Romans I have made a commentary of sorts with my thoughts on the Bible Romans Chapter 15 Quick take: Brain smashingly amazing Written December 15, 2006 through January 4, 2007 Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 December 15, 2006 Romans 15:1-3 Church is about Christ and becoming like Him and helping other people become like Him. We like to turn it into helping people become more like ourselves. When others stumble the initial sin response is to use that opportunity to get on their shoulders. The initial righteous response is to kneel down and pick them up. Jesus was the only One who could have rightfully elevated Himself, but He didn’t, He lived the life of a servant. Romans 15:4 Our hope will last through the encouragement of the Scriptures, and endurance. We have to train our hope to endure. In verse 5 you see that both endurance and encouragement are gifts from God. December 18, 2006 Romans 15:5-6 In addition to endurance and encouragement God gives spirits of unity. I wonder if this is a nuance that doesn’t carry back to the original language, but God doesn’t give unity, but He puts into individuals the spirit of unity who then must work at unity. We quarrel and fight when we quench the Spirit. December 19, 2006 Romans 15:7 Accept one another to bring praise to God. Christ accepted you for this reason; we should accept others as well. Romans 15:8-12 God has made promises to the Gentiles and Christ, acting on behalf of God’s truth, fulfills those promises. Christ’s mission was to bring praise to the lips of man. This was prophesied long ago. We can see that God meant to save the Gentiles since the beginning. Let everyone praise God. Romans 15:13 Hope, joy, peace, these are all things that are available to the Christian. Faith in God leads to blessing. Hope will overflow onto those around us. December 21, 2006 Romans 15:14 Paul uses a lot of strong language in this letter because he has a great deal of confidence in them. He knows they are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct. It makes me wonder if someone is not strong in these areas, would Romans not be a good book to instruct them in? Are these teachings more advanced and helpful later in one’s Christian walk? Romans 15:15-16 Paul was lead by the Spirit to remind them of teachings they had learned in the past. His ministry and our ministry today are only by God’s grace. His ministry and our ministry today are to be a minister of Christ Jesus proclaiming the gospel of God. The purpose is to help make people become an acceptable offering to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. December 22, 2006 Romans 15:17 I see here, Paul was totally taken up with serving Christ. It is the fulfillment of longing. “Lord help me to glory in service in Christ to God.” December 23, 2006 Romans 15:18-19 The tongue is such a dangerous thing. This is perfect advice on how to tame it. Speak of only what Christ has done. Paul might have done many things, many different ministry approaches, but he is only going to speak of what Christ has done. I believe we minister today thought the power of the Spirit, but I wonder if we should expect to see signs and miracles. Sure, we can’t do anything in our own strength, but if we say we are ministering through the power of the Spirit, is it the same as what Paul had if there are no signs and miracles? December 26, 2006 Romans 15:20-22 I don’t think Paul makes any statement here about the priority of ministry or that one ministry is better than the other. He is just saying that he has always felt called to minister to unreached peoples. December 29, 2006 Romans 15:23 You could easily tell that Paul had a very specific mission. He was to preach to people who have never heard. He worked hard to that end and could finally say that it was complete. January 2, 2007 Romans 15:24 Paul plans for this to be an enjoyable visit. He wants to involve them in his ministry. Romans 15:25-26 His visit to Rome had to wait though, because there were poor Christians in Jerusalem and Christians in Macedonia and Achaia gave money which Paul was to take to them. They were pleased to share with the saints in Jerusalem. Romans 15:27 Gentiles will always owe the Jews because their rich spiritual blessing on us cannot be valued and any material blessing we share will not come close to equating things. Romans 15:28-29 I don’t know what Paul means exactly when he says he’ll come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ. Except however, it is clear that his visit will be enjoyable and beneficial to all. January 4, 2007 Romans 15:30 Paul asks the Christians in Rome to join him in his ministry, his struggle. He wants them to join him through prayer and he wants them to do it by Christ and by love from the Spirit. Christ is the only one who can mediate our prayers to God the Father and the Spirit is the One giving us the love to spend time in prayer for others. Romans 15:31-32 Paul asks for prayer for safety, effective ministering and the opportunity to visit the Christians in Rome and be refreshed. Romans 15:33 God is the One who ordered everything, thus it makes sense that being with God is being in peace, and going against God is going against everything He ordered, which would not be peaceful. Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16