That the Gentiles May Glorify God

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.  Romans 15:13 

Romans 15:7–13 – Romans: The Righteousness of God
Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost – November 19, 2023 (am)  

We come this morning to the close of Paul’s instruction to this church in Rome before he expresses some personal thoughts (14-33) and, even though he’s never met these folk, some personal greetings to and from a lengthy list of common friends (16:1-24), emphasizing that they are one body (Eph.2:16) in Christ. Some see this as the summary and climactic expression of the whole letter (Schreiner 727-728). And there are a number of themes from the letter as a whole that reappear here in a finalized sort of way. But at very least we can see these seven verses as the conclusion to Paul’s instruction to the weak and the strong (14:1-15:6) (or to Jews and Gentiles [cf. 8-12]) and also to his whole applicational section (12:1-15:6) as a summary of what it means to give oneself to others in love (12:9; 13:8-10) (Schreiner 727). But there are also some additional insights I believe we can gain here that are of some practical importance to us today. So, let’s just get started in this text and hear it well. We’ll take it in three parts.

The Principle – 7

Once again (like last week) the word of instruction is given in the opening verse. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Therefore clearly opens this closing paragraph, and the charge it introduces gathers up the threads of Paul’s entire exhortation to the strong and the weak (Moo 2018 891). So, this is what we should do according to the climactic paragraph of this glorious letter! It sounds kind of modest, but I think we’ll see there’s a bit more to it.

This charge that was given to the strong regarding the weak to kick off this closing section (14:1) is now given equally to all in the body. We’ve already talked a good deal about what it means to welcome (accept [nas, niv, nlt], receive [kjv, ylt]) one another, but Paul raises the bar notably here with a couple of breathtaking descriptors: as Christ has welcomed you and for the glory of God.

The key word in this first descriptor is as (καθὼς). It can be taken two ways: as more casual (treat one another as… members of [God’s] family [Moo 2018 891]) or in its more typical comparative sense (accept one another just as Christ has accepted us, despite our hostility [toward] him…, despite our weakness and sin (5:6-10) [Schreiner 728])—not meaning we tolerate sin; we address it lovingly and gently as needed (1-2; Gal.6:1-2), but we don’t divide in response to it unless and until the unified church acts together in discipline (cf. 1Co.5:1-5).

Given the context (1-6), I believe Paul is calling us to this comparative sense. So, even if it costs us something, even if it brings us reproach (3), [accept] one another. That’s what Christ has [done with us]! He’s [accepted] all of us who’ve trusted in Him, strong and weak alike, Gentile and Jew. [He’s] welcomed us. So, we follow His lead. That’s a high bar! But as we’ve seen, and will see again (13), we do this by the power of [His] Holy Spirit Whom He’s given to us.

The second bar-raising descriptor is for the glory of God. And that’s a familiar point of reference in this letter. If you recall, the glory of God is what we fall short of due to our sin (3:23); we exchange [it] for [idols of our own making] (1:23). But in Christ we can once again rejoice in [certain] hope of the glory of God (5:2). His glory will surely be reproduced in us (8:18, 21). And we’ll eventually discover that [God] has prepared beforehand for [that to happen] (9:23). And we begin showing it in this life, in large measure, as we welcome one another in Him—one body of Christ, no dividing wall (Eph.2:15).

So, that’s the charge here at the climactic close of this hallowed letter! This loving unity in the church is one of if not the clearest manifestations of the glory of God in this fallen world. We could see this coming a bit as Jesus taught (Joh.13:35) then prayed for (Joh.17:20-26) His disciples on the night He was betrayed. And later, John wrote to his church that it’s these very qualities that make the invisible God visible (cf. 1Jo.4:12).

The Proof – 8-12

But all this got started long before any of these things. And the implications of it reach further than we’d image. 8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. … Usually we think of Christ [becoming] a servant as referring to His incarnation when He humbled Himself and took on flesh to die for the sins of all who believe (cf. Phi.5:5-8). But that’s not the whole picture here. Paul’s not just talking about Jesus [becoming] a servant, but a servant to the circumcised (8), to [the Jews], to show God’s truthfulness. So, Jesus took on flesh to prove that God keeps His Word, to fulfill his divine commission to accomplish salvation (Schreiner 728). But Paul tells us that Jesus had two additional purposes in view as He did this, two intentional outcomes He aimed to achieve as He welcomed us (7) in this way, as He became a servant to the [Jews] to show God’s truthfulness (8). He did all this…

• 8 … in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs. Jesus took on flesh in fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would provide salvation for all the nations through their earthly line. Paul is affirming here once again that the word of God has not failed (9:6). The saving work that God’s provided in Christ is bearing the fruit it’s bearing in Rome by the power of the Holy Spirit in order to confirm that He’s kept His covenant promises to the nth degree! None has failed!

• And here’s some additional proof. The Gentiles were included from the very beginning in God’s promises given to the patriarchs (Gen.12:3). That’s why Jesus has welcomed [the Gentiles who’ve trusted in Him]. He did it 9 … in order that the Gentiles, in fulfillment of those promises, might glorify God for his mercy, for His undeserved kindness toward them from the very inception of His saving plan. Believing Gentiles are children of Abraham by faith! (4:17) Going all the way back to c.2, Paul has made the point that 2:28 … no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly…. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.

