Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Believers to Receive One Another, as Christ (after His Jewish ministry). Received the Gentiles,—-TO GOD’S GLORY. Verses 1 to 13.

Paul’s Great “Priestly-Ministry” of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Verses 14 to 21.

His Purpose (long-hindered) to Come to the Roman Christians,—after the Great Jerusalem Contribution. Verses 22 to 33.

1 Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. 3 For Christ also pleased not Himself; but, as it is written. The reproaches of them that reproacheth Thee fell upon Me. 4 For whatsover things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be tof the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus: 6 that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God.

THESE SEVEN VERSES should have closed the preceding chapter, as they continue and close up the subject there considered.

Verse 1: Now we that are strong ought to bear [literally, are in debt to bear] the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

In Chapter 13:8 the word here translated “ought” (Greek, to owe), is used in forbidding a Christian to be in debt to others except in the way of love. Paul here addresses the “strong,” being himself of that number; in which company may we also be found! It is those who are “spiritual” who can show love to others (Galatians 6:1). Note most carefully that it is not bearing with the infirmities of others that Paul is speaking of. The old lady said in the testimony meeting, “I have always got a lot of help out of that Bible verse that says, ‘Grin and bear it!’ ” And the little California girl was heard singing, “When all my neighbors and trials are o’er!” We are apt to think of others’ weaknesses and infirmities as a burden we must put up with, for the Lord’s sake,—as “our particular cross,” for the present! Instead, God’s Word here teaches us gladly to bear, to take over as our own, these infirmities! “Bear ye one another’s burdens,” is the “law of Christ”! (Galatians 6:2). How our blessed Lord bore the infirmities of His disciples!—infirmities of ignorance, of unbelief, of self-confidence, of jealousy among themselves,—until the disciples came into a state of loving trust in their Lord which made even Thomas say, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him”; and Peter: “Lord, I will lay down my life for Thee.” Our Risen Lord again set the example of such “bearing.” For even after they had forsaken Him in Gethsemane, in the upper room the Risen Lord appeared to them with, “Peace be unto you,”—and never a mention of their utter failure! It is this ability, manifested by Divine grace in us, constantly and without end to bear the infirmities
of others, to take thought for, and excuse their weaknesses; and to endure for them anything and everything, that manifests Christ; and wins the trustful devotion of our fellow-saints.266 Meyer well says, “In themselves strong and free, the strong become the servants of the weak, as Paul, the servant of all.” “Pleasing ourselves” is the exact thing each of us will do unless we set ourselves to pursue, to follow after, love, until our Lord comes back!

Verse 2: Let each one of us please his neighbor, in what is good, for [his] edification. Of course Paul does not mean here to exhort us to man-pleasing in the way of selfishly seeking man’s favor. He himself says, “Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please men? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). There is a man-pleasing spirit that is very obnoxious to God. We may be “nice” to people for our own selfish benefit. But remember that this exhortation to please our neighbor “for his benefit unto edifying,” indicates a studied care for others; laying aside our own preferences, and pleasing them in every way that will in the end benefit them spiritually. This, of course, does not mean that we are to compromise with any evil our neighbor may be doing, by having fellowship with him in a worldly path in order to “win” him. The expression “unto that which is good,” shuts out that. Paul puts it beautifully in I Corinthians 10:32 to 11.1: “Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the Church of God: even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

Verse 3: For Christ also pleased not Himself: but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell upon Me—Christ never “looked after” Himself: the whole world knows this! “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” Yet His whole life, from early morning till late at night, and often into the night, was occupied in ministry to others! The multitudes found out with joy that here was One whose whole business was “going about doing good.” The constant drawing upon Him by the multitudes,—upon His time, His love, His teaching, His healing, was a marvelous proof that they could count on the absolute absence of self-pleasing, in Him!

The Psalms, which give the inner heart-history of our Lord, reveal, (as, for instance, does the Sixty-ninth Psalm, from which Paul here quotes,—the great “Reproach”267 Psalm), how difficult was our Lord’s path in a sinful, selfish. God-hating world. Yet it is written of Him: “He pleased not Himself.”

Verse 4: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures268we might have hope.

