Chapter 15

Here are some of my expository notes for this chapter.  I hope they prove beneficial to your study of this passage.

(1-2) Filled with care and concern for others.

1. We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.
   1. We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves: 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.
   2. Bear with: The idea isn’t really bearing with, but bearing up the weaker brother – supporting him with your superior strength.
   3. This goes against the whole tenor of our times, which counsels people to “look out for Number 1” 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.
2. Let each of us please his neighbor: It is a simple, yet challenging call to simply put our neighbor first. Paul later wrote much the same thing in 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. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
3. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good: This shows that Paul does not mean being a “man-pleaser.” Such a person may want to please his neighbor, but not for his good.
4. Leading to edification: All too often, Christians find it easier to tear each other down instead of building each other up; this is a classic strategy of Satan against the church that must be resisted.

(3-4) Filled with the example of Jesus, who always put others first.

For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

a. For even Christ did not please Himself: Jesus is the ultimate example of one who did not please Himself, but put others first. Paul’s classic development of this idea is in Philippians 2:5-11.

b. As it is written: As Jesus took abuse and suffered wrong for God’s glory, He fulfilled what was written in God’s word. Jesus showed by example that for the most part we are entirely too quick to vindicate ourselves, instead of letting God vindicate us. Jesus showed how the Father is well able to vindicate us.

c. The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me: The commandment Jesus fulfilled from Psalm 69:7 applies to us as well. It was written for our learning, that we might have hope, knowing we are doing what is right even when it is difficult.

(5-6) A prayer for the fulfillment of this attitude in the Romans.

The God of patience: Our God is a God of patience. We are often in so much of a hurry, and God often seems to work too slowly for us. Often the purposes of God seem to be delayed but they always are fulfilled. God’s delays are not His denials, and He has a loving purpose in every delay.

We love God’s patience with His people – we need Him to be patient with us! Yet we often resent God’s patience with His plan – we think He should hurry up. Nevertheless, God is patient both with His people and in His plan.

That you may: The goal is to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We accomplish that goal by having one mind and one mouth – by unity in our thinking and speech.

(7-13) Filled with love for others and joy and peace by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore receive one another: Instead of letting these issues about disputable things divide the body of Christ (especially making a division between Jew and Gentile), we should receive one another just as Christ received us – in the terms of pure grace, knowing yet bearing with our faults.

“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.” – Charles Spurgeon

As it is written: Paul quotes a series of passages from the Old Testament demonstrating that God intends that the Gentiles would come to praise Him. Instead of dividing over disputable matters, Jews and Gentiles should unite in Jesus over the common ground of praise.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace: The prayer and blessing concluding the section is appropriate. As God fills us with the blessings of His joy and peace in believing, we are equipped to live in this common bond of unity God calls us to.

(14-16) Paul’s reason for writing.

1. Able also to admonish one another: Paul didn’t write because he felt the Roman Christians couldn’t discern what was right before God or admonish each other to do right. Rather, he wrote to remind them, encouraging them to do what they knew was right.
2. That I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles: This is consistent with Paul’s calling to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. In fulfilling this call, he didn’t just preach the gospel of salvation but also instructed believers how to live before God.
3. That the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable: When the Gentiles live glorifying God, then their offering to God is acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit – the necessity of such a sacrifice makes Paul’s writing necessary.
4. Romans 15:16 is filled with the language of priesthood. Paul says he serves as a “ministering priest” of Jesus Christ presenting the gospel as a “priestly service” so Gentile converts would be an acceptable sacrifice to God.

(17-19) Paul glories in the work God has done through him.

1. Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus: As he considers his call to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, Paul can glory in God that he received such a call – speaking only of the things God did through him to bring salvation to the Gentiles.
2. In word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient: God used mighty signs and wonders and the broader power of the Spirit of God to help Paul fully preach the gospel of Christ everywhere he went – from Jerusalem to Illyricum. We sense that Paul would consider “bare” preaching, without the active and sometimes miraculous work of the Holy Spirit evident, to be less than fully preaching the gospel.

20-21 Explain Paul’s desire to preach the gospel in new places.

Not where Christ was named: Paul did not want to build on another man’s foundation. Rather he wanted to do pioneer work for the Lord – not because it was wrong or bad to continue the work begun through another man, but because there was so much to do on the frontiers.

(22-24) Why Paul hasn’t visited the Christians in Rome yet.

1. For this reason I also have been much hindered: It was his great desire to do pioneer work that hindered him from coming to the Romans, though he did desire to see them.
2. Whenever I journey to Spain, I shall come to you: Therefore, Paul supposes that he will visit the Romans on a future trip to Spain, where Paul will preach the gospel on the frontiers. Stopping off in Rome on the way, Paul anticipates that he can enjoy the support and fellowship of the Romans before he goes to preach the gospel in the regions beyond.

(30-33) Paul’s plea for prayer.

Strive together with me in prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe: Sensing that danger awaited him in Jerusalem (having been warned several times as recorded in Acts 20:22-23 and Acts 21:10-14), Paul knew he needed the prayers of God’s people to see him through the difficulty promised him.

Strive together with me: The idea is that Paul wants the Romans to partner with him in ministry through their prayers. The New English Bible translates this, be my allies in the fight. The New Living Bible translates the phrase like this: join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

The ancient Greek word translated strive together is sunagonizomai – literally meaning, “agonize together.” To emphasize the importance and intensity, Paul repeats the word twice: sunagonizomai sunagonizomai.  This same root word for agony is used of the anguished prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus asked His disciples to agonize with Him in prayer. They failed at that critical moment and left Jesus to struggle alone. We must not leave our ministers and leaders to struggle alone.

Pastors are sustained by the power of the Spirit through the support of their congregations.  May this passage encourage you to pray for the leaders in the church!