Romans 15:5

Rom_15:5-7

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded.

The God of patience

When we say God is patient four things are implied.

I. Provocation. Where there is nothing to try the temper there can be no patience. Humanity provokes God. The provocation is great, universal, constant. Measure His patience by the provocation.

II. Sensibility. Where there is no tenderness or susceptibility of feeling, there may be obduracy and stoicism, but no patience. Patience implies feeling. God is infinitely sensitive. Oh, do not this abominable thing, etc.

III. Knowledge. Where the provocation is not known, however great, and however sensitive the being against whom it is directed, there can be no patience. God knows all the provocations.

IV. Power. Where a being has not the power to resent aa insult or to punish a provocation though he may feel it and know it, his forbearing is not patience, it is simply weakness. He is bound by the infirmity of his nature to be passive. God is all powerful. He could damn all His enemies in one breath. (D. Thomas, D.D.)

Patience of God

(text and Nah_1:3):--

I. The nature of this patience, or slowness to anger.

1. It is a modification of the Divine goodness. While goodness respects all creatures, patience has as its object only the sinner.

2. This patience is not the result of ignorance. Every transgression is in full view of Him who is one Eternal Now. And yet the Lord delays His thunders!

3. This perfection does not result from impotence (chap. 9:22; Num_14:17).

4. Neither does it result from a connivance at sin, or a resolution to suffer it with impunity.

5. It is grounded on the everlasting covenant, and the blood of Jesus. Why was not patience exercised to the fallen angels? Because Jesus had not engaged to atone for them, as He had engaged to become the surety of man.

II. Some of the most illustrious manifestations of it.

1. When our first parents sinned, patience held them in being, gave them an opportunity of securing a better Eden, and pointed them to that Messiah who should repair the ruins of the fall.

2. When the old world had corrupted its way before God, for 120 years He bore with its enormities, sent His Spirit to strive with them, and His messengers to warn them.

3. When the Canaanites indulged in every abomination, He delayed for four hundred years to inflict on them the punishments they deserved.

4. When the Gentile nations, instead of adoring the God of heaven, had placed the vilest passions and the grossest vices in the seat of the Divinity, the Lord left not Himself without witness (Act_14:17).

5. When the Israelites, notwithstanding His numberless miracles and amazing mercies, rebelled against Him, did He not bear with them? But why do I mention particular examples? There is not a spot on our globe, there is not an instant that has elapsed, there is not a human being that has existed, that does not prove the forbearance of our God. Consider the number, the greatness, and the continuance of the provocations against Him by His creatures whom He hath surrounded with blessings, for whose redemption He gave His Son.

6. Consider the conduct of God towards those whom He is compelled ultimately to punish. Before the judgment He solemnly and affectionately warns them. If they are still obstinate, He delays, gives new mercies, that their souls at last may be touched. If He must punish, He does it by degrees (Psa_78:38). If at last He must pour out His vengeance upon the incorrigible sinner, He does it with reluctance. Why wilt thou die? How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?

III. The reasons why he exercises such long-suffering. Lovely as is this attribute, its exercise has often appeared mysterious to the pious, and has been abused by the sinner. Yet a little reflection would have convinced them that in this, as in all the other proceedings of His providence, the manifold wisdom of God is shown. He is patient--

1. From His nature (Lam_3:33).

2. That this perfection may be glorified. There can be no exercise of it in heaven, since there will be nothing to require it; none in hell, since there will be nothing but wrath (Isa_48:9).

3. In consequence of the prayers of pious ancestors, and of the promises made to them and their offspring after them. Ah! careless children of pious parents, you know not how much you are indebted to them.

4. From the mixture of the wicked with the pious, and the near relations subsisting between them. From love to His dear children, He spares His enemies (2Ki_22:18; 2Ki_22:20).

5. Because the number of His elect is not yet completed, and because many of the descendants of these wicked men shall be trophies of His grace. Had a wicked Ahaz been cut off at once, a pious Hezekiah would never have lived and pleaded the cause of God.

6. Because the measure of their sins is not yet filled up (Zec_5:6, etc.).

7. That sinners may be brought to repentance (2Pe_3:15).

8. That sinners who continue impenitent may at last be without excuse.

9. That Gods power may be displayed; the greatness of His protection and providence be manifested in preserving the Church in the midst of her enemies.

10. That He may exercise the trust of His servants in Him, and the patience of His saints; that He may call forth the graces of the righteous, and try their sincerity.

IV. Inferences. Is God infinitely patient?

1. With what love to Him should the consideration of this attribute inspire us?

2. What a motive to the deepest repentance (Rom_2:4).

3. Let us imitate Him in this perfection of His nature.

4. What a source of comfort is this to believers.

5. Then how patient should we be in all the afflictions with which He visits us?

6. Who, then, will not grieve at the reproaches and insults that are cast upon him? (H. Kollock, D.D.)

The grace of patience

It takes a brave soul to bear all this so grandly, said a tender-hearted doctor, stooping over his suffering patient. She lifted her heavy eyelids, and looking into the doctors face, replied, It is not the brave soul at all; God does it all for me.

Pauls prayer

I. The title he gives to God. The God of patience and consolation, i.e., a God that--

1. Bears with us.

2. Gives us patience and comfort.

II. The mercy he begs of God.

1. The foundation of Christian love and peace is laid in likemindedness.

2. This likemindedness must be according to Christ.

3. It is the gift of God.

III. The end of his desire. That God may be glorified--

1. By Christian unity.

2. As the Father of Christ. (M. Henry.)

Unity

I. Its nature. Likeminded.

II. Its motives.

1. The character of God.

2. The mind and will of Christ.

III. Its source. God. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Christian unity

1. Flows from the God of patience and consolation.

2. Is conformable to the mind and will of Christ.

3. Finds expression in the united praises of God, even the Father of Christ. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

According to Christ Jesus.--

Jesus view of life

How did the Christ look upon the lives of men? We may be sure that He saw all the strange minglings of comedies and tragedies which so confuse and exhaust us. If we feel at times the myriad multiplicity and infinite confusions of life, and wonder what it all means and is worth, we may be perfectly sure that the most sensitive and receptive soul that ever was found in fashion as a man felt life as we never have. He measured in His own experience our temptations, and His life took in Cana of Galilee, a sick room in Capernaum, the market-place before the temple, the streets of the city, the country towns by the sea, the Master in Israel, the multitude of the people, the whole world of His day and of all days--our world-age and Gods eternity. Remembering thus that Jesus lived as never poet, philosopher, or novelist has lived, in the real world of human motives and hearts, with our real human life a daily transparency before His eye, open now these Gospels and see if you can find there in Jesus view of our life, in His thought of us, any such sense of the emptiness, vanity, strangeness of life, as we have often felt resting like a shadow over our thoughts. Did not He look upon things as contradictory to goodness and God as anything we have ever seen under the sun? And with purer eyes? Did not He feel with larger sympathy and warmer heart the broken, tangled, bleeding lives of men? Did not He bear the sin of the world? Where, then, is our human word of doubt among His words? Where is the echo of mans despair among the sayings of our Lord? He could weep with those who mourned; but He spake and thought of life and the resurrection before the grave of Lazarus. You cannot say that He did not understand our sense of lifes mystery and brokenness. He saw it all in Marys tears. He read it in the thoughts of disciples hearts. Why, then, did He never reproduce our common human weariness and doubt in His thought of life? It is not an endless wonder to Him. He sees our life surrounded by the living God. He sees, beneath our world, undergirding it, Gods mighty purpose. He sees above the righteous Father. He sees the calm of eternity. And knowing life better than you or I do, knowing such things as you may have heard yesterday or may experience tomorrow--enough sometimes to make men wonder whether there be a God, or truth, or anything of worth--Jesus Christ, in full, open view of all life, said, Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye believe in God; believe also in Me. We begin to come now in sight of the conclusion to which I wish to lead. The evangelists could not possibly have omitted this common human characteristic if the character of Jesus had been the creation of their own imaginations. You will find shadow after shadow of our human questioning crossing the path of Buddha, and lingering upon the heights of human genius, but not the shadow of a passing doubt or fear over all Jesus conversation with men. How could the Son of man look thus in the joy and triumph of a God upon such a strange thing as our life is? It was because He saw the coming order and the all-sufficient grace for life. It was because He knew that He was Lord of the creation from before the foundation of the world, and the world sooner or later is to be according to Christi According to Christi This is the keyword for the interpretation of the creation. Everything comes right, as it takes form and being according to Christ. Everything in life or death shall be well, as it ends in accordance with Christ. This is the keynote for the final harmony--According to Christ! We shall understand life at last, we shall find all its shadows turned to light by and by, if we take up our lives and seek to live them day by day according to Christ. Every man who can read the New Testament can begin, if he chooses, to order his life according to Christ. He may not understand the doctrines. But when he goes down to his office or store, and looks his brother-man in the face, he may know what things are honest and of good report according to Jesus Christ. When he goes to his home he may know what manner of life there is according to Christ. Yes, and when trouble comes, or sickness, or we near the end, then we may know how we need not fear, nor be troubled, according to Christ. In our churches, too, we may be of many minds on many subjects, but we ought to know also how to be of the same mind, if we are willing to think and to judge all things by this one infallible rule--According to Christ. (Newman Smyth, D.D.)

That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God.

The elements of unity

1. One God and Father.

2. One Lord and Saviour.

3. One heart and mind.

4. One mouth and language.

5. One object and aim. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Christian unanimity

With our mind we must think the same things, ere with our mouth we can speak the same things. Were we then more slow to speak of the things on which we differ, and more ready to speak of the things on which we agree, it would mightily conduce to the peace and unity of the visible Church. The members of the Church at Rome differed in regard both to meats and days; and Paul as good as enjoined silence about these, when he bade, them receive each other, but not to doubtful disputations. But, on the other hand, he bids them join with one mouth, as well as one mind, in giving glory to God. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)

Christians and the glory of God

In explanation of the command to glorify God--it may seem strange and presumptuous to speak of such poor, sinful, worthless beings as we are, as glorifying, or as capable of glorifying God. But the perfect Christian may be compared to a perfect mirror, which, though dark and opaque of itself, being placed before the sun reflects his whole image, and may be said to increase his glory by increasing and scattering his light. In this view, we may regard heaven, where God is perfectly glorified in His saints, as the firmament, studded with ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of mirrors, every one of them reflecting a perfect image o,f God, the sun in the centre, and filling the universe with the blaze of His glory. (H. G. Salter.)

The glory of God the end of mans creation

I have a clock on my parlour mantelpiece. A very pretty little clock it is, with a gilt frame, and a glass case to cover it. Almost every one who sees it, says, What a pretty clock! But it has one great defect--it will not run; and therefore, as a clock, it is perfectly useless. Though it is very pretty, it is a bad clock, because it never tells what time it is. Now, my bad clock is like a great many persons in the world. Just as my clock does not answer the purpose for which it was made--that is, to keep time--so, many persons do not answer the purpose for which they were made. What did God make us for? Why, you will say, He made us that we might love Him and serve Him. Well, then, if we do not love God and serve Him, we d o not answer the purpose for which He made us: we may be, like the clock, very p retry, and be very kind, and very obliging; but if we do not answer the purpose for which God made us, we are just like the clock--bad. Those of my readers who live in the country, and have seen an apple-tree in full blossom, know what a beautiful sight it is. But suppose it only bore blossoms, and did not produce fruit, you would say it is a bad apple-tree. And so it is. Everything is bad, and every person is bad, and every boy and girl is bad, if they do not answer the purpose for which God made them. God did not make us only to play and amuse ourselves, but also that we might do His will.

Glorifying God

The time when Venn passed from the state of nature into the state of grace seems to have been, not when he threw away his cricket bat, but when, in the exercise of his ministerial function, he was arrested by an expression in the Form of Prayer, which he had been accustomed to employ, without, however, apprehending its true import. That I may live to the glory of Thy name, was the expression. As he read it, the thought forcibly struck him, What is it to live to the glory of Gods name? Do I live as I pray? What course of life ought I to pursue to glorify God? The prosecution of the inquiries thus suggested led to a juster conception of the chief end of man, which, with characteristic conscientious energy, he straightway followed out by a corresponding change in his mode of life. We can imagine with what depth of sympathy and interest this circumstance would be listened to by Lady Glenorchy, who, at a later period of his life, was Venns intimate friend, and whose religious life, like his, was dated from her serious attention to the noble answer given to the question which stands first in the Assemblys Shorter Catechism, Mans chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.

Wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us.--

Mutual conciliation enforced by the example of Christ

I. How Christ received us.

1. When we were weak and guilty.

2. Freely and heartily.

3. To fellowship in glory.

II. How we should receive one another.

1. Kindly, overlooking all infirmities and differences of opinion.

2. Sincerely, with the heart.

3. Into brotherly fellowship, as heirs together of the grace of God. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Christian fellowship

I. The reasonableness of this practice, whereby it will appear to be the duty of those who profess the religion of Christ to agree together, and form themselves into particular societies.

1. Without such an agreement to unite together in the practice of Christianity, there can be no such thing as public worship regularly maintained among Christians, nor public honours paid to God in the name of Jesus.

2. Without an agreement to keep up such societies for worship, the doctrines of Christ and His gospel could not be so constantly and extensively held forth to the world, and there would be no rational hope of the continuance or increase of Christianity among men.

II. The advantages of such an agreement for Christian fellowship.

1. It gives courage to every Christian to profess and practise his religion when many persons are engaged by mutual agreement in the same profession and practice.

2. It is more for the particular edification of Christians that such societies should be formed, where the Word of Christ is constantly preached, where the ordinances of Christ are administered, and the religion of Christ is held forth in a social and honourable manner to the world.

3. Such a holy fellowship and agreement to walk together in the ways of Christ is a happy guard against backsliding and apostacy, it is a defence against the temptations of the world and the defilements of a sinful age.

4. Christians thus united together by mutual acquaintance and agreement can give each other better assistance in everything that relates to religion, whether public or private.

III. The persons who should thus receive one another in the Lord, or join together in Christian fellowship. All that Christ has receipted to partake of His salvation (Rom_14:1-3; Rom_14:17-18). This is the general rule: but it must be; confessed that there are some Christians whose sentiments are so directly contrary to others in matters of discipline or doctrine, that it is hardly possible they should unite in public worship. But let every person take heed that he does not too much enlarge, nor too much narrow the principles of Christianity, that he does not make any article of faith or practice more or less necessary than Scripture has made it, and that he does not raise needless scruples in his own breast, nor in the hearts of others, by too great a separation from such as our common Lord has received.

IV. The duties which plainly arise from such an agreement of Christians to walk and worship together for the support of their religion.

1. All the duties which the disciples of Christ owe to their fellow Christians throughout; the world are more particularly incumbent upon those who are united by their own consent in the same religious society (Gal_6:10).

2. Those who are united by such an agreement ought to attend on the public assemblies and ministrations of that Church, where it can be done with reasonable convenience; for we have joined ourselves in society for this very purpose.

3. It is the duty cf persons thus united to maintain their Church or society by receiving in new members amongst them by a general consent.

4. In order to keep the Church pure from sin and scandal, they should separate themselves from those that walk disorderly, who are guilty of gross and known sins (2Th_2:6; 1Co_5:4-5; 1Co_5:7; 1Co_5:11; 1Co_5:13).

5. It is necessary that officers be chosen by the Church to fulfil several offices in it and for it.

6. It is the duty of those whose circumstances will afford it, to contribute of their earthly substance toward the common expenses of the society. And each one should give according to his ability: this is but a piece of common justice.

7. Everything of Church affairs ought to be managed with decency and order, with harmony and peace (1Co_14:40; 1Co_16:14).

V. Reflections.

1. How beautiful is the order of the gospel and the fellowship of a Christian Church. How strong and plain are the foundations and the ground of it. It is built on eternal reason and the relations of things, as well as on the Word of God.

2. How little do they value the true interests of Christian religion, the public honour of Christ and His gospel, or the edification and comfort of their own souls, who neglect this holy communion.

3. How criminal are those persons who break the beautiful order and harmony of a Church of Christ for trifles.

4. When we behold a society of Christians flourishing in holiness, and honourably maintaining the beauty of this sacred fellowship, let us raise our thoughts to the heavenly world, to the Church of the first-born, who are assembled on high, where everlasting beauty, order, peace, and holiness are maintained in the presence of Jesus our common Lord. And when we meet with little inconveniences, uneasiness, and contest, in any Church of Christ on earth, let us point our thoughts and our hopes still upward to that Divine fellowship of the saints and the spirits of the just made perfect, where contention and disorder have no place. (I. Watts, D.D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 15:5-7. Now the God of patience and consolation — From whom all these gracious and seasonable provisions proceed; grant you to be like- minded one toward another — That is, to be united in peace and love; according to Christ Jesus — His doctrine, command, and example, and for his honour and glory. Or, as το αυτο φρονειν εν αλληλοις may be properly rendered, to have the same disposition toward one another; the verb φρονειν, signifying to care for, as well as to think, Php 2:2: a disposition, therefore, to live in peace with one another, and to bear one another’s weaknesses, according to Christ’s precept and example, is here prayed for on behalf of the Romans. Having in the preceding verse mentioned the patience and consolation of the Scripture, the apostle here calls God the God of patience and consolation, to show that the patience and consolation of the saints proceeded from him. In like manner, having in Rom 15:12 said, In him the Gentiles shall hope, he calls God, Rom 15:13, the God of hope, to show that the hope which the Gentiles entertained of salvation, proceeded from him. So also Rom 15:33, the God of peace, and elsewhere, the God of glory, the God of order, &c. That ye — Both Jews and Gentiles; believing with one mind — And confessing with one mouth, or with united hearts and voices, may glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — Who hath sent his beloved Son into the world, to unite our hearts in love to each other, and in gratitude to him for his unspeakable love to us. Wherefore receive ye one another — Weak and strong, into communion with mutual love, without despising or judging one another; as Christ also received us — Whether Jews or Gentiles, to be members of his body the church, and joint heirs with him of eternal felicity; to the glory of God — Namely, of his truth to the Jews and mercy to the Gentiles.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Rom_15:5.—Christ is both the example and motive of the Christian mind. God who bestows patience; just as the God of grace is the God who imparts grace.

Rom_15:6.—God of the man Christ Jesus; Father of the divine Word.

Rom_15:7.—The glory of God was the end of all Christ did on earth or does in heaven.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_15:5-7

A prayer that looks for results.—Oftentimes we pray, and do not expect answers. Our prayers are in a great measure purposeless. Modern scepticism creeps into the heart of the modern Christian. What profit shall we have if we pray unto Him? expresses too much the latent feeling of many natures. Let us seek to have more faith in the efficacy of prayer; let us rise up to the position of ancient saints; let us realise our privilege, and believe that God answers prayer.

I. The prayer.—Notice about this prayer that it is:

1. Brief. Most of the prayers of the New Testament are short, and yet powerful. The model prayer is short. This, however, does not preclude long and earnest wrestling in secret. The Master was much in prayer. As the Master, so the servant should be.

2. Comprehensive. Short prayers are sometimes the most comprehensive. How much is comprehended in the Church of England collects! Here in one verse is a collect of large comprehension. A great soul, feeling the burden of its desire, puts much thought in few words. Little thought, many words. Let our words be few, but let our thoughts be many and earnest, as we come to the God of thought.

3. Well planned. God is addressed as the fountain of those qualities which are needful for the desired result. Patience and consolation are needful for Christian harmony. Provocations will arise. The strong will require patience with the infirmities of the weak; while the weak will require patience with the tendency to overbearance in the strong. Mutual forbearance demands patience and consolation from the divine source. Unity of affection will be disturbed if there be not patience. Oneness of sentiment, likemindedness, sameness of heart, must be generated from God through the gracious channel and according to the glorious example of Jesus Christ.

II. The expected result.—In the modern Church we find too often many minds and many mouths, and some of the mouths very large, very noisy, and very difficult to close. One mind and one mouth—the one mind of love, the one mouth of praise to God. What a blessed unity! What divine harmony! Many minds blended by the one mind of love; many mouths so united as if only one mouth were expressing the various sounds. One mind absorbed in the mind of eternal love. What a picture! The many minds and many mouths of the Church militant concentred in one mind and one mouth that glorifies God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The children of earth spring from one Father, and should have one mind of love. The primitive Church is a pattern for the modern Church. It is true that there were discords, but there was such harmony that it was said, “See how these Christians love one another.” St. Paul’s prayer and St. Paul’s example not without blessed results. Let us each pray and act so that one mind and one mouth may be the characteristic of the modern Church.

III. The natural exhortation.—“Wherefore receive ye one another.” The exhortation is founded on the prayer and on the expected results. “Receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” How graciously wide the receptions of Christ! Our “at homes” are formal receptions occurring at wide intervals; Christ was always at home to the homeless, the sad, and the weary. The King of heaven held court with publicans and sinners. His drawing-room is the wide world, where weary hearts are seeking rest. To be presented at His court, we need neither rank, nor title, nor costly apparel. He welcomes broken hearts and contrite souls; the weak He loves to tend; the bruised reed He does not break. How difficult and how far-reaching the exhortation, “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ,” etc.! Let our receptions be loving and hearty. The grace of love is nobler than the pompous dignity of officialism. Let us receive one another. Let Christians exemplify the true solidarity. Let them be brothers, not in name merely, but in deed and in truth.

Rom_15:6. Worship of the unknowable yet lovable God.—That which is perfect cannot be made more glorious. We cannot by our adoration or admiration increase the glory of the sun, the brilliancy of the stars, the majesty of the mountains, the beauty of the landscape, the loveliness of the perfect flower, the melody of the sweet-singing bird. God is perfect, and we cannot by our worship increase His glory. He was glorious before the heavens by their splendours proclaimed His glory, and He will be glorious when they have shrivelled up as a parchment scroll. He was glorious before Adam sang His praises amid the beauties of the primeval Eden, and He will be glorious when this planet in its present form has heard the last chant of praise. But as the heavens declare His glory, as the charming landscape sets forth His divine goodness, so man may “glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What a pity that man is so often the least vocal amid the many praising voices of God’s world! Let it be ours “with one mind and one mouth to glorify God.”

I. Whom must we worship?—It is like a truism to say that we must not worship ourselves; and yet is there not a vast deal of self-worship in our public exercises of religion? Is not the God we worship the projected ideal of our own creation? Idolatry is supposed to be extinct in these countries, and to have been extinct for a long period. But there are idols of the mind; and if we were gifted with the power of seeing the unseen, we should be astonished at the number of idols being worshipped in the temples set apart to the worship of the one God. Are our pantheons all destroyed? Do we worship ourselves when we ought to worship God—ourselves, by proclaiming our goodness to the world—ourselves, by setting forth our own peculiar creed—ourselves, by listening to our favourite preacher? Let us seek more and more to worship the eternal Spirit “in spirit and in truth.” We must worship:

1. The unknowable God. We have been told in a recent book that God is not wisely trusted when declared unintelligible. The God who cannot be wisely trusted cannot be properly worshipped. But what reason is there to shrink from the idea of a God who is unintelligible? Surely Zophar’s question is pertinent to such objections: “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?” If God were fully intelligible, He could not command the admiration of a noble soul and the worship of an aspiring heart. The unknown is all around us. We move amid the unknowables. We ourselves are amongst the number. Take the simple question, What is life? and who is there to answer? What is that subtle force which the anatomist’s skill cannot detect? Does life reside in the pineal gland as on a throne and give orders over the kingdom of man? Is it an all-pervading force? Is it a delicate ether extracted from exquisitely compounded and distilled material substances? Life is, with our present faculties, unknowable. Is it any wonder that the Giver of life is unknowable? God is infinite, and is thus unknowable. We do not know what infinite duration means. The infinite is simply a mysterious something stretching beyond the finite. The moment we think of the infinite we make it finite by our thought. The infinite is unintelligible; but we believe in a duration which can only be described by an unintelligible term. The infinite power, wisdom, and love of God are unintelligible; still we believe in a wisdom that planned and a power which worked out creative designs, and a love which, working by power and wisdom, achieved our redemption. We worship a power, wisdom, and even love which we cannot fully understand. Worship is the adoration of the loving spirit—it is the upward rising of the soul; and how can the soul rise towards that Being who is on the same level? Worship is elicited, not by the little, but by the great. The old church-builders had surely this in view when they reared their grandly vast and solemn temples. We must in our true worship rise to the unknown and see the unseen. The eternal Spirit is unknown; but finite spirits are drawn to worship “in spirit and in truth.”

