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.
Where the Verse Sits
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.
From "For" to "As"
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".
How Christ Received Us
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.
The Jew and Gentile Background
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.
Praise and Welcome Belong Together
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.
What the Standard Rules 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.
Where Commentators Differ
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.
Summary
- 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.