Sunday School Notes: Romans 15:7-13

⁷ Therefore, receive one another, just as also Christ received you, unto the glory of God. ⁸ For I say, Christ has become a servant of [or from] the circumcision for the sake of the faithfulness of God, in order to confirm the promises of the fathers, ⁹ and the Gentiles to glorify God for the sake of His mercy, just as it is written: “Because of this, I will praise you in the nations [i.e., the Gentiles] and in your name I will sing praise.” ¹⁰ And again it says, “Rejoice, Gentiles, with His people.” ¹¹ And again, “Praise, all the nations, the Lord and let all the peoples praise Him.” ¹² And again, Isaiah says, “There shall be the Root of Jesse, even the one rising up to rule the Gentiles; upon him the Gentiles will hope.” ¹³ And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe, so you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In 14:1, Paul exhorted the “strong” to “receive” the “weak.” Now he’s expanding that exhortation to all the church to receive “one another”–strong or weak, Jew or Gentile, it doesn’t matter. Again, by “receive” Paul doesn’t simply mean shake their hand, or give them a seat, or acknowledge their existence. It’s far more than that. The ESV’s translation, “welcome” is closer to the mark, I think. In light of the argument of Romans, Paul’s intention here is, I think, to accept one another as equals, and treat one another as brethren. Don’t just merely acknowledge existence; acknowledge kinship in Christ. A strong motivating factor for having this attitude of acceptance is the fact that Christ accepted us, even in our sin and rebellion. If Christ can accept someone, I should be able to also.

It’s interesting to note that the two uses of “receive” in this verse have different tenses. In the first case, they are to “receive” one another, present tense, since Christ “received” them, aorist tense. The present tense indicates and on-going attitude of acceptance, whereas the aorist indicates a once-for-all acceptance. We are supposed to continually accept into fellowship and regard as brethren all those who are in Christ. This is the basis of church unity: regardless of our stand on secondary issues, when it comes to the central truths of the faith, the gospel, we are united in Christ. On the other hand, Christ, as a one-time judicial act, accepted us. By his death, resurrection, ascention, and election, he has declared righteous those whom he chose to save, and that acceptance stands for all time. He is not continually re-assessing his people to determine if he should continue accepting them. We are accepted, and nothing will change that. This is the foundation of the doctrine of the “Perseverance of the Saints.” Notice, also, that so often we talk about being saved in terms of us “accepting Christ,” yet, in truth, our salvation is about Christ accepting us.

Paul concludes the thought by reminding us, again, that it’s all about the Lord. We accept one another and practice church unity not so we can feel good, or win political points, or look good for the denomination, to curry God’s favor, or even just to be nice. It’s all for the glory of God, and that should be our heart’s desire from beginning to end.

The “I say” that starts verse 8 is not simply Paul giving his opinion, as if it carries no weight. Last week we spent some time discussing the fact that the various “I say” passages in Paul’s letters (especially here and in 1 Corinthians). In these, Paul is not differentiating his words from those of the Lord as if they can take or leave his opinion. Rather, he’s saying that these words are his own, and are not quotations of the Lord. Certainly, Paul believed his words to be anchored in Scripture, and to carry Apostolic authority; and today we recognize them as divinely inspired. So we shouldn’t treat these words any less simply because Paul is acknowledging that he is not quoting Scripture directly. He is drawing a conclusion based on his knowledge of the life of Christ, and upon Scripture.

Paul says that Christ has become a servant of, or from, the circumcision–“the circumcision” being a metonym for “the Jews.” The Greek can be translated as either “a servant of” or “a servant from,” indicating Christ’s service as one of the Jews, or his service to the Jews. In fact, both statements are true, so I don’t think it’s necessary that we resolve the ambiguity (indeed, this ambiguity may be deliberate for this reason). Jesus was born into a Jewish family, into Jewish society, was raised within the Law, and was a student of the Scriptures. But in his capacity as Messiah, the Christ, he served Israel, and by his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, he brought salvation to the Jews first, and then the Gentiles. And this was to show “the faithfulness of God” and to “confirm the promises of the fathers.” The Greek word behind “faithfulness” is most often translated “truth.” In this context it seems appropriate to render it “truthfulness” or “faithfulness,” since Paul’s point both here, and with the Old Testament quotations he is about to cite, is that God has been true, or faithful, to His promises. The Lord not only promised the fathers–Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob–a Redeemer, but He also promised that the work of the Redeemer would extend beyond the nation of Israel.

