Romans 15

Romans 15:1

Such of us therefore as are established in the faith of the gospel liberty, or who have arrived to greater measures of knowledge and grace, ought, from a compassionate and tender regard to our Christian brethren, whose faith is staggering, and whose judgment and other spiritual attainments are but small, to be meek, forbearing, and patient, towards them, and should make kind allowances for, and endeavour to relieve, them under their prejudices, doubts and fears, rash censures, and conscientious scruples, and not aim at gratifying our own inclinations, much less our own humour, pride, and passions: nor ought we to do any thing which is barely lawful in itself, at the expense of offending and injuring the tender minds of others

Romans 15:2

Let each of us therefore labour to behave towards our fellow Christians and neighbours in such a condescending and engaging manner as will best soften their temper, instruct and win them, and make their souls to grow in grace and knowledge, comfort and holiness, to complete salvation

Romans 15:3

For even our blessed and self-sufficient cient Lord Jesus did not indulge his own case or pleasure, or seek his own safety or honour, to the neglect of others, when here upon earth; but, to promote our salvation, and his Father’s honour, condescended and denied himself in numberless instances, and freely submitted to all manner of hardships, sufferings, disgraces, and malignant and blasphemous reproaches, as is represented, through David as a type, in the 69th Psalm

Romans 15:4

And whatever things were written in the Old Testament, by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, were written, not only for the instruction of our ancestors, but for ours also, that by means of its types, prophecies, histories, and examples, as well as doctrines and laws, we might be excited, animated, and encouraged, to proper patience under our troubles, and made partakers of the joys of faith, the peace of a good conscience, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost, in order to confirm our well-grounded hopes of all needful grace from God now and glory hereafter

Romans 15:5

In order therefore to your dutiful and successful improvement of the scripture, may that God who is infinitely patient and long-suffering, and who is the author, fountain, and giver, of all Christian patience and spiritual comfort, grant you an harmonious, tender, and peaceful, disposition towards each other, that ye may be entirely united in all doctrines and duties which belong to your Christian state and character, according to the example and command of Christ, and as may be most for his glory, and acceptable to God through him

Romans 15:6

That, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, ye may with united hearts and voices cordially agree in your profession, worship, and practice, to advance the honours and show forth the praises of God, as your God in Christ, who is the centre of all our spiritual union and fellowship—7. Notwithstanding therefore your different opinions about matters of little importance, let the endearing example of our great Lord and Saviour, in bearing with our infirmities, who are believers, and receiving us into favour, union, and communion, with himself and his Father, influence you cordially to embrace one another as brethren, without distinction of nations or parties, that ye may glorify God by your harmoniously walking together in faith and love and in the fellowship of the gospel, till ye arrive at all possible perfection in his glorious presence for ever

Romans 15:8-12

And, to shew you how Christ has admitted both Jewish and Gentile believers to equal privileges and blessings, without making any distinction under the gospel state, observe, on the one hand, how he sprung from, and appeared as a member and minister of, the Jewish church, and taught, obeyed, and suffered, to display the faithfulness of God, and to ratify, establish, and render efficacious, the gracious promises which had been made to the ancient patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;—and, on the other, that many of those promises, spoken by David, Moses, and Isaiah, represent Christ as publishing the truths of God to the Gentiles, and bringing them into his church as joyful and grateful members thereof, subjected to him as their Head, and trusting in him as their Saviour, along with the Jews. It is therefore proper that both parties should receive each other with all readiness of mind as their brethren in Christ

Romans 15:13

Now may that gracious God, who is the object, ground, and author, of all that hope which we, whether Jews or Gentiles, have of spiritual and eternal blessings, plentifully enrich and satiate you with all sorts of divine joys and comforts, and with an abiding, solid, and evangelical, peace in your own souls and with one another, in the lively exercises of faith in Christ, and the promises of the everlasting covenant, that ye may not only have a good, but full and assured, hope of future blessedness through the powerfully enlightening, strengthening, witnessing, and confirming, operation of the Holy Ghost

Romans 15:14

And indeed I am firmly persuaded that ye, my dear Christian brethren, are abundantly endowed with such benevolent graces of the Spirit as dispose you to mutual kindness in your temper and behaviour one towards another, and with such knowledge of all things necessary to salvation as renders you capable of instructing each other in the most important truths of the gospel, and of admonishing and exciting one another to every 4 thing truly virtuous. 15, 16. I have nevertheless written with the greater plainness and freedom on the head of your Christian liberty, and obligations to mutual charity, because, by the transcendent grace of God, I have been called and furnished to be an apostolic preacher of Christ and his unsearchable fulness in the gospel, especially to the Gentiles, that many of them, being converted by my ministrations, might be devoted as living, holy, and acceptable, sacrifices to God, and might offer up to him the sacrifices of prayer, praise, and charitable contributions—both they and their services being consecrated by the effusion of the gifts, graces, and sanctifying influences, of the Holy Ghost

