Now the God of endurance and of encouragement give to you to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus;
Paul has just pointed to Christ, who did not please Himself, as the pattern for a church in danger of division. Now he stops teaching and prays, naming God by a title that fits the need and asking for one mind among the readers, measured by Christ.
Paul does not just press unity as a duty. He hands the whole matter over to God:
The apostle longed to head off every danger of internal division. He had seen the reality of such a danger in the conduct of Peter and others at Antioch (Galatians 2:12-13). And though at Rome matters had not gone that far, the danger was real, and they needed the warning. And see how he would prevent a split — by bringing God into the matter, and setting the example of the Lord before the saints!
Older translations read "the God of patience and consolation" where the ESV has "the God of endurance and encouragement." The title matches the exhortations Paul has just given:
To whom does he direct us for power to respond to those holy and much-needed exhortations? "To the God of patience and consolation." He presents God in the very character in which we need Him. Our small stock of patience would soon run out as we try to meet the varied characters who cross our path, even among our brothers and sisters. There are constant claims on our patience; and others need patience with us too. Where are we all to get the means of meeting these claims? At the inexhaustible treasury of "the God of patience and consolation." Our tiny springs would soon dry up unless they stay in unbroken connection with that ever-flowing Fountain.
The word behind "patience" means holding up under weight. Writers note that it is never used of God Himself:
Hupomone (from hupomeno, "to sustain")… is a "patient endurance" that does not give way under trial and suffering… Romans 15:5 traces it back to its divine source for us. It is never applied to God directly, because there could be no such testing or pressure in His case. But the Lord Jesus, in the place He has taken as Man, is our perfect example of it, Hebrews 12:2-3 — He "endured" the cross, and the hostility of sinners against Himself.
God bears with us day by day, and that becomes the pattern for how we treat each other:
God is the God of patience (of how great patience with us all!) and, blessed be His name, of comfort too. What a name to give to God! He always bears with us, with our stupid, ignorant, and often inconsistent hearts. He occupies Himself with all our little trials to comfort us. He consoles those who are cast down. He never withdraws His eyes from the righteous. He is patient even where we are impatient with Him, and He comforts us in grace. So we have to walk like-minded one toward another, and receive one another as Christ received us.
The unity has a standard, and that standard rules out a negotiated agreement:
We need to have Christ before us, the One who "did not please Himself." This will result in like-mindedness toward one another — not a like-mindedness of a human sort, based on compromise or tolerance, but "according to Christ Jesus."
That leaves room for real differences without surrendering anything:
If we want endurance and encouragement we must look to God, who is the source of such virtue. He can enable us to have the mind that was in Christ Jesus toward one another. This produces a godly, fervent unity that glorifies the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is unity even where there is diversity of opinion and various degrees of progress in the truth… This is by no means giving up the truth of God. It is holding the truth firmly, while making no issue of small matters that are the affair of the individual conscience.
The answer to this prayer changes what comes out of people's mouths:
Instead of the mind and mouth of the weak being filled with criticisms of the strong, and the mind and mouth of the strong being filled with contempt of the weak (see Romans 14:2), the minds and mouths of all are to be filled with the praise of God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a perfectly lovely picture, isn't it?
And since it is God's own patience at work, opposition does not decide the outcome:
It is the patience and encouragement of God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that can make this holy, happy unity a fact… This is what the devil would spoil. But God is greater than the devil, and we may always count on His patience and His encouragement.
- Source. God is the source of endurance. Our own tiny springs run dry unless they stay joined to that ever-flowing Fountain.
- Granted. Paul asks for the unity; he does not organise it. He turns a practical dispute into a prayer and brings God into it.
- Standard. "According to Christ Jesus" rules out unity built on compromise. The measure is the One who did not please Himself.
- Room. Differences of opinion and of progress in the truth can remain. We hold the truth firmly and leave small matters to each conscience.
- Kept. God's patience and encouragement make this holy, happy unity a fact. The devil would spoil it, but God is greater.
that ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul ends his long appeal about the strong and the weak with a prayer, not a rule. What he asks for is a sound: one company, one voice, praising God together. The writers below quote older translations, which read "with one mind and one mouth," and "God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." They follow that pairing: inward agreement becoming audible.
Everything Paul has said about bearing with each other drives toward this one end. The order of the two halves matters.