2. The knowable God. God is unintelligible, but not wholly. We feel after Him and find Him, though not the whole of His divine nature. We touch and are touched by Him on every side, and yet we do but touch the fringe of His garment of inaccessible light. A child does not know his father; and yet what would be the nature of the child’s feelings if told that he did not know his father and should not love him? The child does not know and yet knows his father. The children of the eternal Father do not know and yet know. We worship a knowable God, for we worship the God and Father of Jesus Christ—the God of the human nature and the Father of the divine nature. He that hath seen Christ hath seen the Father, and cannot be said to worship a God who is wholly unintelligible. Christ, by His light, reflects on the world the eternal brightness. Christ, by His superhuman excellencies manifested in this lower sphere, makes known the excellency of God. He rises infinitely above us, but He condescendingly comes forth from the infinitely vast in the person of the incarnated Son of God. He is far away beyond our comprehension, but He stoops to the world’s littleness by a revelation of His greatness in the greatness of the Saviour. Many books have been written and much study has been given about and to the life of Jesus, and still He is beyond our poor knowledge; but shall the loving bride be told that she does not know the divine Bridegroom? We know Jesus, for we live in Him and He in us. We touch His thoughts; we feel the motions of His mighty mind. We know Him sweetly and lovingly, and knowing the Christ we know the God and Father. Our sense of awe is inspired by the unknowable God. Our feeling of blessed union is fostered by the knowable God.

3. The lovable God. God’s love is unknown and yet well known to the loving nature. He comes forth from the vast unknown, and applies to Himself a well-known and familiar human term. He is the Father of Jesus Christ. God is not an unintelligible abstraction, but a father. The divine nature has in it the principle of fatherhood. From the eternal Father spring the many time fathers. He is over one vast family, and Christ Jesus is His firstborn Son. There is fatherliness in the nature and heart of the vast Unknown, and this fatherliness broods over the children of men. We worship a Father unknown as to His vastness, but known as to His love. And yet His love is unknown. Sufficient for us to know that He loves the Son, and that He loves all those who love the Son; and shall we not add that He has a love for all the earthborn? “We love Him because He first loved us.” We worship, we adore, we magnify a lovable God. As the sweet sun shining through the vast spaces of the great cathedral makes its sublimity attractive and cheers the whole edifice, so the sweeter sun of the Father’s love shining through the vast spaces of His profound nature renders the vastness attractive and cheers the heart of every sincere worshipper.

II. How must we worship?—“With one mind and one mouth.” When all hearts are melted by love’s sweet flame and fused into one shining unity, then all mouths will be in blessed unison. Pure and united, harmonious strains issue from a concert of well-tuned instruments; and so from the united spirits of Christian worshippers there results united worship. Love is the true musical director which can keep all the parts going harmoniously better than the baton of the best musical conductor the world has seen. The music of love is richer, vaster, and freer from discords than the music of the best earthly composers. It is difficult to get the best-trained choir to sing as with one mouth, still more difficult to secure oneness of mind; but this can be accomplished by the magical influence of love,—one mouth, not because all the other mouths are closed by law, by custom, or by indifference, but because all mind and speak the same things, because all voices are sweetly blended.

III. What is to be the effect of our worship?—The first great object and effect is plainly that God may be glorified by the aspect of a united worshipping community. The ideal described by the apostle is that of the union of the entire Church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, in the adoration of the God and Father who has redeemed and sanctified it by Jesus Christ. “This union was,” as Godet says, “in a sense Paul’s personal work, and the prize of his apostolic labours. How his heart must have leapt, hearing already, by the anticipation of faith, the hymn of saved humanity! It is the part of every believer, therefore, to make all the advances and all the sacrifices which love demands in order to work for so magnificent a result.” Our hearts glow at the prospect; but, alas! the hymn of saved humanity is far from being a perfected composition. The number of the voices is not being increased, at least not at all in proportion to the increase of the population. In one of our largest towns only a little more than one sixth of the population was found in places of worship on the census Sunday. What shall be done for our modern Babylon, where three millions have no connection at all with religious services? We are told that in a church-going part of the country the good custom is declining. Shall we despair? By no means. But let us ask, Are our hearts right towards God? Do we need repentance and thorough reformation, lest God remove our candlestick out of its place? Have Christians the one mind of love to God and to one another? Is there the one mouth speaking only to the glory of God? Let us not seek to attract by mere outward glitter, though we are far from deprecating any attempts which may be made to render God’s house and services attractive; but let us draw by purifying the inward. Let us earnestly and believingly pray to Him whose arm is not yet shortened, and whose willingness to save is still as vast as when He gave His well-beloved Son.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_15:5-7

Paul desires harmony.—Paul desires for the Roman Christians a harmony of spirit which will fill every mouth with one song of praise and exalt God in the eyes of mankind. He knows that this cannot be unless the strong in faith deny themselves for the good of their weaker brethren. He urges this as their bounden duty, and points to the example of Christ. By the use of the word “endurance” he admits the difficulty of the task. But he reminds them that to prompt them to such endurance the ancient Scriptures were written. And knowing that even the divine word is powerless without the presence of the divine Speaker, he prays that God, who enables them to maintain their Christian confidence, will also give them the spirit of harmony. He desires this in order that the weak, instead of losing the little faith they have, may join with the strong in praise to God.—Beet.

The advantage of a Church.—Here and there an unchurched soul may stir the multitudes to lofty deeds; isolated men, strong enough to preserve their souls apart from the Church, but shortsighted enough perhaps to fail to see that others cannot, may set high examples and stimulate to national reforms. But for the rank and file of us, made of such stuff as we are made of, the steady pressures of fixed institutions, the regular diets of a common worship, and the education of public Christian teaching are too obvious safeguards of spiritual culture to be set aside. Even Renan declares his conviction that, “Beyond the family and outside the State, man has need of the Church.… Civil society, whether it calls itself a commune, a canton, or a province, a state or fatherland, has many duties towards the improvement of the individual; but what it does is necessarily limited. The family ought to do much more, but often it is insufficient; sometimes it is wanting altogether. The association created in the name of moral principle can alone give to every man coming into this world a bond which unites him with the past, duties as to the future, examples to follow, a heritage to receive and to transmit, and a tradition of devotion to continue.” Apart altogether from the quality of its contribution to society, in the mere quantity of the work it turns out it stands alone. Even for social purposes the Church is by far the greatest employment bureau in the world. And the man who, seeing where it falls short, withholds on that account his witness to its usefulness is a traitor to history and to fact.—Drummond.

Intellectual young England is against churchgoing.—Intellectual young England is grandly patronising, and condescendingly allows us to attend the public services of religion if we feel so disposed. Its language is, I do not oppose churchgoing, or even say that it is undesirable. My point is merely that it is not necessary. Now necessary things are those which are requisite for a purpose. And in this sense public worship is necessary; for it is requisite for the purpose of fostering religious feeling in the individual, and for the purpose of preserving religion alive in the land. The man who says that private worship is enough, and that it is a waste of time to go to church, is not inspired with the true spirit of Christianity, which is benevolent. It is not necessary to take our meals with the family, or to join the club, or to adhere to a political party; but it is requisite for social well-being and prosperity. So that in this true sense it is necessary; and so also is it necessary “with one mind and one mouth to glorify God” in the hours of prayer. But it is affirmed that the Bible does not require it. St. Paul in this passage seems to regard it as an un questioned duty, and his point is to prepare the earlier believers for its right performance. Young England has a curious exposition of the direct command in Hebrews, where we are told not to forsake the assembling ourselves together. He says it does not apply to churchgoing at all, for the house of God spoken of in Rom_15:21 is clearly not a material one. Certainly not; but it is a house on the earth, for it consists of true believers, over which Christ is the High Priest. The passage relates to a present duty which is to be performed in expectation of the approaching day. Christ, as His custom was, went to the synagogue every Sabbath day. The early Church had frequent meetings for fellowship and Christian worship. Religion must decline if the public ordinances of religion are neglected. Mere external contact with the worship of God fails indeed to secure salvation, but wilful contempt of it is the way to ruin. It is a curious feature in young England that he points to the agnostic leaders as non-churchgoers and yet as good men. Doubtless good men in the sense of being moral, but not good men in the sense of being religious and spiritual. How can an agnostic, a man who professes not to know, who willingly remains ignorant, who practically denies a God, be a good man in the highest sense? Agnosticism is not our creed, but Christianity, and we must follow Christ and His apostles and all the faithful The question arises, How much of the morality of our agnostic leaders is due to the age which has been leavened with the pure leaven of the gospel? It is very sad that too many young Englanders owe themselves to religious parents and to surrounding Christian influences, and yet ungratefully spurn the institution which has done so much for our national well-being. Our love to God and to Christ, our gratitude for saving influences, our social instincts, and our patriotism should induce us “with one mind and one mouth to glorify God” in the earthly house set apart to religious services. It may be difficult to speak definitely as to the reason why a nation has declined; but one of the leading concomitants of a nation’s fall is the decline in morals and manners, and these decline with the downfall of religion. When ancient Israel forsook God, then it became an easy prey to the oppressor. Ephesus was once the metropolis of proconsular Asia; not merely in a political, but also in an ecclesiastical sense. It is placed at the head of the seven Churches. It is reported that St. John was its bishop. But Ephesus fell. Young Ephesus said it was not necessary to go to church. The first love departed; both private and public worship was neglected. At the present day the only remains of this once pleasant city are some ruins and the village of Ajosoluck. If we would not see our great metropolis in ruins, if we would not have the desolating tread of foreign foes over our fair green landscapes, we must seek the favour and protection of the eternal God, we must support the public ordinances of religion, we must work and pray for the spread and the increase of noble Christian men and women.

The God of patience.—When we say God is patient, four things are implied:—

I. Provocation.—Where there is nothing to try the temper, annoy, or irritate, there can be no patience. Humanity provokes God. The provocation is great, universal, constant. Measure His patience by the provocation.

II. Sensibility.—Where there is no tenderness of nature, no susceptibility of feeling, there may be obduracy and stoicism, but no patience. Patience implies feeling. God is infinitely sensitive. He feels the provocation. “Oh, do not this abominable thing,” etc.

III. Knowledge.—Where the provocation is not known, however great and however sensitive the being against whom it is directed, there can be no patience. God knows all the provocations.

IV. Power.—Where a being has not the power to resent an insult or to punish a provocation, though he may feel it and know it, his forbearing is not patience—it is simple weakness. He is bound by the infirmity of his nature to be passive. God is all-powerful.—Homilist.

The God of peace.—Whatever may be the amount of agitation in the universe, there is one Being sublimely pacific, without one ripple upon the clear and fathomless river of His nature. Three things are implied in this:—

I. That there is nothing malign in His nature.—Wherever there is any jealousy, wrath, or malice of any description, there can be no peace. Malevolence in any form or degree is soul-disturbing. In whatever mind it exists it is like a tide in the ocean, producing eternal restlessness. There is nothing malign in the infinite heart. He is love.

II. That there is nothing remorseful in His nature.—Wherever conscience accuses of wrong, there is no peace. All compunctions, self-accusations, are soul-distuibing. Moral self complaisance is essential to spirit peace. God is light. He has never done wrong, and His infinite conscience smiles upon Him and blesses Him with peace.

III. That there is nothing apprehensive in His nature.—Wherever there is a foreboding of evil, there is a mental disturbance. Fear is essentially an agitating principle. The Infinite has no fear. He is the absolute master of His position.—Homilist.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 15

Rom_15:5-6. Glorify God.—I do not wonder that the men nowadays who do not believe the Bible are so very sad when they are in earnest. A writer in one of our reviews tells that he was studying the poems of Matthew Arnold, who believed, not in a living God, but in a something or other, which somehow or other, at sometime or other, makes for righteousness. The sad and hopeless spirit of the poet passed for the time into the reviewer, and he felt most miserable. He went out for a walk. It was a bleak, wintry day, and he was then at Brodrick, in Arran. The hills were in a winding-sheet of snow, above which arose a ghastly array of clouds. The sky was of a leaden hue, and the sea was making its melancholy moan amid the jagged, dripping rocks. The gloom without joined the gloom within, and made him very wretched. He came upon some boys shouting merrily at play. “Are you at the school?” he asked. “Yes,” was the reply. “And what are you learning?” “I learn,” said one, “what is the chief end of man.” “And what is it?” the reviewer asked. The boy replied, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.” He at once felt that the boy was taught a religion of grandeur and joy, while the poet’s was a religion of darkness and despair.—J. Wells.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sixth Section.—Exhortation to unanimity on the part of all the members of the Church, to the praise of God and on the ground of God’s grace, in which Christ has accepted both Jews and Gentiles. Reference to the destination of all nations to glorify God, even according to the Old Testament, and encouragement of the Roman Christians to an immeasurable hope in regard to this, according to their calling

Rom_15:5-13

5Now the God of patience and consolation [comfort] grant you to be likeminded [of the same mind] one toward another according to Christ Jesus:6That ye may with one mind and one mouth [with one accord ye may with one mouth] glorify God, even the Father [or, the God and Father]6 of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us 8[you],7 to the glory of God.8 Now [For]9 I say that Jesus [omit Jesus]10 Christ was [hath been made]11 a minister of the circumcision for the truth [for the sake of God’s truth] of God, to [in order to] confirm the promises madeunto the fathers: 9And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written,

For this cause I will confess [give thanks] to thee among the Gentiles,

And sing unto thy name.

