23    The Unity of Strong and Weak Christians—part 4  Rejoice with One Another in  God’s Plan of Redemption (15:7-13)

Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to Thee among the Gentiles, and I will sing to Thy name.” And again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him.” And again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, and He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles hope.” Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (15:7–13)

In this passage, which closes the major theological section of his letter to Rome, Paul discusses the fourth major principle for promoting unity in the church: corporate rejoicing because of the common sharing in God’s eternal plan of redemption.

This principle is presented in a more positive form and does not focus directly on the negatives of conflicts between strong and weak believers, as do the first three. The emphasis here is on the mutual responsibilities of all believers for each other, which encompasses three features: the basic instruction (v. 7), biblical illustrations (vv. 8–12), and a benedictory prayer of intercession (v. 13).

THE BASIC INSTRUCTION

Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. (15:7)

This verse, in effect, summarizes the previous two, which also focus on our accepting one another, just as Christ also accepted us and on giving glory to God.

Proslambanō (accept) is an intensified form of lambanō and carries the meaning of receiving something or someone to oneself with special concern. It can have a negative connotation, as when Peter presumptuously “took [Jesus] aside [proslambanō] and began to rebuke Him” (Mark 8:32).

But the connotation in Romans 15:7 is positive and is illustrated several times in the book of Acts. When Apollos “began to speak out boldly in the synagogue,” Priscilla and Aquila lovingly “took him aside [proslambanō] and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). After Paul’s ship was wrecked just off the coast of Malta, “the natives showed us extraordinary kindness; for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received [proslambanō] us all” (Acts 28:2, emphasis added). It is the word Paul uses in imploring Philemon to lovingly take back his runaway slave Onesimus, to “accept [proslambanō] him as you would me” (Philem. 17).

In the present text, the apostle gives an infinitely greater illustration of the way in which Christians are to receive each other. He has used the word twice in Romans 14, each time (vv. 1, 3) referring, as here, to believers accepting one another with love and without reservation or judgment. And in 14:3, as here, believers are commanded to accept one another in the same gracious way that Christ has accepted us. Although He used a different verb, Jesus declared that “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (Matt. 10:40). Therefore, to accept one another is to accept Christ Himself.

Paul does not mention specific types of believers in this verse. He is speaking to the strong and to the weak, to Gentiles and to Jews. All believers are called to accept one another. He is not simply speaking of accepting new believers into our church fellowship, although that would certainly be included in this admonition. He is calling on all Christians to accept one another in the fullest and deepest sense, to treat each other with love and understanding, just as Christ also accepted us. If the perfect, sinless Son of God has accepted us into God’s divine family, how much more should we be willing to accept each other, despite the fact that we all still carry sinful trappings from our old, unredeemed flesh. The self-righteous, hypocritical scribes and Pharisees criticized Jesus because He “receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). All of those sinners may not have become saved, but before salvation, every person whom Christ accepts is just like those sinners.

Jesus Christ Himself is our pattern for accepting one another. As He reminded the Twelve, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master” (Matt. 10:24). In saying, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29), Jesus commands us to learn from His example the virtues of kindness, gentleness, and humility. Paul admonished the Ephesians to “be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Eph. 4:32–5:2).

To accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us, is a sure mark of godliness, and failure to do so is just as surely a mark of carnality. Failure to accept one another in love and compassion is an affront to the Savior who accepted us. A congregation that is divisive, quarrelsome, contentious, and judgmental gives the world reason to ridicule Christ’s church and to reject the One who is their only hope of salvation.

There are at least four characteristics of Christ’s accepting sinners. First, He accepts them joyously. In the passage cited above from Luke 15, Jesus told His critics and the rest of the crowd a parable,

Jesus graciously entreats all men: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28), and “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37, emphasis added). In great sorrow, He looked out over the holy city and lamented, “0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt. 23:37). From the cross, He expressed His willingness to forgive and to save even those who were then putting Him to death, “saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing”’ (Luke 23:34).

Some years ago I was visiting in a city and drove by a church that had a prominent sign in front that proclaimed Jesus’ invitation mentioned above: “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” I later learned that a former pastor of that church had witnessed to and was discipling a man of another race. The people of the church and community strongly discouraged his doing that, and when he continued, he was virtually ostracized. He was not able to buy gas at the service station or groceries at the supermarket. His insurance was canceled and his children were continually harassed. The pastor became so distraught that he had a nervous breakdown and had to be hospitalized. A few days after being admitted, he committed suicide. His desperate state of mind and sinful act were, in some measure, impelled by the utter failure of that church to live up to the message it publicly proclaimed.

Jesus also has a message for believers who presumptuously oppress and mistreat His children: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).

Second, Jesus accepts sinners for salvation in spite of their sin. Otherwise, no person could be saved, because no person can cleanse his own sin. “God demonstrates His own love toward us,” Paul has said earlier in this letter, “in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). In his first letter to Timothy, he testified, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (1 Tim. 1:15).

One day, as Jesus “was reclining at the table in the house, behold many tax-gatherers and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is your Teacher eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners?’ But when He heard this, He said, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, “I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Matt. 9:10–13). On another occasion, “the Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with the tax-gatherers and sinners?’ And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick’” (Luke 5:30–31; cf. 6:32–36).

