The theme of Chapter 15 is the imperative of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices, underscoring the profound significance of individual attitude and service within the community. We delve into the scriptural exhortation that those who are spiritually strong must bear the infirmities of the weak, fostering an environment of mutual support rather than self-indulgence. This chapter elucidates our responsibilities toward one another, particularly emphasizing the necessity of exercising our liberties with consideration for the consciences of our brethren, thereby ensuring that we do not cause them to stumble. As we navigate the complexities of interpersonal relationships within the body of Christ, we are reminded of the paramount importance of unity and humility, reflecting the example set by Christ himself. Ultimately, we explore how these principles not only enhance our faith but also contribute to the glorification of God through our fellowship and service.

Takeaways:

• The concept of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices requires a transformative renewal of the mind, as articulated in Romans 12.
• Our attitude towards fellow believers must prioritize their well-being over our personal liberties or rights.
• The obligation to support the weak among us is a fundamental principle, emphasizing empathy and selflessness in our interactions.
• The teachings of Christ underscore the importance of unity and acceptance among diverse groups, including Jews and Gentiles, in the body of believers.

Christianity is very diverse, but all denominations share a common source that by its nature has created problems for which there is no biblical antidote.

Tim Glover provides an alternative.

Join him each Wednesday at 10am to share his studies with you.

Good morning to you again, and welcome to our study of the Book of Romans.

We're actually continuing the broader theme that was introduced, I think, in chapter 12, where Paul discusses the idea of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices.

This is accomplished by the renewing of your mind that we may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God.

And so he then proceeds to tell us about God's will regarding our treatment of our neighbor, just people around us in general, our attitude as we live from day to day.

He talks about our relationship to the government and how we should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, as Jesus would teach us.

Basically the same thing about our responsibility to pay our taxes and honor the king, as Peter tells us on another place.

So this is all the same kind of theme that's talked about here in chapter 13 and then chapter 14.

We see our responsibility toward our fellow brothers and sisters Primarily in chapter 14, we're dealing with not overthrowing the work of God for some matter of indifference.

A matter of indifference or personal right.

If someone believes something is wrong or they feel not comfortable with doing it, whatever is not a faith is sin.

So the point being that we must have conviction and full assurance in our minds when doing a thing.

And if we violate our conscience, that in and of itself is a dangerous thing.

And so we need not overthrow for meat's sake the work of God, which is of course, his grace in producing what he has in Christ.

Redeemed sinners set apart for God's exclusive purpose.

And here we are then renewing our minds and living, presenting our bodies as living sacrifices and trying to live acceptable to God.

And it'd be an awful thing then for us to put a stumbling block in a brother or sister's way that would cause them to be destroyed or violate their conscience in any way.

So we need not destroy the work of God.

That's a serious matter.

Well, in chapter 15, he's just really continuing the same emphasis about our relationship to our brother.

So let's just begin the reading there.

In chapter 15, he says, for we that are strong.

Now here he's giving somewhat of an explanation, I believe, when he says, for we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves, let each one of us please his neighbor.

For that which is good unto edifying.

For Christ also pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me, or whatever things were written aforetime or written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope.

So we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.

Now, that doesn't mean that there's a certain label that we can put on everybody across the board.

I really believe that any one of us, depending on the issue, might be considered a weaker brother.

For instance, if, if we believed or didn't feel comfortable with doing a certain thing that other brethren had no squabbles about, we couldn't find any real revelation to the contrary.

But we're just not comfortable with it, then, then we are that weaker brother.

I really believe it could be either way again depending on the particular issue or topic under consideration.

But in the case of brethren, we ought to always prefer one another and look out for our brother and sister.

And we that are strong in a particular area and are confident and fully assured in our own minds, we ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.

As I said last week, some people have the idea or the attitude that, well, I know a thing isn't wrong or I'm going to do it anyway, it's my right, it's my liberty, and I really don't care what anybody else thinks.

