Romans15chapter 15

Romans 15:1-3

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves: Paul folds himself into the class of the strong from chapter 14 and states the obligation as bearing rather than merely tolerating, an active carrying of another's weakness. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification names the standard, pleasing aimed at the neighbour's building up rather than at comfort or approval for its own sake. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me: Paul grounds the whole ethic in Psalm 69:9, Christ's own self-denial taking on himself the reproach that belonged to God, the pattern the strong believer is called to imitate in miniature.

Romans 15:4-6

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope: Paul pauses to state a principle of how the Old Testament functions for the church, the Psalm just quoted standing for the whole of Scripture's ongoing usefulness. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: the prayer asks for the very virtue the quoted Psalm teaches, patience, to produce unity among believers who still differ over the disputed practices of chapter 14. That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: the goal of likemindedness is not uniformity of opinion on food and days but a single unified voice raised in worship.

Romans 15:7-9

Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God: the chapter's whole argument condenses into one command, and the standard set is Christ's own reception of the believer, generous and unearned. 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: Paul names Christ's ministry to Israel first, grounding Gentile inclusion in a prior faithfulness to the patriarchal promises rather than in their replacement. And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy: Jewish and Gentile believers are called to the very same act, one mind and one mouth glorifying God, the Jew for truth kept and the Gentile for mercy extended, two doors into one house of praise.

Romans 15:10-13

Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people: Paul stacks four Old Testament citations, Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 117:1, and Isaiah 11:10, each naming Gentile praise alongside Israel rather than instead of Israel, the same among-not-instead logic that governs the olive tree of chapter 11. There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust: the Isaiah citation names the Messiah's own reign over the nations as the ground of Gentile hope, the root of Jesse standing for the Davidic line the whole letter has traced back to Abraham. 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: the benediction names hope as the chapter's own theme word, four Old Testament witnesses now sealed by the Spirit's present power in the believer rather than left as ancient promise only.

Romans 15:14-16

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: Paul softens the corrective tone of the whole letter with genuine confidence in the Roman church's own maturity, writing to remind rather than to instruct strangers. 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: the apostolic boldness is credited to grace received, not to Paul's own authority asserted over a church he had not planted. 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: the word for minister is leitourgos, priestly service language, and Paul pictures his apostolic labor as a priest presenting the Gentile church itself as an offering, sanctified by the Spirit rather than by ritual.

Romans 15:17-19

I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God: Paul names a legitimate boasting, entirely relocated in Christ, before describing the actual scope of his labor. 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 word and deed: the achievement is credited to Christ's own working through the apostle rather than to Paul's own effort, obedience the aim rather than mere assent. Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ: the signs and wonders are named as the Spirit's own present activity accompanying the preached word, the same living ministry taught at full strength through the whole epistle, and Illyricum marks the far edge of a single apostolic career already circling the northern Mediterranean.

Romans 15:20-21

So have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation: Paul states his own missionary ambition, pioneering rather than building on work already done, a policy that explains why he had not yet reached a church as prominent as Rome's own. But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand: the citation from Isaiah 52:15 gives Paul's pioneer strategy its scriptural shape, the prophecy of nations previously unreached now naming exactly the mission Paul has undertaken. His stated policy explains rather than excuses the long delay in reaching Rome, since it has kept him occupied in genuinely unreached territory rather than idle.

Romans 15:22-24

I have been much hindered from coming to you: the pioneer policy just named, not indifference, explains the long-postponed visit the Roman church may well have wondered about. But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you: Paul has evidently exhausted the unreached territory of his current circuit and can finally turn toward Rome, a desire he says has stood for years already. He plans to see the Roman believers on his way toward Spain and to be helped forward by them there, once he has enjoyed their company for a while: Rome becomes a waypoint rather than a destination in Paul's stated plan, a base for a further mission to the western edge of the known world, the natural next unreached field for a pioneer.

Romans 15:25-27

I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints: before Rome, an older and more urgent errand intervenes, carrying a collection Paul had organized across several Gentile provinces. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem: the collection appears elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 16 and 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, and Paul treats the Gentile churches' giving as a settled, willing act rather than an imposed tax. 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 unto them in carnal things: Paul states the debt in both directions, spiritual blessing flowing from Jewish roots to Gentile branches and material aid flowing back, the same among-not-instead relationship the olive tree of chapter 11 already established between the two.

Romans 15:28-29

When I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, Paul then plans to pass by Rome on his way further west: the collection is described as fruit sealed, delivered and certified complete, before he allows himself to plan the next stage of his mission. And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ: the confidence uses the same fulness language, pleroma, that chapter 11 used of Israel and of the Gentiles, here claimed personally of Paul's own visit, a completeness of blessing he expects to carry with him rather than merely hope for.

Romans 15:30-33

For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, Paul asks the Roman church to strive together with him in prayer, the word strive, synagonizomai, naming a wrestling match fought on his behalf before he has even met them. 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 of the saints: the two requests name real and reasonable fears, hostile unbelief awaiting him and the possibility that the Jerusalem church might not warmly receive a Gentile collection from a Gentile mission. Now the God of peace be with you all, Amen, closes the doctrinal and missionary body of the letter, Paul's own prayer answered only in part, as Acts records, when he did reach Jerusalem, was arrested there, and eventually did reach Rome, though not as he had planned.