Note these four words that God has joined together: “learning . . . patience . . . comfort of the Scriptures . . . hope”: “learning” is heart knowledge, as our Lord said: “Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto Me” (John 6:45). “Patience” follows, for, knowing God, we can wait for Him to work. Next is “comfort of the Scriptures.” It is astonishing—something beyond human conception, this “comfort of the Scriptures”! We have all seen saints poor in purse, accounted nothing at all by men, and perhaps suffering constant physical pain, sad bereavement of loved ones, and complete lack of understanding by other professing Christians: yet comforted by
poring over the Scriptures! Hearts happy and hopeful, despite it all! You can step from any state of earthly misery into the glorious halls of heavenly peace and comfort! Praise God for this! “Be ye comforted,” writes Paul in II Corinthians 13:11.

It is ever good to be going over God’s dealings, not only with Christ, but with His Old Testament saints; marking how He is continually bringing them into hard places, where they learn to trust Him more! Joseph, in prison for righteousness; David, anointed of God, but hunted for years “like a partridge in the mountains”; Jeremiah in the miry dungeon; the three in Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, and Daniel in the den of lions: not to speak of the New Testament story—James and Stephen killed, the apostles in prison. You may ask, How does “hope” spring out of such trials? We do not ask such a question if we have learned the lesson of Romans Five: “Knowing that tribulation worketh steadfastness; and steadfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope,”—witnessed to by the shedding abroad of God’s love for us in our hearts! Therefore let us seek that comfort and hope which this verse tells us the Scriptures work in us if we patiently learn them. When we get thus learningly to verse 13 in this chapter, we shall find ourselves abounding in hope!

Verses 5 and 6: Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind together according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul asks here that the same God who gave to the Old Testament saints and to the apostles “endurance” and “comfort of the Scriptures,” may grant that we may be “like-minded, loving as brethren” (I Peter 3:8). “Behold, how these Christians love one another!” was the amazed but constant testimony of paganism, yea, of Judaism, also, regarding believers in the early days of the Churchapter And this Spirit-wrought
unity and tender affection is by far the greatest need amongst believers today. New “movements,” new “educational programs,” great contributions of funds—what are these worth while Christians are divided in mind, more in discord than accord? Such a state cannot “glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “By this,” our Lord said, “shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).

And this accord, this unity, is not brought about by outward organization. There is, incited by the devil, a great cry that all professing Christians today “get together,” form themselves into a great “charitable” unity, inclusive of Romanists, Protestants, and well-intended Jews. Meanwhile, in answer to the earnest, persistent cry of God’s people that He would revive His Church, the real saints are being drawn more and more by His Word into the true fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Bible conferences, unsectarian Bible schools, gatherings and even leagues for prayer, and increasing intelligent fellowship with truly godly missionary effort, are the real sign that God is granting Paul’s desire that believers may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

People generally make one of two mistakes concerning Christian unity. First, that there must be absolute unanimity of opinion on all points of doctrine; and second, that there must be external unity of all so-called “Christian bodies.”

We have alluded to the second of these ideas as of Satanic origin, and deluded human consent. But now, as to the first, the desire of the apostle in verse 5, that the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus, does not have reference to opinions or views of doctrines, but does have reference to gracious dispositions of spirit; for God is not spoken of here as the God of wisdom and knowledge, but as the God of patience and of comfort. It is God’s acting in these blessed graces toward the saints that will enable them to be “of one mind together according to Christ Jesus.”

When the Spirit of God is freely operating among a company of believers, the eyes of all of them, first, are toward Christ Jesus. They are thinking of Him, of His love, of His service, and of what will please Him. They are conscious of their blessed place in Him. Then follow, naturally, patient dealing with one another, comforting one another. Some of the company may know much more truth than others; many may hold varying judgments or opinions concerning particular matters. But this does not at all touch their unity—their conscious unity, in Christ; and it does not in the slightest degree hinder their being of one mind, and working together with one accord, and, in the vivid words of Scripture, be with one mind together according to Christ Jesus.

Rome has undertaken to compel unity in both these evil senses (for she knows not the blessed unity of the Spirit): and rivers of martyrs’ blood have flowed because they dared to express an opinion contrary to the edicts of “the Church.” The doctrine, too, is constantly promulgated, that to be outside “Mother Church,” outside the fold of Rome, is to be without the pale of salvation!

Both these things are fearful perversions of the truth.

Verse 7: Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ received you, to the glory of God.