All these exhortations aim at one great end. We are to "be like-minded one toward another according to Christ", so that we may "with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". The Apostle shows that we cannot glorify God with one mind unless we are "like-minded one toward another". We see both of these things in the believers of the days just after Pentecost. We read that "they lifted up their voices with one accord to God". Then we are told that these believers, who could glorify God with "one mind", were "of one heart and of one soul". They were one-minded toward God because they were like-minded one toward another.
Two groups had been thinking and speaking badly of each other. Paul's prayer aims their minds and mouths somewhere else.
The weak can fill mind and mouth with criticism of the strong. The strong can fill mind and mouth with contempt of the weak. Instead, the minds and mouths of all are to be full of the praise of God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Does "one mind" mean everyone must think alike on every question?
This produces a godly, fervent unity that glorifies the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It does so even where there is difference of opinion and unequal progress in the truth. How blessed beyond words when this is the case! To be of one accord, of one mouth, is to have hearts truly united in honouring and following the Lord Jesus, not sidetracked by lesser things. This does not mean giving up the truth of God at all. It means holding it firmly, while making no issue of small matters that belong to each person's own conscience.
Praise can be silent and still reach God. So why does the verse mention a mouth?
It is possible to address the Lord in praise or prayer without using the voice. Hannah, for example, spoke in her heart to the Lord. But clearly there can be no fellowship until there is audible expression. For if the spirit is, so to speak, the link with God, then the understanding is the link with one another. Through the understanding we talk with each other. In that way believers are able "with one mind and one mouth to glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ".
This letter has already described the human mouth once, in much darker terms. What changed it is God's salvation.
Such a passage shows the wonderful fruits of God's salvation, when the soul knows and enjoys it. It brings a great variety of people together into one holy bond. Apart from God's grace, they would never have wished to know one another at all. It also enables them to drop their natural selfishness, and to walk together in love and care for each other. They are taken up neither with themselves nor with one another, so they are free to glorify God with one mind and one mouth. Here is a purifying of the mouth indeed. What was full of cursing and bitterness in Romans 3 is full of praise in Romans 15.
The call to receive one another comes right after this verse. It is not a new subject. It is the test of this one.
If our praise springs up to God, our love must flow out to all whom He loves. And it will, and it does, if we receive one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Our welcome of one another glorifies God just as much as our united praise. Indeed, how can we praise Him with one mind and one mouth if we do not receive one another? Again, Christ is the pattern. If He has received me to the glory of God, I must also receive those whom He has received.
- One aim. All the calls to bear with each other point to one end: God glorified by His people together.
- One mind first. Believers are one-minded toward God only when they are like-minded toward each other. Love between them comes first.
- One mouth next. Silent praise reaches God. Spoken praise reaches each other. Shared worship needs a shared voice.
- Room for difference. Difference of opinion and unequal progress do not break this unity. Hold the truth firmly, and make no issue of small matters.
- Proved by reception. United praise is unreal if we do not receive one another as Christ received us. The mouth that once carried bitterness now carries praise.
Wherefore receive ye one another, according as the Christ also has received you to [the] glory of God.
Paul has spent a whole chapter on believers who disagree about food and holy days. Now he closes the argument with one command that lifts the quarrel onto higher ground. The measure is not our own taste or conscience. It is the way Christ Himself welcomed us, and the goal is God's glory.
This is the last word of a long section on bearing with one another. It gathers up all that Paul has said.
Romans 14 to Romans 15:7 is the great passage on forbearance between believers. "The strong" rose above certain things in liberty, but those same things weighed on the conscience of "the weak". Many Jewish believers did not realise they were free from meats the law forbade, or from days the law required. Gentile believers knew that both were outside Christianity. This led to friction and trial: to judging on the one side, and to despising on the other.
Earlier Paul argued from the bare fact that God had already welcomed the weaker believer. Here the wording changes, and the change matters.
At the close of the passage we are told to "receive one another", not only "the weak". And we are to do it "as Christ … received us". The earlier verse said "for God has received him" (14:3). "For" brings in the fact that God received the brother. "As" goes a step further. It points to the way it was done, and to its effect: "to the glory of God".
If Christ's welcome is the pattern, what was that welcome like? One writer sees two things held together in it.
