But *we* ought, we that are strong, to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Paul has been dealing with a church split over food and holy days. Here he hands the whole problem to one group: the believers who are sure of their freedom.
Who are the "weak"? One writer defines both groups, then warns against a cruel misreading of the word.
The weak were Christians whose consciences were still tied to their old Jewish rules about days, foods, and the like. Those rules were not moral but ceremonial. The strong were those who saw in their death with Christ the end of all such bondage and enjoyed liberty in the Spirit. We must guard against an offensive misreading: that the weak means those who toyed with evil. The opposite is true. They were so afraid of sin that they carried burdens they never needed to carry. Their conscience was not only tender, which matters enormously for everyone, but over-strict.
What is strength for? One writer answers with a job description few would want.
Verse 1 assigns to the strong their true place and service. Their strength, if it really is strength, has here a labour matched to its degree… A believer who rejoices in gracious strength looks at the burdens and infirmities of his brothers. There he finds the true use of that strength: serving the weak in their infirmities. This work calls for patience, forbearance, and diligence. Its fruit often stays hidden for a long time, and its present effect may seem little more than a pointless draining of strength. So it holds no attraction for the natural mind.
Why "ought"? One writer compares it with the way John uses the same word.
The force of the word ought should be noticed. This can be illustrated from a similar use of the word by the apostle John. He says, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." That is, righteousness obliges us to act towards one another as God has acted towards us. Christ has borne our infirmities, and He still sympathises with us in them. In the same way, it would not be righteous if we did not also bear the infirmities of the weak.
The verse also tells the strong not to please themselves. One writer puts that self-pleasing into words.
The attitude that says: "I know what is right and I act on it, and I don't care how it affects anyone else" does not suit a Christian. It would be self-pleasing instead of Christlikeness. It would not be the mind of Christ.
So how should the strong handle a brother they think is wrong? One writer warns against pushing:
To press our own convictions is neither the divine nor the human way to convince. Not the human, because will only provokes will, and delays the very end we most desire. Not the divine, because it is not the way of faith, either on our part or on the part of those we are hurrying. How much better to walk in faith and leave God room to act!
One Man could have pleased Himself and done no harm. One writer explains what He did instead.
He was the only one who ever lived on earth who had a right to please Himself, and if He had done so, everything He did would have been perfect. But that was not the principle His life ran on: "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God," He said.
Why does this matter so much to God? One writer ties it to God's own glory.
Does one Christian have the privilege of clear light that gives him spiritual strength? If so, he "ought to bear the infirmities of the weak." It is a moral responsibility, so that he may rightly represent "the God of patience and consolation." For our God has seen fit in infinite grace that His glory should be closely bound up with the welfare and blessing of all His people… If we are blessed, it is not so that we may proudly display ourselves, but so that we may be a blessing to others.
- Strength defined. The strong see their liberty in Christ. The weak are believers with over-strict consciences, not people flirting with sin.
- Strength assigned. Real strength gets a matching load. It is patient, slow work that the natural mind finds unattractive.
- Strength owed. "Ought" is the language of obligation. Christ has borne our infirmities, so refusing to bear our brother's is not just unkind but unrighteous.
- Strength restrained. Do not press your convictions on a brother. Will only provokes will. Walking in faith leaves God room to act.
- Strength patterned. The only Man entitled to please Himself never did. And God has bound His own glory to the welfare of all His people.
Let each one of us please his neighbour with a view to what is good, to edification.
Paul ends his teaching on strong and weak believers with a rule: aim at pleasing the person next to you. But Scripture also warns against being a man-pleaser, so the limits matter — and they sit in two short phrases, "for his good" and "to build him up."
The goal is not to be popular. It is the other person's real benefit.
"Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." This is not the character of the mere "man-pleaser." The object here is not just to please our neighbor, but to serve his best interests by building him up. I must think of the welfare of others more than of my own.
There is a danger on each side of that line.
Some try to avoid being a man-pleaser and fall into the opposite evil. They become very unpleasant. The apostle sought to "please all men in all things" in view of their profit (1 Cor. 10:33). But when the truth was in question, he wrote, "Do I seek to please men? If I still pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10)... That is what will preserve us from falling on the one side or the other — being pleasing to God!
The two phrases are not decoration. One writer, examining the Greek, points out that "good" is set out as the deliberate object, while "edification" describes the shape the conduct takes.
In chapter 15:2, eis to agathon is emphatic as abstract good contrasted with mere self-pleasing, and specially set before the mind as an object; for good, agathon, being abstract, oikodomēn merely characterises the conduct by the actual thing sought: that which was good was in his mind; he should act for edification.
The word behind "edification" is a building word — the same term used of constructing the temple.
From oikodomeō, "to build, to build up." Scripture uses the same word for building the temple at Jerusalem, John 2:20, and the Lord used it when He said He would build His assembly, Matt. 16:18... A building is enlarged and strengthened. In the same way, the Spirit builds up the body of Christ through the word.
This is not a call to give in on everything. The rule has limits.
In our dealings with one another, we are to remember that we are subjects in the kingdom of God, and that each one is responsible to the Lord who rules over His kingdom. In this kingdom some may be weak in the faith and some strong (14:1; 15:1). But weak or strong, both are responsible to the Lord. So where no moral question is involved, and where there is no direct disobedience to the word of God, we must leave each other free to act before the Lord.
Self-denial here has a purpose. It clears an obstacle out of a brother's way.
We are not called to satisfy the "whims" of our brothers in Christ, but it is blessed if, by denying oneself, we succeed in removing a stumbling-block to our brother's growth in the truth.
The verse also rules out a common way of arguing: winning by pressure.
Pressing our own convictions is not the way to convince anyone, neither God's way nor man's. It is not man's way, because one will only provokes another will, and puts off the very end we want most. It is not God's way, because it is not the way of faith — not in us, and not in the people we are rushing. How much better to walk in faith and leave God room to act!... Love is better than knowledge. It seeks not its own things but the things of others.
Being right is not the same as being Christlike.
The attitude of mind which says, "I have a right to do this, and I am going to do it, no matter what anybody thinks!" is not the mind of Christ. It is exactly what Christ did not do!
Two things stand behind this command: the glory of God, and the example of Christ.
A third principle is the glory of God. We should seek it with care in all our dealings with one another. What only pleases ourselves may not be to His glory. It is to His glory to seek to profit our brother. The weaker he is, the more we need to be considerate of him... Scripture appeals to the example of Christ: He did not please Himself. He endured and suffered even the reproaches of those who reproached God.
- Pattern — Christ did not please Himself. He bore the reproaches aimed at God, and His example, not our rights, sets the standard.
- Aim — not to be liked, but to serve the other person's real good. Think of his welfare above your own.
- Building — "build up" is a building word. Ask of any act: does it leave your neighbour stronger?
- Limit — give way where no moral question and no plain disobedience is at stake. When truth was in question, Paul refused to please men.
- Result — pressing our own convictions only stirs up resistance. Giving way for a brother's good glorifies God, and love beats knowledge.
For the Christ also did not please himself; but according as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.