Romans 15:17

In consequence of which call to this office, and success therein, I have great reason to rejoice and glory, not indeed in myself, but in and through Christ, by whose grace I have so abundantly and so successfully laboured in preaching the gospel, and bringing multitudes of Gentile sinners to the faith of Christ, to the praise and glory of God. 18, 19. But in this my humble and holy glorying I neither dare boast of any thing I have done myself, nor ascribe to myself what others have done, but I merely hint at what Jesus Christ, by means of my preaching, labours, and sufferings, has wrought, by the almighty influences of his Spirit, in bringing multitudes of the Gentiles to receive and profess him as their Lord and Saviour, and to live in obedience to his laws: and, encouraged by his miraculous and gracious operations, which attested my call, mission, and the truths which I preached, I have, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, with great freedom, faithfulness, fulness, and success, published the glad tidings of salvation through Christ to sinful men, all along from Jerusalem, through Canaan, Syria, Lesser Asia, and Greece, till I came to Illyricum at no great distance from Rome. 20, 21. And, in my ministrations I have especially studied, agreeably to a prediction of Isaiah, to publish these astonishing mysteries of the gospel where they had never been preached before, that so I might the more remarkably act as one who had received an immediate commission from Christ, and needed no human assistance to introduce me

Romans 15:22-24

My necessary and extensive labours in these regions have, under the direction of God’s providence, hindered me from visiting you as I sometimes intended; but, the gospel being now extensively known, and churches planted in all these places, I hope, according to my long fixed inclination, soon to see you. And, if the Lord permit me, as I intend to attempt the propagation of the gospel in Spain, I expect to visit you as I pass westward into that ignorant and idolatrous country, and to be helped forward by you in my journey to it, after you and I have had some comfortable and edifying fellowship together. 25, 26. But at present I am obliged to go south to Jerusalem with the contribution which the Christians of Macedonia and Achaia have made for their holy, but poor, brethren in Judea

Romans 15:27

In this the contributors have been extremely forward and cheerful, as indeed just gratitude and common benevolence required that they should; for, if the sinners of the Gentiles have received the enriching gospel of Christ from Jerusalem, and by means of Jewish apostles and preachers, and have been thereby made partakers along with the Jews of all spiritual and eternal benefits, it is certainly proper that they in return should assist with their temporal substance the poor Jewish saints at Jerusalem and the places about. 132 148* 28, 29. However, when I have manifested my tender regard to my dear countrymen, and have faithfully delivered to them this collection, I intend, if the Lord will, to see you on my way to Spain. And, from what I have experienced of Christ’s powerful operations by me, I hope to come to you plentifully furnished with gospel instructions, offers, and encouragements, and thereby to be an instrument of conveying to you the most abundant gifts, graces, and comforts

Romans 15:30-32

In order to my accomplishing these desirable designs, I earnestly entreat you, by all the obligations and endearments of the love and grace of Jesus Christ and his Spirit, and by all that love wrought in your hearts by these divine persons, or which you owe to them for all that they have done for or in you, that ye, in the most fervent manner, join your believing, importunate, and persevering, supplications to God with mine, for his guidance, protection, and blessing, to me,—that I may be delivered from all the snares and violence of my Jewish persecutors, and that the collection which I carry up to Jerusalem may not, through prejudice, be despised or refused, but kindly accepted by the believing Jews as a mean of weaning them from their dislike to me and the Gentile converts,—and that, being thus prospered in my present way and work, I may, through the kind providence of God, have an opportunity of seeing and conversing with, and preaching to you, for our mutual comfort and edification

Romans 15:33

Meanwhile, may that God, who is reconciled to us in Christ, and is the Author of all our peace, comfort, and happiness, and who delights in our possessing our souls in peace, and living together in harmony and love, be graciously present with you, by the special influences of his Spirit, to unite your hearts in the strongest brotherly affection, prevent all animosity and discord, and bless you with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XV.—With much tenderness and self-denial should we behave towards our Christian brethren; and with kind affection bear with one another’s infirmities, and study one another’s spiritual edification. It is an inconceivable mercy to have access to peruse, and a great honour to be diligent students, searchers, and improvers of, the holy scriptures. In the ministry of his Son, and the ancient promises, God delightfully laid the foundation of uniting Jews and Gentiles into one gospel church, and he hath done most marvellous things to effect it. Richly replenished are all the promises with Jesus Christ and his grace; and with what joy and peace doth a right believing of them fill our souls! Thrice happy are they who believe them, to their own sanctification of heart and life, by the Spirit of God, and to their eternal salvation. Thrice happy is it when ministers, depending entirely on God, are diligent, faithful, and successful, in preaching the gospel, and multitudes through the gospel, attended by the influences of the Holy Spirit, are turned to Christ and his service. And it wears an hopeful appearance when the fervent prayers of ministers and people are united in behalf of Christ’s interests, and for one another’s mutual advantage; and when spiritual fellowship is their joint delight