those who are so completely different? The answer is verse 7: “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us...” Jesus has received all Christians into the church; even though we had no claim on Him, no reason why He should have cared, even though we were, so to speak, so different from Him. And if Christ has done that, how can we not be willing to receive one another?

I was thinking of the elder brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The elder brother is clearly the bad guy of the story and yet, in some sense, his viewpoint is justifiable. The prodigal's actions really were indefensible. In some sense, the brother had good reason to be angry with him. And yet, when we read the story, our sympathies are instinctively against him. And I think a good part of the reason is the timing of his reaction. If the elder brother had been the first to meet the prodigal on his return and he had greeted him with coldness and anger, it might have seemed simply justice. But, when we see that the father—the one who had the most right to be angry with the prodigal, the one who had been most directly hurt by his actions, the one who had the authority to reject or receive—when we see that he was so willing to forgive, it makes the unforgiveness of the brother seem so petty by comparison.

Accepting and bonding with those who are different from us is not easy. Being willing to receive those who unlike us, even who have wronged us is not a painless. You can hardly be too harsh in blaming those in the world who refuse these ideals. But as Christians, our entire existence is overshadowed by the reality of the titanic action of Christ—the single, overwhelming cosmic act of mercy and reconciliation. Those of us who live under the shadow of the cross have, of all men, the most reason to be willing to accept and receive others, especially those who live under that same shadow.

That is the example of Christ and it is the foundation of this appeal to unity. But an example, in itself, is not enough. Many people, even in the world, do look to Christ as an example of love and mercy. But merely seeing that example is not enough to change them, not completely.

That is why we should note that the third foundation we have here is the power of God, which is at work within the Christian. This is easy to miss, but look at verse 5: “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another...” Again, in verse 13: “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.” This passage is half an admonition to his readers but it is also half a prayer—a prayer to the God who is the source of all patience and consolation and hope in this world. Christians are united because they all worship the same God; but equally, they are united because the same God fills them with His Spirit. God is both the object and the source of our likemindness. This gives this unity a deeper and more solid foundation than any other unity in this world.

So, we have the nature of this appeal—what it is Paul is appealing for his readers to do—and we have the foundation of the appeal—the grounds behind and the power for the attitude in question. Finally, we have the goal of the appeal—what was the purpose of it? What did Paul hope would be accomplished by unity within the church?

The main goal of this appeal was edification. Verse 2: “Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.” In verse 14, Paul states his assurance that the Roman Christians had the character and knowledge that they would be able to admonish one another or to “instruct one another” as the NET Bible puts it. 

Edification is an interesting word that doesn't get used in modern English. It comes from the Latin word for building, from the same root as Edifice, a term for a building. The Greek word it translates here is the same—it literally means architecture or building.

When we edify one another, we are building each other up. Each man is occupied throughout his life in the work of building something up; as Christians, each of us is building an edifice out of our life. God is the architect and the contractor but He has given some of the work into our own hands. But as a church, as a community, we can help one another in this act of building. We can instruct and exhort one another. That is one of the reasons why this unity is so important; this is why it is so important for the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. We need one another. In one sense, God is all we need. In one sense, as we said in a previous lesson, God is the only one who will save anyone and He doesn't need our help. Yet, it is also true that God frequently uses us—uses the community of believers—as His means to build up one another. 

Flowers can grow in the wild, receiving all they needs straight from the nature God created. But in a greenhouse, a flower can be protected and fertilized and tended so that it can grow its best. That is what the church should be—a place where things can grow. It should not merely be a florist shop where the dead flowers of the past are put up for display.

The next goal is hope. In verse 4, Paul says that the scriptures were written so that they could teach us and give us patience and comfort to the end that we might have hope. Again, in verse 13, Paul prays that God of hope would fill his readers with joy and peace so that they would abound in hope. The Modern New Testament gives it: “that you may be overflowing with hope.”

I think it's interesting that Paul mentions hope twice throughout this passage. At first sight, hope doesn't seem directly related to what he's talking about here. And it could be that it's not—hope was a concept near the heart of Paul's thinking and so it's not surprising that he would bring it up, especially when talking about God's plan. But I think it does have a relation to unity in two ways.

First, remember the picture I gave before—the picture of a group of people working together on a journey because they all are heading for the same destination. Their unity is intrinsically bound up with hope. They are working together because they have hope of reaching their goal. That hope flavors everything they do. If they despaired—if they came to the conclusion that their pilgrimage could not be completed, then their unity would probably fall apart. Why work together to reach a goal unless you have hope of reaching the goal?

We talked about edification or building each other up. But if you build something, you build in hope of the work someday being completed. In Ephesians, Paul also talks about the work of edification in the church and gives this glimpse of the hope for which this work goes on: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) This is the consummation to which the church is working. We have unity in the church to work for this hope and this hope is the fuel of our unity.

But I can't help but wonder—and maybe I'm completely off base here—but I wonder if Paul's previous discussions play a role here. Paul has just been talking about the problems within the church, the division and disagreements which make exhortations about unity necessary. 

There is an old poem which goes: “To live above/With saints we love:/O yes, that will be glory./But to live below,/With saints we know:/Well, that's a different story.” It's a reminder that unity, that living and working together even within the church, isn't easy. We are going to face difficulties and debates and dilemmas.

But there is another side to it. There is a reminder of hope... that the problems we face in the church now are not eternal. The church, as a whole, is a building. At present, it is under construction, and a good deal of mud keeps getting tracked inside. But someday that construction will be finished. Someday unity will no longer be a difficult battle but an established peace. That is our hope.

And when the church does finally reach its consummation, then it will bring glory to God. In verse 7 Paul says that Christ received us to the glory of God. The plan of salvation brings glory to God—it reveals His glory; it acts as an example, even an incarnation, of that glory. And when we in the church live out God's plan through our unity with one another, we also bring glory to God, revealing that glory to one another and to God.

And while we are dealing specifically with this matter of unity, this really applies to the whole of Romans 12-15. Paul dealt with many aspects of our life, whether personal or interpersonal. But ultimately all are for the glory of God. And ultimately all can be built up together within the church when the church acts in unity.

And if we act in unity, it is because we act in faith—faith in God's plan and in God's power. And therein is the righteousness of God revealed in the church and in our lives, as it is written: The just shall live by faith.