I know it's okay, well, that's a bad attitude because you should care what other people think.

If in fact your actions might place somebody in a compromising situation where they might easily violate their conscience and thereby destroy the work of God.

So yes, that's a serious matter and we ought to to bear the infirmities of the weak, to have long suffering.

We would rather exercise our liberties, but for the sake of that brother or sister, we choose not to for their well being.

So let each of us please his neighbor for that which is good unto edifying.

For Christ pleased not himself.

As it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell upon me.

Christ said in John 8, I do always the things that are pleasing to him.

Jesus would say in chapter 12, verse 49, for I spake not from myself, but the Father that sent me.

He has given me commandment what I should say and what I should speak.

As a matter of fact, the Gospel of John repeats this same thought and theme.

That Jesus came not to do his will, but the will of him that sent me.

And the words that he spoke were not his, but his Father's.

And so he came to accomplish the will of the Father.

And so in fighting against Jesus, the Jews were in reality fighting against God.

But in all of their efforts, they failed.

Of course Christ was very skilled in responding to the hypocrites and those who were pretending to be somewhat, when of course they were not.

But the devoted Christian will undergo a suffering any degree of persecutions, but the sin of it is against God.

And so you can think you're getting rid of somebody or getting even with somebody, but when you are messing with God's people, you're actually messing with God.

You'll remember when Saul was on his way to Damascus to get more Christians, the Lord approached him on that road and said, saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Well, the Lord wasn't anywhere around there.

But of course, in persecuting his people, he was in fact persecuting him.

And we need not forget that we are actually doing attacking our God when we attack any of his children.

In verse 4 as he talks about those things that are written aforetime that were written for our learning, that through the comfort of patience and through comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

Paul had just looked at the Psalm at Psalm 69, verse 4 therefore refers to the Old Testament Scriptures.

I believe he has reference to here.

And they were therefore not written just for the benefit of those who lived then, but they were also written for those to whom Paul was writing the word patience, that we might have patience and through comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

This word patience is the word we could easily translate steadfastness or a better maybe English word as far as daily use and understanding of the English language would be to endure so endurance.

It doesn't seem that the phrase of the Scriptures modifies only the word comfort.

And so the point being the steadfastness and by the comfort of the Scriptures the child of God can have and maintain hope.

And so it's important that we study the Old Testament Scriptures because we can learn a whole lot about the need for endurance and holding on to the promises of God.

Now, the God of patience and of comfort, verse 5 says, Grant you to be of the same mind one with another, according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ received you to the glory of God.

So now Paul is shifting thoughts here from the Scriptures to the author of the Scriptures.

And that's God.

And because he is the author of the Scriptures, whatever is attributed to the Scriptures is rightly attributed to him.

He's its author.

And so through God's word, the Gospel, which is God's power to salvation, God can give us hope and develop within us a determination, a stick to itiveness, a steadfastness of character that will not give up.

And so Paul prays that unity of thought and conduct would prevail among them.

According to Christ Jesus.

We should rather prefer one another unless it's a matter of principle, unless it's a matter of moral instruction and teaching and application of the Scriptures.

When it comes to matters of indifference, matters of liberty or rights that we may exercise, it should always we should be count ourselves, place ourselves last and prefer other brethren ahead of us.

I think this is very important and it fits right into the context of our study about presenting ourselves, our bodies, as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service.

And so to be of the same mind, one toward another, just simply meant that no one was to feel that he had superior rights over another.

No one should just push himself forward in first place, whether Jew or Gentile.

Perhaps there were feelings of superiority based upon one's lineage.

What we have in Christ puts everybody on equal playing field.

And no one stands any taller in their boots than the other one does.

This oneness is necessary if we would glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As Christ received us.

Paul tells us that we should receive and accept one another in spite of the fact that we don't all belong to the same race, or in spite of the fact that we all don't see everything exactly alike.

Christ in this teaching is designed to make peace between Jew and Gentile.

And believe me, that was a tall order.

