Rom. 15:4-13.
But the things which are written aforetime are written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures may have hope. And may God of patience and comfort grant you to be of one mind one with another according to JESUS CHRIST, that with one accord ye may praise God and the Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. Therefore receive one another, even as Christ received you to the praise of God. But I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promise made to the fathers. And that the Gentiles should praise God for mercy, as it is written, Therefore will I praise thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye nations; and glorify him, all ye peoples. And again Isaiah saith, The root of Jesse shall be, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles hope. May God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may have complete hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
(1) It is easy to understand why this epistle is ordered to be read during Advent, namely, because the apostle speaks so often in it of the hope we have in Christ, the future Savior. And so the other future of Christ is remembered on this Sunday, of which also the Gospel reports, as we shall see. For those who received Christ in his first coming, put him on, and carry him daily in faith and good works, encounter much adversity, by which they are driven out of the world; as, for instance, the children of Israel were driven out of Egypt. And therefore the life of all Christians is nothing else than a hope in Christ, their Redeemer, who will lead them out of this life into the kingdom of his heavenly Father and deliver them from all evil.
Now, for a proper understanding of this epistle, it is necessary to know that the Romans to whom Paul wrote were converted to Christ partly from the Gentiles and partly from the Jews. For the Jews had scattered throughout the world, and were much more numerous than the Gentiles.
at Rome, as is written in the book of Acts. After Paul had instructed them in the faith and good customs, he gives them several commandments at the end of the epistle, confirming them in the unity of the Spirit, and removes the causes that might disturb their unity in faith and life; of which there are two: the first, that the Jews had a weak conscience from the habit and use of the law, and could not eat meat as was forbidden in the law; nor did they suddenly refrain from all the ceremonies and statutes of the law, even though they were now no longer necessary to keep.
(3) Now here he teaches the Gentiles that they should tolerate these for a time, and not separate faith and Christian life for the sake of food. Likewise, if a Gentile or a Jew was afraid to eat the food sacrificed to idols (when it was the custom of the time), fearing that they would sin in it and go into idolatry, when it was lawful to eat all kinds of food, and nothing was unclean.
Those who believed in Christ. But because the stronger in faith knew these things, they despised the weak, and freely ate all the food, as they knew it was lawful for them to do. Because of this, the weak were angry and could neither do nor refrain from doing so, and they were troubled on both sides in their consciences. For they thought: If we follow those who are stronger in faith, and eat with them everything that comes before us, we sin against our weak conscience, which forbids us to eat such things. If we refrain from doing so, and those who change do so, we must fear that we are not Christians, because we do not do as other Christians do. These weak believers, the apostle teaches, should be tolerated, and in their presence abstain even from the permitted foods, until they become accustomed to it, and learn to recognize that it is permitted for them to enjoy all kinds of food etc.
(4) There are many of them at this time, when they see that others, by permission of the popes, eat butter, milk, and eggs on the days on which it was hitherto forbidden by spiritual law, and do such things as were hitherto forbidden: they are vehemently angry about it, and judge according to their antiquated conscience that these things are not permitted. So also those who are used to the old church practices and ceremonies, when they hear that one prefers these things to the works of love, and teaches that for the sake of love one should leave off their prayers and even the work of man, they are so confused in themselves that they do not know whether they are doing right or wrong; They do not want to let go of their thing and do not want to accept that thing; they are not to blame for this, but the popes, bishops and prelates, who teach only the outward church customs, and take over their hearts with their human statutes, so that they cannot grasp God's commandment before it. All of these are to be taught rightly about things, but they are to be tolerated with their customs, and not suddenly stopped from their usual works, until they themselves may distinguish between God's works and men's works, between God's commandments and men's statutes, lest the unity of Christian faith be destroyed.
The people of the world are not to be separated by such violence. Especially because it is all a bodily thing and only the work of men, which they resent, which may all be changed in time; whereas faith and Christian life are spiritual and the work of God; therefore these little things are to be tolerated, that the greater may be preserved.