I think Paul’s main point here is one he’s made before: it was God’s intention all along that He would reach out to His people first, and then reach out to “the nations,” or the Gentiles. In other words, the Gentile mission was not an afterthought: it was the plan from day one. We see this reiterated in the Gospels (see Matt 15:21-28, and the Great Commission in Mattew 28). The Jewish Christians, therefore, shouldn’t be surprised at Paul’s call to accept their Gentile brethren, not should the Gentiles reject the Jews, because Christ is still a servant to them, as much as he has become a servant to the Gentiles.

Paul then begins a series of Old Testament quotations. The first is from Psalm 18:49, which is, in turn, a quotation of 2 Samuel 22:50. Since Paul quotes the Psalms more often than either of the books of Samuel, he probably has the Psalm in mind. The original context for these words is David’s victory over Gentiles (specifically, the Philistines) in the last major conflict prior to his death. Second Samuel 22:1 suggests this is a hymn of praise to God for delivering David and Israel from all their enemies throughout his life. Verses 44-46 speak of God establishing David not only among his own, but also over “the Nations”–the Gentiles. I think Paul’s point is that, in the same way, God has establish Christ both among the Jews and the Gentiles, so now the Gentiles, who weren’t recipients of the Law, the prophets, or the promises, can now know the love and mercy of God in Christ.

The next Old Testament passage is from Deuteronomy 32:43. The LXX (the Septuagint–the Greek translation of the Old Testament) version of this verse is much longer than the Hebrew text we have. I explained briefly the textual situation behind the Masoretic Text, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the LXX, but we really need to devote a whole lesson to that sometime to do the topic justice. Suffice to say, Paul is quoting verbatim the LXX version of this particular line. The passage comes from Moses’ song near the end of his life. He extols God, His power and greatness, and how this extends over all people, including Gentiles. Moses exhorts the Gentiles to rejoice with God’s people, an exhortation that Paul certainly sees as relevant to the Roman church. This is also testimony to the mercy and grace of God, that Gentiles are accepted and encouraged to worship God as part of His people.

Following this, Paul quotes Psalm 117:1, an exhortation to all nations, or all the nations–i.e., the Gentiles (though the nation of Israel could be included in such a general call)–to praise the Lord. It’s interesting that Psalm 117:2, the only other verse in the psalm, speaks of God’s loving-kindness and faithfulness, both of which Paul has brought up recently (see 15:8-9, for example).

Finally, Paul cites Isaiah 11:10, speaking of the Root of Jesse that will rise up and be the hope of the Gentiles. This was recognized as a Messianic psalm, and Paul clearly understands that the Messiah spoken of here is Jesus. By the grace of God, the gospel is not only for the Jews, but for the Gentiles too. He is not only the hope of Israel, but the hope of all the nations.

It’s interesting that Paul’s quotations here cover the Law (Deuteronomy), the Prophets (Isaiah), and the Writings (Psalms), which were are three categories into which the Hebrew Old Testament is divided. Perhaps Paul is trying to say that God’s intention to include the Gentiles is witnessed throughout the Scriptures.

Verse 13 sounds like a “wrapping up” statement, and I think it is in a way. Paul has presented his case to the Roman church, both on the grounds of theology (chapters 1-11), and then through exhortation to live out that theology (chapters 12-15:13). It’s now up to the Romans, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to act upon Paul’s words. They need to stop fighting over secondary issues and unite on the gospel. They need to stop judging one another on their ethnicity, and recognize that Christ has made them one body. Paul takes the theme of hope from the Isaiah 11:10 citation and runs with it here. His desire is that the God of hope, the hope of both the Jew and the Gentile, would fill them with joy and peace, abounding in hope. The only way this can be accomplished, however, is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Once again, Paul draws his readers attention to the fact that the Romans are unable to do what is needed of them to resolve the situation. They need to place their trust in the Lord, and rely upon Him to provide them with the power they need to love and accept one another as they ought. No committee or program can bring about church unity. It is founded on the gospel, and can only happen when those whose lives are changed by the gospel turn to the author and finisher of their faith, and lean upon him to work in their hearts by the power of the Spirit.

Next time, we’ll start the closing section of the letter, where Paul discusses his itinerary, his plans, and gives final greetings, commendations, and admonitions.