10, 11And again he saith,12 Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again,13

Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles;

And laud14 him, all ye people.

12And again, Esaias [Isaiah] saith,15

There shall be a root of Jesse,

And he that shall rise [riseth] to reign over the Gentiles;

In him shall the Gentiles trust [hope].

13Now [And may] the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace16 in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through [ἐν, in] the power of the Holy Ghost.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The positive destination of the Christian Church at Rome.

Rom_15:5. Now the God of patience, &c. [ὁδὲ Θεὸς τῆς ὑπομονῆς, κ.τ.λ. “God, who is the author of patience,” &c. So Hodge, Meyer, and most. Luther: “Scriptura quidem docet, sed gratia donat, quod illa docet.” Comp. Calvin on the patience of the Christian. De Wette, Meyer, and others, understand by ὑπομονή, constancy. Hodge takes consolation as the source of patience.—R.] God is the common, inexhaustible source of all the matured patience of the New Testament, and of all the preparatory comfort of the Old Testament; and it is from Him that believers must derive the gift of being of the same mind one toward another according to Christ Jesus (not according to His example and will merely, but according to His Spirit).17

Rom_15:6. It is only in this path of self-humiliation that they shall and can attain to the glorious way of glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—Him who has glorified Jesus as Christ, after Christ passed through the Jesus-way of humiliation, and whom they glorify in the anticipation that He will glorify them with Him, as He has already glorified them in Him. The terms Christ Jesus and Jesus Christ are here reversed with remarkable acuteness and effect.—With one accord, ὁμοθυμαδόν, is not explained by the phrase: with one mouth [ἐν ἑνὶ στόματι], but the former is the source of the latter, as Meyer has correctly observed, against Reiche. [“When God is so praised that the same mood impels every one to the same utterance of praise, then party-feeling is banished, and unanimity has found its most sacred expression” (Meyer).—R.]

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [τὸν Θεὸν καὶ πατέρα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ.] He is not only the Father, but also the God, of Christ, in the highest specific sense (thus Grotius [Bengel, Reiche, Fritzsche, Jowett], and others, in opposition to Meyer). Comp. Eph_1:17.

[God, even the Father, &c. The E. V. thus renders, disconnecting “of our Lord Jesus Christ” from “God.” So De Wette, Philippi, Meyer, Stuart, Webster and Wilkinson. Hodge, Tholuck, and Alford, leave the question undecided. It would seem that either view is admissible grammatically; καί is often used epexegetically, even, and the article (standing before θεοῦ only) may merely bind the two terms, “God” and “Father of Christ” (Meyer). At the same time, the article might be looked for before πατέρα, were καί explicative. Nor is there any doctrinal difficulty occasioned by either view. The only reason in my own mind for preferring the interpretation of the E. V. is, that those exegetes, who are most delicate in their perceptions of grammatical questions, adopt it. See Meyer in loco.—R.]

Rom_15:7. Wherefore receive ye one another [διὸ προσλαμβάνεσθε ἀλλήλους]. In the intensive sense. An exhortation to both parties.

As Christ also received you [καθὼς καὶ ὁ χριστὸς προσελάβετο ὑμᾶς. See Textual Note2.] This is more definitely explained in Rom_15:8-9.

To the glory of God [εἰς δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. See Textual Note3.] This must be referred to Christ’s reception of them, and not to the exhortation: receive ye one another, according to Chrysostom, and others.18 That God might be glorified. Not immediately, in order that we may share the Divine glory with Christ (Grotius, Beza, and others), although the glorification of God shall consist in that. As the self-humiliation of Christ, which was proved by His receiving men into His fellowship, led to the glorification of God (see John xvii.), so also, according to the previous verse, shall the same conduct of self-humiliation on the part of Christians have the same effect. But how has Christ received us into His fellowship? Answer:

Rom_15:8. For I say [λέγω γάρ. See Textual Note4.] The Apostle now explains how Christ received the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians into fellowship with himself.—That Christ [χριστόν. See Textual Note5.] The reading Christ, as a designation of God’s Son, in view of the incarnation. In this view He hath been made a minister of the circumcision [διάκονον γεγεῆσθαι περιτομῆς. See Textual Note6. Dr. Lange, in his German text of this verse, thus explains this phrase: “from a higher, Divine-human, ideal point of view, receiving the Jews into His fellowship, by submitting himself to circumcision.”—R.] His concrete incarnation as a Jew, in which He became subject to the Jewish law (see Php_2:7; Gal_4:4), must be distinguished from His incarnation in the more general sense. By this means, He, as the heavenly Strong One, through voluntary love entered into the fellowship of the infinitely weak in both a human and legal sense, and accordingly received them into His fellowship. It seems far-fetched to regard the circumcision here (with Meyer [Philippi, Hodge], and others) as an abstract idea for the circumcised.19 The circumcision denotes the law; and as He freely became a minister of the law, He also became a ministering companion of the Jews; Mat_20:28. Therefore it is not the theocratic “honor of the Jews” which is emphasized here (Meyer) [Philippi], but the condescension to serve them. [So Hodge. Διάκονον is in emphatic position. The view of the emphasis taken by Meyer seems confirmed by what follows, which sets forth an advantage of the Jews.—R.]

For the sake of God’s truth [ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας Θεοῦ. For the sake of the truthfulness of God, in order to justify and to prove it by means of the fulfilment of the promises of the Old Testament.—R.] This undoubtedly seems to express the advantage of the Jews; but it also indicates their perilous condition. His condescension had a twofold cause: God’s mercy, and His promises resting upon it. Principially, His mercy took the precedence; but historically, the promise preceded. The truthfulness of God had to be sealed; He must confirm the promises given to the fathers by fulfilling them, however unfortunate the condition of the posterity; must confirm them in a way finally valid, for, as such sealed promises, they still continue in force, according to chap. 11., especially to believers (see 2Co_1:20; Rev_3:14).

Rom_15:9. And that the Gentiles, &c. [τὰ δὲ ἒθνη ὑπὲρ ἐλέους δοξάσαι τὸν Θεόν.] Christ had to receive the Jews, acting as a minister to them through His whole life; and He had to confine himself to historical labors among them, not so much because they were worthy of it, as to fulfil the promises given to the fathers. But the Gentiles were now the object of utterly unmerited mercy. The thought that Christ has redeemed the Gentiles through pure mercy, which was not yet historically pledged to them (for the promises in the Old Testament in relation to the Gentiles were not pledges to the Gentiles themselves), now passes immediately over into the representation of the fact that the Gentiles have already come to glorify God as believers, in which they have an advantage on their side also. The meaning of ὑπὲρ ἐλέους is, that mercy could not help satisfying itself for its own sake, by redemption. The δοξάσαι has been translated by Rückert [De Wette, Hodge, Alford], and others: have glorified; by Köllner [Calvin, Tholuck], and Philippi: should glorify. See Meyer on this point, p. 517.20 The aorist says, at all events, that they have decidedly begun to glorify God.

For this cause I will give thanks to thee, &c. [Διὰ τοῦτο ἐξομολογήσομαι σοι, κ.τ.λ. Verbatim from the LXX., except that κύριε is omitted here. On the verb, see Rom_14:11, p.—R.] Meyer aptly says: “The historical subject of the passage, David, is the type of Christ, and the latter (not the Gentile Christian, with Fritzsche; nor the collective term for the Gentile apostles, with Reiche; nor any messenger of salvation to the world, with Philippi) is therefore, in Paul’s sense, the prophetical subject; Christ promises that He will glorify God among the Gentiles (surrounded by believing Gentiles) for His mercy (διὰ τοῦτο = ὑπὲρ ἐλέους). But this is the plastic description of glorifying on the part of the Gentiles themselves, which takes place in the name of the Lord Jesus, and through Him (Col_3:17).”

Rom_15:10. Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people [Εὐφράνθητε ἒθνη μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ. See Textual Note7, for the Hebrew text.—R.] Deu_32:43. From the LXX., which reads μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ for עַמּוֹ, “probably following another reading: אֶת־עַמּוֹ;” Meyer. On the impossibility of understanding, by Goim, the single tribes of Israel, which De Wette does, comp. Tholuck, p. 730. [Also Philippi, whose remarks on this citation are unusually full and valuable.—R.] According to the theocratic idea, the definitions: rejoice to his people, or rather, make his people rejoice (הַרְנִינוּ), ye Gentiles, and rejoice with his people, amount to the same thing.

Rom_15:11. Praise the Lord; Psa_117:1. [An exact citation from the LXX. See Textual Notes 8 and 9, however.—R.] A prophecy of the universal spread of salvation.

Rom_15:12. And again, Isaiah saith. [See Textual Note10.] In Rom_11:10 : According to the LXX., which, however, has translated the original text so freely that the twofold dominion of the Messiah is indicated, on the one hand, over the Jews (as the root of Jesse), and, on the other, over the Gentiles.

A root of Jesse [ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ Ἰεσσαὶ]. See Isa_11:1. The tree of the royal house of David being cut down, the Messiah arose from the root of the house, which is symbolized by Jesse. In a higher sense, Christ was indeed the holy root of Jesse, and of the house of David itself.

Rom_15:13. And may the God of hope. A grand description of God here, where the object is to remind the Roman Christians to lead a life in perfect accordance with their universal calling. To this also belongs the duty of looking confidently and prayerfully to the God of hope, the God of that future of salvation which is so infinitely rich, both extensively and intensively.

With all joy and peace. From that hope, the highest possible evangelical, saving joy, shall spring; the result of this shall be the richest measure of peace, and the harmony and unanimity of faith. This shall take place in believing (πιστεύειν, it is not by unbelief, or by abridging our faith, that the unity of Christianity should be sought), and accordingly these two spiritual blessings shall ever produce a richer hope, not in human power and according to a human measure, but in the inward measure and divine power of the Holy Ghost.[21]

Therefore the realization of hope should not be striven for by the aid of earthly and even infernal powers: one shepherd and one fold! According to Grotius, the end of this hope is harmony; according to Tholuck, the immediate end is the gracious gifts of God’s kingdom; while the ultimate end is the regnum gloriæ. However, there lies just between these the end which the Apostle here has in view—that by the aid of the Church at Rome, in their fellowship with Paul, all nations shall be brought, by the spread of faith, to glorify God; Eph_1:18 ff.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The great grounds of the profound and perfect harmony and unanimity of Christians, a. God as the God of patience and comfort; that is, as the God of the infinite power of passive and active love; b. The pattern, the spirit, the power, and the work of Christ; c. The design that Christians, by being like-minded, and by aiming at substantial fellowship in God and in Christ (as created and redeemed), should find also the ethical fellowship of harmony and unanimity.

2. The universal fellowship into which Christ has entered with humanity, and the special fellowship in which He has pledged himself to the Jews, constitute the basis for the most special and real fellowship into which He, through His grace, has entered with believers. But it is a grievous offence to refuse communion with him whom Christ, by the witness of faith and of confession, has communion, or to abridge and prejudice hearty intercourse with those whom God, in Christ, deems worthy of His fellowship. [Rom_15:7 seems to be a dictum probans for what is termed “open communion.”—R.]

3. On the antithesis: Christ Jesus and Jesus Christ, see the Exeg. Notes.

4. It is also clear here (see Rom_15:8) that we must distinguish between the ideal incarnation of Christ in itself, and His concrete incarnation in Judaism, and, generally, in the form of a servant.

5. God is free in His grace, and yet also bound in His truth, for He has bound himself to His promises. But this obligation is the highest glory of His freedom. His truthfulness had to satisfy His word, but His mercy had to satisfy itself.

6. The riches of the Old Testament in promises for the Jews, and the high aim of these promises: a world of nations praising the Lord.

7. The God of patience, comfort, hope. All such terms define God to be infinite, and infinite as a fountain, as self-communicating life, and archetype of life. So also is the Holy Spirit defined as the Spirit of truth, &c. See the beautiful remark of Gerlach, below. But the highest thing for which we can praise God, according to Rom_15:6, is His being the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only is He His Father in the specific sense, but also His God; the glorious God of His consciousness and life is the true God in perfect revelation, and consequently shall become our God through Him.

