28 November

Bible in 365 Days                

Romans 14-16

Romans 14

The Apostle now turned to discussion of some of the difficulties which may arise in the Christian Church. Dealing with the question of the animals sacrificed to idols he laid down a supreme principle that it would be well for us ever to remember. Every man stands or falls to his own Master. The same principle applies to the observance of days. The court of appeal is the mind loyal to Christ.

The deduction from the discussion has to do with our attitude toward each other. When I pass judgment on my brother, I am usurping the very throne of God. He alone knows all the facts, and alone is able to pass a judgment, and this right He reserves to Himself. The sphere of judgment open to us is not our brother's life and action, but our own. The test by which we are to judge is the welfare of our brother.

This judging of one's self by the standard of the well-being of another now leads the Apostle to show what is the highest and noblest exercise of freedom, namely, the abandonment of a right, if need be, for the good of a weak brother.

The Apostle summed up the whole question by appealing for such conduct as will make for peace and mutual edification. This, however, by no means issues in anything approaching looseness of moral conduct, for the apostle lays down in this connection what is perhaps the most searching and severe test of conduct in the New Testament, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." That is to say two things: first, that a person devoted to the Lordship of Jesus sins when acting from any motive other than confidence in, and obedience to, Him. How many individual questions of conduct, on which we are anxious to obtain outside opinion, would be settled if this principle were always remembered and obeyed.

Romans 15

The most powerful argument for Christian conduct is the example of Christ. He pleased not Himself. The injunction to receive one another is an injunction addressed to Jews and Gentiles. Throughout the letter the apostle had defended the Gentile against the self-satisfied national pride of the Jew, and the Jew against the probable contempt of the Gentile. This is the final injunction on the subject.

Paul closed his argument with a benediction, "The God of hope." What a wonderful title, suggesting that God is the reason for all the hope that brightens the way, and that because He is Himself full of hope. The Christian should be the greatest optimist because of the optimism of God.

Thus having ended the epistle as it was concerned with its great statement of doctrine, and the application thereof to life, the Apostle turned to personal matters. Concerning the triumph of the Gospel, he declared, "Christ wrought through me." How glorious a commentary on the true position of the Christian worker! In speaking of his appointment, the Apostle used language which indicates a phase of priestly office too often lost sight of. He had ministered the Gospel so that there had been an "offering up" of the Gentiles. Too often the priests of the Lord stand empty handed in the holy place in this respect.

Very touching and beautiful was his request for their prayers. Notice the subjects he suggested for prayer. First, that he "may be delivered from them that are disobedient in Judea." Then also that his ministration, that contribution he is taking from the churches of Asia, may be acceptable. These prayers were most assuredly answered. Yet how often the answer to prayer differs from our expectations. What matters it if it be "through the will of God?" That was the qualifying petition which was finally answered. It is this confidence which lends power to this closing benediction, "May the God of peace be with you all. Amen."

Romans 16

In the salutation twenty-six persons are named. Two-thirds of these names are Greek, which, in all probability, are names of persons the apostle had actually known in his work in Asia. Phoebe was specially recommended. His old friends, Priscilla and Aquila, were evidently back in Rome again (Acts 18:2). The chief interest of this passage centers, however, in the apostle's incidentally revealed consciousness of the interrelationships of the saints as being dependent on the common relationship to Christ. Notice carefully the phrases which indicate this. "In the Lord," "In Christ Jesus," "Unto Christ," "In Christ," "In the Lord," "In the Lord," 'In the Lord," "In the Lord" (Romans 16:2-3; Romans 16:5; Romans 16:7-13). Thus the impulse of love, the bond of service, the principle of fellowship are always union with Christ.

The consciousness of unity in Christ so evident in the salutations now caused a solemn word of warning. In a scathing sentence the apostle refers to teachers that ''serve . . . their own belly."

Fitting is the benediction at this point, reminding all who are confronting conflict of the channel through which the promise of ultimate victory has been made possible of fulfilment: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." How beautiful is this revelation of fellow ship in service in the closing salutations. For instance, Tertius, who had written the words as Paul dictated them, was also a fellow laborer; and he adds his greeting to the rest. Gaius, too, his host, sends his message of love. A man of note, Erastus, the treasurer of the city, and one of whom we know only that he was "the brother."

All closes with a doxology in which the Apostle thinks of that perpetual purpose of love which, having been kept in silence through ages, has now been manifested in this Evangel, that through all the coming ages there may be the song of glory to God; and he reverently ascribes the glory to whom it is thus evidently due.