02.27. Chapter 15A
CHAPTER 15A
Believers to Receive One Another, as Christ (after His Jewish ministry). Received the Gentiles,---TO GOD’S GLORY. Romans 15:1-13.
Paul’s Great "Priestly-Ministry" of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Romans 15:14-21. His Purpose (long-hindered) to Come to the Roman Christians,--after the Great Jerusalem Contribution. Romans 15:22-33.
Romans 15:1-7 should have closed the preceding chapter, as they continue and close up the subject there considered.
Romans 15:1 : Now we that are strong ought to bear [literally, are in debt to bear] the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. In Romans 13:8 the word here translated "ought" (Greek, to owe), is used in forbidding a Christian to be in debt to others except in the way of love. Paul here addresses the "strong," being himself of that number; in which company may we also be found! It is those who are "spiritual" who can show love to others (Galatians 6:1). Note most carefully that it is not bearing with the infirmities of others that Paul is speaking of. The old lady said in the testimony meeting, "I have always got a lot of help out of that Bible verse that says, Grin and bear it!’ " And the little California girl was heard singing, "When all my neighbors and trials are o’er!" We are apt to think of others’ weaknesses and infirmities as a burden we must put up with, for the Lord’s sake,--as "our particular cross," for the present! Instead, God’s Word here teaches us gladly to bear, to take over as our own, these infirmities! "Bear ye one another’s burdens," is the "law of Christ"! (Galatians 6:2). How our blessed Lord bore the infirmities of His disciples!--infirmities of ignorance, of unbelief, of self-confidence, of jealousy among themselves,--until the disciples came into a state of loving trust in their Lord which made even Thomas say, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him"; and Peter: "Lord, I will lay down my life for Thee." Our Risen Lord again set the example of such "bearing." For even after they had forsaken Him in Gethsemane, in the upper room the Risen Lord appeared to them with, "Peace be unto you,"--and never a mention of their utter failure! It is this ability, manifested by Divine grace in us, constantly and without end to bear the infirmities of others, to take thought for, and excuse their weaknesses; and to endure for them anything and everything, that manifests Christ; and wins the trustful devotion of our fellow-saints. [266]
[266] It is this heart-hunger for sympathy,--for some one to take over our burdens, that has always made Romanism such a refuge (albeit a false one!); and is now making Buchmanism, commonly known as the "Oxford Movement," such a deadly danger. The Romanist unloads the story of his sins and failures in the ready ear of his "father confessor": while the Buckmanites gather in so-called "house parties," and "share" their inner secrets with their deluded comrades. Both the Romanist and the Buchmanite feel a great sense of "relief," after the confessions. Indeed, the Buchmanites make a great parade of testimonies of those whose lives have been "changed" through this process of "sharing." Certainly! But John Bunyan, in the seventeenth century gave the right name to Buchmanism: "Changing Sins";--that is, exchanging one sin for another. It is not by unburdening my conscience to my fellow man, whether "priest" or friend, that peace with God, and eternal safety come; but by deep conviction of both my guilt and my helplessness--of my lost state; and revelation to me, by the Spirit, of the shed blood of Christ as my only refuge and hope,--a Christ who bore God’s wrath against sin, and provided the only ground on which a holy God can deal with guilty man. Resting in God’s Word about His Son whom He raised from the dead, I have salvation. Salvation is not at all by "confession,"--either to God or man; but by faith in the vicarious sacrifice of Christ. Even the thief on the cross made no "confession" of his sins, either to God or to Christ:--for lo, Christ was just then bearing his guilt! and it was not by means of his confessing it that sin was put away, but by God’s placing it on Christ. Although this thief, in speaking to the impenitent one, recognizes his crimes in the words, "We suffer the due reward of our deeds"; yet he simply hands himself over to Christ as he is,--"Lord, remember me": and our Lord’s words are, "Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." (By the way, friend, that thief not only did not "confess" his sins; but he never was baptized; he never "joined the church"; he never went to mass"; and he did not go to any "purgatory"; but he went straight to Paradise,-- that day! And, further, Mary the mother of Jesus was standing right there: but our Lord never mentions her to this thief! But says, "Today thou shalt be with Me." What do you say to that! That thief is a perfect picture of you and me, as regards salvation!)
