Romans 15 - May 25^th

“Christ did not please himself”

Chapter 15 continues the subject from the end of Chapter 14 about bearing with the weaker brother. The Christian mentality and attitude should always be one of selflessness, one of laying aside our rights for the sake of God and the betterment of our fellow brethren. We, as Christians, should always seek to lay down our rights and our preferences in love. This was especially important for the early church, where Jews and Gentiles became part of one body.  They had to learn to lay aside certain secondary issues, such as traditions and cultural mores, for the sake of peace and unity. Paul uses Christ as an example of this kind of selfless love. Christ is the King of all, and though he had no obligation to save us, he did it out of love and sacrifice. Christ played aside his rights and became a servant to die for his chosen people. If Christ did that for us, shall we not seek to lay aside our rights and desires for our fellow brethren?

“That the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy”

Between verses 9-12, Paul lists a series of Old Testament verses in an effort to show that it was always God’s sovereign plan to include the Gentiles in his plan of salvation. The Old Testament gives clear evidence and testimony that God would save the Gentiles along with the Jews. The Jewish nation would be the nation from which the rest of the world would be blessed because it would be through the Jewish nation from which the Messiah would be born. Paul had already spoken about this in the book of Romans, most notably in Chapter 11. The Gentiles have been grafted in, and this was not some sort of contingency plan, instead, this was God’s plan before the foundation of the world.