Chú giải Kinh Thánh

Romans 15:10

And again, Rejoice ye Gentiles with his people. This passage is commonly considered as quoted from Deuteronomy 32:43, where it is found in the Septuagint precisely as it stands here. The Hebrew admits of three interpretations, without altering the text. It may mean, ‘Praise his people, ye Gentiles;’ or, ‘Rejoice, ye tribes, his people;’ or, ‘Rejoice ye Gentiles, (rejoice,) his people.’ Hengstenberg on Psalms 18:49, adopts the last mentioned explanation of the passage in Deuteronomy. The English version brings the Hebrew into coincidence with the lxx by supplying with: ‘Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.’ And this is probably the true sense. As the sacred writer (in Deuteronomy 32) is not speaking of the blessing of the Jews being extended to the Gentiles, but seems rather in the whole context, to be denouncing vengeance on them as the enemies of God’s people, Calvin and others refer this citation to Psalms 67:3, Psalms 67:5, where the sentiment is clearly expressed, though not in precisely the same words.

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Romans 15:11

And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. This passage is from Psalms 117:1, and strictly to the apostle’s purpose.

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Romans 15:12

And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to rule over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust, Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 11:10. This is an explicit prediction of the dominion of the Messiah over other nations besides the Jews. Here again the apostle follows the Septuagint, giving, however, the sense of the original Hebrew. The promise of the prophet is, that from the decayed and fallen house of David, one should arise, whose dominion should embrace all nations, and in whom Gentiles as well as Jews should trust. In the fulfillment of this prophecy Christ came, and preached salvation to those who were near and to those who were far off. As both classes had been thus kindly received by the condescending Savior, and united into one community, they should recognize and love each other as brethren, laying aside all censoriousness and contempt, neither judging nor despising one another.

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Romans 15:13

Now then the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. All joy means all possible joy. Paul here, as in Romans 15:5, concludes by praying that God would grant them the excellencies which it was their duty to possess. Thus constantly and intimately are the ideas of account ableness and dependence connected in the sacred Scriptures. We are to work out our own salvation, because it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do, according to his good pleasure. The God of hope, i.e. God who is the author of that hope which it was predicted men should exercise in the root and offspring of Jesse.

Fill you with all joy and peace in believing, i.e. fill you with that joy and concord among yourselves, as well as peace of conscience and peace towards God, which are the results of genuine faith. That ye may abound in hope. The consequence of the enjoyment of the blessings, and of the exercise of the graces just referred to, would be an increase in the strength and joyfulness of their hope; through the power of the Holy Ghost, through whom all good is given and all good exercised.

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Romans 15:14-33

Analysis

The apostle, in the conclusion of his epistle, assures the Romans of his confidence in them, and that his motive for writing was not so much a belief of their peculiar deficiency, as the desire of putting them in mind of those things which they already knew, Romans 15:14, Romans 15:15. This he was the rather entitled to do on account of his apostolic office, conferred upon him by divine appointment, and confirmed by the signs and wonders, and abundant success with which God had crowned his ministry, Romans 15:15, Romans 15:16. He had sufficient ground of confidence in this respect, in the results of his own labors, without at all encroaching upon what belonged to others; for he had made it a rule not to preach where others had proclaimed the gospel, but to go to places where Christ was previously unknown, Romans 15:17-21. His labors had been such as hitherto to prevent the execution of his purpose to visit Rome. Now, however, he hoped to have that pleasure, on his way to Spain, as soon as he had accomplished his mission to Jerusalem, with the contributions of the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia, for the poor saints in Judea, Romans 15:22-28. Having accomplished this service, he hoped to visit Rome in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. In the meantime he begs an interest in their prayers, and commends them to the grace of God, Romans 15:29-33.

Commentary

Romans 15:14

And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.‹79› Paul, with his wonted modesty and mildness, apologizes, as it were, for the plainness and ardor of his exhortations. They were given from no want of confidence in the Roman Christians, and they were not an unwarrantable assumption of authority on his part. The former of these ideas he presents in this verse, and the latter in the text. I also myself, i.e. I of myself, without the testimony of others. Paul had himself such knowledge of the leading members of the church of Rome, that he did not need to be informed by others of their true character. That ye also are full of goodness, i.e. of kind and conciliatory feelings; or, taking αγαθωσύνη in its wider sense, full of virtue, or excellence. Filled with all knowledge, i.e. abundantly instructed on these subjects, so as to be able to instruct or admonish each other. It was, therefore, no want of confidence in their disposition or ability to discharge their duties, that led him to write to them; his real motive he states in the next verse. They were able, νουθετεῖν, to put in mind, to bring the truth seasonably to bear on the mind and conscience. It does not refer exclusively to the correction of faults, or to reproof for transgression. “Duae monitoris praecipuae sunt dotes, humanitas quae et illius animum ad juvandos consilio suo fratres inclinet, et vultum verbaque comitate temperet: et consilii dexteritas, sive prudentia, quae et auctoritatem illi conciliet, ut prodesse queat auditoribus ad quos dirigit sermonem. Nihil enim magis contrarium fraternis moni tionibus, quam malignitas et arrogantia, quae facit ut errantes fastuose contemnamus et ludibrio habere malimus, quam corrigere.” — Calvin.

