Romans 15:1-13
Because Jesus used his strength for the good of those who insulted him, his example - and his strength - empowers us to offer our strength to the weak among us.
Paul ends his direct treatment of the conflict in Rome by tying his wisdom and instruction directly to Jesus. At the end of the day, Paul doesn’t expect uniformity among thew Jews and Gentiles, but he does expect them to think with one mind and one voice in Christ. In other words, they get to live in solidarity with one another amidst their differences, just as Jesus - who is different from them on a fundamental level - offered his strength to please them, even while he bore their insults.
Instead of leading them to roll their eyes in inconvenience, Paul says this should actually cause them to rejoice! The vastness of God’s grace had been known to the Jews, and its arrival to the Gentiles had been foretold (and experienced!) throughout the Old Testament. God’s grace has a place, and it’s meant to reach every corner of the global - including every corner of our community.
Questions
Have you ever been in a situation in which someone went out of their way to accommodate you? What did they do? How did it make you feel?
Why do you think Paul chose the categories of strong and weak to describe the spiritual sensitivities of people in the church? What does that actually mean?
Consider the specific areas of tension between the Jews and Gentiles. Where did those spiritual sensitivities come from? Where did yours come from (we all have them!)?
While not asking anyone to compromise their conscience or convictions (he was clear about that last week!), what does Paul call everyone - strong and weak! - to do?
What does he call only the strong to do? Why?
What keeps you from doing that - especially with people who are making it harder for you in the local church? Do the commands Paul gives feel unfair, imbalanced, or just too tough?
Paul quotes a Psalm, as if Jesus himself were saying it. Eugene Peterson translates it as, “They blame me, God, for everything they dislike about you.” What point is Paul trying to make here?
When we point fingers at others, how might we actually be adding insult to Jesus himself?
What did Jesus do for them - and for us - even though we add insult to injury… to him and to others? What did that accomplish for us?
How does Jesus’ willingness to use his strength to welcome you into his kingdom free and empower you to offer your strength and extend that same welcome to others? What if they’re insulting you?
Paul calls his people to a few short “to-do”s before closing out this section. What does he call everyone in the church to do when it comes to…
…scripture? How would’ve reading through the OT helped the NT church sort through their differences? Likewise, how can reading through Romans, for example, help our modern-day church with their differences?
…welcoming others? While we think of welcoming new people, he calls them to welcome one another - the people who are already a part of the church! Why is that, and what does it say about the kind of welcome that Jesus extends to us? (…and that we get to extend to others?)
…rejoicing and singing? Paul cites from the three major portions of the OT (the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings) to show how obvious God’s plan has been from the beginning to extend his grace to the non-Jewish world. Knowing Paul doesn’t expect the church members to share the same consciences and convictions, how can the church learn to let the differences that have led to difficulties begin to lead them to worship God, instead?