Meyer well says, "In themselves strong and free, the strong become the servants of the weak, as Paul, the servant of all." "Pleasing ourselves" is the exact thing each of us will do unless we set ourselves to pursue, to follow after, love, until our Lord comes back!
Romans 15:2 : Let each one of us please his neighbor, in what is good, for [his] edification. Of course Paul does not mean here to exhort us to man-pleasing in the way of selfishly seeking man’s favor. He himself says, "Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). There is a man-pleasing spirit that is very obnoxious to God. We may be "nice" to people for our own selfish benefit. But remember that this exhortation to please our neighbor "for his benefit unto edifying," indicates a studied care for others; laying aside our own preferences, and pleasing them in every way that will in the end benefit them spiritually. This, of course, does not mean that we are to compromise with any evil our neighbor may be doing, by having fellowship with him in a worldly path in order to "win" him. The expression "unto that which is good," shuts out that. Paul puts it beautifully in 1 Corinthians 10:32-33, 1 Corinthians 11:1 : "Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the Church of God: even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ."
Romans 15:3 : For Christ also pleased not Himself: but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell upon Me--Christ never "looked after" Himself: the whole world knows this! "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." Yet His whole life, from early morning till late at night, and often into the night, was occupied in ministry to others! The multitudes found out with joy that here was One whose whole business was "going about doing good." The constant drawing upon Him by the multitudes,--upon His time, His love, His teaching, His healing, was a marvelous proof that they could count on the absolute absence of self-pleasing, in Him! The Psalms, which give the inner heart-history of our Lord, reveal, (as, for instance, does the Sixty-ninth Psalm, from which Paul here quotes,--the great "Reproach" [267] Psalm), how difficult was our Lord’s path in a sinful, selfish. God-hating world. Yet it is written of Him: "He pleased not Himself."
[267] Let us follow this word, "reproach," in Psalms 69:1-36 and others: Psalms 69:7 : "For Thy sake I have borne reproach." Psalms 69:9 : "The reproaches of them that reproach Thee are fallen upon Me." Psalms 69:10 : "When I wept, and chastened My soul with fasting, that was to My reproach." Psalms 69:19 : "Thou knowest My reproach, and My shame, and My dishonor." Psalms 69:20 : "Reproach hath broken My heart." Our Lord upon the cross cries that He is a "reproach of men" (Psalms 22:6). In Psalms 31:11, as we find so carried out in the gospels:-- "I am become a reproach, Yea, unto My neighbors exceedingly, And a fear to Mine acquaintance"; while in Psalms 109:22-25, He says He is "poor and needy." heart-wounded, gone like a shadow, tossed up and down, weak through fasting. His flesh failing, "a reproach unto them." But it was always, "For Thy sake I have borne reproach,"--the reproaches that fell upon God--upon the Father, whose will and works Christ was doing, and whom man was learning the more to hate as "the beauty of Jehovah" was manifest more and more in Him. Now, if it were so with Christ, whose goodness was constantly reproached, shall we complain or stumble if even our good be evil spoken of? Let Christ dwell within us, as the Father dwelt in Christ, and let us cease from self-pleasing!
Romans 15:4 : For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures [268] we might have hope.
[268] Those who neglect the Old Testament Scriptures may well remember that this expresses the Christian experience of an inspired apostle!"--(Schaff and Riddle). For it was the Old Testament Scriptures of which Paul spoke here.
Note these four words that God has joined together: "learning . . . patience . . . comfort of the Scriptures . . . hope": "learning" is heart knowledge, as our Lord said: "Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto Me" (John 6:45). "Patience" follows, for, knowing God, we can wait for Him to work. Next is "comfort of the Scriptures." It is astonishing--something beyond human conception, this "comfort of the Scriptures"! We have all seen saints poor in purse, accounted nothing at all by men, and perhaps suffering constant physical pain, sad bereavement of loved ones, and complete lack of understanding by other professing Christians: yet comforted by poring over the Scriptures! Hearts happy and hopeful, despite it all! You can step from any state of earthly misery into the glorious halls of heavenly peace and comfort! Praise God for this! "Be ye comforted," writes Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:11.