The other cause of disunity is that among God's people there are inevitably weak ones of another kind, namely, sinners. These are those who are now commonly called the passionate, the discontented, the foolish, the hopeful, the stubborn and obstinate, or those who are burdened by other vices, or who have otherwise fallen into sin, even though they are otherwise good people and at other times behave quite well. For such people are evil to deal with, and yet we must deal with them. Paul speaks of these in the present epistle, teaching that they should not be shunned or abandoned, and that for this reason they should not destroy the unity of Christian faith and conduct; for they must therefore remain among us, so that the love of other Christians may be exercised toward them. For those who do not want to suffer these become instigators of sectarianism and heresies, disunity and much evil, are so insolent that they put all the blame on the weak, since they themselves are to blame, and are much weaker than those, because they cannot stand the weak. St. Augustine writes about this in Gal. 6: "A spiritual man is not known better by any thing than by the way he keeps himself in the sins of his neighbor, namely, when he makes much more effort to save him from them than to mock him; and rather helps him than reproaches and slander him. Therefore St. Paul deals with this doctrine in this epistle, of which he writes Gal. 6:1, 2: "Brethren, if any man be overtaken in any fault, instruct him with the spirit of meekness, ye that are spiritual, and look to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and ye shall fulfill the law of Christ." The "burden," he says, that is, the gross manners, yea, even the sins of our neighbor; not their laudable manners; for laudable and pleasant bear.
means more to be carried than to carry, and to live among angels, not among men.
This is what he says in this epistle, in the beginning of chapter 15, v. 1, 2, 3: "We who are strong should bear the infirmities of the weak, and not have pleasure in ourselves. But let each one of us so place himself that he may please his neighbor for good, for correction. For even Christ had no pleasure in himself, but as it is written, The weak of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. But what is written before" etc. As if to say.If we are strong, and think ourselves to be spiritual, let us not compare ourselves with them that are not strong, nor that seem to be so; and let us not take pleasure in ourselves in the infirmities of our neighbor, as the Pharisee in the gospel took pleasure in himself in the infirmities of the publican, and of all other men: for our neighbor ought not to displease us, because he hath not, neither is able, that we have, neither are able: But we are to bear this infirmity of his with a gentle spirit, and make every effort to deal with him in such a way that he may take pleasure in our gentleness and patience, until he is tempted by our good works to follow us, and is thus improved by us. Therefore, we are to set ourselves up in such a way, not that we may have pleasure in ourselves and dislike our neighbor, but that he may have pleasure in us and improve himself.
7 So that you may do this with all the more pleasure and love, consider the example of Christ, who dealt with us in this way, not mocking us in our sins, not boasting of the divine form and all that he had and was able to do; but humbling himself, he set himself up to please us by provoking us to good, taking our sin upon himself, not casting us away or forsaking us as evil and unworthy. For if he had done thus as we do to our neighbor, he would have saved no one; but if we do thus to our neighbor as he has done to us, we shall despise no man, he may be as sinful and unrighteous as he ever can. This is followed by this epistle:
For what is written before is written for our learning.
(8) Forasmuch as he had adduced the Scriptures, speaking of Christ, lest any man should secretly murmur against them, and say that they were not proper: he therefore, on the occasion of this certain saying, gives a general doctrine of the use of the Scriptures, and teaches why not this piece only, but all the Scriptures, were written, and how they ought to be used. For all that is written was not written for Christ's sake (who had no need of it), but for our sake, that we might be taught and instructed thereby. For the teaching of men, I say, all things are written that are written. Likewise, he also says in 1 Cor. 9:9, 10: "Does God take care of the oxen? or does he not say all things for our sake? For it is written for our sake." As if he wanted to say: God does not care for the oxen, but for us; not as if he did not care for the oxen at all, since he cares for all things (as some here in the text torment themselves); but that he does not speak and write for the sake of the oxen. For what should he speak and write to the oxen? The word of God in Jacob and Israel is sent to men alone. So also here, the word that is written by Christ is not written to Christ, but to us, just as everything else is. For what should God have written for the sake of Christ, who knows and has all things? Therefore, the reason altogether why the Scriptures are written is to instruct men.
9 With this general saying he expresses the benefit and fruit of Scripture when he says:
That we may have hope through patience and comfort of the Scriptures.
10 For a man who is instructed by the Scriptures learns nothing therein but the cross and patience; for all Scripture is nothing but a word of the cross, and an exhortation to bear the cross; and this exhortation man needs, that his patience may not cease, but be strengthened with hope of the future.
tual salvation. Therefore, both patience and the Scriptures are necessary. For God's word does not lift up the cross and patience, but puts up the cross and teaches patience in hope. What else does Scripture teach but the death of the old man and the hope of the resurrection of the new man? The death of the old man demands patience, and the resurrection of the new man cannot be seen, but must be expected in hope, through the word and exhortation of Scripture.
Now this is not the smallest part of the cross, that you tolerate the weak and deal with unkind people; for it is very annoying to the old man, who always has a liking for himself and a dislike for his neighbor. Therefore, the old man must be killed by patience in this passage, and admonished by the Scriptures to hope in God alone and not to have pleasure in himself. And so St. Paul has drawn the common benefit of Scripture to a part of this cross. If God has written down his word for our learning, why do we read and study everything rather than the holy Scriptures? For if our doctrine is written here, why does one seek it elsewhere? Follow in the text:
But God of patience and comfort grant that you may be of one mind among yourselves, according to Jesus Christ.
