Romans 15:1-13
Accepting Those Whom Christ Accepted
Part 2
As we now turn from last week’s passage we could simply refer to this as Part 2 of Paul’s admonitions to the weak and strong among the church who are to accept one another as Jesus Christ has accepted each of them.
Your acceptance of your neighbor is forever grounded in the fact that God has equally accepted each of you in Jesus Christ (14:3). As you look at your neighbor in the church, look at him or her and say, “God has accepted them.” “They belong to Him because of the perfect work of Jesus Christ.” “I am not their master: Jesus is their master and they are his servant” (14:4, 8). You are to accept one another because the same Master/Lord has already accepted both you and your neighbor. Both of you belong to one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is because of God’s acceptance of both of you that you are to consider your neighbor in a familial way. He is your “brother” in the Lord (14:10, 13, 15, 21).
Therefore, it is your goal to pursue peace and unity among the family of God (14:19).
Now, Paul’s point is clear. We may disagree over many non-essentials to the faith – Paul is a realist. He knows this side of heaven, we will never agree over everything. We are all at very different levels in our pilgrimage to heaven and the Holy Spirit works on each of us according to what each of us needs and where we are each ready to make changes in our life. But at the end of the day, regardless of where we all stand on all these other issues, we are brothers and sisters in the one family of God.
Now, last week we saw how Paul focused more on the practical implications of our union with Christ and how that is fleshed out in our community of love.
But as we turn to chap. 15 this morning we find Paul delving much deeper into the theological underpinnings of why we should be so concerned to dwell together in peace and unity in the body of Christ.
The heart of Paul’s word to you this morning is found in 15:7. But what does it mean to accept one another? Upon what basis are we to do this?
In v. 1, Paul once again exposes the division within the body of Christ as being between those who are strong in the faith and those who are weak in the faith. You will remember from last week that the “weak in faith” in the church at Rome are those former Jews who continue to be shackled to the chains of the Mosaic Law. Their conscience is very weak and they are not ready to be free from the bondage that Jesus Christ delivered them. They continue to make distinctions between clean and unclean meats and wines, thinking that they are forbidden to eat those things touched by Gentile hands. Also, they continue to follow a Sabbath day saying that there is certain day of the week that is holier than others.
Paul sees this as the bondage of a weak conscience before God that has not fully realized his or her glorious freedom in Christ who has set all those old boundary markers or fences between the Jews and Gentiles aside.
The strong in faith are therefore those who readily recognize their new freedom in Christ and the radical changes he has made by coming into the world. In faith they see how Christ has fulfilled the promise of God and completed the law of Moses.
These who are “weak in faith” are not simply those who are annoyed with the practices of the strong. They are those whose conscience is so weak in their faith that they are liable to have their faith destroyed by the freedoms of the strong (14:15) and who are being “torn down” by the practices of the strong (14:20).
As we see in v. 1, Paul clearly sided with the strong (cf. 14:14, 20) and he has already provided everything the church needs to solve this dilemma earlier in the letter. But it is not Paul’s immediate concern to once again explain how this conflict can be solved. And by not going into the theological answer to solve the conflict between the weak and strong, Paul does a great service to the body of Christ, because here he provides us with the answer to a greater problem.
How do we handle all forms of conflict that constantly arise in the body of Christ over all kinds of non-issues? You see, this is not simply the problem with the church at Rome in Paul’s day. This is a perennial problem that will constantly plague the church until Jesus returns. Therefore, when these debates arise among us, how do we come to unity and peace among the family of God?
Paul puts the onus to solving these conflicts upon the strong in faith. He says in v. 1 that they are obliged to “bear with” the weaknesses of those who are not yet mature in Christ. What does Paul mean by “bear with”?
Well, it is clear that Paul doesn’t mean that the strong are simply to “tolerate” or “put up with” the weak ones and their scruples. That language still places too much distance between the weak and the strong. To simply “tolerate” a brother doesn’t unite the family of God. Rather it is only patronizing to those who are weak.
Paul uses the verb “to bear with” in Gal. 6:
Galatians 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.Now where else have we heard the language of one word fulfilling the law of God? READ Rom. 13:8-10. Paul says in Gal. 5:
Galatians 5:14 or the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
It is when we “bear with” one another that we willingly and lovingly shoulder the burdens and struggles of others. It is completely a self-denying act of love. When you “bear with” your brother’s burdens you assume the weight they are carrying – in regards to the weak ones, you accept upon your own shoulders the burden of their tender scruples.