8. On the development of hope, within the sphere of faith, into joy and peace, and, by means of peace, into an ever richer hope, see the Exeg. Notes. It is only in this way that irenics can be conducted in the power of the Holy Ghost, and not with the modern artifice of attempting them outside the sphere of faith, beyond all creeds, and with the theory of unconscious Christianity, or even with the violent measures of the Middle Ages. The Apostle says: In the power of the Holy Ghost.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Jewish and Gentile Christians should agree for Christ’s sake, who has received them both.—Christian harmony. 1. It comes from the God of patience and comfort; 2. It is shaped according to the pattern and will of Jesus Christ; 3. It expresses itself in harmonious praise of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom_15:5-6).—A harmonious and fraternal disposition is a source of the joyous praise of God, which is not disturbed by a discordant note (Rom_15:5-6).—Jesus Christ a minister of the circumcision. 1. Why? For the truth of God, to confirm the promise. 2. How? In obedience to the Divine law, for freedom from the law (Rom_15:8).—Receive one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Every thing to God’s glory, and not to our own (Rom_15:7).—The praise of God out of the mouth of Gentiles: 1. Established in God’s mercy; 2. Resounding in many tongues; 3. Ascending to heaven (Rom_15:9).—God’s mercy toward the Gentiles: 1. Present from the beginning; 2. Declared by the prophets; 3. Manifested in Christ (Rom_15:9-13). Rom_15:13 is an appropriate text and theme for addresses on occasions of confirmation or marriage.

Starke: In Christ, souls are worth so much that God receives them, just as men hoard gold and silver, pearls and gems; Isa_43:4 (Rom_15:7).—Müller: Patience does not increase in the garden of nature, but it is God’s gift and grace; God is the real Master who creates it (Rom_15:5).—Because Christ is a root, He must vegetate, bloom, and bring forth fruit in us (Rom_15:12).

Gerlach: God is the source of all good things, and since He not merely has them, but they are His real essence; since He does not have love and omnipotence, but is actually love and omnipotence themselves, so can He be denominated according to every glorious attribute and gift which He possesses. The advantage which the Gentiles thought that they possessed in their polytheism, when they, for example, worshipped a deity of truth, of hope, &c., is possessed in a much more certain and effective way by the believing Christian, when he perceives, in a vital manner, that the true God is himself personal faithfulness, hope, and love, and thus has all these attributes just as if He had nothing else but them (Rom_15:5).

Heubner: The harmony of hearts is the real soul and power of worship (Rom_15:6).—Christ is the centre of the Holy Scriptures (Rom_15:8).—Christ is the bond of all nations (Rom_15:12).—God alone is the source of all life and blessing in the Church. The means is faith, as the ever new appropriation of saving blessings; from this arises the enjoyment of peace and of all blessed joys—an overflow of hope. But every thing is brought to pass by the Holy Spirit (Rom_15:13).

Besser: The Scriptures are a book of patience and comfort (Rom_15:5.)—Every thing which is true joy in this life, is a foretaste of the joy of eternal life—joy in the Lord and His word, joy in all His blessings, which make body and soul happy, &c. … All true peace in this world of contention and anxiety, is a preliminary enjoyment of the peace in the kingdom of glory.

Schleiermacher: The limitation in the labors of our Saviour himself, when we look at His person, and the greater freedom and expansion in the labors of His disciples. 1. Treatment; 2. Application (Rom_15:8-9).

Rom_15:4-13. The Pericope for the Second Sunday in Advent.—Schultz: On the likeness of Christ and His redeemed ones. 1. In what respect has Christ become like us? 2. In what respect should we become like Christ? a. In patience and humility; b. In the respect and love with which He treated all men; c. In the joyful faith and peaceful hope with which He overcame the world.—Riemer: What must there be among Christians, in order that the Church of Christ may stand? 1. One foundation; 2. A harmonious mouth; 3. A common bond.—Brandt: To what does the season of Advent exhort us? 1. To the industrious examination of what has been written; 2. To the unanimous praise of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for all that has been already fulfilled; 3. To an attentive waiting for the future coming of God’s kingdom.—Heubner: The unity of the Christian Church. 1. In what does it consist? 2. What binds us to it?—The Bible the bond of the Christian Church. 1. Proof: It is the bond, a. In faith, or in doctrine; b. In the holy sense, or in love; c. In worship; d. In daily life. 2. Application, a. A warning against despising the Bible, and an admonition to maintain its authority; b. A dissemination of its use; c. Our own proper use of it.—The Bible the treasure of the evangelical Church.—The inward unity of true Christians amid outward diversity.

[Burkitt: The Christian’s hope: 1. God is its object, and therefore the sin of despair is most unreasonable; for why should any despair of His mercy who is the God of hope, who commands us to hope in His mercy, and takes pleasure in them that do ?Song of Solomon 2. The grace of hope, together with joy and peace in believing, are rooted in the Christian’s heart, through the power of the Holy Ghost—that is, through the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost—enlightening the understanding, inclining the will, rectifying the affections, and reducing all the rebellious powers and faculties of the soul in concurrence with our endeavors under the government and dominion of reason and religion.

[Henry: The method of faith is: 1. To seek Christ as one proposed to us for a Saviour; 2. And, finding Him able and willing to save, then to trust in Him. They that know Him will trust in Him. Or, this seeking Him is the effect of a trust in Him, seeking Him by prayer and pursuant endeavors. Trust, is the mother; diligence in the use of means, the daughter.—What is laid out upon Christians is but little compared with what is laid up for them.—Doddridge: Nothing can furnish so calm a peace and so sublime a joy as Christian hope.—That is the most happy and glorious circumstance in the station which Providence may have assigned us, which gives us the greatest opportunity of spreading the honor of so dear a name, and of presenting praises and services to God through Him.

Kollock, Sermon on the patience of God: I. The nature of this patience, or slowness to anger: (1) It is a modification of the Divine goodness; (2) It is not the result of ignorance; (3) It is not the result of impotence; (4) It is not the result of a connivance at sin, or a resolution to suffer it with impunity; (5) But it is grounded on the everlasting covenant, and the blood of Jesus. II. Some of the most illustrious manifestations of it. III. The reasons why God exercises it: (1) He is patient because of His benignity; (2) In order that this perfection may be glorified; (3). In consequence of the prayers of pious ancestors; (4) Because the wicked are often mixed with the pious, and nearly related to them; (5) The number of His elect is not yet completed; (6) The measure of the sins of the wicked is not yet filled up; (7) That sinners may be brought to repentance; (8) That sinners who continue impenitent may at last be without excuse; (9) That His power may be displayed; (10) That He may exercise the trust of His servants in Him. IV. The effects that the belief and knowledge of it should produce upon our hearts and lives: (1) Because of God’s patience we should love Him; (2) We should repent; (3) We should imitate Him; (4) His patience should be our comfort; (5) We should grieve at the reproaches and insults cast upon God.

[Homiletical Literature on Rom_15:13 : Hugh Binning, Works, vol. iii. 249; R. Lucas, Joy, Peace, and Hope, the Christian’s Portion Here, Serm. (1709), vol. ii. 119; Bishop Moore, Excellency of the Christian Religion, Serm., vol. ii. 291; James Craig, Serm., vol. ii. 355; J. Dodson, Joy in Believing, Disc., 184; Daniel De Superville. (le fils), Les Fruits consolans de la Foi, Serm., vol. iii. 328; R. Moss, Nature and Qualification of Christian Hope, Serm., vol. vi. 325; Price, Peace of Conscience, Hope, and Holy Joy, Berry St. SS., vol. i. 419; S. Ogden, The Being of the Holy Ghost, Serm., 157; W. Mason, The Effects of the Divine Spirit, Works, vol. iv. 147; H. Hunter, The Belief of the Gospel a Source of Joy and Peace, Serm. (1795), vol. i. 227; David Savile, Present Happiness of Believers, Disc., 401; W. Gilpin, Sermons, 165; C. Simeon, The Holy Ghost the Author of Hope, Works, vol. xv. 553; G. D’Oyly, Joy and Peace in Believing, vol. i. 385; W. Blackley, Script. Teaching, 263; W. Gresley, Joy and Peace in Believing, Practical Serm., 41; E. Blencowe, Hope, Plain Serm., vol. ii. 80; H. Goodwin, The Young Man in Religious Difficulties, Four Serm., 35.—J. F. H.]

Footnotes:

[6]Rom_15:6.—[On the two renderings given above, see the Exeg. Notes.

[7]Rom_15:7.—[The Rec., with B. D1.: ἡμᾶς; א. A. C. D2 3. F. L., most versions and many fathers: ὑμᾶς. All modern editors adopt the latter. Besides the overwhelming MS. support, there is the additional reason, that ἡμᾶς might so readily enter as a correct gloss, since the reference is undoubtedly to both Jewish and Gentile Christians. See the Exeg. Notes.

[8]Rom_15:7.—[The Rec., on very insufficient authority, omits τοῦ before Θεοῦ; inserted in א. A. B. C. D. F. G.

[9]Rom_15:8.—[Instead of γάρ, which is found in א. A. B. C. D. F., versions and fathers, the Rec. (with L. and Peshito) reads: δέ. The latter reading probably arose from a misunderstanding of the connection (Alford), or because λέγω δέ is so common with Paul (Meyer). The former is now generally adopted (from Griesbach to Tregelles). Phillippi thinks a decision impossible!

[10]Rom_15:8.—[D. F., Syriac versions, Rec., insert Ἰησοῦν before Χριστόν; some authorities (including Vulgate), after χρ.; omitted in א. A. B. C., fathers; rejected by Lachmann, Tischendorf, De Wette, Alford. The variation in position is decidedly against it, making an interpolation extremely probable. Dr. Lange thinks the connection favors the omission.

[11]Rom_15:8.—[א. A. C2. D3. L., many fathers: γεγενῆσθαι; adopted by De Wette, Philippi, Meyer, Alford, Lange. B. C1. D1. F.: γενέσθαι, adopted by Lachmann and Tregelles. The former is to be preferred, because the γε was likely to be omitted, and the latter might have been substituted as a correction.

[12] Rom_15:10.—[From the LXX., Deu_32:43. The Hebrew text is: הַרְנִינוּ גו̇יּם עַמּוֹ, literally, Rejoice, O ye nations. His people. It is not necessary, in order to defend the rendering of the LXX., to suppose that they read עִם עַמּוֹ or דְעַמּדֹ or אֶת־עַמּדֹ (although the last has been found). They could find the sense they have adopted in the Hebrew text as ft stands, by simply repeating the imperative (in thought) before עַמּדֹ. See Philippi in loco, and Hengstenberg, on Psa_18:50.

[13]Rom_15:11.—[B. D. F. read ΛΈΓΕΙ; omitted in א. A. C. L., fathers. It was easily inserted from Rom_15:10. Lachmann adopts it, but it is generally rejected.—The order of the Rec.: τὸν κύριον πάντα τὰ ἒθνη is probably a correction to conform with the LXX. א. A. B. D, Vulgate, Syriac, &c.: π. τ. ἒθ. τὸν κύριον. So Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Tregelles.

[14]Rom_15:11.—[א. A. B. C.: ὲπαινεσάτωσαν. So Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer, De Wette, Alford, Tregelles, Lange. Rec., F. L., versions: ἐπαινέσατε (so LXX., although the MSS. vary). Philippi adopts the latter, but he is a conservative as respects the Recepta.

[15] Rom_15:12.—[The LXX. (Isa_11:10) is followed here. It differs somewhat from the Hebrew, which reads:

דְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא שֹׁרֶשׁ רִשַׁי אֲשֶׁר עֹמֵד לְנֵם עַמִּרם אֵלָיד גּוֹיִם יִדְרשׁדּ.

Literally: “And in that day shall the root of Jesse which (is) standing (or set up) be for a signal to the nations; unto Him shall the Gentiles seek” (J. A. Alexander). But the LXX. only strengthens this into a form well suited to the Apostle’s purpose.

[16]Rom_15:13.—[F. G. read: πληθορήσαι ὑμᾶς πάσῃ χαπᾷ καὶ εὶπήνῃ. So B., inserting ἐν before the datives. א. A. C. D. L.: πληπώσαι ὑμᾶς πάσης χαρᾶς καὶ εὶπῆνης; accepted by most editors.—R.]

[17][With this accords the view of Dr. Hodge: “The expression, to be like-minded, does not here refer to unanimity of opinion, but to harmony of feeling; see chaps. Rom_8:5; Rom_12:3.” The context favors this very decidedly.—Meyer thinks “the example of Christ (Rom_15:3) is still the ruling thought;” but it is certainly not the exclusive one. The verb δῴη is the latter Hellenistic form for δοίη.—R.]