It is ever good to be going over God’s dealings, not only with Christ, but with His Old Testament saints; marking how He is continually bringing them into hard places, where they learn to trust Him more! Joseph, in prison for righteousness; David, anointed of God, but hunted for years "like a partridge in the mountains"; Jeremiah in the miry dungeon; the three in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, and Daniel in the den of lions: not to speak of the New Testament story--James and Stephen killed, the apostles in prison. You may ask, How does "hope" spring out of such trials? We do not ask such a question if we have learned the lesson of Romans Five: "Knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope,"--witnessed to by the shedding abroad of God’s love for us in our hearts! Therefore let us seek that comfort and hope which this verse tells us the Scriptures work in us if we patiently learn them. When we get thus learningly to Romans 15:13, we shall find ourselves abounding in hope!
Romans 15:5-6 : Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind together according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul asks here that the same God who gave to the Old Testament saints and to the apostles "endurance" and "comfort of the Scriptures," may grant that we may be "like-minded, loving as brethren" (1 Peter 3:8). "Behold, how these Christians love one another!" was the amazed but constant testimony of paganism, yea, of Judaism, also, regarding believers in the early days of the Church. And this Spirit-wrought unity and tender affection is by far the greatest need amongst believers today. New "movements," new "educational programs," great contributions of funds--what are these worth while Christians are divided in mind, more in discord than accord? Such a state cannot "glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." "By this," our Lord said, "shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). And this accord, this unity, is not brought about by outward organization. There is, incited by the devil, a great cry that all professing Christians today "get together," form themselves into a great "charitable" unity, inclusive of Romanists, Protestants, and well-intended Jews. Meanwhile, in answer to the earnest, persistent cry of God’s people that He would revive His Church, the real saints are being drawn more and more by His Word into the true fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Bible conferences, unsectarian Bible schools, gatherings and even leagues for prayer, and increasing intelligent fellowship with truly godly missionary effort, are the real sign that God is granting Paul’s desire that believers may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
People generally make one of two mistakes concerning Christian unity. First, that there must be absolute unanimity of opinion on all points of doctrine; and second, that there must be external unity of all so-called "Christian bodies."
We have alluded to the second of these ideas as of Satanic origin, and deluded human consent. But now, as to the first, the desire of the apostle in Romans 15:5, that the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus, does not have reference to opinions or views of doctrines, but does have reference to gracious dispositions of spirit; for God is not spoken of here as the God of wisdom and knowledge, but as the God of patience and of comfort. It is God’s acting in these blessed graces toward the saints that will enable them to be "of one mind together according to Christ Jesus." When the Spirit of God is freely operating among a company of believers, the eyes of all of them, first, are toward Christ Jesus. They are thinking of Him, of His love, of His service, and of what will please Him. They are conscious of their blessed place in Him. Then follow, naturally, patient dealing with one another, comforting one another. Some of the company may know much more truth than others; many may hold varying judgments or opinions concerning particular matters. But this does not at all touch their unity--their conscious unity, in Christ; and it does not in the slightest degree hinder their being of one mind, and working together with one accord, and, in the vivid words of Scripture, be with one mind together according to Christ Jesus.
Rome has undertaken to compel unity in both these evil senses (for she knows not the blessed unity of the Spirit): and rivers of martyrs’ blood have flowed because they dared to express an opinion contrary to the edicts of "the Church." The doctrine, too, is constantly promulgated, that to be outside "Mother Church," outside the fold of Rome, is to be without the pale of salvation!
Both these things are fearful perversions of the truth.
Romans 15:7 : Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ received you, to the glory of God.
Strong and weak believers alike are here exhorted to receive one another,--for God’s glory. This not only includes formal welcoming of other believers into the fellowship of the church, the Assembly of the Saints; but, what is far more and deeper, exercising constant careful love to one another;--and all this done with a view to the glory of God! For Christ received us to that end! As He says, "All that which the Father giveth Me shall come unto Me; and him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out. For I am come down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (John 6:37; John 6:38). It is Christ’s delight to welcome sinners, for that glorifies God; and there is joy in Heaven over it! Let there be like joy over our Christian love,--our "receiving" one another; for it glorifies God!