Now, Paul doesn’t mean that the strong are to adopt the particular scruples of the weak, as is often how many in the church try to solve this problem. Think of the modern example of drinking alcohol. Many in the church today think the way for the church to solve such a conflict is for those who are strong to simply give up their freedoms altogether and simply forbid all Christians to abstain from the use of alcohol. But surely you can see what would happen if the strong simply capitulated to every weakness of those who are not yet mature in the faith. Simply adopting the scruples of those who are immature is not the answer – that would lead to regress in the newness of Christ’s kingdom.
Rather, Paul is dealing here with attitudes among the strong. By “bearing with” their weaknesses, we are to sympathize with their particular shortcomings. Why? Because we know our own weaknesses. We too have struggles. Maybe not in these particular areas that their struggling in – but we certainly have had and do have other areas where we are weak and our conscience is fragile. Therefore, when we “sympathize with their weaknesses, rather than criticizing or judging them, we do all that love requires of us to serve them in Christ.
You see, love goes far beyond mere toleration or “putting up with” up with the weak ones. Rather, “to bear with” treats them as brothers and sisters in the family of God.
Instead of seeking to please ourselves, we seek to please our brother or sister in Christ. This is what love does. This is what Jesus means when he says that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. How do you love yourself? By seeking to please yourself. But Jesus says that is how we are to love our neighbor by seeking to please them. You walk in love when you seek to please your neighbor rather than adding to his or her “pain” and “burden” that they bear.
Now, Paul is not saying that we are to please others in the place of pleasing God, but you are to please others rather than pleasing yourself. He is not saying that we please others in a sinful way. He is saying that we are to please others for their good – for their spiritual edification in Christ. Rather than tearing down and bring spiritual harm on your neighbor by seeking only to please yourself, love seeks to build up and spiritually benefit his or her brother or sister in Christ so that they may more effectively love and serve God.
Now, you may be saying, “How can I possibly do that?” Well, look at Jesus (v. 3). What was Jesus’ attitude toward your weakness, your shortcoming, your sin? Who did he seek to please? Himself or you?
Here Paul quotes from Ps. 69 placing the words of the Psalmist on Christ. Jesus gave Himself for your weaknesses by allowing the reproaches of sinners who reproached God fall on him at His cross. “To reproach” is to “insult,” “to blame,” “to disgrace.” Another word for “to reproach” is “to stigmatize.” If you want to “stigmatize” someone you place a “stigma,” a mark of shame, disgrace upon them.
Literally, what Paul is saying is that rather than pleasing himself, Jesus came to allow your stigma to fall upon Him. Jesus Christ has been permanently marked/branded upon his hands and feet with your disgrace, your shame and He has done this to bring you pleasure out by taking your reproach.
Each time Jesus healed a leper or gave sight to the blind he touched them taking their shame, their infirmity upon Himself and making them clean. Each healing was a picture of what He would finally do at the cross when:
Isaiah 53:3-5 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
This is what Paul is calling you to now do. In the same way that Jesus came to be your Good Samaritan, you now have the privilege to go be a Good Samaritan to your brother and sister in Christ. As Jesus carried your infirmities, your weaknesses, so now in His love you carry those of your brother or sister who is weak in faith.
Now when you begin to think this impossible, start asking yourself, “What if Jesus lived to only please Himself? What if He rather came to be served and not to serve and give himself a ransom for many? If there was every someone who should please himself, it was Jesus Christ. But he came not to regard himself as more important than you – not to look out for his own personal interest – but to give his whole life away by becoming your slave even to the point of death.
In light of Christ’s sufferings, then our abstention from pleasing ourselves is of no comparison.
Now in vv. 4-6 Paul takes what seems at first to be a small detour from his purpose to explain how he is able to use Ps. 69 in the way he has done in v. 3. In v. 4 he reminds us how we are to make use of the OT in our daily lives as Christians. The OT Scriptures were written for our instruction to give us hope in our daily struggles. How?
Remember what the struggle is over in the church in Rome. In what way do we as Christians make use of the OT Scriptures now that Christ has fulfilled them. It is clear that while the OT Scriptures no longer have a direct commanding authority over us as they did for the Jewish people they are still of great use to the Christian. And Paul tells us how we make use of them in v. 3.
