Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up. For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
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Romans 15:1-3 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up. For even Christ didn’t 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 through perseverance and through encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now the God of perseverance and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Parallel Translations
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Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up.
For even Christ didn’t please himself. But, as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
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We which are stronge ought to beare the fraylnes of them which are weake and not to stonde in oure awne cosaytes.
Let every man please his neghbour vnto his welth and edyfyinge.
For Christ pleased not him selfe: but as it is written. The rebukes of the which rebuked the fell one me.
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We which are strong, ought to beare the infirmities of the weake, and not to please our selues.
Therefore let euery man please his neighbour in that that is good to edification.
For Christ also would not please himselfe, but as it is written, The rebukes of them which rebuke thee, fell on me.
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Cross-references (35)
- Psalms 69:9 (v3) For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (v1) We exhort you, brothers: Admonish the disorderly; encourage the faint-hearted; support the weak; be patient toward all.
- Romans 14:1 (v1) Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.
- Galatians 6:1-2 (v1) Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to…
- 1 Corinthians 9:22 (v1) To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
Show all 35 cross-references
- Romans 14:19 (v2) So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.
- 1 Corinthians 10:24 (v2) Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor’s good.
- Philippians 2:4-5 (v2) each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others. Have this in your mind, which was also in…
- 1 Corinthians 12:22-24 (v1) No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. Those parts of the body which we think to be less…
- 1 Corinthians 10:33–11:1 (v2) even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of…
- Philippians 2:8 (v3) And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.
- Psalms 89:50-51 (v3) Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples, With which your enemies have…
- John 4:34 (v3) Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
- John 5:30 (v3) I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father…
- John 6:38 (v3) For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
- Romans 4:20 (v1) Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God,
- 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 (v2) For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I…
- 2 Timothy 2:1 (v1) You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
- 1 John 2:14 (v1) I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong,…
- Ephesians 6:10 (v1) Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.
- 1 Corinthians 13:5 (v2) doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 (v3) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty…
- 2 Corinthians 12:10 (v1) Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am…
- 1 Corinthians 4:10 (v1) We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor.
- Titus 2:9-10 (v2) Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters and to be well-pleasing in all things, not contradicting, not stealing, but…
- Psalms 69:20 (v3) Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found…
- Matthew 10:25 (v3) It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house…
- Matthew 26:42 (v3) Again, a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup can’t pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be…
- John 8:29 (v3) He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
- John 12:27-28 (v3) “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause. Father, glorify your…
- Psalms 40:6-8 (v3) Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering. Then I said,…
- Matthew 26:39 (v3) He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me;…
- John 14:30-31 (v3) I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love…
- John 15:10 (v3) If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
- John 15:24 (v3) If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (32 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. We then who are strong, etc. Lest they…
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.
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.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–3 And despise others.
And despise others.
Now the Apostle reasoneth generally of tolerating or bearing with the weak by all means, so far forth as may be for their profit.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1 We then that are strong ought to bear…
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. Βασταζειν.
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And not to please ourselves] Bis desipit, qui sibi sapit, He is twice foolish who understands himself. Pro 3:7.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–3 We then that are strong: the particle then showeth,…
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.
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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 thing’s, 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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v1 Observe here, 1. A great doctrine asserted, and a…
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.
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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.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 The apostle here lays down two precepts, with reasons…
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, Rom 15:1. 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.
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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, Mat 16:24.
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 (Joh 5:30), washed his disciples' feet, endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, troubled himself (Joh 11:33), 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 4:15.
(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 Psa 69:9, the former part of which verse is applied to Christ (Joh 2:17), 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, Pe1 3:18. 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, Rom 5:3-5. 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.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Let everyone of us please his neighbour,.... Every man,…
Let everyone of us please his neighbour,.... Every man, particularly his Christian friend and brother, whom he should seek to please in all things, and by all means lawful; he should carry it affably and courteously, should make himself agreeable to him; should condescend and accommodate himself to his weakness, and bear his infirmities, and deny himself rather than displease him. The Vulgate Latin version and some copies read, "let everyone of you"; but the other reading is preferable, and best agrees with the context, Rom 15:1.
For his good; or as the Syriac renders it, "in good things"; for he is not to be pleased, gratified, and indulged, in any thing that is evil: we are not to please any man in anything that is contrary to the Gospel of Christ, for then we should not be faithful servants of his; nor in anything repugnant to the commands of God, and ordinances of Christ, who are to be obeyed and pleased, rather than men; nor in anything that is of an immoral nature, we are not to comply with, though it may be to the displeasure of the dearest relation and friend; but in everything that is naturally, civilly, morally, or evangelically good, we should study to please them; and in whatsoever may be for their good, temporal, spiritual, or eternal: and
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to edification: of our neighbour, brother, and Christian friend, for the establishment of his peace, the increase of his spiritual light, and the building of him up in his most holy faith; and also of the whole community, or church, to which each belong, whose peace and edification should be consulted, and everything done, which may promote and secure it; and among which this is one, every man to please his neighbour, in things lawful and laudable.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–3 We who are strong - Of a clearer judgment,…
We who are strong - Of a clearer judgment, and free from these scruples. And not to please ourselves - Without any regard to others.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 The strong should bear the infirmities of the weak,…
CHAPTER XV.