Strong and weak believers alike are here exhorted to receive one another,—for God’s glory. This not only includes formal welcoming of other believers into the fellowship of the church, the Assembly of the Saints; but, what is far more and deeper, exercising constant careful love to one another;—and all this done with a view to the glory of God!
For Christ received us to that end! As He says, “All that which the Father giveth Me shall come unto Me; and him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out. For I am come down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 6:37, 38). It is Christ’s delight to welcome sinners, for that glorifies God; and there is joy in
Heaven over it! Let there be like joy over our Christian love,—our “receiving” one another; for it glorifies God!

Verses 8 and 9: For I say that Christ hath been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, that He might confirm the promises unto the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy—

Here Paul defines in a single phrase our Lord’s character as a “minister,” in His earthly life: He was a “minister of the circumcision.” That is, He came “unto His own.” He said, “I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” (Matthew 15:24). Tell this to the ordinary professing Christian, and he regards you with amazement, if not with anger. When our Lord sent out the Twelve, in Matthew Ten, He said, “Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Now people resent that, because of their sad ignorance—both of the Divine sovereignty, and revealed plan. So, the first thing to clear away in our minds is the uncertain or false teaching, about the mission of Christ on earth. He was made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God; that He might confirm the promises unto the fathers.

Now we know that Christ came to declare the Father—to reveal God as He is. Also He came to give His life a ransom for many, to become “the propitiation for the whole world.” Thus He “came not to be ministered unto, ‘but to minister.”

But, if we are to understand the story of His ministry, in the Gospels, we must remember that He was first a “minister of the circumcision,’ as the Jewish Messiah, fulfilling, “confirming” the Divine promises of the Old Testament to that nation.269 And what was this “ministry of the circumcision?

What was it meant to accomplish? Paul here says, It was for the sake of God’s truth, God’s faithfulness. His veracity, “to confirm the promises that had been given to the fathers”— Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was on God’s behalf, to show that when God makes commitments and promises, He forgets them not, but fulfils them. He had promised a Messiah to Israel, and He sent the Messiah.

But God had made no promises, no commitments, to the Gentiles. Consequently, upon Israel’s rejection of their Messiah, mercy, sovereign mercy, flows out to us Gentiles: and for this we glorify God, for that is the purpose of this mercy—that God may be glorified.

The prophet Micah, in the last verse of his prophecy (7:19, 20), illustrates exactly this distinction between “the truth” of God toward Israel, and “the mercy” of God toward the Gentiles: “Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the loving kindness [or, mercy] to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” To Jacob
the blessings were announced by God (above that ladder of Genesis 28) with the words: “I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac” (Genesis 28:13). The birthright which Esau despised and forfeited, Jacob had; and the promises were to be fulfilled in faithfulness. But to Abraham it was sheer mercy. His father was a Chaldean idolater, and probably he had been so (Joshua 24:2, 3, 14, 15). But “the God of glory” appeared to him out of hand, without cause, right in the midst of Chaldean iniquity there at Ur. This was mercy (Acts 7:1). Jehovah “redeemed” Abraham (Isaiah 29:22).

Now for the present a “hardening in part” has befallen Israel, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” as we saw in Chapter Eleven.

It is striking that in the present passage, Chapter 15:9-29, Gentiles are named ten times, the Gentile number! Five of these instances are from the Old Testament prophecies themselves. Let us study these quotations with especial attention:

9 Therefore will I give praise unto Thee among the Gentiles, And sing unto Thy Name (Psalm 18:49).

10 And again He saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people (Deuteronomy 32:43).

11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; And let all the peoples praise Him (Psalm 117:1).

12 And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be the root of Jesse, And He that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles; On Him shall the Gentiles hope (Isaiah 11:10).

There are three remarkable points about these passages:

I They are selected from the three great divisions of the Scripture: the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24:44).

II There is a progress in the selections.

1. Christ Himself gives praise unto God from among the Gentiles. The quotation is from Psalm 18:49, where David becomes a distinct type of Christ, David’s coming Seed, as see next verse. See also Psalm 22:22, where, after the awful description of the cross in the first part of that Psalm (verses 1-21)—the Divine forsaking, pierced hands and feet, parted garments—the Lord begins thus the resurrection praise:

“I will declare Thy name unto My brethren:

In the midst of the assembly will I praise Thee.”