Nothing less than the glory of God must be our object. It was to His glory that Christ received us, and we must receive believers in the same spirit and on the same principle. In His receiving us we see grace and truth perfectly blended… Receiving carelessly, without godly care and watchfulness, would dishonour the God of glory. Refusing souls because their consciences do not agree with ours on minor points would dishonour Him just as much.
Behind the argument about food and days lay a deeper split between two peoples. The same welcome settled it.
To receive those weak in the faith (Rom. 14:1) is not to reject them in heart and spirit because they were feeble about Jewish prejudices and the like… Underneath lie Jewish and Gentile jealousies. Both were received to the glory of God, and so rose above all this. They were to receive one another in the same way. Verse 6 suggests it, and it leads on to what follows, putting Jews and Gentiles in this place with a common Christ.
The previous verse speaks of glorifying God with one mouth. One writer ties that praise to how we treat each other.
If our praise rises to God, our love must flow out to all whom He loves… Our welcome of one another glorifies God just as much as our united praise. Indeed, how can we praise Him with one mind and one mouth if we do not receive one another? … There is no room here for favouritism. A party spirit, "the natural weed of the human heart", is shut out.
Christ is the standard. That rules out a lower test, and it rules out a higher one too.
To receive on lower ground than this would be to exchange the fellowship of the Holy Spirit for the agreement of human opinion. That is what happens when mere verbal agreement with doctrine takes the place of living faith… The divine conditions are life and holiness. To add further requirements to them, and make them necessary to fellowship, would grieve the Spirit of grace. It would be to glory in man rather than in the Lord.
Many quote this verse to settle whom an assembly may receive into fellowship. Writers do not agree on whether it reaches that far. Some tie it to the care an assembly owes when it receives:
Preventive discipline begins with reception into fellowship. The assembly of God is responsible for whom it receives… In this verse we have grace and care blended together, and that should always mark discipline.
Others hold that the passage speaks of individuals, not of assembly order at all:
The Epistle to the Romans is not dealing with assembly order at all. It is a question of individual blessing through the gospel. It is a question of whom we are to recognise in our own walk as Christians… It is no question of the assembly receiving, but of receiving one another — one person receiving another.
- Pattern. Christ's welcome, not our comfort, sets the standard. "As" points to the way He received us, not just the fact.
- Blend. That welcome held grace and truth together. Careless receiving and cold refusing both dishonour God.
- Reach. It crossed the deepest divide of all, Jew and Gentile, and left both standing on common ground in one Christ.
- Ground. Living faith in Christ is the basis. Bare agreement with words is too little. Extra conditions of our own are too much.
- Result. Welcoming each other glorifies God as much as praising Him together does. Favouritism and party spirit have no place.
For I say that Jesus Christ became a minister of [the] circumcision for [the] truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers;
Here Paul explains what Christ did when He came, and whom He came to serve. The verse holds two things together that are easy to separate: God keeping His word to one nation, and God opening His mercy to all the others. (The writers below use older translations. Where the ESV says "a servant to the circumcised," they say "a minister of the circumcision.")
The phrase marks out the people Christ served on earth. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant, so the title ties His ministry to that nation.
Jesus Christ is called a "minister of the circumcision." The clear meaning is that His ministry was connected with the people in the covenant of circumcision — the circumcision made by hands.
His coming matched what the prophets had said. And the nation He came to turned Him away.
As I understand it, "a minister of the circumcision" means this: He was the One who came to make good to the Jew the promises God made to the fathers. He also came according to prophecy, and in fulfilment of prophecy. How was He received? We are told, "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him" (John 1:11). They did not want Him and would not have Him.
Christ served for a reason: God's own truthfulness. God had made promises to Israel, and the coming of Jesus proved He keeps them.
For the Jew, the sending of Jesus was the proof and witness of God's faithfulness. In the person of His Son, God made good the promises given to the fathers.
The verse says Christ confirmed the promises. It does not say He delivered them all.
He did come as the Servant of all God's purposes for His ancient people. So the promises made long ago to the fathers stand confirmed, though they have not all been fulfilled yet.
Confirming those promises took more than His coming. It took His death.
So He could bless righteously, according to promise. "Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers" — and He did it in full effect, only through death and resurrection.
Israel had promises to claim. The Gentiles — the nations outside Israel — had none.