The strong should bear the infirmities of the weak, and each
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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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v1 Rom 15:1-3. We then that are strong — Who…
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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 We then that are strong - The apostle resumes…
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.”
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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 another’s wealth; also Mat 16:24.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v1 We that are stronger, &c. The apostle goes on…
We that are stronger, &c. The apostle goes on with his exhortation not to scandalize, or offend such as are weak, and not well instructed in faith. He brings the example of Christ, who pleased not himself, who submitted himself to the law of circumcision, when he was above the law, who bore with the weakness and sins of others, their reproaches, their blasphemies, which he could not but hate, but this to gain their souls. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Romans Chapter 15
Romans Chapter 15
These instructions close the epistle. From Rom 15:8, it is the exordium, the personal circumstances of the apostle, and salutations.
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In Rom 15:8-12, he sums up his thoughts respecting God’s 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.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 See Rom_14:1 ff for the passage quote with footnotes.
See Rom_14:1 ff for the passage quote with footnotes.
Rom_15:1. Now we that are strong ought [ὀφείλομεν δὲ ἡμεῖς οἱ δυνατοί. The δέ does not stand for οὖν, as the E. V. indicates (so Hodge), although it connects with what precedes (Meyer, Philippi, &c.).—R.] Tholuck finds in δέ 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.
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[To bear, βαστάζειν]. 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 [τὰ ἀσθενήματα τῶν ἀδυνάτων. 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 up—which is the rule in a caravan. But the bearing does not consist merely in suffering, but rather in forbearance. [Comp. Gal_6:2, Lange’s Comm., p. 149, where the same verb is used.—R.]
And not to please ourselves. Ἀρέσκειν; 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 [ἒκαστοςἡμῶν. See Textual Notes1 and 20]. Thus the Apostle here comprehends both parties.—[For his good (with a view) to edification, εἰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν πρὸς οἰκοδομήν.] Bengel: Bonum (ἀγαθόν) genus, œdificatio species. There is, first, εἰς, then, πρός. 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 [καὶ γὰρ ὁ χριστὸς οὐχ ἑαυτῷ ἢρεσεν. 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 one’s 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. [ἀλλὰ καθὼς γέγραπται, κ.τ.λ. See Textual Note2.] Psa_69:9. The sentence is literally cited. On the different supplements suggested with ἀλλά, 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 Lord’s sake, was a type of Christ; but Christ’s subjecting himself to the reproaches of the world proceeded from His steadfast fellowship with humanity for God’s 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 Father’s good purpose—mere work which He gave Him to do.”—R.]
Rom_15:4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime [ὂσα γὰρ προεγράφη. Justification of the previous citation (Philippi), and a preparation for the subject to be introduced next, viz., the duty of unanimity (Alford). In προ, just before the emphatic ἡμετέραν, Meyer correctly finds the thought: All before our time—i. 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 [ἲνα διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ διὰ τῆς παρακλήσεως τῶν γραφῶν. See Textual Note4. The repetition of διά seems to favor the view that γραφῶν depends on παρακλήσεως 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 [τὴν ἐλπίδα ἒχωμεν. 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 God’s kingdom, in Spener’s, 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 τῶν γραφ. (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 γραφῶν is joined with ὑπομονῆς 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 one’s prejudice is a certain protection so long as he keeps his weakness pure—that is, does not make it a rule for others; the strong one’s 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 radical—these 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 Christ’s 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 one’s 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 home—namely, 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 (שֶׁלֶם).
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. Luther’s 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 body’s 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 man’s 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 Lord’s 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 Lord’s property? a. By Christ’s 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 Lord’s, 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 Christ’s office; he who bears in mind that Christ will judge us all, will no more condemn.
Besser: To despise and to judge—each is as bad as the other, for in both man encroaches upon God’s right, and arrogates to himself a judgment on another’s state of faith and heart, which becomes an injury to his own life of faith (Rom_14:3).
Schleiermacher: New-Year’s 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 Lord’s. 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 coöperation 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 men—because 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 Christian’s 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 judgment—that is, the last determination of an action—ought 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 safe—it is that which we call the right and sure conscience (The Rule of Conscience, Works [Bishop Heber’s edition], vol. xi. pp. 369–522).
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 God’s kingdom as a kingdom: 1. Of righteousness; 2. Of peace; 3. And of joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom_14:17).—God’s 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).—God’s 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 brother’s Christian life is God’s 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 neighbor’s 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 God’s 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 God’s kingdom, should be regarded by you as a small matter.
Gerlach: The righteousness which avails in God’s 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 God’s work and building (1Co_3:9). It is blasphemy against God’s sanctuary to destroy this work by ruining a brother sanctified by Christ’s 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 person’s 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 man’s 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 feelings—to the example of Christ—to a sense of our obligations to Him—to 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 God’s 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 man’s 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 brother’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 ἒκαστος, the Rec. reads γάρ, 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 interpretation—i, e., but the reproaches, as it is written, &c. The absence of any formula of citation favors this construction.—R.]
