And again, Esaias says, There shall be the root of Jesse, and one that arises, to rule over [the] nations in him shall [the] nations hope.
Paul closes his long argument about Jews and Gentiles — the nations outside Israel — with a string of Old Testament quotations. This one, from Isaiah, is the last. Who is the "root of Jesse"? Why a root and not a branch? And what do the nations do when they hope in Him?
The verse does not stand alone. It closes a chain of quotations taken from every part of the Old Testament the Jews knew, and it ends with a call for patience:
So the law (Deut. 32:43), the prophets (Isa. 11:10), and the Psalms (Ps. 18:49; 117:1) all say the same thing. These are the three parts into which the Jews commonly divided the Old Testament (Luke 24:44). Each of them, and all of them together, show God's purpose to bless Gentiles, and to have worshippers from among them without their being merged into Israel. Since that is so, each group had to bear with the other.
Notice how the verse holds two things together: He rises out of Jesse's family, and He rules over the nations:
The last quotation from the prophets — Isaiah 11:10 — proves that Christ Himself is the bond that will unite Jew and Gentile together. He arises among the Jews — the root of Jesse — to reign over the Gentiles, and "in Him will the Gentiles hope."
Isaiah does not call Him a branch of Jesse but a root, and that one word carries weight:
This adds much to the earlier quotations, for it establishes the deity of the One who was to bring the blessing. He was to be "a root" of Jesse, not just a branch. In the Branch we see the Son of David, the One who came of Israel. But the Root is a very different matter. He is both, indeed, but as the Root He is the Source of all. So His reign extends over the Gentiles, and they find shelter under His wings.
Jesse was David's father, so the root of Jesse means the origin of the family, not its produce:
As the Root of Jesse He is the One from whom David originated. He is not the product, but the Producer. And this He is not by reason of His Manhood, but by reason of His Deity.
Some older translations end the verse with "trust." The word matters, because "hope" links the verse to the prayer in verse 13:
Sometimes a translation hides the connection of a scripture. That is what happens here. The last clause of verse 12 should read, "In Him will the Gentiles hope." Then, building on this, the apostle prays, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
Paul does not stop at the quotation. He takes its last word and turns it into prayer:
The nations had no promises of their own; they had to glorify God for His pure mercy. The apostle then thinks of them as people who hope, and he rests on that word "hope." The full promises are not yet fulfilled. God gives us hope, and as to that fulness we are saved in hope. So he prays, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Such is the natural condition of the Christian: full of joy and peace in believing.
The verse also looks forward. What is happening among the nations now is not yet the reign Isaiah described:
The passages quoted will be fulfilled at the second coming of our Lord, when He "arises to rule the Gentiles." Then Gentiles will rejoice with the saved remnant of Israel.
Isaiah's picture is a rallying point — a banner the nations turn to. That day has not come, and today's work is different:
Isaiah 11:10 is not at all realised yet. Christ is an object of reproach, not of glory. But "in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek." He will be the centre, and the Gentiles will seek Him then. Now it is the hour when God the Father seeks true worshippers, a people from among the Gentiles for His name.
- Witness. The law, the Psalms and the prophets all said in advance that God would bless the nations and take worshippers from among them.
- Mercy. The nations had no promises of their own, so their share comes as pure mercy.
- Root. He is not a branch of Jesse's family but its Root — the Producer, not the product — so the blessing has its Source in Him.
- Hope. The verse ends on the word "hope." Paul builds his prayer on it: the God of hope filling believers with joy and peace by the Holy Spirit.
- Glory. The full reign is still ahead. Today Christ is an object of reproach, while God gathers worshippers from the nations for His name.
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that ye should abound in hope by [the] power of [the] Holy Spirit.
The verse closes a long argument with a prayer. Paul has just pointed his readers to hope, and now he asks God to make that hope real in their hearts. Two questions sit at the centre. Why does Paul call God the God of hope? And how do joy, peace and overflowing hope reach a person?
This name is not chosen at random. It rests on the word "hope" Paul has just used, and it carries a note of waiting, because the full promises are still ahead.
The apostle then thinks of them that way. Resting on this word "hope," he prays: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." He calls God the God of hope because the full promises are not yet fulfilled. God gives us hope, and as to that fullness we are saved in hope. This is the normal condition of the Christian: full of joy and peace in believing. The Holy Spirit lives and works in him, so that his spirit rises in abundant hope. He trusts God and looks forward to the bright, holy, blessed time when God will complete it all in the light — when we will be with Jesus.
Most of the believers in Rome came from the nations, not from Israel. Their past shapes what Paul asks for them.
The believers in Rome were mainly Gentiles, so there is a special force in the Apostle's desire in verse 13. They had been without God and without hope in the world, as the Gentile believers in Ephesus were reminded. Now God, who is the God of hope, is to fill them with such joy and peace that they abound in hope. This is a most desirable and glorious result. It grows as the fruit of faith in the Gospel. It comes "in believing," and it comes "by the power of the Holy Spirit."
The phrase "in believing" is not decoration. It marks out the one road to the joy and peace so many people chase by other means.
Many long for peace and joy. But they think they can reach them by working, by making resolutions, by praying or by feeling. None of these things get them there. It is only in believing. Faith, and faith alone, puts the soul in touch with God. And only the Spirit fills our hearts with all joy and peace and hope, the proper fruits of the Gospel.
There is a distinction worth guarding here. The joy and peace of this verse are what a justified person comes to enjoy. They are not the basis of peace with God.
God then fills the heart by His Spirit. He does this for the one He has justified by faith, who has become His child. He fills that heart "with joy and peace in believing," so that in the quiet assurance of faith we may enjoy the peace Jesus Christ obtained. Every believer who has peace with God knows this from God's own word (Rom. 15:13) and from his own experience. That is very different from making peace with God depend on our experience and feelings.
Paul does not ask for hope alone, but for hope in abundance, and he traces it to the Spirit's power. That power stands against the pressure of present circumstances.
Many trials trouble believers. Through them God wants us to grow more like Himself. But one work of the Holy Spirit He has given us is to make us "abound in hope." Among all the difficulties, the power that is in the Spirit of God would lift us above present circumstances, into the good and joy of all that lies ahead.
The confidence rests on God's own purpose, not on the strength of the one hoping. That is why the resulting joy outweighs everything working against it.
This hope is a living and sure hope; it will never fail us. We rely on the sure word of our God, the God of hope, and so we are filled with all joy and peace in believing, and abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our joy is greater than our sorrow. Our hope lifts us above every hard circumstance. Our glad praise swallows up our groaning. We anticipate the coming glory. The God of hope is our God. He is moving on to carry out His purposes of love. Nothing can stop Him or push those purposes past His appointed time.
The name Paul uses here is not a formality. It fits exactly what he is praying for.
When the apostle speaks of the future glory, his heart at once turns to God in the very character suited to the subject before him. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." If we want the hope of glory to grow stronger in our souls — and we do need it — we must turn our eyes to "the God of hope."
- Source. Hope has a Person behind it. God is named from the very thing He gives, and we look to Him for it; we cannot manufacture it.
- Reach. The prayer is aimed at people who once had no hope at all, so no past disqualifies anyone from this filling.
- Means. Joy and peace arrive "in believing" — not by working, resolving, praying or feeling. Our experience is not the test of peace with God.
- Power. The overflow is the Spirit's work, lifting us above present troubles into the good of what lies ahead.
- Object. The hope looks to the glory still to come, secured by a God whose purposes nothing can thwart or delay.