The Gentiles could not thank God for His promises, but they can thank Him for His mercy. As Gentiles we had not a single promise, but we have mercy and all is through Christ.
Having no promise might look like the poorer position. One writer says the opposite.
The mercy shown to the Gentiles might seem lower than the promises made to the Jews. Deep down it is better still, because this mercy is pure grace — the free and sovereign grace of God in action.
The title is not only a job description. It says who stooped to take it.
His love for sinful Israel never gave up, never wavered, never grew tired! See where it carried Him! "He became a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers." For their sake, the One who controls creation was found serving among them as a Man.
The verse ties Christ's service on earth to Israel. Some use this to argue that the four Gospels belong to a closed chapter and say nothing to us. The passage itself answers them.
Yet look carefully at the very passage where these words stand. It seems to overturn this whole theory and prove it completely groundless. When the apostle is stressing true Christian behaviour, he points the saints back to the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus when He was here on earth. ... He was in reality a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God — not, notice, to fulfil the promises made to the fathers at His first coming, but to confirm them. He did this by His teaching and His example.
- Servant — Christ took a servant's place among Israel. The One who controls creation served among them as a Man.
- Truth — His coming put God's own truthfulness on display. God backed His word to the fathers by sending His Son.
- Confirmed — He secured the promises in Himself and made them good through death and resurrection. Not all of them have been fulfilled yet.
- Mercy — the nations had no promise to claim. What reaches them is pure grace, and they can thank God for it.
- Example — the apostle points believers back to how Christ lived and served on earth. That is still the pattern for Christian behaviour today.
and that the nations should glorify God for mercy; according as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among [the] nations, and will sing to thy name.
This verse gives the second half of why Christ came. Israel had promises to confirm; the nations had none, so mercy is their only ground before God.
The verse turns on a contrast. God gave Israel promises. He gave the other nations none, so a different word fits them: mercy.
God made a nation's promises to that nation only, and Christ came to make good to Israel all that God had promised... So the apostle can add in the next verse, "and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy" (v. 9). The Gentiles could not thank God for His promises, but they can thank Him for His mercy. As Gentiles we had not a single promise, but we have mercy and all is through Christ.
That difference is not just about two groups long ago. It sets the ground on which anyone comes in today.
Israel took up the promises on the ground of law and human responsibility, and lost them completely. Then Christ came, and in Him all the promises of God are yes and amen. He came to establish the promises, as Heir of them all, to the people to whose fathers they had been made... He was rejected, and instead of becoming the "Crown of glory… unto the residue of his people" (Isa. 28:5), the Heir of glory goes on high, and the poor Gentile believer, who had no promises, comes in on the footing of pure mercy, not promise.
Having no promise sounds like the weaker place to stand. Commentators say the opposite: mercy is the better portion, because it is pure gift.
The mercy shown to the Gentiles might seem less than the promises given to the Jews. Deep down it is better still. This mercy is pure grace — the working of God's free and sovereign grace. God had made no promises to the Gentiles. So for them it was not a question of truth but of grace, if God chose, as He did, to pour out mercy on them through Jesus.
Mercy can feel less safe than a promise. That feeling only shows how little we know God.
To some, mercy may seem vague and unsafe compared with promise. That is only because God is so little known. In fact His grace flows without limit, now that the people who had the promises rejected the only One in whom those promises can be made good. God's mercy has no limit, and on our side there is no question of claim, fitness, or deserving.
The Gospels show a woman taking this very ground. She knew she had no claim on Israel's blessing, and she asked for mercy anyway.
"Quite so," she replied, "but dogs get crumbs from their masters' tables." She meant: "I know I have no claim to the blessing that belongs to Israel. But my daughter and I are needy. I make a claim on Your mercy" (See Matt. 12:21 and Rom. 15:9). The Lord could not refuse such an appeal, and He rewarded her great faith by healing her daughter.
The words "as it is written" matter. God's plan to bless the nations was not a late addition, and Paul proves it from every part of the Old Testament.
The Jews divided the Old Testament into three parts (Luke 24:44): the law (Deut. 32:43), the prophets (Isa. 11:10), and the Psalms (Ps. 18:49; 117:1). Each of them, and all of them together, attest God's purpose to bless Gentiles, and to have worshippers from among them without their being merged into Israel. Since that is so, the one group had to bear patiently with the other.