[4]Rom_15:4.—[א. A. B. C. D. L., repeat διά before τῆς παρακλήσεως. 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 τῆς 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 א., 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 God’s law could not do this “in that it was weak through the flesh,” man’s 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. 322–357.—R.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Let every one of us--lay himself out to
Let every one of us--lay himself out to
please his neighbour--not indeed for his mere gratification, but
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for his good--with a view
to his edification.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Duty of the strong to the weak, Rom_15:1-7.
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.
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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.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Ch. Rom_15:1-7. The same subject: the Lord’s example in…
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.
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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.”)
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) We then that are strong.—The opening verses of…
(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.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Ver. 1-Rom_16:24. IV SUPPLEMENTARY. (See summary of contents, p.…
Ver. 1-Rom_16:24. IV SUPPLEMENTARY. (See summary of contents, p. 16) 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
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(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 ("Contra Marcion") 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 ch. 15 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 ch. 16 in the uncials generally and by the Latin Fathers, is found at the end of ch. 14 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 ch. 15 and 16, the doxology was placed at the end of ch. 16, and in others at the end of ch. 14.
(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 en Rwmh either in the interpretation or the text.
In view of these facts, it may be held that the Epistle, as first written, ended at ch. 14 with the doxology appended, ch. 15 and 16 (ending at ver. 24 with the usual concluding benediction, "The grace," etc.) having been an addition. Baur, after his manner and this partly on supposed internal evidence disputes 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 (Journal of Philology, 1871, No. 6), 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 ch. 14 and the doxology, felt himself urged to resume a subject which lay so near his heart, and so appended ch. 15, and then the salutations, etc., in ch. 16, 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 ch. 15, though connected in thought with the end of ch. 14, 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 ch. 14; 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 ch. 16, 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.
Vers. 1-13. H. Renewed admonition to bear with the weak, enforced by Scripture and the example of Christ.
Vers. 1-3. We then (rather, but we, or now we. The de 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 (ofeilomen 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.
Vers. 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 this how 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 spiritually babes 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 caprices to 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.
HOMILIES BY T.F. LOCKYER Vers. 1-13. Union in God.
Here, as Godet says, "the particular question treated in ch. 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. (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 (vers. 1-3); he points out (vers. 4-7), as an end to be reached, the common adoration to which such conduct will bring the Church; finally (vers. 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 redemption a 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.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 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.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1–3 We then that are strong ought to bear the…
Rom_15:1-3
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.
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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.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Chapter 30
Chapter 30
THE SAME SUBJECT: THE LORDS EXAMPLE: HIS RELATION TO US ALL
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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, οίδυνατοί (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"; άρέσκειν άρεσκέτω. 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 "selfpleasing" 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 Ps. 69 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," παράκλησις, 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 selfwill 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 ofJesse, 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 (μακαρίαν) 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.
Chapter 31
ROMAN CHRISTIANITY; ST. PAULS COMMISSION; HIS INTENDED ITINERARY; HE ASKS FOR PRAYER
Rom_15:14-33
THE Epistle hastens to its close. As to its instructions, doctrinal or moral, they are now practically written. The Way of Salvation lies extended, in its radiant outline, before the Romans, and ourselves. The Way of Obedience, in some of its main tracks, has been drawn firmly on the field of life. Little remains but the Missionarys last words about persons and plans, and then the great task is done.
He will say a warm, gracious word about the spiritual state of the Roman believers. He will justify, with a noble courtesy, his own authoritative attitude as their counsellor. He will talk a little of his hoped for and now seemingly approaching visit, and matters in connection with it. He will greet the individuals whom he knows, and commend the bearer of the Letter, and add last messages from his friends. Then Phoebe may receive her charge, and go on her way.
But I am sure, my brethren, quite on my own part, about you, that you are, yourselves, irrespective of my influence, brimming with goodness, with high Christian qualities in general, filled with all knowledge, competent in fact to admonish one another. Is this flattery, interested and insincere? Is it weakness, easily persuaded into a false optimism? Surely not; for the speaker here is the man who has spoken straight to the souls of these same people about sin, and judgment, and holiness; about the holiness of these everyday charities which some of them (so he has said plainly enough) had been violating. But a truly great heart always loves to praise where it can, and discerningly, to think and say the best. He who is Truth itself said of His imperfect, His disappointing followers, as He spoke of them in their hearing to His Father, "They have kept Thy word"; "I am glorified in them." {Joh_17:6; Joh_17:10} So here his Servant does not indeed give the Romans a formal certificate of perfection, but he does rejoice to know, and to say, that their community is Christian in a high degree, and that in a certain sense they have not needed information about Justification by Faith, nor about principles of love and liberty in their intercourse. In essence, all has been in their cognisance already; an assurance which could not have been entertained in regard of every Mission, certainly. He has written not as to children, giving them an alphabet, but as to men, developing facts into science.