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Romans 15:15

Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind. because of the grace given to me of God. It was rather to remind than to instruct them, that the apostle wrote thus freely. The words (ἀπὸ μέρους) in some sort, are intended to qualify the words more boldly, ‘I have written somewhat too boldly.’ How striking the blandness and humility of the great apostle! The preceding exhortations and instructions, for which he thus apologizes, are full of affection and heavenly wisdom. What a reproof is this for the arrogant and denunciatory addresses which so often are given by men who think they have Paul for an example! These words, (in some sort,) however, may be connected with I have written; the sense would then be, ‘I have written in part (i.e., in some parts of my epistle,) very boldly.’ The former method seems the more natural. When a man acts the part of a monitor, he should not only perform the duty properly, but he should, on some ground, have a right to assume this office. Paul therefore says, that he reminded the Romans of their duty, because he was entitled to do so in virtue of his apostolical character; because of the grace given to me of God. Grace here, as appears from the context, signifies the apostleship which Paul represents as a favor; see Romans 1:5.

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Romans 15:16

That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles; λειτουργὸν εἰς τὰ ἔθνα, a minister for, or in reference to the Gentiles. This is the explanation of the grace given to him of God; it was the favor of being a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. Compare Ephesians 3:8, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” The word (λειτουργός) rendered minister, means a public officer or servant; see Romans 13:6, where it is applied to the civil magistrate. It is, however, very frequently used (as is also the corresponding verb) of those who exercised the office of a priest, Deuteronomy 10:8; Hebrews 10:11. As the whole of this verse is figurative, Paul no doubt had this force of the word in his mind, when he called himself a minister, a sacred officer of Jesus Christ; not a priest, in the proper sense of the term, for the ministers of the gospel are never so called in the New Testament, but merely in a figurative sense. The sacrifice which they offer are the people, whom they are instrumental in bringing unto God.

Ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable; being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. This is the apostle’s explanation of the preceding clause. ‘He was appointed a minister of Christ to administer, or to act the part of a priest in reference to the gospel, that is, to present the Gentiles as a holy sacrifice to God.’ Paul, therefore, no more calls himself a priest in the strict sense of the term, than he calls the Gentiles a sacrifice in the literal meaning of that word. The expression, (ἱερουργοῦντα τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) rendered ministering the gospel, is peculiar, and has been variously explained. Erasmus translates it sacrificans evangelium, ‘presenting the gospel as a sacrifice;’ Calvin, consecrans evangelium, which he explains, ‘performing the sacred mysteries of the gospel.’ The general meaning of the phrase probably is, ‘acting the part of a priest in reference to the gospel.’ Compare 2 Macc. 4:7, 8, ἱερουργεῖν τὸν νόμον.

The sense is the same, if the word (εὐαγγέλιον) gospel be made to depend on a word understood, and the whole sentence be resolved thus, ‘That I should be a preacher of the gospel (εἰς τὸ εἶναί με κηρύσσοντα τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) to the Gentiles, a ministering priest (i.e., a minister acting the part of a priest,) of Jesus Christ,’ Wahl’s Clavis, p. 740. Paul thus acted the part of a priest that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable. The word (προσφορά) offering sometimes means the act of oblation, sometimes the thing offered. Our translators have taken it here in the former sense; but this is not so suitable to the figure or the context. It was not Paul’s act that was to be acceptable, or which was ‘sanctified by the Holy Spirit.’ The latter sense of the word, therefore, is to be preferred; and the meaning is, ‘That the Gentiles, as a sacrifice, might be acceptable;’ see Romans 12:1; Philippians 2:17; 2 Timothy 4:6. Being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. As the sacrifices were purified by water and other means, when prepared for the altar, so we are made fit for the service of God, rendered holy or acceptable, by the influences of the Holy Spirit. This is an idea which Paul never omits; when speaking of the success of his labors, or of the efficacy of the gospel, he is careful that this success should not be ascribed to the instruments, but to the real author. In this beautiful passage we see the nature of the only priesthood which belongs to the Christian ministry. It is not their office to make atonement for sin, or to offer a propitiatory sacrifice to God, but by the preaching of the gospel to bring men, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, to offer themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. It is well worthy of remark, that amidst the numerous designations of the ministers of the gospel in the New Testament, intended to set forth the nature of their office, they are never officially called priests. This is the only passage in which the term is even figuratively applied to them, and that under circumstances which render its misapprehension impossible. They are not mediators between God and man; they do not offer propitiatory sacrifices. Their only priesthood, as Theophylact says, is the preaching of the gospel, (αὕτη γάρ μοι ἱερωσύνη τὸ καταγγέλλειν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον,) and their offerings are redeemed and sanctified men, saved by their instrumentality. “Et sane hoc est Christiani pastoris sacerdotium, homines in evangelii obedientiam subigendo veluti Deo immolare; non autem, quod superciliose hactenus Papistae jactarunt, oblatione Christi homines reconciliare Deo. Neque tamen ecclesiasticos pastores simpliciter hic vocat sacerdotes, tanquam perpetuo titulo; sed quum dignitatem efficaciamque ministerii vellet commendare Paulus, hac metaphora per occasionem usus est.” — Calvin.

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Romans 15:17

I have therefore whereof to glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. That is, ‘seeing I have received this office of God, and am appointed a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles, I have (καύχησιν) confidence and rejoicing.’ As, in the previous verses, Paul had asserted his divine appointment as an apostle, he shows, in this and the following verses, that the assertion was well founded, as God had crowned his labors with success, and sealed his ministry with signs and wonders. He, therefore, was entitled, as a minister of God, to exhort and admonish his brethren with the boldness and authority which he had used in this epistle. This boasting, however, he had only in or through Jesus Christ, all was to be attributed to him; and it was in reference to things pertaining to God, i.e. the preaching and success of the gospel, not to his personal advantages or worldly distinctions. There is another interpretation of the latter part of this verse, which also gives a good sense. ‘I have therefore ground of boasting, (i.e., I have) offerings for God, viz., Gentile converts.’ (The words τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν are understood as synonymous with the word προσφορά of the preceding verse, προσενεχθέντα being supplied.) The common view of the passage, however, is more simple and natural.

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