15
📚We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 📚Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to build him up. 3 📚For even Christ did not please himself, but, as it is written, The insults of those who insulted you fell on me.4 📚For whatever things were written previously were written for our instruction, so that we, through patient endurance and the encouragement 📖 of the Scriptures, might have hope.
15:4 There are many fine examples in the Old Testament (“the Scriptures”) of people who did not please themselves but lived for God and others. We must learn from them. Observe that “everything” in the OT is for our instruction. If we neglect any part of it we are keeping ourselves in ignorance of important truth. And we will miss things which will encourage us and help us to endure all we as believers have to face in this world. See also 2 Tim 3:16-17.⚜
5 📚Now the God of patience and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind 📖 toward one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 📚that you may, with one mind and one mouth, glorify 📖 God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ’s example
7 📚Therefore receive one another, just as Christ received us, to the glory of God. 8 📚Now I say that Jesus Christ became a servant 📖 to the circumcised for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 9 📚and to cause the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
For this cause I will confess
you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.
15:9 But all along Christ had the Gentiles also in mind. Paul shows this by referring to verses in the Old Testament. This first one is Ps 18:49. The picture is Christ praising God among Gentile peoples.⚜
10 📚And again he says, Rejoice,
you Gentiles, with his people.
15:10 Deut 32:43. Gentiles join in happy fellowship with Jews (“His people”).⚜
11 📚And again, Praise the Lord,
all you Gentiles; and laud him,
all you people.
12 📚And again, Isaiah says,
There will be a root of Jesse,
and he who will rise to reign
over the Gentiles.
Concluding prayer
In him the Gentiles will trust.
13 📚Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
15:13 The “God of hope” means the God who inspires hope in His people and fulfills it. The hope is of final salvation (Rom 5:2-5; 8:23-25). It is produced by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. Peace and joy are also produced by God’s Spirit (Gal 5:22). They are natural elements of God’s kingdom (Rom 14:17). They were both promised by Christ to His obedient disciples (John 14:27; 15:11). God wants believers to be filled with them. Only then will they behave towards others as they ought, and praise God and live for His glory as they ought. Believers should learn to reject anything which robs them of their peace and joy or dims their hope.⚜
Paul’s work and desire to visit Rome
14 📚And I myself am persuaded about you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.
15:14 Goodness is another fruit of God’s Spirit (Gal 5:22). Ability to instruct each other is what all believers should have (Heb 5:11-14; 1 Thess 5:14).⚜
15 📚Nevertheless, brethren, I have written very boldly to you on some points, as a reminder to you, because of the grace that is given to me by God,
15:15 See Rom 1:8. Compare 2 Pet 1:12; 3:1; Jude 5; 2 Tim 2:14. It is very easy for spiritual truth to slip away and be forgotten. We all need constant reminders.⚜
16 📚that I should be a servant of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up 📖 of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
17 📚Therefore I have reason to glory in Jesus Christ in the things of God. 18 📚For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not done through me to make the Gentiles obedient. But by word and deed,
15:17-18 Paul did not glory (boast) in himself. His service was in Christ and his rejoicing was in Christ. He did not think it was by his ability or power that his work was accomplished. He used different language when speaking about himself – Rom 7:18; Eph 3:8; 1 Tim 1:15.⚜
19 📚through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.
15:19 Acts 14:8-9; 16:18, 25, 26; 19:11-12; 2 Cor 12:11-12. From Jerusalem to Illyricum (an area northwest of Greece and Macedonia) was a very large region, including Syria, central and western Turkey, Greece and Macedonia.⚜
20 📚And I have made it my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not named, so that I would not be building upon another man’s foundation, 21 📚but as it is written,
To whom it was not told,
they will see, and those who have not
heard will understand.
15:20-21 Here was the principle which guided Paul in his service. The quotation is from Isa 52:15. Paul was usually traveling, wanting to reach the unreached, desiring to give all men in his generation an opportunity to hear Christ’s gospel. In this he is an example to all of us. Compare Matt 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8.⚜
22 📚For this reason also I have been much hindered from coming to you. 23 📚But now, having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come to you,
15:22-23 See Rom 1:10-13. He wanted to finish his work in that large region before moving on to new areas.⚜
24 📚when I take my journey to Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be sent on my way there by you, if first I can enjoy your company for a while.
15:24 Spain is a country across the sea to the west of Italy. Here and v 28 are the only places the Bible refers to it by name. Paul must now have been nearing 60 years of age, but he was looking for new fields of service. The assistance Paul mentions in this verse was not financial. Asking for money for himself and his work was not his way. He was referring to the custom of sending one or more brothers at least part way on a journey with someone traveling. See Acts 15:3; 20:38; 21:5; 1 Cor 16:6, 11; 2 Cor 1:16.⚜
25 📚But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. 26 📚For it has pleased those of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints who are at Jerusalem. 27 📚It has pleased them indeed, and they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.
15:25-27 2 Cor 8:1-5. This principle applies now as well. It is always the duty of those who have received spiritual benefits to share their material things with those who were the channels of those spiritual benefits. See 1 Cor 9:7-14.⚜
28 📚Therefore when I have accomplished this, and have made certain that they get this fruit 📖, I will go to Spain by way of you. 29 📚And I am sure that when I come to you, I will come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
15:1-2 See Rom 14:1, 19-21; 1 Cor 12:25; Gal 6:1-2. Compare Luke 9:23. Christ did not call us to please and pamper self, but to put self to death.⚜
15:29 Paul did get to Rome – as a prisoner of the Roman government (Acts 28:16). But his faith here was fulfilled. The full measure of the blessing of Christ to him did not mean ease, luxury, abundance of possessions, or a full purse. It meant peace and joy in the heart and God’s power to serve and proclaim the gospel. Outward circumstances meant little to that man of God. See Phil 4:11-13; 2 Cor 12:9-10. He is an example to us all.⚜
30 📚Now I plead with you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, to strive 📖 together with me in your prayers to God for me,
15:30 Paul well knew the value of the prayers of believers for him – 2 Cor 1:11; Eph 6:19-20; Phil 1:19; 1 Thess 5:25; 2 Thess 3:1; Phile 22. “Love of the Spirit” probably means the love the Holy Spirit has for believers. This is an indication of His personality (note at John 14:16-17).⚜
31 📚so that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be accepted by the saints, 32 📚that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.
15:31-32 From Acts 21:27 to the end of Acts we have the story of how Paul was delivered from unbelievers in Judea and how he arrived in Rome with joy. Did not the prayers of these believers in Rome have something to do with it? Compare Jam 5:16.⚜
33 📚Now the God of peace 📖 be with you all. Amen.