But with a certain boldness I have written to you, here and there, just as reminding you; because of the grace, the free gift of his commission and of the equipment for it, given me by our God, given in order to my being Christ Jesus minister sent to the Nations, doing priest work with the Gospel of God, that the oblation of the Nations, the oblation which is in fact the Nations self-laid upon the spiritual altar, may be acceptable, consecrated in the Holy Spirit. It is a startling and splendid passage of metaphor. Here once, in all the range of his writings (unless we except the few and affecting words of Php_2:17,) the Apostle presents himself to his converts as a sacrificial ministrant, a "priest" in the sense which usage (not etymology) has so long stamped on that English word as its more special sense. Never do the great Founders of the Church, and never does He who is its foundation, use the term ίερεύς, sacrificing, mediating, priest, as a term to designate the Christian minister in any of his orders; never, if this passage is not to be reckoned in, with its ίερουργειν, its "priest work," as we have ventured to translate the Greek. In the distinctively sacerdotal Epistle, the Hebrews, the word ίερεύς comes indeed into the foreground. But there it is absorbed into the Lord. It is appropriated altogether to Him in His self-sacrificial Work once done, and in His heavenly Work now always doing, the work of mediatorial impartation, from His throne, of the blessings which His great Offering won. One other Christian application of the sacrificial title we have in the Epistles: "Ye are a holy priesthood," "a royal priesthood". {1Pe_2:5; 1Pe_2:9} But who are "ye"? Not the consecrated pastorate, but the consecrated Christian company altogether. And what are the altar sacrifices of that company? "Sacrifices spiritual"; "the praises of Him who called them into His wonderful light". {1Pe_2:5; 1Pe_2:9} In the Christian Church, the pre-Levitical ideal of the old Israel reappears in its sacred reality. He who offered to the Church of Moses {Exo_19:6} to be one great priesthood, "a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation," found His favoured nation unready for the privilege, and so Levi representatively took the place alone. But now, in His new Israel, as all are sons in the Son, so all are priests in the Priest. And the sacred Ministry of that Israel, the Ministry which is His own divine institution, the gift {Eph_4:11} of the ascended Lord to His Church, is never once designated, as such, by the term which would have marked it as the analogue to Levi, or to Aaron.
Is this passage in any degree an exception? No; for it contains its own full inner evidence of its metaphorical cast. The "priest working" here has regard, we find, not to a ritual, but to "the Gospel." "The oblation" is-the Nations. The hallowing Element, shed as it were upon the victims, is the Holy Ghost. Not in a material temple, and serving at no tangible altar, the Apostle brings his multitudinous converts as his holocaust to the Lord. The Spirit, at his preaching and on their believing, descends upon them; and they lay themselves "a living sacrifice" where the fire of love shall consume them, to His glory.
I have therefore my right to exultation, in Christ Jesus, as His member and implement, as to what regards God; not in any respect as regards myself, apart from Him. And then he proceeds as if about to say, in evidence of that assertion, that he always declines to intrude on a brother Apostles ground, and to claim as his own experience what was in the least degree anothers; but that indeed through him, in sovereign grace, God has done great things, far and wide. This he expresses thus, in energetic compressions of diction:
For I will not dare to talk at all of things which Christ did not work out through me (there is an emphasis on "me") to effect obedience of [the] Nations to His Gospel, by word and deed, in power of signs and wonders, in power of Gods Spirit; a reference, strangely impressive by its very passingness, to the exercise of miracle-working gifts by the writer. This man, so strong in thought, so practical in counsel, so extremely unlikely to have been under an illusion about a large factor in his adult and intensely conscious experience, speaks direct from himself of his wonder works. And the allusion, thus dropped by the way and left behind, is itself an evidence to the perfect mental balance of the witness; this was no enthusiast, intoxicated with ambitious spiritual visions, but a man put in trust with a mysterious yet sober treasure. So that from Jerusalem, and round about it, {Act_26:20} as far as the Illyrian region, the highland seaboard which looks across the Adriatic to the long eastern side of Italy, I have fulfilled the Gospel of Christ, carried it practically everywhere, satisfied the idea of so distributing it that it shall be accessible everywhere to the native races.
But this I have done with this ambition, to preach the Gospel not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another mans foundation; but to act on the divine word, as it stands written, {Isa_52:15} "They to whom no news was carried about Him, shall see; and those who have not heard, shall understand." Here was an "ambition" as far-sighted as it was noble. Would that the principle of it could have been better remembered in the history of Christendom, and not least in our own age; a wasteful overlapping of effort on effort, system on system, would not need now to be so much deplored. Thus as a fact I was hindered for the most part-hindrances were the rule, signals of opportunity the exception-in coming to you; you, whose City is no untrodden ground to messengers of Christ, and therefore not the ground which had a first claim on me. But now, as no longer having place in these regions, eastern Roman Europe yielding him no longer an unattempted and accessible district to enter, and having a homesick feeling for coming to yon, these many years-whenever I may be journeying to Spain, [I will come to you]. For Ihope, on my journey through, to see the sight of you (as if the view of so important a Church would be a spectacle indeed), and by you to be escorted there, if first I may have my fill of you, however imperfectly.
As always, in the fine courtesy of pastoral love, he says more, and thinks more, of his own expected gain of refreshment and encouragement from them, than even of what he may have to impart to them. So he had thought, and so spoken, in his opening page; {Rom_1:11-12} it is the same heart throughout.
How little did he realise the line and details of the destined fulfilment of that "homesick feeling!" He was indeed to "see Rome," and for no passing "sight of the scene." For two long years of sorrows and joys, restraints and wonderful occasions, innumerable colloquies, and the writing of great Scriptures, he was to "dwell in his own hired lodgings" there. But he did not see what lay between.
