Romans 15:1–4

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.

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.

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 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.

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!

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.

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.

"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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Paul's use of this passage gives him occasion to justify it by a principle of the greatest importance: what was written before was written for our instruction. It was written so that, as we walk in patience and perhaps in reproach here, the comfort of the Scripture may be ours. It was written so that we may know God's mind was in it, and that our reproach is His reproach, because in serving Him we had our part with Him. And so we have hope and bright confidence of soul in any and every trial in the whole path of faith.

By one short sentence the "ready writer" has given all saints an immediate personal interest in all the old Scriptures: "Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction." This one sentence writes our title to this most precious inheritance. The old Scriptures are God's gift, and this word from Romans 15 is the deed of gift, entitling all saints to a common property in it. The title is short and clear and simple, as the inheritance conveyed is invaluable.

The reference here is to the Old Testament Scriptures, for there we find the things written "in former days." They had their bearing, of course, on the generations that first received them. But God also had us in view when He gave them by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They are for our learning, but that learning is not to be academic — the mere gaining of right information — but very practical… What we can say of the Old Testament Scriptures we can say with even more force of the New Testament.

The addition of a single word, left out in the received text and so in the Authorised Version, makes this Scripture much clearer. It should read, "that we through patience [endurance] and through comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." It helps further to take "comfort" to mean, as it often does, "encouragement": "through [the] encouragement of the Scriptures." That is the encouragement God ministers by His word to His tried and faithful servants. Then comes "might have hope" — hope in the final outcome of present trials, even in the glory of God Himself.

How impatient and unenduring we are by nature!… The same spirit shows itself all too often in true saints of God. They want to reach what is right and scriptural, yet they chase it in their own energy, without giving God time to act and bring it about in the power of His Spirit… Now if we learn as we should from the "things written in former days" we shall see how God reaches His end with infinite patience, and often through what looks like defeat. He is "the God of patience," as the next verse of Romans 15 says. It will produce patience in us.

In Psalm 119 some 174 verses refer to the word of God. In verse 50 the psalmist uses the usual word for comfort: "This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life."… Our world is full of confusion and uncertainty, and men's hearts are failing them for fear. How thankful we are that we can turn to the Holy Scriptures! What comfort and encouragement is ours! In them we see the mind of the blessed God revealed, and the outpourings, too, of His eternal heart of love.

To learn from the Old Testament Scriptures in this way, we do not need to hunt for fanciful parallels, curious theories, or far-fetched illustrations. Many, sadly, have tried these things. Instead of finding "comfort" in the Scriptures, they were led away into empty and foolish notions, if not into deadly errors.