12) See how diligently St. Paul preaches grace, namely: lest someone think that he wants to obtain the patience and comfort of Scripture by his own efforts, he indicates by his desire and prayer that these gifts must be obtained from God through humble prayer. Scripture teaches, but grace gives us what Scripture teaches; as he says, "God, the author and giver of patience and comfort, grant it to you," for you do not have it from yourselves, "to be of one mind among yourselves," that is, that each of you be of one mind among yourselves, that you seek, love, and desire of one kind, and please all of you of one kind. How then? So that the weak are like-minded like the strong; and the strong take care of the evil of the weak as if it were their own,
To do to the weak as they would have done to themselves if they were in the weak's place. This is called "being of one mind," when a man does not seek what is his own, but what is another's; as St. Paul teaches Phil. 2, 4. This spiritual impulse is the nerve of the whole Christian doctrine, without which it cannot stand, which St. Paul in another place calls unity in the Spirit, when he says: "Be diligent to keep unity in the Spirit through the bond of peace." Eph. 4, 3.
Therefore, the word "minded" is not to be understood here, as the philosophers interpret it, from the intellect; but according to Christianity, from the will, since man has one opinion and affection, namely, a deep movement of the heart toward the neighbor or against the neighbor. That one man should have the same mind as another is a great blessing from God; the apostle knows this well, which is why he prays that this gift will be obtained from God, rather than assuming and being satisfied that it will only be taught through the Word. For this is that mind and will which has divided the church even today into innumerable sects, factions, opinions, quarrels, wars and deaths, even among those who deal with holy things; and all this for mere worldly and temporal things; so that this teaching of the apostle is more distant from them than the morning from the evening, that before such disunity and unrest one sees nothing of the church, nor hears anything but the mere name. So many heads, so many senses we see now in our time, and yet they all make much believe that they are called Christians.
14 But that he saith, According to Jesus Christ, he sheweth the power of such concord among themselves: for the ungodly also are of one mind, but after the flesh, and after the devil. Therefore he wants the godly to dwell together in one accord and to be of one mind only in the things of Christ, so that they do not abuse the appearance of unity to do evil. For so also among themselves abominable sects and orders hold with one another, and are of one mind, but after Adam, and not after Christ. Continue:
That ye may with one accord praise God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
015 That is, because ye have One God that hath called you, ye have all obtained one grace and mercy. He who called the strong has also called the weak, and has made no distinction among them: so you also should not let yourselves be shattered by such larvae on different minds; but praise God with one accord, recognizing this grace, which is common to all. As the profession has made no distinction among you, so let there be no distinction among you that one is strong and another is weak. But when he says, "Praise the Father," he teaches that Christ always draws us to the Father through Himself, John 6:44, whose kind will he praises for us, saying, "All that He has done, He has done by the will of His Father, so that we may trust in God through Him, as children trust in their father.
Therefore, accept one another (as Christ accepted you) in honor of God.
Now the apostle draws the conclusion he intended, and refers to both kinds of weakness, of which it is said that we are to receive, tolerate and best both; as he said before that Christ has received us, since he says: the weaknesses of those who revile God (that is our sin) have fallen on him, Ps. 69, 10. So let one bear another's burdens, and respect his neighbor's misfortune for his own misfortune, and in this act as if we wanted to help ourselves. In this God is praised. For just as Christ took us up to the glory of God, that is, he did not seek his glory against us, as the Pharisee did; but in showing us the mercy of God, he did to us what his Father would have done to us; and thus the mercy of God is magnified and praised in us. So we also do mercy for the glory of God, when we receive, tolerate and improve our neighbor for the sake of God, according to Christ's example.
For I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to establish the promise of God made to the fathers, but the Gentiles praise God for mercy.