[18][Dr. Hodge seems to prefer the other reference, while Dr. Lange really adopts both in his further remarks. Dr. Hodge does not decide which reading he adopts, ὑμᾶς or ἡμᾶς; but says that, if the former he the true reading, Paul is “exhorting the Gentile converts to forbearance toward their Jewish brethren.” This view is rejected by most of the later commentators, for both parties are addressed, as the context shows. Because Paul often means Gentiles when he says ἡμεῖς, we need not hold that he always uses it in this sense.—R.]

[19][This view can scarcely be deemed “far-fetched,” when it is so readily suggested by the antithesis, ἒθνη (Rom_15:9). and when Paul so frequently uses the term in this sense (comp. Rom_3:20; Gal_2:7 ff.; Eph_2:11; Col_3:11).—R.]

[20] [The aorist infinitive δοξάσαι has occasioned some trouble among the grammarians.

1. It has been taken as dependent on λέγω (Rom_15:8). So Winer, p. 311, Hodge, Alford, De Wette, Philippi; but in different senses: (a.) I say that the Gentiles have praised God (at their conversion). So Alford, Hodge, De Wette. But this is both contrary to the usage with the aorist infinitive, and introduces a thought that does not seem to belong here naturally. (b.) I say that the Gentiles ought to praise God (Calvin, Philippi, Tholuck). But there is no idea of obligation introduced in Rom_15:8 which is parallel to this. (c.) I say that the Gentiles praise (indefinitely). So Winer, Fritzsche. But to this there are grammatical objections. Besides this, all these involve an incorrect view of the dependence of the infinitive.

2. The simplest, most natural view, is that of the E. V., Meyer, &c. The infinitive stands next to a clause where there is also an aorist infinitive (βεβαιῶσαι); it is therefore coördinate with this, depending also on εἰς τύ, though expressing the more remote purpose: Christ was made a minister, &c., in order to confirm the promises, and as a result of this, that the Gentiles might praise God for His mercy.—R.]

[21][Meyer renders: in virtue of the (inworking) power of the Holy Ghost. Our E. V., usually so apt, is peculiarly unfortunate in its treatment of the preposition ὲν, which it readers through in this case. The later revisions have by. But it is to be doubted whether ἐν ever has a strictly instrumental force. The peculiar meaning, in, always remains in it. So here, in believing, in the power of the Holy Ghost; the former expressing the subjective, and the latter, the objective means, yet the former sets forth the status, in which (gläubigsein) they are, and the latter an inworking power. Comp. Philippi.—R.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15:5-6 live in complete harmony: This phrase (see study note on 12:16) refers to the whole orientation of how someone thinks. A mindset of harmony is important for Christian unity (see 12:3-5, 16; Phil 2:2-5).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 15:5. Θεὸς τὴς ὑπομονῆς καὶ παρακλήσεως, The God of patience and consolation) So, the God of hope, Rom 15:13, the God of peace, Rom 15:33. Titles from the thing, which is treated of. Elsewhere, the God of glory, the God of order, the God of the living, the God of heaven.—τῆς παρακλήσεως—τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν—κατὰ) So plainly, Php 2:1-2.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_15:5. Δέ] leading over to the wish that God may grant them the concord which it was the design of the previous exhortation, Rom_15:1-4, to establish.

The characteristic designation of God as the author of the perseverance and of the consolation,[13] is intended not merely to supply an external connection with Rom_15:4, but stands in an internal relation to the following to ΤῸ ΑὐΤῸ ΦΡΟΝΕῖΝ, since this cannot exist if mens minds are not patient and consoled, so that they do not allow themselves to be disturbed by anything adverse in the like effort which must take place in their mutual fellowship (ἘΝ ἈΛΛΗΛ.). Through this identity (ΤῸ ΑὐΤῸ, comp. on Rom_12:16) of purpose and endeavour there exists in a church Ἡ ΚΑΡΔΊΑ ΚΑῚ Ἡ ΨΥΧῊ ΜΊΑ, Act_4:32.

On the form ΔῷΗ, instead of the older Attic ΔΟΊΗ, see Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 346; Kühner, I. p. 644.

κατὰ Χ. Ἰ.] conformably to Christ. Either Christ is conceived as the regulative ideal of the frame of mind, according to which each is to adjust himself for his part in the common τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν; or: according to the will of Christ (comp. Joh_17:21), like κατὰ Θεόν, Rom_8:27. The first is to be preferred, since the model of Christ, Rom_15:3 (comp. Rom_15:7), is still the conception present to the apostles mind. Comp. Col_2:8; Php_2:5; κατὰ κύριον, 2Co_11:17, is somewhat different.

[13] Calvin aptly remarks: Solus sane Deus patientiae et consolationis auctor est, quia utrumque cordibus nostris instillat per Spiritum suum; verbo tamen suo velut instrumento ad id utitur.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 15:5 Paul returns to his point in a prayer: the God of the patience and comfort just spoken of grant unto you, etc. τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν ἐν ἀλλήλοις κατὰ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν : cf. Rom 12:16 , where, however, τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν with εἰς ἀλλήλους is not quite the same. Paul wishes here that the minds of his readers their moral judgment and temper may all be determined by Jesus Christ (for κατὰ , expressing the rule according to which, see chap. Rom 8:27 ): in this case there will be the harmony which the disputes of chap. 14 disturbed.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_15:5

Now, the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another, according to Jesus Christ. May God, who is the author of patience and consolation, grant, etc. Here the graces, which in the preceding verse are ascribed to the Scriptures, are attributed to God as their author, because he produces them by his Spirit, through the instrumentality of the truth. The patience, ὑπομονή, of which the apostle speaks, is the calm and steadfast endurance of suffering, of which the consolation, παρακλήσις, afforded by the Scriptures, is the source. This resignation of the Christian is very different from stoicism as Calvin beautifully remarks: Patientia fidelium non est illa durities, quam praecipiunt philosophi: sed ea mansuetudo, qua nos libenter Deo subjicimus, dum gustus bonitatis ejus paternique amoris dulcia omnia nobis reddit. Ea spem in nobis alit ac sustinet, ne deficiat. Luther says: Scriptura quidem docet, sed gratia donat, quod illa docet. External teaching is not enough; we need the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit to enable us to receive and conform to the truths and precepts of the word. Hence Paul prays that God would give his readers the patience, consolation, and hope which they are bound to exercise and enjoy. Paul prays that God would grant them that concord and ananimity which he had so strongly exhorted them to cherish. The expression (τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν), to be like minded, does not here refer to unanimity of opinion, but to harmony of feeling; see Rom_8:5; Rom_12:3. According to Jesus Christ, i.e. agreeably to the example and command of Christ; in a Christian manner. It is, therefore, to a Christian union that he exhorts them.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We must take an example of patience, of God that both the weak and the strong serving God with a mutual consent, may bring one another to God, as Christ also received us unto himself, although we were never so unworthy.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The apostle, having delivered two exhortations, before he proceeds to more, intermixes here a prayer for the success of what he had said. Faithful ministers water their preaching with their prayers, because, whoever sows the seed, it is God that gives the increase. We can but speak to the ear; it is God's prerogative to speak to the heart. Observe,

I. The title he gives to God: The God of patience and consolation, who is both the author and the foundation of all the patience and consolation of the saints, from whom it springs and on whom it is built. He gives the grace of patience; he confirms and keeps it up as the God of consolation; for the comforts of the Holy Ghost help to support believers, and to bear them up with courage and cheerfulness under all their afflictions. When he comes to beg the pouring out of the spirit of love and unity he addresses himself to God as the God of patience and consolation; that is, 1. As a God that bears with us and comforts us, is not extreme to mark what we do amiss, but is ready to comfort those that are cast down - to teach us so to testify our love to our brethren, and by these means to preserve and maintain unity, by being patient one with another and comfortable one to another. Or, 2. As a God that gives us patience and comfort. He had spoken (Rom 15:4) of patience and comfort of the scriptures; but here he looks up to God as the God of patience and consolation: it comes through the scripture as the conduit-pipe, but from God as the fountain-head. The more patience and comfort we receive from God, the better disposed we are to love one another. Nothing breaks the peace more than an impatient, and peevish, and fretful melancholy temper.

II. The mercy he begs of God: Grant you to be like-minded one towards another, according to Christ Jesus. 1. The foundation of Christian love and peace is laid in like-mindedness, a consent in judgment as far as you have attained, or at least a concord and agreement in affection. To auto phronein - to mind the same thing, all occasions of difference removed, and all quarrels laid aside. 2. This like-mindedness must be according to Christ Jesus, according to the precept of Christ, the royal law of love, according to the pattern and example of Christ, which he had propounded to them for their imitation, Rom 15:3. Or, "Let Christ Jesus be the centre of your unity. Agree in the truth, not in any error." It was a cursed concord and harmony of those who were of one mind to give their power and strength to the beast (Rev 17:13); this was not a like-mindedness according to Christ, but against Christ; like the Babel-builders, who were one in their rebellion, Gen 11:6. The method of our prayer must be first for truth, and then for peace; for such is the method of the wisdom that is from above: it is first pure, then peaceable. This is to be like-minded according to Christ Jesus. 3. Like-mindedness among Christians, according to Christ Jesus, is the gift of God; and a precious gift it is, for which we must earnestly seek unto him. He is the Father of spirits, and fashions the hearts of men alike (Psa 33:15), opens the understanding, softens the heart, sweetens the affections, and gives the grace of love, and the Spirit as a Spirit of love, to those that ask him. We are taught to pray that the will of God may be done on earth as it is done in heaven - now there it is done unanimously, among the angels, who are one in their praises and services; and our desire must be that the saints on earth may be so too.

III. The end of his desire: that God may be glorified, Rom 15:6. This is his plea with God in prayer, and is likewise an argument with them to seek it. We should have the glory of God in our eye in every prayer; therefore our first petition, as the foundation of all the rest, must be, Hallowed be thy name. Like-mindedness among Christians is in order to our glorifying God, 1. With one mind and one mouth. It is desirable that Christians should agree in every thing, that so they may agree in this, to praise God together. It tends very much to the glory of God, who is one, and his name one, when it is so. It will not suffice that there be one mouth, but there must be one mind, for God looks at the heart; nay, there will hardly be one mouth where there is not one mind, and God will scarcely be glorified where there is not a sweet conjunction of both. One mouth in confessing the truths of God, in praising the name of God - one mouth in common converse, not jarring, biting, and devouring one another - one mouth in the solemn assembly, one speaking, but all joining. 2. As the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is his New Testament style. God must be glorified as he has now revealed himself in the face of Jesus Christ, according to the rules of the gospel, and with an eye to Christ, in whom he is our Father. The unity of Christians glorifies God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because it is a kind of counter-part or representation of the oneness that is between the Father and the Son. We are warranted so to speak of it, and, with that in our eye, to desire it, and pray for it, from Joh 17:21, That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee: a high expression of the honour and sweetness of the saints' unity. And it follows, The the world may believe that thou hast sent me; and so God may be glorified as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Now the God of patience and consolation--Such beautiful names of God are taken from the graces which He inspires: as "the God of hope" (Rom 15:13), "the God of peace" (Rom 15:33).

grant you to be likeminded--"of the same mind"

according to Christ Jesus--It is not mere unanimity which the apostle seeks for them; for unanimity in evil is to be deprecated. But it is "according to Christ Jesus"--after the sublimest model of Him whose all-absorbing desire was to do, "not His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him" (Joh 6:38).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. Now the God of patience and consolation] May that God who endued them with patience, and gave them the consolation that supported them in all their trials and afflictions, grant you to be like-minded - give you the same mode of thinking, and the same power of acting towards each other, according to the example of Christ.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. And the God of patience, etc. God is so called from what he produces; the same thing has been before very fitly ascribed to the Scriptures, but in a different sense: God alone is doubtless the author of patience and of consolation; for he conveys both to our hearts by his Spirit: yet he employs his word as the instrument; for he first teaches us what is true consolation, and what is true patience; and then he instills and plants this doctrine in our hearts.

But after having admonished and exhorted the Romans as to what they were to do, he turns to pray for them: for he fully understood, that to speak of duty was to no purpose, except God inwardly effected by his Spirit what he spoke by the mouth of man. The sum of his prayer is, — that he would bring their minds to real unanimity, and make them united among themselves: he also shows at the same time what is the bond of unity, for he wished them to agree together according to Christ Jesus. Miserable indeed is the union which is unconnected with God, and that is unconnected with him, which alienates us from his truth.