On still another occasion, Jesus

Third, Jesus accepts sinners impartially. His promise is unequivocal: “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37). The Lord has bound Himself by His own word that He will accept any person, without qualification, who receives Him by faith. Early in this letter, Paul declared that there absolutely “is no partiality with God” (Rom. 2:11). It was a difficult truth for Peter to accept, but he finally confessed, “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him” (Acts 10:34–35).

James vividly emphasized that truth. “My brethren,” he wrote,

Fourth, Jesus accepts sinners to the glory of God, as Paul states explicitly in our text: Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. God established His eternal plan of redemption to glorify Himself. Everything He does is to His glory, and everything His children do should be to His glory.

God “predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved,” Paul declares (Eph. 1:5–6). In a benediction later in that letter he said, “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (3:20–21). “God highly exalted [Christ], and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,” in order that, when He comes again, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9–11).

Therefore, when we follow our Lord’s example in receiving each other in love and without judgment or condescension, we do so as He did, to the glory of God. And keep in mind, Jesus said, “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me” (Matt. 18:5, emphasis added)!

THE BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS

For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to Thee among the Gentiles, and I will sing to Thy name.” And again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him.” And again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, and He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles hope.” (15:8–12)

To illustrate that it has always been God’s plan to bring Gentile and Jew alike into His kingdom, Paul cites passages from the Old Testament. They obviously were given to soften the prejudice of Christian Jews against Christian Gentiles by demonstrating from their own Scriptures that the inclusion of Gentiles was neither a divine nor a human afterthought.

Throughout the epistle, Paul has emphasized that truth. At the beginning he made clear that Christ “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name’s sake” (1:4–5). He also explained in his opening comments, “I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented thus far) in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. … For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:13–14, 16).

Quoting from Isaiah 52:5, Paul chastised self-righteous Jews in the congregation, reminding them that for centuries, “‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’ just as it is written” (Rom. 2:24). Instead of being like their Messiah, “a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6), they self-righteously separated themselves from the Gentiles and treated them with disdain (cf. Acts 13:47). The apostle later asks rhetorically, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also?” and then answers his own question, “Yes, of Gentiles also” (Rom. 3:29).

In Romans 9–11, which focuses specifically on Israel, he declares, “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for,” as the prophet Joel proclaimed, “‘Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Rom. 10:12–13, emphasis added; cf. Joel 2:32). He informed them that, “by their [the Jews’] transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! … For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in” (11:11–12, 25). The book of Romans is a declaration of the sovereign plan and effort of God to save both Jew and Gentile.

Jesus Christ, of course, was born a Jew and became a servant to the circumcision [the Jews] on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, that is, to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God the Son became incarnate as a Jew to fulfill and to verify God’s Word. Although He came to bring a New Covenant, He did not come “to abolish the Law or the Prophets … but to fulfill” them (Matt. 5:17). He fulfilled the law by upholding its sacredness and reestablishing its truth. He fulfilled the law by keeping it perfectly. He fulfilled the law in every other possible way, and Paul’s point here is that Christ came to verify the whole revealed truth of God. He came to save sinful man and to bring glory to His Father by fulfilling His Father’s promises in both “the Law [and] the Prophets.”

Christ confirmed those promises to the fathers in order to glorify God for His mercy. Paul himself ministered to Jews by more fully explaining to them the truth of God and by showing Gentiles the mercy of God. The saved Jew primarily praises God for His truth, which He verified in Christ. The saved Gentile primarily praises God for His mercy, which He provided in Christ.

Quoting David in Psalm 18:49 (cf. 2 Sam. 22:50), Paul goes on to explain, as it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to Thee among the Gentiles, and I will sing to Thy name.” Quoting Deuteronomy 32:43, he points out that again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” Although he here refers to the human author, Moses, it is the divine Author whose truth is being declared and praised.

In verse 11 Paul quotes from Psalm 117:1, continuing to remind his Jewish readers of the testimony of their own Scriptures: “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him.” Still again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, and He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles hope” (see Isa. 11:10). The Messiah, who comes from the root of Jesse, the father of David, not only will rule over His ancient people Israel but also over the Gentiles, and in Him shall the Gentiles hope, just as the Jews.

In light of the magnificent, gracious, and sovereign plan of God—disclosed in part in His ancient revelation to Israel—Jews can have no grudge against Gentiles, because their calling, their very purpose for existing, was to reach Gentiles for the glory of the Lord. The Gentiles can have no grudge against Jews, because it was through the Jews that God brought them salvation.

THE BENEDICTORY INTERCESSION

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (15:13)

Paul closes this passage with a beautiful benediction of intercession for all the people of God, not mentioning Jew or Gentile, but addressing the entire, unified Body of Jesus Christ. He petitions the God of hope to graciously fill His people with His divine joy and peace and hope. It expresses the apostle’s deep desire for all believers to have total spiritual satisfaction in their beloved Savior and Lord.

It is essentially the same benediction with which Paul blessed the church at Philippi: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7; cf. 1 Pet. 1:3, 8). It is a prayer for satisfied souls in Christ to know and experience the peace, the hope, the love, the victory, the joy, and the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, who makes them one in Jesus Christ their Lord.