For St. Paul ordinarily, as always for us, it was true that "we know not what awaits us." For us, as for him, it is better "to walk with God in the dark, than to go alone in the light."
Did he ultimately visit Spain? We shall never know until perhaps we are permitted to ask him hereafter. It is not at all impossible that, released from his Roman prison, he first went westward and then-as at some time he certainly did-travelled to the Levant. But no tradition, however faint, connects St. Paul with the great Peninsula which glories in her legend of St. James. Is it irrelevant to remember that in his Gospel he has notably visited Spain in later ages? It was the Gospel of St. Paul, the simple grandeur of his exposition of Justification by Faith, which in the sixteenth century laid hold on multitudes of the noblest of Spanish hearts, till it seemed as if not Germany, not England, bid fairer to become again a land of "truth in the light." The terrible Inquisition utterly crushed the springing harvest, at Valladolid, at Seville, and in that ghastly Quemadero at Madrid, which, five-and-twenty years ago, was excavated by accident, to reveal its deep strata of ashes, and charred bones, and all the debris of the Autos. But now again, in the mercy of God and in happier hours, the New Testament is read in the towns of Spain, and in her highland villages, and churches are gathering around the holy light, spiritual descendants of the true, the primeval, Church of Rome. May "the God of hope fill them with all peace and joy in believing."
But now I am journeying to Jerusalem, the journey whose course we know so well from Acts 20, 21, ministering to the saints, serving the poor converts of the holy City as the collector and conveyer of alms for their necessities. For Macedonia and Achaia, the northern and southern Provinces of Roman Greece, finely personified in this vivid passage, thought good to make something of a communication, a certain gift to be "shared" among the recipients, for the poor of the saints who live at Jerusalem; the place where poverty seemed specially, for whatever reason, to beset the converts. "For they thought good!"-yes; but there is a different side to the matter. Macedonia and Achaia are generous friends, but they have an obligation too: And debtors they are to them, to these poor people of the old City. For if in their spiritual things the Nations shared, they, these Nations, are in debt, as a fact, in things carnal, things belonging to our "life in the flesh," to minister to them; to do them public and religious service.
When I have finished this then, and sealed this fruit to them, put them into ratified ownership of this "proceed" of Christian love, I will come away by your road to Spain. (He means, "if the Lord will"; it is instructive to note that even St. Paul does not make it a duty, with an almost superstitious iteration, always to say so). Now I know that, coming to you, in the fulness of Christs benediction I shall come. He will come with his Lords "benediction" on him, as His messenger to the Roman disciples; Christ will send him charged with heavenly messages, and attended with His own prospering presence. And this will be "in fulness"; with a rich overflow of saving truth, and heavenly power, and blissful fellowship.
Here he pauses, to ask them for that boon of which he is so covetous-intercessory prayer. He has been speaking with a kind and even sprightly pleasantry (there is no irreverence in the recognition) of those Personages, Macedonia, and Achaia, and their gift, which is also their debt. He has spoken also of what we know from elsewhere {1Co_16:1-4} to have been his own scrupulous purpose not only to collect the alms but to see them punctually delivered, above all suspicion of misuse. He has talked with cheerful confidence of "the road by Rome to Spain." But now he realises what the visit to Jerusalem involves for himself. He has tasted in many places, and at many times, the bitter hatred felt for him in unbelieving Israel; a hatred the more bitter, probably, the more his astonishing activity and influence were felt in region after region. Now he is going to the central focus of the enmity; to the City of the Sanhedrin, and of the Zealots. And St. Paul is no Stoic, indifferent to fear, lifted in an unnatural exaltation above circumstances, though he is ready to walk through them in the power of Christ. His heart anticipates the experiences of outrage and revilings, and the possible breaking up of all his missionary plans. He thinks too of prejudice within the Church, as well as of hatred from without; he is not at all sure that his cherished collection will not be coldly received, or even rejected, by the Judaists of the mother church; whom yet he must and will call "saints." So he tells all to the Romans, with a generous and winning confidence in their sympathy, and begs their prayers, and above all sets them praying that he may not be disappointed of his longed for visit to them.
All was granted. He was welcomed by the Church. He was delivered from the fanatics, by the strong arm of the Empire. He did reach Rome, and he had holy joy there. Only, the Lord took His own way, a way they knew not, to answer Paul and his friends.
But I appeal to you, brethren, -the "but" carries an implication that something lay in the way of the happy prospect just mentioned, - by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, by that holy family affection inspired by the Holy One into the hearts which He has regenerated, to wrestle along with me in your prayers on my behalf to our God; that I may be rescued from those who disobey the Gospel in Judaea, and that my ministration which takes me to Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints, may be taken by the Christians there without prejudice, and in love; that I may with joy come to you, through the will of God, and may share refreshing rest with you, the rest of holy fellowship where the tension of discussion and opposition is intermitted, and the two parties perfectly "understand one another" in their Lord. But the God of our peace be with you all. Yes, so be it, whether or no the longed for "joy" and "refreshing rest" is granted in His providence to the Apostle. With his beloved Romans, anywise, let there be "peace"; peace in their community, and in their souls; peace with God, and peace in Him. And so it will be, whether their human friend is or is not permitted to see them, if only the Eternal Friend is there.