17 This is what St. Paul says that he makes Christ common to both Jews and Gentiles; although he was promised to the Jews alone, he was also proclaimed to the Gentiles beforehand; as if he wanted to say: Christ did not take pleasure in himself, but bore our reproach; so that the Jews would not take it upon themselves alone and exclude the Gentiles from it, if he had said: All things that are written are written for our learning, and would have wanted to apply this to both Jews and Gentiles; since it was certain that it was written to the Jews alone, as he says above in Rom. 3, 2: "What God has spoken has been entrusted to them"; item in the 9th Cap, V. 4: "To whom belongs the law." Therefore, so that the Jews would not exalt themselves, even though they alone trusted in God's word and Christ was promised to them, Paul makes everything common when he says: "I state clearly and plainly that Christ was a minister of the circumcision, that is, an apostle and messenger of the New Testament to the Jewish people, which St. Paul calls the circumcision Gal. 2:7 and elsewhere. As Christ himself says Matth. 15, 24: "I am not sent, but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But that he was sent and was a servant was not because he was sent to the Jews alone, though it was sent to them alone; but it was promised to both Jews and Gentiles alike. To the Jews, that the promises might be confirmed and fulfilled, since God had promised the fathers that Christ should be born of their seed, that God might be found true in His promises. But to the Gentiles, not that the promise might be fulfilled to them, for it was not promised to them; but that they might praise God for mercy's sake, because it was written that the Gentiles should praise God. He says, "for mercy's sake," so that both what the Scripture said before about the Gentiles, that they should praise God, should be fulfilled.
The truthful God promised to the fathers in the Scriptures.
(18) Therefore in Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, except that Christ was promised to the fathers of the Jews; therefore they enjoyed the truth of God, who fulfilled the promise to them. But to the Gentiles nothing was promised, but an unexpected mercy befell them, which they should praise. Although this also makes the Jews equal to the Gentiles, that God also promised their fathers out of grace and undeserved mercy what he gave to the Gentiles. For those deserved the promise as little as these the gift, but have on both sides to thank grace alone, without the Jews having had a legitimate cause before the Gentiles to wait for the truth of God. Therefore, if Christ is common and has borne the burden of all men alike, we also should become common among ourselves, be of one mind among ourselves, and under no title nor person be of another mind in Christ.
As it is written, Therefore will I confess unto thee, O Lord, among the nations, and sing of thy name (Ps. 18:50).
19 Behold, here is nothing promised unto the Gentiles: but it is prophesied that they shall confess the name of the Lord. What name? That he is merciful, kind, a Savior and Redeemer. Now if Christ sings the name of the Lord among the Gentiles, then by the Gentiles are understood the Christians in whom Christ dwells, who praise the mercy of the name of the Lord.
And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
20 That is, with God's people. One wants this saying to stand Deut. 32, 43. where Moses says: "Praise you Gentiles his people." But St. Paul, though he changes the words a little, keeps the same mind; for the Gentiles cannot ever praise God's people, nor rejoice with God's people, unless they have One God with His people, that is, with the Jews.
And again (namely in the 117th Psalm, v. 1.); Praise God, all nations, and lift him up, all peoples.
(21) These are clear words that the Gentiles should praise God, which they could not do if they were not His people. But they would not be His people if they had not received God's grace through the common Christ.
And again Isaiah says (Cap. 11, 10,): It will be the root of Jesse, and he who will arise to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles will hope.
22 Thus the seventy interpreters, whom St. Paul follows, gave it. But as St. Jerome thinks, it reads in Hebrew: "At that time shall be the root of Jesse, which is for a sign unto the nations, after whom the Gentiles shall inquire. These words are clear, that from the lineage of Jesse should come a prince, after whom the Gentiles would inquire, and that is no one, nor will be anyone, except Christ alone. There are also more sayings in the Scriptures, in which the Gentile church in Christ is proclaimed beforehand, some of which St. Paul wrote in Rom. 10, 12, 19, 20, item, Cap. 4, 10. 11. and Cap. 9, 24. 25. Therefore there is no reason why one should not tolerate another, since Christ is common to all men, both Jews and Gentiles, strong and weak, high and low, and whatever their names and persons may be.
AVer God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
23. That is, God teach you to know Christ fully; if you have this knowledge, you will rejoice in the common good and have peace among yourselves. This joy and peace, I say, will be in faith, that is, in believing in Christ. "For in the world ye fear, but in me ye have peace," John 16:33. I would not that ye should rejoice in sins, and have the peace of the world; but that ye should rejoice in Christ, whom ye see not, but believe. If then this peace is common to all men, ye shall not find any thing to envy one another, neither shall ye envy one another.
but rejoice one among another, wish one another happiness, and live in peace with one accord. Now it is not a thing that many of them should have in common, but that which is in faith, which is Christ. Therefore no sadness, disunity, or strife among men follows from it.
That you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
24. because we are subject to much tribulation, as has been said, it is necessary that we think about
be rich in hope, that we may not lose heart in patience. But this is not in our power; therefore we must pray that God, who gives hope, will create that we may abound in hope in all the tribulations of this life. But God does not take away affliction, nor even death. How then, that He strengthens us by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we do not flee the tribulation, but endure and overcome it, amen.