This “assembly” began, of course, with those Jewish believers in that upper room, to whom He first appeared; but that “assembly” shortly included Gentiles (Acts 10 and on). But we note here in Romans 15:9 that Christ Himself is celebrating Jehovah’s work,—giving praise “among the Gentiles.”

2. Verse 10: The next step is, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. Now, in Scripture, “His people” are always Israel; and, for awhile, as we find in the Acts, the Gentiles were “rejoicing with His people”: it was with Jerusalem as the center, and the apostles and elders there recognized even by Paul, even after preaching to the Gentiles had begun (Acts 15).270

3. Verse 11: The next passage calls for direct praise from the Gentiles, with no distinct notice taken of Israel as a people; for the Greek reads: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and let all the peoples [plural] praise Him (as the R.V. correctly translates).

III Verse 12: There is a looking forward to the Millennial reign in the quotation from Isaiah 11:10: the Root of Jesse, He that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles. On Him [who shall thus reign] shall the Gentiles hope. Gentiles, thank God, may now freely “hope,” and look to Him who will rule all the earth, during the Millennium. All nations then will be directly dependent upon the Lord, enthroned in the Millennial temple at Jerusalem. How blessed is the Gentile who now learns to “hope in Christ” (Ephesians 1:12) before He “arises to reign”! Verily there will be a reward!

As Paul says in II Timothy 2:8: “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the Seed of David, according to my gospel.” How few Christians connect their Savior with David! They remember Romans 1:4, but not 1:3. So they forget His royal earthly claims!

In this passage we saw (in verse 8) a setting forth of Christ as a “minister of the circumcision”; but this ministry was duly accomplished. It did not extend to the Gentiles, for no promises had been made to the Gentiles. Consequently, Gentiles are brought under Divine “mercy,” and “hope” in Christ, wholly apart from Jewish connections; though recognizing our Lord’s past and future ministry to the circumcision.271

Verse 13: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.


Look at this great thirteenth verse: how it blossoms out before us! Here is a verse packed full!

1. The name here given to God thrills our hearts: The God of Hope. Hope looks forward with exultation for ever and ever! We remember Chapter 5:2: “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God”; and Chapter 12:12: “rejoicing in hope”; and also that hope, along with faith and love, abides forever, for God will be opening up new treasures of grace to us
through all the ages to come! See Ephesians 2:7.

God is called the “God of peace” in Romans 15:33; 16:20; and in Philippians 4:9, I Thessalonians 5:23, II Thessalonians 3:16, Hebrews 13:20; and, of course, peace is fundamental: Christ made peace by the blood of His cross. But we are not to be content with peace alone. Many would stop at Romans 5:1, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” But in this present verse God speaks as the God of hope; and He
wants us filled with all joy as well as peace, so as to be abounding in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, if God is the God of hope, looking forward with expectancy and delight to the certain, glorious things of the future, then a dejected, depressed, discouraged saint of His is yielding to a spirit directly contrary to His will, which is, for each of us, that we abound in hope.

2. It is God Himself alone who can fill us with all joy and peace, making us to abound in hope. We cannot transform ourselves!

3. It is by the power of the indwelling Spirit that we are to “abound in hope.” Some human beings are naturally introspective and gloomy. Others are naturally jovial and buoyant: but the joy in which we as believers are to abound does not in any wise flow from nature, but from the direct, inworking energy of the Holy Ghost. Some of the most
naturally “happy” people of the world, “have been thrown into desperate trouble of soul either by the Spirit’s convicting them of their sin, or, perhaps, by the withdrawal of natural supports on a death-bed without hope; while some of those whose tendency was discouragement and despondency almost to hopelessness have, “by the power of the Holy Ghost,” been filled with all joy and peace, and have abounded in hope day by day and hour by hour!

4. It is in a believing heart that these blessed results are brought about. When asked by the Jews in the Sixth of John, “What must we do that we may work the works of God?” our Lord replied, “This is the WORK of God [the one thing He asks of you], that ye BELIEVE on Him whom He hath sent.” The “believing” of Romans 15:13 is, of course, that “living by faith in the Son of God” of which Paul speaks in Galatians 2:20. It is stepping out on the facts God reveals about us; and learning to live the life of trust.