So both sides had a place in God's purpose, and each was to make room for the other.
The "I" who praises God among the nations here is Christ Himself.
His confessing among them shows that He has taken up their cause, and that He has them with Himself in the perfection of a finished redemption. But He also sings among them to God the Father. He has gone beyond the narrow limits of Israel. No longer held back, Christ reaches the height of His joy, and with gladness of heart He sings among the people He loves for ever.
- Promise — Israel alone held God's promises, and Christ came to make them good.
- Mercy — those outside had no promise at all. Mercy is the only ground they can stand on.
- Better — mercy is not the lesser portion. It is free and sovereign grace: no limit in God, and no claim in us.
- Written — this was not an afterthought. The law, the Psalms and the prophets all said the nations would praise God.
- Song — Christ Himself leads the praise. He confesses and sings to God's name among the very people He has taken up.
And again he says, Rejoice, nations, with his people.
These words are not Paul's own. He is quoting the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, and he uses it to answer Jews who objected to Gentiles being blessed. The nations are called to rejoice — but with another people. That small word "with" carries the argument.
Paul builds his case from Scripture. He has already quoted the Psalms. Now he turns to Moses.
The second quotation is from the law, Deuteronomy 32:43, and tells us that not only will the Gentiles sing to God, but that they will do so "with his people" — Israel.
That song is a hard one. It foretells Israel's failure and God's judgment on the nations. Still it ends this way.
So Moses' song (Deuteronomy 32) flows from Jehovah's unchangeable purpose. Israel failed openly, yet Israel stays the centre of His government of the world (v. 8). The call of the Gentiles is only meant to provoke Israel to jealousy (v. 21). The apostle drew on this long afterwards, when it came to pass (Romans 10:19). No doubt the Gentiles proved wholly unworthy, and God will take vengeance on them (vv. 40-42). But even when He restores Israel, as He will (v. 36), He calls the Gentiles to rejoice with His people (v. 43).
Verses 8 and 9 name two grounds for two peoples. Which is the greater portion — promise or mercy?
Romans 15:8-9 shows the two sides of Christ's mission: the ways of God towards the Jew and towards the Gentile, carried out when He came. The mercy shown to the Gentiles might seem lesser than the promises given to the Jews. At bottom it is better still. This mercy is pure grace — the exercise of the free and sovereign grace of God. The Gentiles had no promises made to them. So for them it was not a question of truth but of grace, if God were pleased — as He was — to pour out mercy on them through Jesus. To prove that this grace to the Gentiles was in God's mind, the apostle quotes from the Psalms, the law, and the prophets.
Read the whole line in Deuteronomy and two things stand out.
First, we have in the song of Moses the following words: "Rejoice with his people, O nations… He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people's land" (Deuteronomy 32:43). I make only two remarks. First, the joy of the Gentiles is said to be with His people, and not without them. Second, the word "people" means the nation itself, not just the chosen remnant inside it. The mention of the land makes that clear.
Sharing another people's joy could sound like second place. It is not.
We see the Gentiles owning Israel and Jehovah. "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." The Gentiles are as much at home with Him as Israel. They own Israel to be Jehovah's own people, and they are not.
The quotation does more than illustrate. It ends a dispute.
In the future kingdom there will be not only Jews blessed but Gentiles too. The apostle Paul takes advantage of this. He points out that both already enjoy the present blessings of grace, and that is quite enough to stop the mouth of the Jew. So we find the Old Testament applied in Romans 15:10. How could the Jews object to the apostle's preaching to all people, and fly in the face of their own prophets?
Does this verse describe today, or a day still to come? Commentators say both.
The passages quoted here are, in fact, all of them about the coming kingdom. Yet they have a fulfilment in principle even now. That grace will have its triumphant showing in the kingdom of the glorified Messiah. Already it is the ground of the believing Gentile's confidence and joy.
The end in view is a shared song.
The great object of the Lord's ministry is to bind Jew and Gentile together in the worship and praise of God. By nature the two are complete opposites. We know this will happen in the coming kingdom. In the meantime God brings believers from among Jews and Gentiles into one body on heavenly ground, where all national distinctions disappear.
- Source. The call comes from the law itself — Moses' song. Blessing for the nations stood in Israel's own book from the start.