Romans 15:8-9 : For I say that Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that He might confirm the promises unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy--
Here Paul defines in a single phrase our Lord’s character as a "minister," in His earthly life: He was a "minister of the circumcision." That is, He came "unto His own." He said, "I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel," (Matthew 15:24). Tell this to the ordinary professing Christian, and he regards you with amazement, if not with anger. When our Lord sent out the Twelve, in Matthew Ten, He said, "Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Now people resent that, because of their sad ignorance--both of the Divine sovereignty, and revealed plan. So, the first thing to clear away in our minds is the uncertain or false teaching, about the mission of Christ on earth. He was made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God; that He might confirm the promises unto the fathers.
Now we know that Christ came to declare the Father--to reveal God as He is. Also He came to give His life a ransom for many, to become "the propitiation for the whole world." Thus He "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister."
But, if we are to understand the story of His ministry, in the Gospels, we must remember that He was first a "minister of the circumcision,’ as the Jewish Messiah, fulfilling, "confirming" the Divine promises of the Old Testament to that nation. [269] And what was this "ministry of the circumcision?
[269] It is essential to understand and submit fully to this remarkable expression concerning our Lord’s ministry to Israel, taking great care, however, that we do not allow ourselves to be drawn into the high folly of the Bullingerites, and others, who, because Christ was made a "minister of the circumcision," therefore regard as "transitional," and as not concerning the Church, the Body of Christ, the Gospels, the Acts, the present Epistle (to the Romans), the Corinthian Epistles,--in fact, all but the "prison epistles"! Some of these mistaken teachers, indeed, do not go to this length, but many are even more extravagant than this, claiming that Christ did not begin to build His Body on the day of Pentecost, but that there was a "transitional" time and state, after Pentecost, with a "Jewish Body"; and that the Body revealed by Paul in Ephesians and Colossians begins with Paul’s revelation of it in "the prison epistles"! Now everyone knows that there was a gradual entering upon the full truth of what Gentile grace was, upon the part of the twelve apostles,--as witness Peter in Acts 10:1-48; and the Council of Acts 15:1-41. But to say that because they did not know fully the calling and hopes of the Church until Paul had revealed them (as indeed was true, by Christ’s appointment) therefore the Body of Christ did not exist from Pentecost on, is idle, shallow folly! The object of the devil in causing these delusions, is practically the same as in his inspiring "higher criticism" and "modernism." It is to break the moral effect upon the conscience of certain books and certain passages of the Bible, by teaching believers to say, "That Scripture is not for us--it is not for the Church." Now the account of the creation is not "Church Truth," yet Paul takes great comfort from it, saying, "It is God that said. Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God, in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Paul also takes great delight in pointing out, in quoting Genesis 2:24, that a man’s leaving father and mother to cleave to his wife, was a type and picture of, and really concerned the union of, Christ and the Church! (Ephesians 5:29-32.) The book of Job was not written "for the Church," yet we learn in that great book filings of our God and of His ways not fully revealed elsewhere. I deem it not only folly, but presumptuous wickedness to speak as do these self-appointed wise men of our Lord’s earthly ministry as "not concerning the Church," saying we must therefore leave the gospels and go to the epistles alone for instruction. Paul, on the contrary, continually quoted even the Old Testament Scriptures; even adducing the Law for our "instruction" (although telling us we are not under it; 1 Corinthians 9:9; 1 Corinthians 14:34; Ephesians 6:1; Ephesians 6:2). Likewise the Psalms: Of course they were written with Israel’s Messiah in direct view,--His sufferings, (and the Remnant’s) with His ultimate earthly Kingdom-triumph in the 1000 years. Yet, recalling always the facts of our heavenly calling and place, the Psalms become full of blessing to the spiritual mind! The Holy Spirit makes them the quickened vehicle of guiding us into unexpected truth. And the four Gospels;-- "the words of our Lord Jesus Christ" have a use and beauty of blessing for us, "all the greater because we know we are enlifed in, and risen with, Christ, new creatures in Him, and seated with Him in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus! Indeed, we find our Lord, in John 17:1-26, praying for that