The verse we are considering is the highest development of Christian experience revealed in this great, fundamental Epistle of Romans. Deeper things will be elsewhere unfolded,—as, for instance, the Indwelling Christ of Ephesians 3:14 to 21. But, as Jude 20 tells us, we must “build up ourselves on our most holy faith.” Paul declares that
the “law” that prevails in this dispensation is a “law of faith” (Romans 3:27); and that the obedience into which we are called is the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5; 16:26).

5. It is the will of God that you and I—all believers—be “filled with all joy and peace in believing,”—blessed spiritual state! that we may “abound in hope in the power of the Holy Ghost.” Some are content if they merely find the way of salvation through faith in the blood of Christ. They are much given to talk about being “saved by grace,” but they are not much exercised about holy living. A second class of believers become deeply exercised as to a life of “victory over sin.” These, of course, if instructed aright, accept the wondrous fact that they died with Christ, and are now on resurrection ground, freed from sin, and from that which gave sin its power,—the Law. A third class go further, to the Twelfth of Romans, and enter on true Christian service, by presenting their bodies a living sacrifice to God; and discovering thereby His good, acceptable, and perfect will for them—whatever measure of faith He may give them, and to whatever gift or peculiar service He may call them. But here, in this great fountain of water in Chapter 15.13, we find that a daily, hourly life “filled with all joy and peace in believing, abounding in hope,” is the normal state for every one who is in Christ!

It will not do for us to make excuses for ourselves: God is the God of hope! His yearning is to fill you and me with all joy and peace, if we will just launch out and believe. Others just as unworthy as we have believed; we will never become “more worthy” of believing. “This poor earth is a wrecked vessel,” as Moody used to say. Man is drifting on into the night, and judgment is coming. All the more, then, may the God of hope fill YOU with all joy and peace in believing, that YOU may abound in hope!

Many cherish their doubts, even adducing them as a proof of their humility, which is sad indeed. As Charles F. Deems used to say, “Believe your beliefs, and doubt your doubts; most people believe their doubts, and doubt their beliefs.” You can believe. What a wonderful thing to be among those (sadly few!) believers who are filled with all joy and peace, and abound in hope!

We can enter into the benefit of our great apostle Paul’s benedictory prayer in this matter: “Now the God of hope fill you”—for Paul yearned over, prayed over, and had effectual prayer, even, for “those that had not seen his face in the flesh” (Colossians 2:1); and we may assume that God will answer this mighty believing prayer of his on our behalf. And our Great High Priest, who moved Paul to pray, is at God’s right hand,
making constant intercession for us!

14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye, yourselves, are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another. 15 But I wrote the more boldly unto you in a measure, as putting you again in remembrance on account of the [especial] grace that was given me of God, 16 that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, administering as priest the gospel of God; that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit

Verse 14: Although Paul had never been in Rome, he kept track of believers throughout the whole Roman world! Now he had said in our first Chapter (1:8) that he “thanked God through Jesus Christ for them all, that their faith was proclaimed throughout the whole world.” This was a remarkable condition,—it was early freshness and vigor of faith! Our present verse has especially to do with those inner engiftments of
the Spirit which enabled them with loving hearts and discerning knowledge to look after one another’s spiritual needs without any apostle’s help. For neither Paul, nor Peter, nor any apostle, had as yet preached the gospel at Rome! Of the Corinthian church also, Paul testifies: “In everything ye were enriched in Christ, in all utterance and all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: so that ye come behind in no gift.” Now he says of these believers at Rome that he is persuaded that they are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and therefore really able to admonish one another! But Paul takes the very occasion of their remarkable pristine vigor in the Spirit, to bring before them that special and wonderful commission given him of God to the nations.

The ministry of the chosen apostle to the Gentiles was just as needful to establish the Romans (1:11, 12; 16:25) as it was for the Corinthian church, of which Paul himself was directly the “father.” So Paul says to the believers at Rome, as he retraces in his mind the contents and manner of the great Epistle God has enabled him to send to them,—and which he is preparing to close:

Verses 15, 16: All the more boldly, therefore, in a measure, I wrote unto you [in this epistle] on account of the [peculiar] grace that was given me of God, that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles, officially administering the gospel of God; that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by the
Holy Spirit.

And now Paul is reminding these Roman Christians—“putting them again in remembrance,” of this great special grace that had been given him of God, that he should act toward the Gentiles as God’s official administrator, ministering as such the gospel of God. This “grace” was God’s mighty outfitting of His servant Paul for this ministry among the Gentiles, or nations, to whom he was sent.