- Ground. Israel had promises; the nations had nothing to claim. So they receive mercy, and commentators call that the richer portion, because it is pure grace.
- Reach. The joy is "with his people," never apart from them. Gentiles are as much at home with God as Israel, and still own Israel as His nation.
- Force. To object, a Jewish critic would have to contradict his own Scriptures. The verse closes the argument.
- Result. Two peoples opposed by nature end up in one song — true in principle now, complete when Christ reigns.
And again, Praise the Lord, all [ye] nations, and let all the peoples laud him.
Paul is nearing the end of his letter. He lines up four Old Testament quotations to settle one question: does God mean the nations to worship Him alongside Israel? This verse is the third of the four, and it calls the nations themselves to praise.
Paul takes the words from Psalm 117. Its size is no measure of its weight:
This Psalm is the shortest portion of the Book of God. Romans 15 quotes it and makes much of it. And one writer put this well: "It is a small portion of Scripture, and as such we might easily overlook it. But not so the Holy Spirit. He gathers up this precious little testimony which speaks of grace to the Gentiles, and presses it on our attention."
The verses just before set two words side by side: promise, and mercy. The difference matters, because the nations had no promise of their own to claim.
The mercy shown to the Gentiles might seem less than the promises made to the Jews. Yet deep down it is better still. This mercy is pure grace — the exercise of the free and sovereign grace of God. The Gentiles had no promises made to them. So for them it was not a question of truth but of grace, if God was pleased, as He was, to pour out mercy on them through Jesus.
Paul does not draw his proof from one corner of the Old Testament. He quotes from every part of it that a Jewish reader knew, and the weight of them together is his case.
The Jews commonly divided the Old Testament into three parts: the law, the prophets and the Psalms. Each part, and all of them together, attest the purpose of God to bless Gentiles — the law in Deuteronomy 32:43, the prophets in Isaiah 11:10, the Psalms in Psalm 18:49 and 117:1. God will have worshippers from among the nations, and will have them without merging them into Israel.
So why does God want the nations praising Him? Because praise is where the two peoples meet.
Jew and Gentile are opposed to one another by nature. The great object of the ministry of the Lord is to bind them together in the worship and praise of God. This, we know, will be accomplished in the Millennial day. In the meantime God brings believers from among Jews and Gentiles together in one Body on heavenly ground, where all national distinctions disappear.
Read Psalm 117 in its own place, and you hear Israel calling. They have tasted God's kindness, and they want the nations in on it.
The quotation from Psalm 117:1 is the grateful celebration of Israel's new-born joy and blessing. It looks to the day when the Lord restores them to His favour, fulfilling His loving-kindness and His truth. They are filled and satisfied themselves with the merciful kindness of the Lord. So they call on the Gentiles to share their joy and to echo their praise.
So is the psalm already fulfilled? One writer draws the line like this:
In the future kingdom not only Jews will be blessed, but Gentiles too. Paul makes use of this, pointing to the fact that both enjoy the present blessings of grace — and that is enough to stop the mouth of the Jew. How then could the Jews object to his preaching to all people? Still the apostle never says that the prophecy is therefore fulfilled to the letter now. The principle of it is true under the gospel; the fulfilment of it awaits another day and a different state of things when Christ Himself appears.
This string of quotations closes a long run of practical teaching. Paul aims it at a real problem in a real church.
The Apostle closes these practical exhortations by pointing to the ministry of Christ. That ministry carries out the purpose of God: to bind Jew and Gentile together through Christ, so that with one mind they may glorify God. The Assembly at Rome was probably a mixed company of Jewish and Gentile believers. The danger was that each side might bring national prejudices into the Assembly, and so disturb the harmony of the whole.
- Mercy first. The nations had no promises to claim. What reaches them is free, sovereign grace — and that is a better thing still than promise.
- Mercy proved. Law, Psalms and Prophets all say the same thing. God means to have worshippers from the nations — and to have them without absorbing them into Israel.
- Mercy overflows. Psalm 117 is the voice of a people already satisfied with God's kindness. They turn and call everyone else to echo their praise.
- Mercy unites. Binding Jew and Gentile together in one worship is the great object of the Lord's ministry. It is settled in a coming day, and true now for believers from both sides.
- Mercy corrects. Paul aims all of this at a mixed church where national pride could break the harmony. Shared praise is the answer to prejudice.
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.