But he accomplished it to let no one destroy God's purpose in this matter by running roughshod over the conscience of another brother or sister.

Verse 8 says, For I say that Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given unto the fathers.

So the fathers being Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The promises begin in Genesis 12 with Abraham and is repeated in the Genesis account.

The part of these promises that refers particularly to Christ is that through Abraham's seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

And of course, that seed is Christ.

Paul makes that very clear in Galatians 3, where he said in verse 16, now to Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed.

And.

And he says, not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, his seed singular.

And then he adds, and to thy seed, which is Christ.

And so, in view of the scope of these passages, it seems to me that a number of people might miss the whole point here that Paul had in mind when he said that Christ was a minister of circumcision for the truth of God, that is, that the truth of God might be established.

It seems a lot of people take the meaning to be that Christ's personal ministry was confined to the Jews.

But that's not the case.

That's not what he's even saying.

I cannot see how confining his ministry to the Jews would confirm the promises that all nations would be blessed.

It just doesn't fit the context and the wording here.

Just how a work is.

Can be confined to one nation and yet would confirm a promise to all nations in more than you know, that just doesn't make sense.

And so the phrase the minister or servant of the circumcision indicates the source really, that is its beginning rather than its object.

Jesus did come to the circumcision, and he had come from the circumcision.

He was in fact a Jew.

But he did these in order to fulfill the promises that were made to the fathers.

So this idea for the truth of God is really saying the same thing on behalf of the truth of God, that is, and in favor with the truth of God.

God's promises must be fulfilled.

And Christ came to accomplish it.

But it wasn't just to the ministry of the Jews.

It was designed for all nations in verse nine.

And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, you see, for as it is written, therefore will I give praise unto thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name.

And again he says, rejoice, ye Gentiles with his people.

And again praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and let all the people praise him.

And again Isaiah saith, there shall be the root of Jesse, and he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles, on him shall the Gentiles hope.

So Christ became a minister of the seed of Abraham in behalf of the truth of God.

And a part of that truth of the promise made to the fathers was that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

And so the blessings were to be for all nations, with no difference between Jew and Gentile.

So this idea and Paul's use of the promise made of the fathers it would not please the exclusive Jewish Christian.

And so he quotes some Old Testament scriptures to show us that it had been God's plan all along down through the ages to include the Gentiles in the blessings of the promised seed.

And so consequently there is no need for one to feel any better or superior than the other.

The Gentiles, just like the Jews, would praise God for his mercy and would rejoice and enjoy the blessings of his rule.

So Paul quotes these passages to show that they were being then fulfilled and that as both Jew and Gentiles were enjoying the blessings and both were under the rule of the Messiah, there would be peace now between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.

I think at some time.

Well, it's rather strange that some Jewish Christians never could see that and never would see this teaching of the promises and the prophecies.

They had a stubborn blindness that created a lot of confusion that's still going on today, as a matter of fact.

But it's even stranger that some professed Christians today hold to the Judaizing notion and project the idea that these promises are yet to be fulfilled and the prophecies to some future time.

These Scriptures that we're relating to were being enjoyed at that present moment and was fulfilled in the coming of Christ and the Gospel message.

So, you know, I think my point is there's just less excuse today for such teaching than there was among the Christians in the early going.

Now look at verse 13.

With me, the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Spirit.

The Messiah had said through Isaiah on him shall the Gentiles hope.

And so to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews, God was a God of hope.

He made hope possible even to those who formerly had been without God and without hope in this world.

Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 12.

Paul so describes the Gentile world without God.

And without that hope, there would be no joy, no peace, no peace of mind, and no peace with one another.

But we are to be filled with joy, filled with peace, to be filled with that.

And then peace, of course, increases our hope.

But the power of the Holy Spirit is mentioned here.

And that made this hope and this peace even more possible.

Because the Holy Spirit revealed all we know about God and Christ and the plan of salvation.