There is a deep and attractive tenderness, as we have seen above, in this paragraph, where the writers heart tells the readers quite freely of its personal misgivings and longings. One of the most pathetic, sometimes one of the most beautiful, phenomena of human life is the strong man in his weak hour, or rather in his feeling hour, when he is glad of the support of those who may be so much his weaker. There is a sort of strength which prides itself upon never showing such symptoms: to which it is a point of honour to act and speak always as if the man were self-contained and self-sufficient. But this is a narrow type of strength, not a great one. The strong man truly great is not afraid, in season, to "let himself go"; he is well able to recover. An underlying power leaves him at leisure to show upon the surface very much of what he feels. The largeness of his insight puts him into manifold contact with others, and keeps him open to their sympathies, however humble and inadequate these sympathies may be. The Lord Himself, "mighty to save," cared more than we can fully know for human fellow feeling. "Will ye also go away?" "Ye are they that have continued with Me in My temptations"; "Tarry ye here, and watch with Me"; "Lovest thou Me?"
No false spiritual pride suggests it to St. Paul to conceal his anxieties from the Romans. It is a temptation sometimes to those who have been called to help and strengthen other men, to affect for themselves a strength which perhaps they do not quite feel. It is well meant. The man is afraid that if he owns to a burthen he may. seem to belie the Gospel of "perfect peace"; that if he even lets it be suspected that he is not always in the ideal Christian frame, his warmest exhortations and testimonies may lose their power. But at all possible hazards let him, about such things as about all others, tell the truth. It is a sacred duty in itself; the heavenly Gospel has no corner in it for the manoeuvres of spiritual prevarication. And he will find assuredly that truthfulness, transparent candour, will not really discount his witness to the promises of his Lord. It may humiliate him, but it will not discredit Jesus Christ. It will indicate the imperfection of the recipient, but not any defect in the thing received. And the fact that the witness has been found quite candid against himself, where there is occasion, will give a double weight to his every direct testimony to the possibility of a life lived in the hourly peace of God.
It is no part of our Christian duty to feel doubts and fears! And the more we act upon our Lords promises as they stand, the more we shall rejoice to find that misgivings tend to vanish where once they were always thickening upon us. Only, it is our duty always to be transparently honest.
However, we must not treat this theme here too much as if St. Paul had given us an unmistakable text for it. His words now before us express no "carking care" about his intended visit to Jerusalem. They only indicate a deep sense of the gravity of the prospect, and of its dangers. And we know from elsewhere {see especially Act_21:13} that that sense did sometimes amount to an agony of feeling, in the course of the very journey which he now contemplates. And we see him here quite without the wish to conceal his heart in the matter.
In closing we note, "for our learning," his example as he is a man who craves to be prayed for. Prayer, that great mystery, that blessed fact and power, was indeed vital to St. Paul. He is always praying himself; he is always asking other people to pray for him. He "has seen Jesus Christ our Lord"; he is his Lords inspired Minister and Delegate; he has been "caught up into the third heaven"; he has had a thousand proofs that "all things," infallibly, "work together for his good." But he is left by this as certain as ever, with a persuasion as simple as a childs, and also as deep as his own life-worn spirit, that it is immensely well worth his while to secure the intercessory prayers of those who know the way to God in Christ.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1–3. We that are strong. In the last chapter…
1–3. We that are strong. In the last chapter Paul contrasts the strong and the weak. The first are those, like himself, who know that no kind of food “is unclean of itself,” and are emancipated from Jewish prejudices. These strong ones are to bear with the “infirmities of the weak,” as has been enjoined in the preceding chapter. The lesson is a practical one of all ages.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Rom_15:1.—We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_15:1.—We who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to be self-pleasers.
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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
Christ’s 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 apostle’s 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 Judæo-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 Paul’s 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 Christian’s 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. Christ’s 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 Father’s 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. God’s 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 David’s greater Son as He listened to those who reproached God? The Saviour’s 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 Saviour’s 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 Jacob’s 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 woman’s 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 conduct—thought 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 world’s ingratitude closes up the streams of our benevolence like a keen frost in the winter. But the world’s ingratitude never for one moment stayed the rich on-flowing of the Saviour’s 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 sorrows—the 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 Jesus—the spirit of those who rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer such things as persecution and spoliation for His name’s sake—the 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. Christ’s 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 father’s 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 God’s 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 Saviour’s 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 Saviour’s 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 world’s 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 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. 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 things—will 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 faith—the 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 constituted—less sensitive, who can be calm undér annoyance, slight, and opposition—ought 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 another’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 course—to forgo it in favour of our neighbour’s 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 ones”—i.e., of those who are least well able to take care of themselves—is accepted by Him as done unto Himself; and, through His inspired apostles, He has taught us that we should bear one another’s 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 man’s neighbour—i.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 edification—to 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, cunning—the 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 Redeemer’s 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 neighbour’s 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 Master—not 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 Christ—“I 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 Christian’s heart and life, and not a Christian’s 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 man—that is, the heart of a child of God—to 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.” Christ’s 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 picture—“He 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 God’s 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 Lord’s cross, and then we shall carry our brother’s 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, Peter’s 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 Mary’s reception of His word than with Martha’s 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 satisfaction—I 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 brother’s 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 Christ’s 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 man’s benefit. When He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, restored hearing to the deaf, cleansed the leper, and raised the dead—when He comforted Martha and Mary concerning their brother—when 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 Father’s will might be done—not 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 Church’s 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 own”—seeketh the good of others. Unobtrusive acts of kindness, anticipation of others’ wishes—oh, 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 reward—all 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.