The OT Scriptures continue to play a central role in your life by pointing you to Jesus Christ who has fulfilled the promises of God made to the Jewish people. What does the OT say to you? What are they instructing of you?
They are written to give you hope in difficult times as they point you to Jesus Christ and His cross. How do you find comfort and endurance in times of trouble – when you bear the burdens of this life? Paul says through the Scriptures – through God’s Word as it is unfolded for you in Jesus Christ. It is only when you read the OT as fulfilled in Jesus Christ that you are given hope to bear up under the pressures of life. In v. 13, Paul makes clear that it is the power of the Holy Spirit who takes the Scriptures and opens them before your eyes that you may see Jesus Christ, that you may abound in hope, joy, and peace even in these difficult days.
Now think about what this meant to Paul’s readers in Rome. This church, as it is today, was primarily made up of Gentiles who have come to faith in Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 2 Paul describes the Gentile believers as those who were previously in this world without any hope at all. They were cut off from the promises of God which were given exclusively to the OT people of God (READ Eph. 2:11-11).
Through Jesus Christ, even these Gentiles now have hope because they have been brought near to the promises of God (Gal. 3:26-29) – they are the wild branches that have been grafted into the one people of God (Rom. 11:17-24).
It is now through this grafting into the people of God that even the Scriptures written to the Jewish people have become your Word of Comfort to see Jesus Christ your Hope.
It is now this unity that has been brought by the blood of Jesus Christ that Paul says we are to seek to maintain. It is this unity that Paul prays for you in vv. 5-6. Paul prays that you may all “think the same thing.”
Paul is not praying that both groups will some to the same opinion over all these issues under debate. Paul is a realist. He realizes that it will take time to get all those things hammered out. Rather, he is asking God to give them, despite their differences of opinions, a common overarching purpose that will bring them together in Christian love and unity. And that unity can only be found “according to Christ Jesus” (v. 5).
And this unity is ultimately doxological. It is the unity of praise so that in one accord, with one voice the whole body may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 6).
This is why we are to accept one another (v. 7). We are fellow members of the family of God and together we have been put together for a higher purpose beyond our immediate desires and pleasures – we have been brought together to form the choir of God’s people to sing the praises of God. And we are all members of this glorious choir for one reason: because Christ has accepted each of you. And in the same way that Christ has accepted your brother and sister, so you now accept them with all love and concern that should typify a brother and sister of the family of God.
Once again, Paul provides biblical support for what he is saying in vv. 8-12. How has God accepted each of us?
First, by sending His own Son to fulfill all the promises He made to the Jewish people (v. 8). But God never intended to choose Abraham from out among the nations of the world to keep the Jewish people eternally separate from the Gentiles. From the very beginning God chose Abraham as an instrument of blessing to all the nations of the world (v. 9). The Jewish people were called out to serve the nations as God’s voice of redemption and this wasn’t a promise made only in a few isolated places in the OT. Paul takes passages from every portion of the Hebrew Bible – the writings, the prophets, and the law – to show that God’s purpose of blessing the nations has always been God’s plan of the ages.
In vv. 9 and 11, Paul quotes from the writings -- Ps. 18:49 and 117:1. In v. 10, Paul quotes from the law – Deut. 32:43. And in v. 12 Paul quotes from Isa. 11:10. Together these passages remind us that God had chosen the Jewish people to be a blessing to all the nations who had not known the promises of God so that through the promised Seed – the root of Jesse (v. 12) – they might all stand together – Jew and Gentile – in the courts of God’s heavenly throne and praise and glorify him.
And it is the work of Christ alone at the cross that the God of all hope has filled each of you with all joy and peace so that even you Gentiles might abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.
Now, before we finish looking at our passage, I want to point out one more thing: have you noticed Paul’s continuing theme of glorifying God in our passage this morning (vv. 6, 7, 9). Paul says that God is glorified when we accept one another as Christ has accepted each one of you.
Our Shorter Catechism tells us that our chief end or purpose in life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. John Piper has written in fact that God is most glorified in each of you as you are most satisfied in Him. We can now add to what Piper is saying: God is glorified among us in the family of God when we are satisfied and accepting of those whom He loves and for whom He has sent His only begotten Son to the cross to make all of you fellows sons of God. God is glorified in us as the people of God when we accept those whom He loves – not because we are all the same in every way – but because Jesus Christ has graciously accepted you to the glory of God. Amen! -SDG-
