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.
この節の注解
The Setting of the Verse
Romans 15:13 closes the doctrinal and dispensational reasoning of the epistle with a benediction: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." It gathers the threads of patience, encouragement, and the expectation that Jew and Gentile together would glorify God, and turns them into a prayer that the believer's heart would overflow with hope.
The God of Hope
The verse names God by a striking title — the God of hope — drawn from the Old Testament citations just made about Christ as the root of Jesse on whom the nations rely.
MagazinesThen he wished that the God of that hope or prospect should fill them with all joy and peace in their believing. So that they might overflow in that hope through the Holy Spirit's power.
This God of hope is also the God of patience and encouragement, the One who through the Scriptures keeps clear prospect alive in His people.
Joy and Peace in Believing
The Apostle does not pray for joy and peace as detached feelings, but for joy and peace in believing — the proper fruit of a heart actively resting on the truth. One commentary places this among the many joys belonging to those at wisdom's table:
George DavisonWe have joy in believing, Rom. 15:13; the joy of faith, Phil. 1:25; joy in the Holy Spirit, Rom. 14:17; and in the path marked out by the Son of God we have fullness of joy, John 15:11. All this is offered to the simple who seek to be taught of God.
Praise itself is described as the natural voice of these affections:
MagazinesAs praise is the just expression of that peace and joy which the knowledge of the God of hope excites in our hearts (Rom. 15:13; Heb. 13:15), so the natural utterance of spiritual desire is prayer.
A Word for a Divided Assembly
The benediction had a specific local edge. The Roman believers were unsettled by quarrels, and the prayer addresses that condition.
Julius A Von PoseckThe Christians at Rome needed, in an especial way, the word of exhortation, to be like-minded. Questions and disputes had arisen amongst them, and thus the waters had become troubled... the operation of the Holy Spirit, in ministering comfort, joy, peace, strength, and refreshment to our souls from the Holy Scripture, is as tender, and therefore easily interrupted, as it is powerful when not impeded.
Hope Bound to the Coming of the Lord
The "abounding hope" of the verse is not vague optimism but the prospect of Christ.
C StanleyThen follows another prayer, "Now, the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." How distinctly the state of the soul is connected with the coming of the Lord, though it is not the subject of this Epistle! May we know our Father as the God of patience, and the God of hope.
The same hope is shared by Jew and Gentile alike, and it carries moral power:
A. PridhamThe Gentile who was once without hope, and the Jew who hoped in vain, joy now together in the hope of glory, as partakers of the righteousness of God... It is a hope which makes not ashamed. It purifies the heart in which it dwells. May we abound in it by the power of the Holy Ghost! (Rom. 15:13).
The Power of the Holy Ghost
The closing clause is decisive: the abounding is "through the power of the Holy Ghost." Joy, peace, and hope are not produced by effort but by an indwelling Person who sustains the weakness of the saints and makes their feeble knees firm. A pastoral application captures it well:
H. H. SnellMay, then, both reader and writer be filled with all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.
A real-life illustration of the verse shows what this looks like:
W. T. P. WolstonThe storm was over, the clouds were gone, and genuine God-given peace and joy shone in his manly face... He got on the spot the conscious knowledge of forgiveness, and realised that he was justified by faith in Jesus; rejoiced in the present possession of eternal life... Rarely, if ever, have I seen such a complete transformation, under the power of the truth.
Summary
- God of hope. The title rises out of Old Testament promises that the nations would rely on the root of Jesse — God Himself is the source and guarantor of the believer's prospect.
- Joy in believing. Joy and peace are not pursued directly; they flow as the fruit of resting in faith on what God has revealed, and they become the natural voice of praise.
- Healing for division. The prayer was given to a quarrelsome assembly, since the Spirit's tender ministry of comfort is easily interrupted by strife.
- Abounding hope. The hope is the coming of the Lord — a hope shared by Jew and Gentile, that purifies the heart and never makes ashamed.
- Holy Ghost's power. All of it — joy, peace, abounding hope — is produced by the indwelling Spirit, not human effort.