Christ’s 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 thought—to 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 God’s 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-marks—His example. We must place our feet where He placed His.
Rom_15:3. Narcissus and the fountain—One 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 faith’s 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 girl’s 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 seeds—little, ugly, black things—and planted them. They grew and blossomed beautifully. One dlay a neighbour, seeing the flowers, said, ‘Oh, how beautiful! Won’t you, please, give me some seeds?’ Now, if the neighbour had only just seen the flower seeds, she wouldn’t 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 day’s look corrected the last day’s 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.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. “But we who are strong ought to bear…
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.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Rom 15:1-3
Rom 15:1-3
Against Self-pleasing.
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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.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Jew and Gentile alike the Object of God's Love.…
Jew and Gentile alike the Object of God's Love. The Apostle's Plans
1-13. The subject of Romans 14 is continued. 'Strength' should be displayed in helping the 'weak' after Christ's example (Rom_15:1-4). Let both sections be united in God's praise, welcoming one another as Christ welcomed them (Rom_15:5-7). As the divergence of views originated in the difference between Jew and Gentile, let both remember that Christ became a Jew for the salvation of both (Rom_15:8-13).
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Paraphrase. '(1) Since the weak are thus in danger, the strong should be patient with their scruples, and not indulge their own liberty. (2) Each should be tender to his neighbour's feelings, and seek to promote his good, (3) following the example of Christ, depicted in the OT., (4) which we should read to learn lessons of endurance and to receive encouragement which will help us confidently to look to future glory. (5) May God teach you these lessons, enabling you to bear with one another, and to be so united in aims and hopes and feelings, after the pattern of Christ, (6) that you may join as one body in the praise of God. (7) Therefore let both sections welcome one another, as Christ welcomed both. A Church so united in brotherhood will redound to the glory of God. (8) Let the Gentile especially remember that Christ became a Jew, to secure to the Jews the fulfilment of God's promises, (9) and to welcome the Gentiles through God's pure mercy, (10, 11, 12) that Jew and Gentile might unite in His praise, as Psalmist and Prophet foretold. (13) May God grant that your believing in Christ may fill you with such joy and peace that you may look for Christ in glory with the triumphant confidence of those who are possessed by the might of the Holy Spirit.'
1. Bear] cp. Gal_6:2.
2. To edification] The words define the kind of good to be sought, i.e. the building-up of the Church, not of any particular member. The individual is to be willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the whole body: cp. Rom_14:19; 1Co_10:33. Contr. Gal_1:10, where 'pleasing' would not be for edification.
3. From Psa_69:9 : cp. 2Co_8:9; Php_2:6. The Psalm describes the sufferings at the hands of the wicked of the righteous man. The words, therefore, are applicable to Christ above all.
4. Learning] i.e. 'instruction': cp. 2Ti_3:16.
5. Consolation] RV 'comfort.' Likeminded] RV 'of the same mind.' Towards] RV 'with.'
6. RV 'that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father,' etc.
7. Us] RV 'you.'
8. Now] RV 'for,' introducing proof of Rom_15:7. Was] RV 'hath been made.'
Minister of the circumcision] i.e. Christ lived and worked under the Old Covenant marked by circumcision: cp. Gal_4:4.; 2Co_3:6.
9. Quotation from Psa_18:49. Confess] RV 'give praise.'
10. From Deu_32:43.
11. From Psa_117:1.
12. From Isa_11:10. In] RV 'on.'
Trust] RV 'hope.'
13. Through] RV 'in.'
14-33. The Apostle approaches the end of the Epistle with personal references.
14-21. His tone of authority is warranted by his commission as apostle to the Gentiles, and by the way in which Christ has owned and blessed his work.
Paraphrase. '(14) Do not suppose I think you lacking either in goodness or in grasp of Christian principles. (15) But I have reminded you of these things somewhat boldly, because God appointed me (16) apostle of the Gentiles to bring them to Him. (17) I speak with authority, therefore, not because of myself, but because I am Christ's minister, (18) and because He has worked through me (19) with miracles and spiritual power, so that I have preached the gospel widely; (20, 21) always seeking the honour of preaching only where Christ has not yet been preached.'
14. Ye also] RV 'ye yourselves.'
Goodness] i.e. goodness of heart toward others.
15. In some sort] better, 'in part' (of the Epistle), e.g. Rom_6:12.; Rom_11:17.
Is given] RV 'was given': cp. Rom_1:6.
16. The minister] RV 'a minister.' The Gk. word, the original of the word 'liturgy,' is used in LXX of priests and Levites, and denotes one who ministers in sacred things.
