Today, we transition into Romans 15, but we continue with the Apostle Paul's instructions to the strong and weak Christians. The strong are those who understand that following the Lord Jesus does not mean earning God's favor through their adherence to the Law of Moses. The weak are those who maintain that adherence to the Law for God's acceptance is necessary in these areas. The strong have strong faith and they know the value of God's peace. The weak are growing in their faith in the God of the Bible and God desires that the strong embrace the place of the servant so that the weak may be strengthened.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves."
The word "ought" here means to be a debtor. It was used by the Apostle Paul when he said, "I'm a debtor to the Jew and the Greek." This Greek word is used 25 times in the New Testament, and it does not just communicate the idea of tolerance, it communicates the idea of bearing along with someone's infirmity. In Philippians 2 we read, "Let each man look not on his own things, but on the things of others." This means when someone struggles with something that we feel is right but they feel is wrong, unless they are violating a biblical truth and they need direct instruction, we must be patient that they might grow to understand their freedom in Christ.
This particular Greek word is also translated in Galatians 6 as carrying someone's load. It means to shoulder the weak brother's burden. It means that the servant of the Lord does not just bear with the weak tolerantly, but he gets under the load until the weak brother becomes able to grow on his own understanding of the freedom that Christ earned for him. The servant of the Lord does not insist on getting his way; his garnered wisdom from God positions him to quickly yield his rights to give in to a greater purpose. To please a brother for his own good is the goal.
The word "scruples" means "weaknesses." Due to his strong faith in the Lord and His residing peace in his soul, the strong brother ought to bear up under "the weaknesses" of the weak.
Now, as mentioned before, this does not mean that we should be men pleasers because if it did it would foster weakness among the body of believers. What this is about is pleasing men by adjusting ourselves temporarily to the needs of the weaker brother in the Lord so that he will desire to be defined by God and His word. This is not about pleasing men by ignoring sin. This is about pleasing men in the sense of helping them carry their load of bondage to the point of being liberated from them by the grace of God.
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification."
The tendency of the strong believer is to either marginalize or ignore the weak believer. But, Paul is urging the strong to lay down his rights in order to build up the weak. The goal is spiritual growth for the weak brother, particularly, growth in his understanding of God's grace. After all, it is the grace of God that enables the strong to be strong in the first place.
Those who have been arrested by the grace of God have exhausted all other possibilities. And, now that we are willing to experience God's grace, we learn that the grace of God is all accepting. The grace of God is benevolent, excessive, outrageous, and scandalous. The more that we experience it, the more accepted by God we feel. It is that kind of kindness that melts our hearts to be servant shaped. It is our understanding of the heart of God that produces in us a heart for others, even the irritating weak.
In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on Me.” 4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."
It is the grace of the Lord that causes us to seek to be like Him. We do not run after christlikeness in order to measure up before God, we run after it because in Christ we have measured up before God. Similar to the way the Lord Jesus submitted Himself to the Father, as the believer in Christ increases in His understanding of the economy of the Lord, he seeks to be defined by Him. Paramount in the understanding of the submitted servant is God's grace. It is faith that enables us to grow in our knowledge of God and His grace, and as we grow in grace, we will grow in submission to God.
The grace of God embedded in the soul of a man causes him to disregard himself. In quoting Psalm 69 the Apostle Paul writes, "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." That is to say that we are to be seeking to find fulfillment in the Word of God rather than personal aims, and, in so doing we confirm the Word of God before others.
God's goal behind our understanding of the Old Testament scriptures is hope which not only desires something good for the future, hope expects that something good is going to happen. In Jeremiah 29:11 we read, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."
God's goal in giving us the scriptures was to give us a sure hope. Biblical hope is biblical faith in the future tense. When we cling to our hope in the God of the Bible in the midst of our trials, a difficult situation becomes bearable because this kind of a hope has introduced us to the life of the servant. True hope comes by trusting God even when life seems hopeless. The way we know we’re trusting God is when we are obeying His Word. Trust produces obedience, which produces hope, which results in joy and peace.
