Commentary on Romans 15.1–15.33

(Verse 1.) “We who are stronger ought to bear the weaknesses of the less strong.” Rightly he says “we ought,” because teachers must strengthen the weak and instruct the unskilled with gentleness; lest, provoked, while they wish to contend so as not to seem lowly, they advance to worse. (Verse 2.) “And not to please ourselves,” that is, not to claim what profits and pleases us, but also what pleases a brother; because we ought to take care of one another. “Let each of us please his neighbour for good, to edification.” Now he has set his own person apart; for he admonishes these that, zealous for love, they should please their neighbours in what is profitable. This is edification; as he says elsewhere: “I,” he says, “please all in all things” (1 Cor 10:33).

“For Christ too did not please himself, but, as it is written: The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” He says that the Saviour pleased not himself but God the Father; for he says: “For I did not come down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, the Father” (John 6:38). And because, when he said these things, he was killed as a sinner with the Jews speaking against him, the Psalmist speaks in his person to God the Father, saying: “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me” (Ps 69:9); that is: When I was doing your will, they said that I sinned against you, who, by not receiving me whom you sent, reproached you; for the Jews, sinning against God by not receiving Christ whom he sent, moreover killed him as one sinning against God. So the sins of those sinning against God fell on Christ; for the innocent one is killed by sinners as a blasphemer, as is written in the Gospel (Mark 15:28).

“For whatever things were written were written for our strengthening, so that through patience and the exhortation of the Scriptures we may have hope.” It is plain that whatever things were written were written for our discipline, so that from the exhortation itself we may advance to hope, not distrusting the promises if they still delay. “May the God of patience and consolation grant you to think the same thing among one another according to Jesus Christ, so that with one mind and one mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” As one sent for salvation, the apostle accompanies the people with a good wish, desiring that God may give them one sense of wisdom according to Jesus Christ, so that they may be wise according to the teaching of Christ. For then they will be able to keep love, by the example of the Lord who says: “Greater love than this no one has, than to lay down his life for his friends and brothers” (John 15:13); and so with one mouth, one confession, to praise God the Father in Christ, if they have exhorted one another according to the mind of Christ; so that all things which he made through Christ, and, when they had fallen through error, deigned through the same to raise and reform again, may praise God without ceasing; giving a double benefit, mercy and knowledge.

“Therefore receive one another, as Christ also received you, to the honour of God.” We have been received by Christ thus, when he took our weaknesses and bore our sicknesses; so that by this example we may strengthen one another’s weaknesses through patience, lest the name of God’s honour taken up among us be made void; for we are called sons of God through the grace of Christ. (Verse 8.) “For I say that Christ Jesus was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers.” He commends the origin of the Jews; for by the circumcision he signifies the sons of Abraham, to whom Christ was sent and ministered to the fathers the promised grace. Hence the Saviour says: “For I am in your midst,” he says, “not to be served, but to serve” (Luke 22:27; Matt 20:28); so that the truth in the promise made to the fathers might be proved. For circumcision of the flesh was given to Abraham as a figure of circumcision of the heart, which the prophet afterwards signified would come, saying: “Circumcise the hardness of your heart” (Jer 4:4). Christ is the minister, that is, the preacher, of this promised circumcision. Then he sent the apostles, so that they might minister circumcision of the heart to those circumcised in the flesh; for he says: “As you sent me into this world, so I have sent them into this world” (John 17:18). And circumcision of the heart is, the cloud of error being removed, to acknowledge God the Father as Creator, and his Son Christ, through whom he created all things, so that the truth of God might be fulfilled. For he had promised that he would give mercy, and had promised it to the fathers of the Jews; for he had said to Abraham: “In your seed all nations will be blessed” (Gen 22:18). And he said to David: “Of the fruit of your womb I will set upon your throne” (Ps 132:11); and: “A star will rise from Jacob” (Num 24:17).