Ministering] RM 'ministering in sacrifice.' He was called to offer the Gentiles as a sacrifice to God. He did this by preaching the gospel. Offering] cp. Isa_66:19.
17. Whereof I may glory] RV 'my glorying.'
18. The only thing he will boast of is the work Christ has done through him for the conversion of the Gentiles. Obedient] i.e. in faith: cp. Rom_1:5; Rom_16:26.
19. Through mighty signs] RV 'in the power of signs,' i.e. the power which miracles have upon those who behold them: cp. 2Co_12:12. He speaks of his miracles as well known and indubitable. Round about] He had evangelised on either side of the route from Jerusalem to Hlyricum. Illyricum] On the E. coast of the Adriatic, and NW. of Macedonia. It was approached, and may have been visited, in the journey mentioned Act_20:1, Act_20:2. Fully preached] i.e. in the chief centres, founding Churches which might carry on the work.
20. RV 'yea, making it my aim, so to preach,' etc. Lest I should build] cp. 2Co_10:12.
21. From Isa_52:15.
22-33. He hopes, after a journey to Jerusalem, to visit Rome on his way to Spain (Rom_15:22-29). He desires their prayers (Rom_15:30-33).
Paraphrase. '(22) My work has often prevented me from coming to you, (23) but now that my work here is finished, (24) I hope to visit you on my way to Spain. (25) Meanwhile I am starting for Jerusalem, (26) to convey to the Christian poor there a contribution from Macedonia and Achaia, (27) which is an acknowledgment of the debt the Gentiles owe to the Jews in spiritual things. (28) Afterwards I will travel by you into Spain, (29) and I feel sure that visit will be the occasion of much blessing. (30) Wrestle in prayer, (31) that I may be delivered from the Jews, and that the Jewish Christians may accept the peace offering which I bring, (32) that I may come joyfully to you and find repose. (33) May God bless you with His peace I'
22. RV 'Wherefore also I was hindered these many times': cp. Rom_1:10, Rom_1:13.
24. Brought on my way] cp. Act_15:3; Act_28:15; 1Co_16:6.
25. Cp. Act_19:21; Act_20:3.
26. Poor saints] RV 'poor among the saints.' There was much poverty among the Christians at Jerusalem, increased, perhaps, by the ill-will of the rich, Sadducees. St. Paul had been intreated to 'remember the poor' (Gal_2:10). At the same time there was mistrust at Jerusalem of him and his work. Therefore he had instituted a collection among the Gentile Churches, which, he hoped, would draw together the Gentile and Jewish Christians: cp. Act_24:17; 1Co_16:1; 2 Corinthians 8, 9.
27. Minister] same Gk. word as 'minister' in Rom_15:16.
Carnal] i.e. belonging to this earthly life: no bad association here.
28. Sealed] i.e. marked it as their property; made it over to them. To them] i.e. the Jerusalem Christians. Fruit] i.e. the contribution would be evidence to the Jewish Christians of the real faith and love of the Gentiles.
Into Spain] St. Paul may have visited Spain after he was released from Rome, though there is no evidence of his having done so. Clement of Rome (about 96 a.d.) says he went 'to the extremity of the West.'
29. Though St. Paul did not come to Rome in the way he anticipated, his coming was brought about by God's Providence for 'the furtherance of the gospel': cp. Rom_1:11.; Php_1:13.
30. Of the Spirit] i.e. awakened by the Spirit: cp. Gal_5:22.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Now ["Now" is progressive; it means, "to proceed with…
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 .
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v1 damned condemned, i.e. as in Rom 14:22.
damned condemned, i.e. as in Rom 14:22.
sin Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Example of Christ. (Rom 15:1-7.)
CHAPTER 15
1. The Example of Christ. (Rom 15:1-7.)
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2. The Ministry of Christ. (Rom 15:8-13.)
3. Paul’s 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 Christ’s 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.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 An Admonition to Patience and Harmony.
An Admonition to Patience and Harmony.
Christians should not please themselves:
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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.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul concludes this section about believers' living for others with reminding them how Christ lived.
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Now
Translate this using the words your language uses to introduce a new idea into an argument.
we who are strong
Here "strong" refers to the people who are strong in their faith. They believe that God allows them to eat any kind of food. AT: "we who are strong in faith" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
we
This refers to Paul, his readers, and other believers. (See: Inclusive "We")
the weak
Here "the weak" refers to the people who are weak in their faith. They believe that God does not allow them to eat some kinds of food. AT: "those who are weak in faith" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
to build him up
By this, Paul means to strengthen someone's faith. AT: "to strengthen his faith" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
neighbor
good
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–3 15:1-4 We who are strong: Paul aligns himself with…
15:1-4 We who are strong: Paul aligns himself with those he identifies as strong in faith, and he reveals that the division in the Roman church was not simply between Jews and Gentiles. Like Paul, some Jews had enlightened consciences and so were counted among the strong. Similarly, some Gentiles were so strongly influenced by Jewish teaching and tradition that they were among the weak in faith. • must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this: This phrase is reminiscent of Gal 6:2. Paul did not want the strong to simply put up with those who were weak in faith; rather the strong were to actively and sympathetically assist the weak in living out their Christian faith with integrity (see also Gal 5:13-15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.