Paul always carried about the consciousness that he was Christ’s chosen vessel to the Gentiles. Most people are ignorant that he was so, and regard Paul simply as “an apostle,” “one of the twelve,” and so forth. But observe that the words of verses 15 and 16 go far beyond mere apostleship.

The word which characterizes Paul’s ministry here is, in Greek, leitourgos. It is difficult to convey the meaning of it by any one English word. Alford renders it “ministering priest” (of Christ Jesus for the Gentiles); Darby, “an administrator officially employed”; Thayer, in his Lexicon, shows its original meaning to be, “a public minister, a servant of the state.” The simple translation “minister of Christ Jesus” will scarcely do, because every preacher (and in a sense rightly) would deem himself to be thus described.272

1. It is evident from Peter’s preaching, in Acts 10.35 and 11:18, that Gentile salvation had begun,—apart from Jewish things altogether. “In every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is acceptable unto Him”: though not, of course, accepted, saved, except through the preached name and work of Christ (Acts 11:14). “To the
Gentiles also God hath granted repentance unto life.”

2. It is also evident from Paul’s words in Romans 15:16, that he had a special ministry toward the Gentiles: that I should be a minister (leitourgos) of Christ Jesus unto the Gentiles. Just as when Israel, already God’s people while in Egypt, had sent to them Moses, who brought them out, and with whose ministry they were Divinely connected
by God; so Paul was sent to the Gentiles, to whom the door of salvation had already been opened. And as God laid Israel on Moses, so laid He the Gentiles on Paul. Paul it is whose gospel, without mixture of even those Jewish things permitted in measure back at Jerusalem (Acts 21:20), was administered in priestly fashion among the nations, telling of the One Great Offering for sin for the whole world (and not for Jews only); that the offering up (prosphora) of the Gentiles might [thus] be made acceptable (euprosdektos). This last is the same word as in II Corinthians 6:2: “Now is the acceptable time”: the time when God freely accepts, without Law, convenant-conditions, or religious forms, any and all!

3. It is also evident from Romans 15:16 that apart from this full-grace gospel of Paul, the offering up of the Gentiles could not be “gladly acceptable” by God. For Israel had had a Law, with forms and ordinances. The Gentiles had had nothing: and to them as having nothing, Paul’s grace-gospel came,—asking nothing, but bestowing everything!

4. Finally, it is evident that this acceptance of the Gentiles involved the presence and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. This began at Cornelius’ house in Acts Ten: “The Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the Word.” It was continued in Samaria, in Acts Eight. Paul’s question to those at Ephesus in Acts Nineteen was: “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?” Even of the Galatians, mixed up in mind as they were, it was said: “He that supplieth to you the Spirit”!

Ah, we do not realize our privileges! Such an apostle as Paul— is not only ours, but God laid us Gentiles upon this man as He laid Israel upon Moses. Alas, Moses complained of the burden (Numbers 11:11-15). But Paul complained not, even of “that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches” (II Corinthians 11:28, 29). Paul it was who “most gladly would spend and be spent out for our souls” (II Corinthians 12:15). Paul it was who longed “for fruit in us also, as in the rest of the Gentiles”; who also “prayed with agonizing for as many as had not seen his face in the flesh” (Colossians 1:2, .Greek).

So, as God hearkened to Moses regarding wretched Israel at Sinai (Exodus 32:7-14),—for he had made Moses responsible for them, may we not believe that God yet remembers the prayers for the Gentiles of this devoted servant Paul ?

We know, from Romans Eleven, that the day will come when Gentiledom will be “cut off” as the sphere of God’s direct blessing (through their unbelief and refusal of Divine “goodness”), and Israel, the natural branches, will be grafted in again. But we cannot but feel that some (and that in prominent places) are forgetting Paul with his “offering up of the Gentiles,” and turning slavishly back, with flattering words, to Jews,—if not to Judaism! The glorious grace of the Pauline gospel to the Gentiles may be corrupted, despised, rejected, by fawning upon the Jew as being a special being,—different from common sinners. When God said, “There is no distinction” between Jew and Greek, that matter was settled! The wall of partition is down,—broken down by God! Woe to those who, under any claim, build it up! When God’s time comes, after “His whole work”—of indignation toward Israel, He will Himself build up Zion. Meanwhile hearken to Paul!273