And that he might recommend to us an agreement in Christ, he teaches us how necessary it is: for God is not truly glorified by us, unless the hearts of all agree in giving him praise, and their tongues also join in harmony. There is then no reason for any to boast that he will give glory to God after his own manner; for the unity of his servants is so much esteemed by God, that he will not have his glory sounded forth amidst discords and contentions. This one thought ought to be sufficient to check the wanton rage for contention and quarreling, which at this day too much possesses the minds of many.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) Now the God of patience and consolation.—Such, then, should be the temper of the Roman Christians. The Apostle prays that along with the spirit of steadfast endurance God will also give them that spirit of unanimity which proceeds from singleness of aim. There seems, at first sight, to be little or no connection between the God of “patience and consolation” and the being “likeminded.” They are connected, however, through the idea of singleness of purpose. He who is wholly self-dedicated to Christ, and who in the strength of that self-dedication is able to endure persecution, will also have a close bond of union with all who set before themselves the same object.

Consolation. . . .—The same word as “comfort” in the previous verse.

To be likeminded. . . .—To have the same thoughts, feelings, sentiments, hopes, and aims.

According to Christ Jesus.—The conforming to that “spirit of Christ” which it is to be assumed that all who call themselves Christians have put on.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Now the God of patience, &c.] Lit. of the patience, &c.; i.e. that now in question.—Here is a subtle and beautiful sequence of thought. From patience and comfort, and the hope of glory, St Paul passes at once to the duty of affectionate unanimity. The stronger was the sense of peace and hope in each individual believer, the more would the believing community be lifted above the bitterness and littleness of secondary controversies. Cp. perhaps Col_1:4-5; “the love which ye have to all the saints, by reason of the hope laid up for you in heaven.”

according to Christ Jesus] As taught by His precept and example.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That ye may with one mind and one mouth;.... This is the end for which the above request is made, and shows, that a cordial and sincere affection for one another is necessary to the worshipping of God with one consent, to a joining together in acts of religious service, both in praying to God, and in praising of him, which latter seems here chiefly designed; for how should there be an agreement of heart and voice, of mind and mouth, in praising God, unless there is a singleness of heart, and oneness of affection? This is necessary in order to

glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Syriac and Arabic versions read, God "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"; leaving out, the copulative, which we translate "even", but may as well be rendered "and"; and be read, as by some, "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". God is the God of Christ, as Christ is man; who prepared the human nature for him, anointed it with the Holy Spirit, supported it in life, in sufferings and death, and glorified it at his own right hand; and in which nature Christ exercised every grace on him, as faith, hope, and love; discharged every duty to him, worshipped him, prayed unto him, and was in all things obedient to his will: and God is the Father of Christ, as Christ is God; for as man he had no father. Now he is "glorified" when the perfections of his nature are ascribed unto him; when notice is taken of the works of his hands, and the glory of his majesty, which appears in them; when praise is offered up, and thanks given for all mercies, temporal and spiritual, he bestows on his people; when they join together in the solemn worship of him, presenting their bodies, and giving up their hearts unto him; when they unite in praying to him, and singing his praise; and when their lives and conversations are agreeable to their profession of him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:

Ver. 5. Now the God of patience] The soul is then only in good plight when the heaven answers the earth, Hos 2:21; when Christ the Sun of righteousness shines into it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now the God of patience - The God who is “himself” long-suffering, who bears patiently with the errors and faults of his children, and who can “give” patience, may he give you of his Spirit, that you may bear patiently the infirmities and errors of each other. The example of God here, who bears long with his children, and is not angry soon at their offences, is a strong argument why Christians should bear with each other. If God bears long and patiently with “our” infirmities, “we” ought to bear with each other.

And consolation - Who gives or imparts consolation.

To be like-minded ... - Greek To think the same thing; that is, to be united, to keep from divisions and strifes.

According to Christ Jesus - According to the example and spirit of Christ; his was a spirit of peace. Or, according to what his religion requires. The name of Christ is sometimes thus put for his religion; 2Co 11:4; Eph 4:20. If all Christians would imitate the example of Christ, and follow his instructions, there would be no contentions among them. He earnestly sought in his parting prayer their unity and peace; Joh 17:21-23.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Now the God of patience and consolation: he is called, the God of all grace, 1Pe 5:10, the God of hope, Rom 15:13, the God of peace, Rom 15:33, the God of love and peace, 2Co 13:11, and here, the God of patience and consolation: the meaning is, he is the author and worker thereof. You read in the former verse of the patience and comfort of the Scriptures; and here he showeth that the Scriptures do not work these of themselves, but God doth it in and by them.

Grant you to be like-minded one towards another; this is that to which he had exhorted them, Rom 12:16. See the like, 1Co 1:10; 2Co 13:11; Eph 4:3; Phi 2:2. God is the author, as of patience and consolation, so of peace and concord: the grace of unity and charity is his gift; he maketh men of one mind and of one heart, and for this he should be inquired of by his saints and people to do it for them.

According to Christ Jesus; i.e. according to his doctrine, command, or example.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Likeminded—From this mutual bearing with each other the apostle passes to its blessed result, the unity of the heart of the Church. For this he offers his prayer to the God whose qualities are the very patience and consolation which the Scriptures proffer to the enduring Christian.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 5-7. Now the God of patience and comfort (the same word as before, though here in the Authorized Version rendered consolation) grant you to be like-minded, (see on Rom_12:16) one with another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one accord with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (so certainly, rather than, as in the Authorized Version, "God, even the Father of," etc.). Wherefore receive ye one another, (cf. Rom_14:1, and note) even as Christ also received us (or you, which is better supported, and, for a reason to be given below, more likely) to the glory of God. As in ver. 3, the example of Christ is again adduced. The connection of thought becomes plain if we take the admonition, "Receive ye one another," to be mainly addressed to "the strong," and these to consist principally of Gentile believers, the "weak brethren" being (as above supposed) prejudiced Jewish Christians. To the former the apostle says, "Receive to yourselves with full sympathy those Jewish weak ones, even as Christ, though sent primarily to fulfil the ancient promises to the house of Israel only (see ver. 8), embraced you Gentiles (umav) also within the arms of mercy" Thus the sequence of thought in ver. 8, seq. , appears. "Unto the glory of God" means "so as to redound to his glory." Christ"s receiving the Gentiles was unto his glory; and it is implied that the mutual receiving of each other by believers would be so too. The idea of God"s glory being the end of all runs through the whole passage (cf. vers. 6, 9, 11).

Vers. 5, 6. Unity.

Mutual forbearance and considerateness tend to true spiritual unity. In the presence of a hostile world, it was evidently of the highest practical importance that the early Christians should exhibit the power of the truth and the Spirit of God to draw them together, and to make them one. How dear this aim was to the heart of Christ, is evident alike from his frequent admonitions and from art urgent petition in his great intercessory prayer.

I THE DIVINE SOURCE OF UNITY. That true unity is from God appears:

1. From the nature and character of God, as "the God of patience and of comfort.

2. From the apostolic prayer, "grant you to be like-minded," etc., from which it is apparent that, in the view of the inspired apostle, the true fountain of concord and brotherly love is in heaven, in the heart of the infinite Father.

3. From the mediation of Jesus Christ, whose design in redemption was first to "make peace" between a righteous Ruler and rebellious subjects; and then to break down every wall of partition that divided man from man, and to constitute one new, unbroken humanity in himself the glorious Head.

II THE MANIFESTATIONS OF UNITY.

1. Where this grace exists, there is one mind, with mutual love. By "the same mind" the apostle does not mean "of the same opinion." This is not possible where men think freely and independently. But he means "of similar disposition towards Christ," "of like sentiments of brotherly love one towards another." This is pleasing to the God of peace and love.

2. Where this grace exists there is "one mouth," with common praise. There is a sacrifice in which all devout souls, all holy assemblies, constantly unite it is the sacrifice of gratitude and praise. The several voices in this offering to Heaven blend in sweetest concord, and form a Divine and exquisite harmony. The more the notes, the vaster the variety, the more marvellous and beautiful is the spiritual concert. As with one only mouth, the living Church offers to the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" the anthem of spiritual, acceptable, and unending praise the Church on earth herein preparing for the eternal song of heaven.

APPLICATION. Unity must be, not merely in word or in outward association, but in the spirit of love and in the tribute of grateful adoration.

HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN. Vers. 5, 13, 33. The Divine character in relation to the human.

"The God of patience and consolation;" "the God of hope;" "the God of peace." The great object of Christ"s coming into the world was to save sinners. He does this by revealing God. He is Emmanuel, "God with us." "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Christ reveals the Divine character. He reveals it in his teaching the Divine holiness. He reveals it in his cross the Divine mercy. He reveals it in his resurrection the Divine power. Christ saves us also by reproducing or restoring in us the image of God. In the renewed nature God becomes part of us. He dwells in us and we in him. The law of heredity emphasizes the fact that children bear not only the bodily, but the mental and moral characteristics of their parents. The character of the parent reappears in the child. So the character of God reappears in his people. Three features of God"s character St. Paul speaks of here, and wants his readers to think of them in relation to their own character and life.

I THE GOD OF PATIENCE.

1. The Divine Being manifests patience in waiting. He waits patiently for the fulfilment of his plans. Thousands of years he waited for the sending of the Saviour. All that time he occupied in the training of Israel, and in the preparing of the nations, till, at the time when Jesus came, the world was ripe and ready for his coming. What a lesson for us! How impatient we are! If we do not see immediate results, we think our work is a failure. "Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

2. The Divine Being is patient in enduring. How he bore with Israel, with all Israel"s backsliding and. repeated sins! How he bears with us, with our disobedience and our inconsistencies! His patience with us is in marked contrast with our impatience toward our fellow-men. How impatient we are with our subordinates or our fellow-workers, with the slowness and stupidity which they sometimes manifest! Let us imitate the patience of God. We need to learn how to bear with others. Strife is the result of impatience, of intolerance. Unity is the result of patience. This was the apostle"s idea, and his practical purpose in referring to the patience of God. "The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus" (ver. 5). Let us be patient in enduring all suffering and trial. "Angel of patience! sent to calm Our feverish brows with cooling palm; To lay the storms of hope and fear, And reconcile life"s smile and tear; The throbs of wounded pride to still, And make our own our Father"s will! "There"s quiet in that angel"s glance, There"s rest in his still countenance! He mocks no grief with idle cheer, Nor wounds with words the mourner"s ear; But ills and woes he may not cure, He kindly trains us to endure. "O thou who mournest on the way With longings for the close of day: He walks with thee, that angel kind, And gently whispers; "Be resigned; Bear up; bear on; the end shall tell The dear Lord ordereth all things well.

II THE GOD OF HERE. Nature is full of hope. Day follows night. Spring follows winter. "And ever upon old decay The greenest mosses cling.

The life of humanity is a life of hope. We are always looking forward. The little child looks forward eagerly to its school-days. The boy or girl at school looks forward to the time of manhood or womanhood. In hope the young man leaves his father"s roof. Hope leads the emigrant across the seas. Yet nature and humanity unaided have no hope beyond the grave. The ancient heathen had indeed their goddess of hope. But the lamp of hope flickered as old age came on, and expired with the last breath that left the body. The heathen symbol of death is the broken column, or the torch of life turned upside down. But our God is in truth the God of hope. Do we enjoy life? He tells us of a better life beyond. Is this world fair and beautiful? He tells us of a better country, even a heavenly. Are we weary with the toils and burdens of this life? He tells us that there remaineth a rest for the people of God. Hope in itself can hardly with strictness be called a part of the Divine character, any more than faith. But it is part of the Divine character, and peculiar to it, that he produces in the human heart hope of the life to come. Hence he is truly called "the God of hope." We see the impress and influence of his Divine hope on God"s people in all ages. Abraham and the patriarchs "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." And "they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country." The prophets in Israel"s exile spoke of a hope which they knew they would never see fulfilled. The apostles and martyrs, and the missionaries of today, have laboured and suffered in hope. Here also is the practical influence of the Divine character in relation to the human. "The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope" (ver. 13). In sorrow: in adversity; in the day when the wicked seem to triumph, and injustice and oppression seem to gain the upper hand Christians, hope on! The truth will prevail over falsehood and error; purity over impurity; righteousness over wickedness. Abound in hope! "We hope in thee, O God, In whom none hope in vain; We cling to thee in love and trust, And joy succeeds to pain." To the sinner also the message of Divine hope extends. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

III THE GOD OF PEACE. "The God of peace be with you all" (ver. 33). Peace is essentially a part of the Divine character. No storms disturb his rest. No sinfulness is in his being, and therefore no conflict in his moral nature. If the God of peace is with us, then peace will pervade our own spirit and life. There will be not only the peace that comes from pardon, but also the peace that comes from the victory over indwelling and besetting sin. There is a striking phrase in the next chapter: "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly". (Rom_16:20) If the God of peace is in our hearts, we shall cultivate peace with our fellowmen. "Live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you". (2Co_13:11) Thus we see how profitable it is to contemplate the character of God, the God of patience, the God of hope, the God of peace, so that endurance and forbearance, hopefulness and joy, unity and peace, may be manifest in our lives. C.H.I.