“But the gentiles honour God for mercy.” For since there was no promise to them, they were taken up to salvation as unworthy, by mercy alone; so that they may honour God by confession, because unbelievers dishonour him. “As it is written: For this reason I will confess to you among the gentiles, and sing to your name.” He proves it by a prophetic example; for it is written in the seventeenth psalm that the gentiles were to be admitted to the grace of God to receive salvation (Ps 18:49). For it is the voice of Christ, who said that his preaching would have fruit among the gentiles in confession of the sacrament of God; therefore the Son gave thanks to the Father for the obedience of the gentiles. Hence he says in the Gospel: “I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to little ones; for so it was pleasing before you” (Matt 11:25–26). This confession, then, is of one God in Trinity, from which joy arises; so that after confessing the true God one may joyfully sing of the mercy and gift of God. (Verses 10 and 11.) “And again he says: Rejoice, gentiles, with his people”: this is in the song of Deuteronomy (Deut 32:43). “And again: Praise the Lord, all gentiles, and magnify him, all peoples.” By this, in the one hundred and sixteenth psalm, he shows that God long ago decreed, with his mercy intervening, to make Jews and gentiles of one accord; so that the gentiles, having obtained grace, might become partners of the Jews, who themselves were once named his people by the gift of God. The Jews were then noble; these, ignoble, have been ennobled through mercy; so that all may rejoice together in the knowledge of the truth, and, as the gentiles praise, all peoples may magnify God, the twelve tribes the one God who increased the number of his people, the gentiles being joined. Indeed, when the Jews disputed with the apostle Peter about Cornelius, when the account had been given them, they were at peace, glorifying the Lord and saying: “Perhaps God has given to the gentiles too repentance to obtain life” (Acts 11:18).

“And again Isaiah says: There will be the root of Jesse, and he who rises to rule the gentiles; in him the gentiles will hope” (Isa 11:10). To give the gentiles greater confidence and an undoubted hope, he confirms by many testimonies that this was the decree of God, that all nations should be blessed in Christ; lest the insolence of the unbelieving Jews should sadden and make doubtful the souls of the believing gentiles, as though they promised themselves hope in vain, because the faith of the Jews is credited to Abraham by God; so that they might grow in this very joy and security. But why is Christ from the root of Jesse, and not from the root of Boaz, a righteous man, or from the root of Obed? Because David is called his son on account of the kingdom; so that, as he was born of God as king, so he would have his origin from King David according to the flesh; therefore the root of Jesse is the tree of David, which bore fruit through a branch, which is the virgin Mary, who bore Christ.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit. (Verse 14.) But I myself also am certain about you, brothers, that you yourselves are full of love, filled with all knowledge, so that you can admonish one another.” These are words of exhortation; for by praise he provokes them to better understanding and life. For one who sees himself praised takes pains that what is said may be true. Therefore he did not say that they should teach one another, but admonish; for one is usually admonished about what, though known, sometimes slips the mind. The rest is not obscure so as to need explanation. (Verses 15 and 16.) “But I have written to you more boldly, brothers, in part, as reminding you, because of the grace that has been given me by God, that I may be a minister of Christ Jesus among the gentiles, sanctifying the gospel of God, so that the offering of the gentiles may become acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Spirit.” He signifies that he did not write rashly, saying that authority was given him through the grace of God, so as to dare to write to all the gentiles, admonishing and confirming their purpose in Christ; so as to show his care in the ministry of the gospel as teacher of the gentiles, and that their sacrifice may become acceptable by reason of sanctification in the Holy Spirit. For whatever is offered with whole faith and sober mind is purified by the Holy Spirit.

“I have, then, glory in Christ toward God; for I do not dare to speak of anything of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me for the obedience of the gentiles, by word and deeds, by the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit.” He says that he has glory with God through Christ Jesus; for by believing and serving Christ Jesus in a pure conscience he made merit for himself with God the Father, so much so that he says nothing is lacking which Christ has not worked through him for the exhortation of the gentiles, giving signs and wonders through his hands, so that power might commend his preaching. Hence he shows that he has glory in Christ toward God; for serving Christ he has glory toward God, so much so that he lacks nothing of divine power which has not been granted him by God; but he professes that, because he was found a fit steward, he has obtained everything that would help the conversion of the gentiles through the power of signs. This serves to prove that he could do no less than the other apostles who had been with the Lord, and that God worked no fewer mighty works among the gentiles; so that by this very thing they may grow, seeing that they have obtained the grace which the Jews had obtained, who claim for themselves the prerogative of the fathers.

