Romans 15:1-13 More Instructions for Peaceful Coexistence in the Church

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5-6

Have you ever been in a church that split? It is no fun and they’ve been part of church history for the past 2,000 years. Most splits these days are in congregations composed entirely of Gentiles. When Paul wrote Romans, Jewish and Gentile believers met together to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. The very dynamic of having Jews and Gentiles together under the same roof worshipping the Jewish Messiah was conducive to problems. That is why the lengthiest behavioral instructions in Romans are concerning just getting along with each other in the church.

What are Paul’s final instructions? He tells the “strong”, those whose faith allows for great freedom in disputable matters, to bear with the failings of the weak (v.1). In the context of Romans 14, the failings of the weak were in their judging of the Gentiles regarding food they ate and the Gentile’s treatment of all days being the same. It’s not easy but we should bear with those who judge us because their faith does not allow them the same freedom we enjoy.

For all the believers Paul instructs that we should not just please ourselves but we should please our neighbor. This requires you to think and act like Jesus who’s mind was “others focused”. If you are going to bear with the failings of the weak and focus on pleasing others over the course of your lifetime, you are going to need two very important things…endurance and encouragement. These two things come from the Scriptures (v.4), and from God (v.5). If you need one or the other or both, spend time in the Scriptures and ask God and He will give them to you.

Finally, Paul instructs the believers to “Accept one another…just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” (v.7) Paul presents acceptance of one another as a pre-requisite to bringing praise to God. Paul quotes numerous verses from the Old Testament showing how it was prophesied in the Old Testament that God would accept the Gentiles. The Jews could not get around it; they had to accept the Gentiles because God had accepted them. As far as that goes, anyone who is a follower of Christ who Jesus died for, is to be accepted because God saw fit to accept that person.

With these thoughts, Paul ends his instructions for living a righteous life. The remainder of the book of Romans is not instruction oriented but is regarding Paul’s ministry, commendations and greetings.