Warm-hearted Christian courtesy.

Many points of dispute arose in Churches composed of Jews and Gentiles. Not easily or joyfully could Jewish Christians throw off the trammels formed by the habits and traditions of ages, and welcome the admission into the new brotherhood on equal terms of men who had never been trained to compunction on account of ceremonial regulations neglected. Like the mother in the days of Solomon, more anxious for the safety of her child than for the strict settlement of a legal problem, the apostle was concerned for the welfare and peace of the community. He would have both parties waive their rights, and unite in holy fellowship instead of holding aloof. A chief part of our modern difficulties consists in the proper treatment of others, especially of our fellow-Christians. More anxiety, embarrassment, sin, is displayed here than in any other direction. The ancient matters of controversy do not perhaps trouble us, though signs are not wanting on the horizon of clouds no bigger than a man"s hand which may at any time overspread the sky and disturb the harmony of the Churches. We still need guidance lest trivial differences in thought and behaviour should estrange us from one another. Let us look at the rule of behaviour laid down. It is contained in those golden words, the pivot of Christian conduct, "Even as Christ also." Our treatment of others is to resemble Christ"s behaviour towards us. Here is the path we are to tread, and the source of skill and strength to enable us to proceed therein.

I CHRIST RECEIVES MEN GLADLY. Not reluctantly, but heartily, with outstretched arms and promise of blessing. See this evinced in the Gospel narratives. He was moved with compassion toward the multitudes; gave royal invitations any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink;" "Come unto me, all ye that labour." This can be verified in our own experience; for Christ lives and rules over our hearts and lives, dispenses his favours freely; and the peace and joy that filled our hearts in trusting him were the testimony of his delight, the fire descending from heaven to certify the acceptance of our sacrifice. Contrast Christ"s interest in Saul"s conversion with the latter"s cool reception by the Church at Jerusalem, where the apostle had been abandoned to utter neglect but for Barnabas. The kingdom of God is no close corporation, like a city company, afraid of its membership growing too large for the spoils to be divided; or a House of Lords, where a large influx lessens individual importance. But our desire must be for the Church to increase till it sways the globe. Our Christian societies should be as a fostering greenhouse to young life, or as a warm bath that dissipates spiritual rheumatism, where the outside chill may be forgotten, and men may rise from a hostile crowd to a sanctuary of peace and love.

II CHRIST RECEIVES MEN IN SPITE OF THEIR IMPERFECTIONS Though sin-stained and despairing of righteousness, helpless with frequent falls, ignorant with a dulness which is realized more each day, yet our worthlessness was not spurned by the Saviour. For this reason he drew us to himself, to heal and save us, to instruct and improve us, to develop into maturity any latent germ of good. He sees what men may become under genial influences the image of God renewed; the dry stick swelling into life and blossom; the plot of barren ground a garden. If we wait till our brethren are faultless, we shall have little communion this side of heaven. If they are not as cultured or as large-hearted, all the more do they need our stimulating converse; and if not doctrinally perfect, they will learn.

III CHRIST RECEIVES MEN IMPARTIALLY, making no invidious distinctions. This was Peter"s argument for the admission of the Gentiles. (Act_11:17 Act_15:9) One presented, at court may demand the countenance of any ambassador; for whom the sovereign hath received, all her servants must honour. Whom Christ hath admitted to his grace we are bound to acknowledge. The Saviour on earth demanded sincerity in would-be followers. This is the explanation of any apparent sternness. He would have none enter on a Christian career without counting the cost, and showing a wholehearted readiness to obey. Feeble faith, if genuine, he never refused to bless. Hypocrisy, delusion, he pitilessly unmasked; but trembling seekers he smiled upon with Divine encouragement. Why distrust his magnanimity now? Why fear a scornful rejection of your prayers and service?

IV CHRIST REGARDS IN ALL THINGS THE GLORY OF GOD. Note his constant reference to the Father"s will. He preached that misunderstandings respecting God might be cleared away. He relieved and cheered the suffering that they might know and praise the mercy of God. He gave his life that the dark shadow of human guilt might no longer eclipse the glory of the Divine government. The end cometh, when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, having subjected all things to God. And through him the same principle actuates his disciples. It is men who have some noble end in view that can rise above petty meannesses and jealousies, caring no longer for personal rank and power, content to be abased if thereby the kingdom of God may be advanced. The zeal of God"s house consumes the fleshly, ease-loving, envious "me," and substitutes a bright blaze of pure, affectionate solicitude for God and man. There are doubtless seasons when individual dignity must be asserted; there is no season when it is not in place to consider the glory of God. That glory includes our own highest good. It is no ear of Juggernaut trampling on the devotees; any contradiction is on the surface merely, and in the future life a lasting reconciliation shall be seen established between man"s satisfaction and the authority of his Maker. S.R.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

According to the power of Christ Jesus.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. How the apostle concludes his foregoing exhortation, with votive supplications, and fervent prayer. The ministers of God must follow the word they deliver with prayer; they must not only wrestle with their people, but they must wrestle with God for and in behalf of their people, if they ever hope to overcome.

Observe, 2. The prayer and supplication itself; and that is, for concord and unity among Christians: That they may, with one mind and one mouth, glorify God: that in their Christian assemblies they may all worship God after the same manner, and not one this way, and another that. Unity among Christians in common conversation, but especially in church-communion, is a very desirable mercy, and much to be prayed for by the ministers of God.

Observe, 3. How the apostle addresses himself in prayer to God for his mercy under a double title, (1.) As a God of patience, The God of patience grant you to be like-minded; intimating what great need there is of patience, in order to maintain love and unity among Christians; and, that God must be applied to in prayer, who is the author of it, to produce and work this grace of patience, in order unto peace and unity among Christians: The God of patience grant you to be like-minded. The unity of the saints greatly depends upon the exercise of patience one towards another; and that they may attain it, he begs the God of patience to give it.

(2.) Our apostle joins with this another title, namely, The God of consolation; wherein he points them to that abundant comfort which would result to themselves from such a blessed unity, continued and maintained by the mutual exercise of patience and forbearance one towards another: The God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another.

Observe, 4. The pattern and example which he lays before them, to excite and quicken them to this duty, namely, the example of Christ himself: According to Christ Jesus, that is, according to the example of Christ Jesus; as if the apostle had said, "Let us consider how the Lord Jesus bears with us, how many thousand infirmities and failings doth he find in the best of us, yet is he pleased to maintain communion with us; and shall not we after his example do the like, that thereby God may be eminently glorified by us?"

Observe, 5. How God is called the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. As he begat him by an eternal and ineffable generation.

2. As he was man, so he created him, Luk 1:35.

3. As Mediator, so he appointed him to, and qualified him for, that office.

And eternally magnified be omnipotent love, that the comfort of this compellation of our Lord Jesus Christ, so he is in him our Father also, our merciful, our gracious, and loving Father. May we ever demean ourselves towards him as dutiful and obedient children!

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus [I cite the Scripture as written for the instruction of the unborn church, for all Scripture, as it outlines what Christ would do sacrificially, also establishes what we should do as imitators of him. It also affords us, in our perusal of it, patience and hope in the doing, for God, the original source back of all Scripture, will not fail in administering aid and comfort to you in your effort toward that spirit of unity and concord which is according to Christ; i. e., according to his desire, will, commandment and example]:

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. Grant you to be like-minded one toward another. The apostle does not pray that they may be of the same opinion, but that there be harmony of feeling. According to Christ Jesus. Let each be so conformed to Christ that all may be of one mind. See Phil. 2:5.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Paul encourages the believers to remember that both Gentile believers and Jews that believe are made one in Christ.

may ... God ... grant

"I pray that ... God ... will grant"

to be of the same mind with each other

Here to be of the "same mind" is a metonym that means to be in agreement with each other. AT: "to be in agreement with each other" or "to be united" (See: Metonymy)

praise with one mouth

This means to be united in praising God. AT: "praise God together in unity as if only one mouth were speaking" (See: Metonymy)

receive one another

"accept one another""

translationWords

God

patient

Jesus

praise

receive

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

5. ὁ δὲ θεὸς κ.τ.λ. The thought passes rapidly from the scriptures to the one Author of the truth they contain, of the power of endurance, and of encouragement; and from the particular instance of unity to the general principle, and from the special end of service of the brethren to the all-inclusive end of the glory of GOD.

ὁ θεὸς τῆς ὑπ. καὶ τῆς π. This gen. after θεὸς is confined to S. Paul (exc. Heb 13:20; 1Pe 5:10) and to prayers: the gen. describes a gift of GOD in each case, εἰρήνη (Rom 15:33; 2Co 13:11; Php 4:9; 1Th 4:2-3; Heb 13:20); ἐλπίς (Rom 15:13); παράκλησις (2Co 1:3); ἀγάπη (2Co 13:11); χάρις (1Pe 5:10). In each case the gift mentioned has special ref. to context. So here = that GOD who enables us to endure and encourages us by the scriptures. O.T. |[289]s are not frequent and chiefly in Psalms, in prayers τῆς σωτηρίας most common; cf. Psa 17:4-6; Psalms 30 (31):5; 41 (42):8; 61 (62):7.

[289] | parallel to

τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν. The unity of mind and interest, easily impaired if difference of opinion is allowed to affect personal relations, is the best preventive of such dissension: the words carry us back to Rom 12:16 and indicate the presence beneath the surface of the argument of the fundamental theme, the union of Jew and Gentile in Christ: this becomes explicit in Rom 15:7 ff.

ἐν ἀλλήλοις. Cf. εἰς ἀλλήλους Rom 12:16 = mutually.

κατὰ Χρ. Ἰης. After the manner and rule of Christ Jesus—as exemplified in His life on earth and His mission (Christ) of reconciliation; cf. 2Co 5:18 to 2Co 6:3 f. This combination and order are confined to S. Paul (throughout) and Acts (? Mat 1:18).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. After the digression of ver. 4 the Apostle returns to the subject of vv. 1-3, and sums up his teaching by a prayer for the unity of the community.

ὁ δὲ Θεὸς τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ τῆς παρακλήσεως: cf. ὁ Θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης (ver. 33; Php 4:9; 1Th 5:23; Heb 13:20), τῆς ἐλπίδος (ver. 13), πάσης παρακλήσεως (2Co 1:3), πάσης χάριτος (1Pe 5:10).

τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν: cf. Php 2:2-5 πληρώσατέ μου τὴν χαράν, ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε … τοῦτο φρονεῖτε ἐν ὑμῖν ὅ καὶ ἐν Χρ. Ἰ.

κατὰ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν: cf 2Co 11:17 ὅ λαλῶ, οὐ κατὰ Κύριον λαλῶ: Col 2:8 οὐ κατὰ Χρ.: Eph 4:24 τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ Θεὸν κτισθέντα (Rom 8:27, which is generally quoted, is not in point). These examples seem to show that the expression must mean ‘in accordance with the character or example of Christ.’

δῴη for δοίῃ, a later form, cf. 2Th 3:16; 2Ti 1:16, 2Ti 1:18; 2Ti 2:25; Eph 1:17 (but with variant δώῃ in the last two cases). Χρ. Ἰης. (B D E G L, &c., Boh. Chrys.), not Ἰης. Χρ. א A C F P ב Vulg., Orig.-lat. Theodrt.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 5. By the double description of God as the God of patience and of consolation, He is characterized as the true source of these two graces which are communicated to us through the channel of the Scriptures. To get them we must therefore go not only to the Scriptures, but to Himself.

There is a close relation in a church between the consolation and the union of its members. When all are inwardly consoled from above, the way is paved for communion of hearts, all together aspiring vehemently after the same supreme good. It is this common impulse which is expressed by Paul’s term (φρονεῖν ἐν ἀλλ). He thus returns to the principal idea of the passage, which he had left for an instant to speak of the Scriptures.

On the difference between Christ Jesus and Jesus Christ, see at Rom 1:1.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.