Friday DIVE – July 25, 2025 – Romans 15:1-13

⁷ Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us^{[NU, M you]}, to the glory of God.   

⁸ Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,  ⁹ and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, and sing to Your name.”   

¹⁰ And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”  

¹¹ And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles!  Laud Him, all you peoples!”   

¹² And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”   

¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.    

¹ We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples^[weaknesses] of the weak, and not to please ourselves.   

NLT …  ¹ We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this.  We must not just please ourselves.  

• Cf. … Philippians 2:3-4    Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  ⁴ Let each of you look out not only for his own interests,  but also for the interests of others.  
• If you consider yourself strong in comparison to your brother, use your strength to serve your brothers in Christ – instead of using your “strength” just to please yourself. (Guzik)
• bear with:  The idea isn’t really bearing with, but bearing up the weaker brother – supporting him with your superior strength. (Guzik)
• This goes against the whole tenor of our times, which counsels people to “look out for number one” and despises those who live lives of real sacrifice for the sake of others.  Yet, undeniably Paul points the way to true happiness and fulfillment in life – get your eyes off of yourself, start building up others and you will find yourself built up. (Guzik)

² Let each of us pleasehis neighbor  for his good, leading to edification ^{[building up]}.   ³Foreven Christ did not please Himself;  but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” 

NLT ...   ² We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.  ³For  even Christ didn’t live to please himself.  As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.”

• Cf. … Philippians 2:5-8 …   Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and  became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 
  • Why?  Why did Christ Jesus do that? …
  • … Philippians 2:4  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others ….

⁴ For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience^{[perseverance]}  and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.   

⁵ Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,  ⁶ that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.   

NLT …  ⁴ Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.  

⁵ May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.  ⁶ Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

THE MARKS OF THE FELLOWSHIP

Rom. 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.  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. I t 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 Psalm 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).  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.

Glorify God Together

⁷ Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us^{[NU, M you]}, to the glory of God.   ⁸ Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant^[minister] to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,  ⁹ and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, and sing to Your name.”   

¹⁰ And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”  

¹¹ And again: “Praise theLord, all you Gentiles!  Laud Him, all you peoples!”   

¹² And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”   

¹³ Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.    

NLT …  ⁷ Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. ⁸ Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors.  

• • Barclays’s translation …  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. 

 ⁹ He also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them. That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote:  “For this, I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing praises to your name.”

¹⁰ And in another place it is written, “Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles.”

¹¹ And yet again,  “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles.  Praise him, all you people of the earth.”  

¹² And in another place Isaiah said,  “The heir to David’s throne will come, and he will rule over the Gentiles.  They will place their hope on him.”  

¹³ I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.  

According to William Barclay …

THE INCLUSIVE CHURCH … Romans 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 Psalm 18:50;  Deuteronomy 32:43;  Psalm 117:1;  Isaiah 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.aaaa 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.