And not only that, but his mission not only include revelation, but his work also included giving gifts that originate with him in confirming the word and in giving testimony that various ones who had those gifts were in fact his own.

They were God's people, they were his children.

And it was confirmed by these spiritual gifts.

Of course, there was a greater need for spiritual gifts.

They didn't have a New Testament like you and I do, friends.

They depended on revelation from the apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

Those were the teaching gifts.

And they were dependent on other gifts as well, for comfort and strength and for healing and for discerning of spirits and a number of other gifts.

They didn't.

They didn't have the same things that you and I have today in having the written word.

And so therefore they were all necessary, they were all dependent and interdependent on each other, as any member of the human body would be dependent on all the members.

And so the Holy Spirit not only revealed the plan of God and has that, of course, written down.

Paul would say in Ephesians 3, how be it?

By revelation was made known to me the mystery, where I wrote a four in few words.

So the Holy Spirit gave it to Paul, Paul wrote it down.

And Paul says, now you can understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known.

So that of course gives knowledge, joy, peace, and hope that they are not abandoned, and they have everything they need to go on and be edified.

In verse 14, Paul says, and I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge able, also admonish one another.

As we just noted a minute ago, they had all the gifts.

There wasn't anything that they was left that they didn't already have.

A lot like the statement that Paul makes in the first chapter of Second Corinthians when he told the brethren Corinth that they were not behind in any gift.

Of course, that didn't guarantee not being behind in any gift, was no guarantee that they were spiritually minded or that they were grown to the where they were expected to grow, and they were very carnally minded.

But if they had what they needed at their disposal to grow and to be edified and to be built up, and as that continues, just like it would be true today, we are given inspiration and hope, encouragement.

So Paul takes up some personal matters here.

One or more brethren had made a report to Paul about some problems in Rome and expressed some confidence in the brethren there.

Otherwise he wouldn't have said, and I myself also am persuaded of you, as if to say, I am in addition to someone else.

Of course, that someone else could be in fact God.

He's mentioned the Holy Spirit and that they're full of goodness and filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another.

So it very well may be that the other would simply be the testimony of God and the Holy Spirit.

But it's likely that only a small minority were disturbed about certain things.

And in his words of praise, Paul must have had the greater part of God's people in mind when he said they were filled with knowledge and could not have been.

Well, you know, they had everything that they needed.

So spiritually gifted men would be able to teach and admonish the weak.

And so Paul's words of commendation would be encouraging to these brethren.

Paul was not known to be flatterer.

He did commend brethren when he found grounds for doing so.

But it wasn't about trying to, you know, just praise somebody and I guess you could say kiss up to them.

Regardless, that wasn't Paul's style.

A preacher who scolds and criticizes all the time, however, never brings out the best in men.

And so Paul sees need for commendation.

I think another interesting comparison here, and a good example for us, is the letters that were written to the saints that lived in Asia Minor.

In Revelation chapters two through three, we find the letters that Christ wrote to these brethren in these cities.

And in each case, where Paul could give a commendation, he does.

Or, I'm sorry, where Jesus makes a commendation, he does.

In fact, everyone received a commendation except for one.

And so a good example for us to follow is to look at the examples we find in these apostles of Jesus Christ and the Lord himself, as he follows the the pattern of giving, giving consolation, encouragement and hope by bringing out the best and encouraging one another.

That we know they can do, that we can know that they can do what's required of them.

In verse 15, I write the more boldly unto you in some measure as putting you again in remembrance because of the grace that was given me of God.

Paul gave his reason for writing boldly to them.

It was because of the grace that was given me of God.

He speaks of being an apostle as grace that was bestowed upon him.

He does this in many places in Scripture.

God's expression of grace for Paul was that he might preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, that he might be in fact an apostle of Jesus Christ.

And this phrase in some measure he said, I wrote more boldly unto you in some measure that's somewhat vague, but some people seem to tell us that the Greek phrase means in part or partly or somewhat so.

Part of his purpose in writing to them was to put them in remembrance, to stir up their memories concerning things they had been taught.