So, this listing of verses (9b-12) quoted from each section of the OT (Law, Prophets, and Writings) is underscoring that point. David blessed God for victory over his enemies (9b; 2Sa.22:50/Psa.18:49), then said, 2Sa.22:50 For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name. His praise will spread beyond Israel to the nations. Moses finished His instruction of Israel with a song that ends (10; Deu.32:43 MT; LXX: Rejoice with him, O heavens [esv]), 10 Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. The psalmist wrote, Psa.117:1 Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 12 And again Isaiah says (Isa.11:10), “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”

So, Paul finishes his instruction with yet another flourish of proof from the OT that God has always intended His salvation promises to Israel to include the Gentiles (nations). And He’s always intended that those who reject His covenant, His promised Messiah, will face His judgment, even if they are born into the physical line Abraham. 3:9 … For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin; both are numbered among the all who 3:23 … have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jew and Gentile together in one body has always been God’s purpose, His Eph.1:10 … plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth, including Jew and Gentile as one new man with no dividing wall of hostility separating them, so making peace (Eph.2:14-16). This is the welcome Paul is calling for here (7). A unified church is the fulfillment of the gospel, of God’s salvation plan, even of God’s promises… to the patriarchs (8)—not the church replacing Israel as the recipient of God’s promises, but God’s promises to Israel fulfilled as the church. The church is just what God was promising to the patriarchs (8). We can see that as His Word describes the new covenant (Jer.31; Eze.36). As modern-day Jews want to return to God and live according to His covenant, then, the only way they can do so is by trusting Jesus as Savior, as their promised Messiah, and being born again into the family of God, the one new man (Eph.2:15) of the church, just at Jesus taught Nicodemus (Joh.3:1-15). That’s how God planned it to work from the beginning.

Practical Application: We need to keep this in mind in our present day, especially given the amount of attention that needs to be focused on the nation of Israel today. Is it right to call the present-day state of Israel God’s people? Is it right to say the land is theirs by divine promise, right now, today, in these present circumstances? Is Israel as it exists today entitled to the land by divine right?

Well, what does God’s Word say? The covenant blessings and cursings in Deu.28 make it pretty clear that Israel is entitled to the land only as they honor God’s covenant with them. Deu.28:1 … [I]f you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. … 8 The Lord will… bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself… if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. However: 58 If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book…, 59 then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions…. 63 … And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

So, I think we should be careful about referring to Israel as God’s people in the land right now, today, when, as a nation, they reject Him and His Word along with all the blessings He’s poured out on them over the millennia, blessings Paul listed in detail back in c.9 (9:1-5). We should surely be praying for Israel. And we should also be praying for Palestinians, a people from whom we know there will be some who’re worshiping around the throne of God for all eternity! (Rev.5:9; 7:9)

So, we need keep our theology straight. As we pray for Israel, we should be standing on the truth of God’s Word that tells us His promises to them will never fail. Remember 9:25 … a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written (Isa.59:20-21), “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; 27 and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins,” declares the Lord. Pray that God will use this present crisis to reawaken Israel to their need for Him, just as God has promised He will someday do.

And when you pray for the Palestinian people, seek God to save some from this present generation to know the joys of heaven (Rev.5:9; 7:9).

And pray longing for Jesus to come and establish His kingdom where there will finally be no more war, no more terrorists, no more firebombs. Indeed, Rev.21:4 … death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore….

That’s what we’re yearning for! That’s the peace we long to see in Jerusalem and throughout all the earth. Jesus is the only solution in the Middle East or anywhere else! His salvation is our only true hope. And it is sure!

The Payoff – 13

Have you noticed how many times hope is mentioned in this half-chapter? Four (5, 12, 13, 13). Hope is awakened in us by the Scriptures (5). It’s fueled beyond measure by the coming of the root of Jesse (12), Messiah Jesus. It’s the unique purview of God (13), meaning, He alone controls the future so He alone can grant actual hope. And He does grant His people hope by the power of [His] Holy Spirit (13). Hope is our inheritance in Jesus right here and now. It’s our present confidence in a certain future that just hasn’t yet been fully and finally delivered.

And our hope is strengthened by God and His Spirit and His Word. How? God works in us by His Spirit to produce His fruit our hearts, fruit that fills us to overflowing with an abundance of hope that manifests God’s glory through us by enabling us to live here and now as though we’re already present in that place for which we hope! That’s what Paul writes here as a prayer-wish (Moo 2018 897). He’s prayerfully wishing for this Roman church that the fruit of God’s Spirit would so characterize their hearts and capture their affections that hope for the fulfillment of His salvation will just be spilling out of them! That’s the picture Paul is painting here. 13 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.

Conclusion

Friends, this is what the gospel accomplishes, what Jesus has provided for us, and modeled for us, and prayed for us to experience. This is the payout of the gospel here and now that Paul’s been explaining in this letter: a church unified in love and worship and abounding in hope to the glory of God, displaying the power of the gospel. Heavenly Father, make us such a church!

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Resources

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NEXT SUNDAY: I Have Fulfilled the Ministry of the Gospel, Romans 15:14–33