Romans 15 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Rom 15:1-13

1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please our neighbours for their good, to build them up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’ 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:

‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles;
    I will sing the praises of your name.’

10 Again, it says,

‘Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.’

11 And again,

‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;
    let all the peoples extol him.’

12 And again, Isaiah says,

‘The Root of Jesse will spring up,
    one who will arise to rule over the nations;
    in him the Gentiles will hope.’

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A. Find Out:

1. What is Paul’s starting/continuation point? v.1
2. What should be our constant aim? v.2
3. How did Christ do this? v.3
4. What does Paul want for them? v.5
5. What is therefore necessary? v.7
6. How did Christ do this with the Jews? v.8-

B. Think:

1. Read John 17:23 How are Paul’s desires for the church in Rome, in line with Jesus’ desires?
2. How are the strong in faith to help the weak?
3. How was Jesus our example in this?

C. Comment:

Paul now continues further with this whole idea of accepting those who are weaker in their faith, those who have queries about certain foods or certain special days.

First, he says, seek to build up such people and encourage them. This is love, this brings unity.

Second, he says, don’t just seek to please yourself. Consider what Christ did, he didn’t please himself but came and took all the insults of the religious leaders of his day, so that eventually he could die in the place of every person who would come to God through him. His example should always be before us.

Third, he says, if you do that then you will be an example to others in the same way Christ was. This is what Paul is saying in the latter part of this passage: Christ came to the Jews as their servant, seeking to bless them. As a result the Gentiles have seen and now glorify God for the wonder of it all.

So, in conclusion, he is saying, accept those who are weaker than yourself and others will see and glorify God. You will be an example to the unbelieving world of God’s love in action. As you do that God will fill you with all joy, peace and power of the Holy Spirit.

D. Application?

1. Is my life, the way I accept others, a testimony to the love of God?
2. Christ loved me like I am, so…

Passage: Rom 15:14-22

14 I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15 Yet I have written to you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done – 19 by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. 21 Rather, as it is written:

‘Those who were not told about him will see,
    and those who have not heard will understand.’

22 This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

A. Find Out:

1. What 3 things did Paul say he knew about them? v.14
2. Why had he written? v.15
3. What task had God given him? v.16
4. What had God done through him? v.19
5. Where had he always wanted to preach? v.20
6. What had happened because of that? v.22

B. Think:

1. What was Paul’s main calling?
2. Where had he fulfilled that?
3. How had he clearly been an “out front man”?

C. Comment:

As Paul starts to bring his letter to an end, he acknowledges that he has a very high regard for these Roman Christians who show many signs of spiritual maturity. They were good, they had received all they really needed to know about the Gospel and they were able to teach one another. What a commendation!

So, he says, I’ve written to you to remind you of some of the things you already know, very simply because that is my ministry, wherever I go (or might be going) I proclaim the Gospel. And that, of course, is what he has been doing in this letter in a very full way. We may sometimes try to reduce the Gospel to “Four Spiritual Laws” or something similar, but after we have read Paul’s letter to the Romans we ought to realise that such “abbreviating the Gospel” may be all right to use for starters but it is no more than that: starters!

So, he continues, I’ve preached this Gospel around much of the north eastern Mediterranean area, in fact wherever it hasn’t been preached before, because that’s the ministry God gave me, and it’s been because of that that I’ve been unable to get to see you; I’ve been too busy spreading the Gospel to manage it. Paul says all this with simplicity and humility, and it’s true! What a man! What a God!!

D. Application?

1. Could Paul’s commendation to the Roman Christians apply to me?
2. Am I a witness for God wherever I go?

Passage: Rom 15:23-33

23 But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24 I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and that you will assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.

30 I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favourably received by the Lord’s people there, 32 so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. 33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

A. Find Out:    

1. To where was Paul planning to eventually go? v.24
2. Where was he about to go to? v.25
3. What had been done for the Jerusalem Christians? v.26
4. So what was Paul going to do? v.28
5. What did he ask the Romans to do? v.30
6. What specifically? v.31,32

B. Think:

1. How is the breadth of Paul’s ministry revealed here?
2. What is he teaching indirectly about spiritual and material blessings?
3. Of what danger was he aware?

C. Comment:

Paul now reveals his future intentions: to make his way to Spain via Rome to share the Gospel, but before he does that he has another task to perform, to deliver a gift for the poor in Jerusalem. In all this a number of things are revealed.

First, Paul’s continuing desire to spread the Gospel to places where he has not yet been. Second, his sense of having completed his work in the areas where he has previously preached the Gospel. Third, the care of the Gentile Churches in the northern Mediterranean area for the Jewish believers back at Jerusalem. Fourth, Paul’s awareness of the likely problems he will face when he returns to Jerusalem.

The truth of this latter point is seen in Acts 21 where we find the prophet Agabus prophesying these problems (v.11) which start being seen in v.27 onwards. Clearly Paul’s writing to the Romans was before all this took place. In this passage, therefore, we sense something of the panorama of Paul’s ministry and the life of the church across this part of the world, that we are rarely shown outside the book of Acts.

D. Application?

1. Do we show the same concern for other parts of the church as is seen in this passage?
2. Do we have a yearning to spread the Gospel and bless others, despite the possible consequences?