“So that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have filled up the gospel of God and of his Son Christ. And I have so preached the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I build on another’s foundation.” Not without reason does he say that he strove to preach where Christ had not been named; for knowing that false apostles handed on Christ otherwise than they ought (for they went round for this purpose, to enslave the people to other doctrines under the name of Christ, which afterwards it was a very great labour to correct), he wished to anticipate them, so as to hand on to the hearers the words of inviolate preaching, and so that the surface, laid out in an unbroken line, might have the strength of an unharmed foundation. And since he was given as teacher to the gentiles, he had to take care to teach where Christ had not been announced, both to confirm his authority and to have the full fruit of his labours from what he had planted. This is why he took possession of all places for the Church; for afterwards heresies, malicious in their subtlety, strove under the name of Christ to corrupt the sense of the law and of faith. He warned of this by the testimony of the law, saying:

“But as it is written: Those to whom it was not announced about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand”: it is found in Isaiah (Isa 52:15). So that this understanding about the true Son of God might be true and inviolable, he says he always hastened to imbue the gentiles with the gospel truth:

“For this reason I was very much hindered from coming to you. But now, no longer having room in these regions, and having had for many years past a desire to come to you, when I begin to set out for Spain I will see you, and be sent on by you there, if first I have enjoyed you in part.” He mentions this at the head of the letter, saying: “For I have often purposed to come to you, and have been prevented until now” (Rom 1:13). Now he resolves it, showing for what reason he was hindered: that, wishing to come, he was doing something else that was pressing, to shut out the perverse inventions of the false apostles; and finally, after he has preached to all around, he says he is now free to come to Rome, as he had long wished. The Romans, then, because they had been led into the law, he corrects by letter in the meantime. But those who had not yet heard the preaching it was more useful to teach by his presence, so that, founded in right faith, they would with difficulty receive anything else. Yet he promised that he would come at the time when he was going to Spain; because Christ had not been preached there, so that he might take possession of their minds; and because the journey to them was difficult for the false apostles, it was no trouble if he went later.

“But now I will go to Jerusalem to minister to the saints; for Macedonia and Achaia have approved to make some contribution for the poor of the saints who are at Jerusalem.” He says, however, that he will first go to minister to the saints of Jerusalem; by which he wants the Romans to know that one should be zealous for works of this kind; for those who live by mercy and have been justified before God ought to serve it. (Verse 27.) “For they are their debtors; since, if the gentiles have become partakers of their spiritual things, they ought also to minister to them in carnal things.” Indeed he calls them debtors of the believing Jews; so that, as they have become partakers with them in spiritual things, so these too may share in their bodily needs; so that, rejoicing, the believers from the Jews may praise the providence of God for their salvation, through their ministry. For these, giving themselves wholly to divine services and caring for nothing worldly, offered believers an example of good conduct. Indeed the apostle wants us to be so humane toward mercy that he even calls us debtors in giving alms and in practising good works with eagerness of heart; because one who hopes for mercy from God ought to be merciful, so as to prove that he rightly hopes for it; because if a man has mercy, how much more God! For this is the recompense or wage, that those who receive mercy should do mercy. Hence the Lord says: “Blessed,” he says, “are the merciful” (Matt 5:7); for God will have mercy on them.

“When, then, I have completed this and have sealed this fruit to them, I will set out through you to Spain. For I know that when I come to you I will come in the abundance of the blessing of Christ.” Certain, then, of the disposition and grace of God, he promised that he would come in the abundance of the blessing which he preaches, that of Christ. And this blessing is the power of signs, by which they were confirmed.

“I beseech you, then, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Holy Spirit, that you share my anxiety in prayers for me to the Lord, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers who are in Judaea.” Then he asks to be helped in prayers, so that he might escape the hands of the Jews; not because he himself deserves less, but he follows the order, that prayer should be made by the Church for its ruler. For many very small ones, when they are gathered with one mind, become great; and it is impossible that the prayers of many should not obtain. If, then, they too desire to see the apostle, let them pray more earnestly, so that they may receive him, freed from there, in the joy of love.

“And that the ministry of my gifts may be acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem; so that I may come to you with joy through the will of Jesus Christ, and be refreshed with you.” He says they should pray for this too, that the ministry of his gifts may be acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem; and he shows that he does all things with the will of God; so that, since his mind is devoted to bringing the gifts, he wishes their mind too to respond to him by the judgment of God; so that, understanding his love toward them, they may give thanks to God together with him. For it is a great advance for one by whose ministry people, made glad, follow God with praises.

“May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.” The God of peace is Christ, who says: “My peace I give you, my peace I leave you” (John 14:27); whom he wishes to be with them, knowing that the Lord said: “Behold, I am with you all days until the consummation of the age” (Matt 28:20). He wishes them, then, to be such that the Lord Christ Jesus may be with them, who, cutting away all the discord of human error, gave and showed what is true; so that they may remain peaceable in that very truth.