marvelous oneness which was realized in the Church as revealed in all Paul’s Epistles: "that they may be one--even as thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee." There is no higher truth about the Church than this! "The Mystery," the Church as such, was not yet revealed,--as it begins to be in Romans and onward: but we have the great petitions that made the Church possible, here in John. When we step into The Acts, only those who leave the simplicity of Christian consciousness (as does Bullinger) dare affirm that in those earliest Christians there was not the very life and unity belonging to the one and only Body of Cnrist which it was later given Paul to "minister," as to its character, calling, destiny, and walk. Of course Romans is as much "church truth" as Ephesians! Avoid Bullingerism as you would the plague! The Church did begin at Pentecost; there is but one Body of Christ known in Scripture,--and no special "Jewish" Body; the Lord’s words to the Seven Churches of Revelation 1:1-20, Revelation 2:1-29, Revelation 3:1-22 are solemn warnings to present assemblies, and not imaginary "Jewish" assemblies, after the Body of Christ is raptured to heaven, as Bullinger teaches! How anyone can be captured by such fantastic nonsense, is only explainable by the appalling ignorance of Pauline truth, and the hunger for it, (an ignorance and hunger of which Bullinger takes advantage!) Bullinger called the great Welsh Revival of 1904-5 "Spiritism,"-- attributing to the devil what the whole Church of God knows was God’s work. (See Bullinger’s Foundations of Dispensational Truth, p. 259.) And he taught "Soul-sleeping," calling Sheol and Hades "only gravedom." (See on Revelation 1:1-20.) To follow such a presumptuous and blind leader, is to fall into the ditch. Only, Bullingerites think everyone but themselves in the ditch: and that they are mountain-top dwellers! Have you heard of a Bullingerite Bible conference for the deepening of the spiritual life? No; and you will not: for they are "sick about questionings, and disputes of words" (1 Timothy 6:4). The reason we warn of Bullingerism so repeatedly is, that it endangers the earnest souls who, desiring to escape the intolerable bondage of Protestant denominational ecclesiasticism (now daily becoming more Romish in fact and papal in process), hail Bullinger’s system as freedom. But it is a much worse danger than what they have escaped! You may call it dispensational modernism, or modernistic dispensationalism; for it is both. It is difficult to deal in patience with presumption that takes an attitude much like that of Theosophy, of a "higher wisdom." It is a striking thing, (though from history it might be expected) that these errorists like others, are consumed by their error! They must harp on it at all times!
What was it meant to accomplish? Paul here says, It was for the sake of God’s truth, God’s faithfulness. His veracity, "to confirm the promises that had been given to the fathers"-- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was on God’s behalf, to show that when God makes commitments and promises, He forgets them not, but fulfils them. He had promised a Messiah to Israel, and He sent the Messiah. But God had made no promises, no commitments, to the Gentiles. Consequently, upon Israel’s rejection of their Messiah, mercy, sovereign mercy, flows out to us Gentiles: and for this we glorify God, for that is the purpose of this mercy--that God may be glorified. The prophet Micah, in the last verse of his prophecy (Micah 7:19, Micah 7:20), illustrates exactly this distinction between "the truth" of God toward Israel, and "the mercy" of God toward the Gentiles: "Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the loving kindness [or, mercy] to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old." To Jacob the blessings were announced by God (above that ladder of Genesis 28:1-22) with the words: "I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac" (Genesis 28:13). The birthright which Esau despised and forfeited, Jacob had; and the promises were to be fulfilled in faithfulness. But to Abraham it was sheer mercy. His father was a Chaldean idolater, and probably he had been so (Joshua 24:2; Joshua 24:3; Joshua 24:14; Joshua 24:15). But "the God of glory" appeared to him out of hand, without cause, right in the midst of Chaldean iniquity there at Ur. This was mercy (Acts 7:1). Jehovah "redeemed" Abraham (Isaiah 29:22).
Now for the present a "hardening in part" has befallen Israel, "until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in," as we saw in Chapter Eleven.
It is striking that in the present passage, Romans 15:9-29, Gentiles are named ten times, the Gentile number! Five of these instances are from the Old Testament prophecies themselves. Let us study these quotations with especial attention:
There are three remarkable points about these passages:
I They are selected from the three great divisions of the Scripture: the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24:44).
II There is a progress in the selections.