But he didn't say this was his only purpose in writing.

In fact, he had also discussed this great principle of God's dealing with men and nations in the development of his plans of redemption.

And so verse 16, he says that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

So Paul was chosen as an apostle to the Gentiles.

Oh, and Galatians 1:16.

When he makes or talks somewhat about his defense and the history of his work, beginning with the Jews, but then turning primarily to the Gentiles.

The word here translated minister, is not what you might think.

It's not the word servant.

It's not the word diakonos, translated servant, which was usually the, I think the more popular word for servant.

But it's a word that usually had an official use, one who performed some public office.

And of its use here, I think the Cambridge Greek Testament says it right, says that the classical meaning of a public service performed, the community still colors the word.

He goes on to say, Paul adds here the name of the authority who orders the performance to whose benefit it is directed.

As compared with dioconos, the public and representative character is emphasized here.

The context gives it the specially religious sense.

So Paul was not only an apostle to the Gentiles, but he was an apostle of the Gentiles.

He was their apostle.

So by ministering the Gospel to the Gentiles, he converts many of them to God.

And these converts were his.

His offering to God, as if to say it was his service.

Because, you see, he had persecuted Christians and had delivered them up to death.

And Paul is now trying to make amends.

Thy word is truth.

You see, there really is no conflict here.

The words that Paul uses were the words of the Holy Spirit.

And besides, the many signs that he wrought in connection with his preaching showed that God approved his work and that all Gentile converts were as acceptable to God as were Jewish converts, no matter what the Judaizing teachers were saying.

To the contrary, Paul would say in verse 17.

I have therefore my glorying in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God.

And Paul is satisfied with that.

He doesn't need, doesn't depend on any glory or any praise from any other source.

For I will not dare to speak of any things save those things Christ wrought through me.

Verse 18.

For the obedience of the Gentiles by word, indeed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So that from Jerusalem and roundabout, even under Illikrium, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ.

So many of the Gentile converts were.

Were now working in the Lord's vineyard, and he might have claimed some credit for their successes, but he didn't.

And he.

He would only speak of those things, Paul says, which Christ had wrought through him for the obedience of the Gentiles.

And so his language here doesn't fit in with the theory that human agency has no part in the conversion of sinners.

It has very much of a part in the conversion of sinners.

Paul describes it over in Acts 26.

To open their eyes.

This was his part, his the commission that was given to him.

To open their eyes, that they might turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, and that they might receive remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.

Paul was the instrument through which God's word went forth.

So here an authority works through its agents or its ambassadors.

Paul was certainly that.

There's nothing mysterious about it.

Paul was Christ's agent for the purpose of bringing about obedience among the Gentiles.

And then in verse 20, he says, Yea, making it my aim so to preach the Gospel not where Christ was already preached, that I might not build upon another man's foundation.

But as it is written, they shall see to whom no tidings of him came, and they who have not heard shall understand.

And so Paul didn't seek easy places.

He went where the gospel had not been preached.

And might add, he went many, many times without any kind of pay.

He wasn't expecting compensation.

The three places he stayed the longest he received.

He refused any kind of compensation.

He preached where the gospel was most needed and where there appeared to be an opportunity to reap a harvest.

He went there to teach and preach.

Of course, he.

He had some guidance in that area.

The Holy Spirit forbade he and his fellow laborers to go into Bithynia, which was north of them, and had them go over across to Troas and the Macedonia.

But despite all of that, Paul was the Lord's agent in spreading the good news to the Gentile world.

But now, he would argue, would say, having no more any place in these regions, that is, around Corinth or perhaps all of Greece.

He turns his attention now again toward Rome.

I would like to stop here and take this section here of chapter 15 and start right here for next week.

I thank you so much for your kind attention to these things.

I hope that you've gotten something good out of it, or at least, if nothing else, been reminded about some biblical truth and principle by which we should live.

Thanks again.

Have a good day and a pleasant week.