1. Christ Himself gives praise unto God from among the Gentiles. The quotation is from Psalms 18:49, where David becomes a distinct type of Christ, David’s coming Seed, as see next verse. See also Psalms 22:22, where, after the awful description of the cross in the first part of that Psalm (Psalms 22:1-21)--the Divine forsaking, pierced hands and feet, parted garments--the Lord begins thus the resurrection praise:
"I will declare Thy name unto My brethren: In the midst of the assembly will I praise Thee." This "assembly" began, of course, with those Jewish believers in that upper room, to whom He first appeared; but that "assembly" shortly included Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48 and on). But we note here in Romans 15:9 that Christ Himself is celebrating Jehovah’s work,--giving praise "among the Gentiles."
2. Romans 15:10 : The next step is, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. Now, in Scripture, "His people" are always Israel; and, for awhile, as we find in the Acts, the Gentiles were "rejoicing with His people": it was with Jerusalem as the center, and the apostles and elders there recognized even by Paul, even after preaching to the Gentiles had begun (Acts 15:1-41). [270]
[270] Of course, the Church, the Body of Christ, was begun at Pentecost, But, though God would by and by send Paul to show the heavenly calling and character of the Church, yet God, in great patience and grace, called upon Israel first to repent and believe (Acts 3:26). So that, for a while,--even to Paul’s officially closing Israel’s national door, in Acts 28:25-28,--the Gentiles rejoiced "with" God’s people Israel: it was "to the Jew first." But it is not so now! "There is no difference between Jew and Greek" must be preached, if God’s Word is to be followed. Movements that put the Jew, now, in a place of preference, as "first," do the poor Jew,--a common sinner, undistinguished from the Gentile,-- the greatest disservice possible! They protect him from judgment as guilty before God (Romans 3:19). Instead, Paul went about to "provoke to jealousy" the Jews, by boasting in Christ, as himself the very "chief of sinners," saved by grace, not by the Law!
3. Romans 15:11 : The next passage calls for direct praise from the Gentiles, with no distinct notice taken of Israel as a people; for the Greek reads: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and let all the peoples [plural] praise Him (as the R.V. correctly translates).
III
Romans 15:12 : There is a looking forward to the Millennial reign in the quotation from Isaiah 11:10 : the Root of Jesse, He that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles. On Him [who shall thus reign] shall the Gentiles hope. Gentiles, thank God, may now freely "hope," and look to Him who will rule all the earth, during the Millennium. All nations then will be directly dependent upon the Lord, enthroned in the Millennial temple at Jerusalem. How blessed is the Gentile who now learns to "hope in Christ" (Ephesians 1:12) before He "arises to reign"! Verily there will be a reward! As Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:8 : "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the Seed of David, according to my gospel." How few Christians connect their Savior with David! They remember Romans 1:4, but not Romans 1:3. So they forget His royal earthly claims! In this passage we saw (in Romans 15:8) a setting forth of Christ as a "minister of the circumcision"; but this ministry was duly accomplished. It did not extend to the Gentiles, for no promises had been made to the Gentiles. Consequently, Gentiles are brought under Divine "mercy," and "hope" in Christ, wholly apart from Jewish connections; though recognizing our Lord’s past and future ministry to the circumcision. [271]
[271] God had made arrangements with Israel at Sinai, had given them promises conditioned on their obedience. This limited God’s action to the fulfilment of these commitments to Israel. "Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." But, at the cross, all was ended. Sin rose to its height, and transgression of the Law to its climax. When the Jews "killed the Lord Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 2:16), that Law which distinguished the "circumcision in the flesh" was "abolished" (Ephesians 2:14; Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14). God having thus wound up matters with Israel, and being, of course, entirely tree from any covenant with or commitment unto the Gentiles, could act according to the movements of absolute Love, which He is. The highest action of Love, consequently, succeeded the highest action of human sin: man crucified God’s Son; God sends the Holy Ghost, baptizing believers into vital union with that Son raised from the dead and glorified. The Church, the Body of Christ, stands in the nearest possible relation to God of any creature!
Romans 15:13 : Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Look at this great thirteenth verse: how it blossoms out before us! Here is a verse packed full!
1. The name here given to God thrills our hearts: The God of Hope. Hope looks forward with exultation for ever and ever! We remember Romans 5:2 : "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God"; and Romans 12:12 : "rejoicing in hope"; and also that hope, along with faith and love, abides forever, for God will be opening up new treasures of grace to us through all the ages to come! See Ephesians 2:7.
God is called the "God of peace" in Romans 15:33; Romans 16:20; and in Php 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 2 Thessalonians 3:16, Hebrews 13:20; and, of course, peace is fundamental: Christ made peace by the blood of His cross. But we are not to be content with peace alone. Many would stop at Romans 5:1, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God." But in this present verse God speaks as the God of hope; and He wants us filled with all joy as well as peace, so as to be abounding in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, if God is the God of hope, looking forward with expectancy and delight to the certain, glorious things of the future, then a dejected, depressed, discouraged saint of His is yielding to a spirit directly contrary to His will, which is, for each of us, that we abound in hope.
2. It is God Himself alone who can fill us with all joy and peace, making us to abound in hope. We cannot transform ourselves!
3. It is by the power of the indwelling Spirit that we are to "abound in hope." Some human beings are naturally introspective and gloomy. Others are naturally jovial and buoyant: but the joy in which we as believers are to abound does not in any wise flow from nature, but from the direct, inworking energy of the Holy Ghost. Some of the most naturally "happy" people of the world, "have been thrown into desperate trouble of soul either by the Spirit’s convicting them of their sin, or, perhaps, by the withdrawal of natural supports on a death-bed without hope; while some of those whose tendency was discouragement and despondency almost to hopelessness have, "by the power of the Holy Ghost," been filled with all joy and peace, and have abounded in hope day by day and hour by hour!
4. It is in a believing heart that these blessed results are brought about. When asked by the Jews in the Sixth of John, "What must we do that we may work the works of God?" our Lord replied, "This is the WORK of God [the one thing He asks of you], that ye BELIEVE on Him whom He hath sent." The "believing" of Romans 15:13 is, of course, that "living by faith in the Son of God" of which Paul speaks in Galatians 2:20. It is stepping out on the facts God reveals about us; and learning to live the life of trust. The verse we are considering is the highest development of Christian experience revealed in this great, fundamental Epistle of Romans. Deeper things will be elsewhere unfolded,--as, for instance, the Indwelling Christ of Ephesians 3:14-21. But, as Jude 1:20 tells us, we must "build up ourselves on our most holy faith." Paul declares that the "law" that prevails in this dispensation is a "law of faith" (Romans 3:27); and that the obedience into which we are called is the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5; Romans 16:26).
5. It is the will of God that you and I--all believers--be "filled with all joy and peace in believing,"--blessed spiritual state! that we may "abound in hope in the power of the Holy Ghost." Some are content if they merely find the way of salvation through faith in the blood of Christ. They are much given to talk about being "saved by grace," but they are not much exercised about holy living. A second class of believers become deeply exercised as to a life of "victory over sin." These, of course, if instructed aright, accept the wondrous fact that they died with Christ, and are now on resurrection ground, freed from sin, and from that which gave sin its power,--the Law. A third class go further, to the Twelfth of Romans, and enter on true Christian service, by presenting their bodies a living sacrifice to God; and discovering thereby His good, acceptable, and perfect will for them--whatever measure of faith He may give them, and to whatever gift or peculiar service He may call them. But here, in this great fountain of water in Romans 15:13, we find that a daily, hourly life "filled with all joy and peace in believing, abounding in hope," is the normal state for every one who is in Christ!
It will not do for us to make excuses for ourselves: God is the God of hope! His yearning is to fill you and me with all joy and peace, if we will just launch out and believe. Others just as unworthy as we have believed; we will never become "more worthy" of believing. "This poor earth is a wrecked vessel," as Moody used to say. Man is drifting on into the night, and judgment is coming. All the more, then, may the God of hope fill YOU with all joy and peace in believing, that YOU may abound in hope!
Many cherish their doubts, even adducing them as a proof of their humility, which is sad indeed. As Charles F. Deems used to say, "Believe your beliefs, and doubt your doubts; most people believe their doubts, and doubt their beliefs." You can believe. What a wonderful thing to be among those (sadly few!) believers who are filled with all joy and peace, and abound in hope!
We can enter into the benefit of our great apostle Paul’s benedictory prayer in this matter: "Now the God of hope fill you"--for Paul yearned over, prayed over, and had effectual prayer, even, for "those that had not seen his face in the flesh" (Colossians 2:1); and we may assume that God will answer this mighty believing prayer of his on our behalf. And our Great High Priest, who moved Paul to pray, is at God’s right hand, making constant intercession for us!