March 19, 2004
Chapter 15 – Study Questions
Verses
5 and 6 say 5Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to
be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6that
you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. This is a topic upon
which we did not dwell for long. The
key characteristic of the Church, as seen from these verses, is unity: unity of
mind and unity of action. The latter
is derived from the former. Christians
ideally should “with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.” Another point to
mention on this topic is that Paul acknowledges that the power to maintain
harmony in the Church can only be granted by God. He prays that God might grant that power to the church in Rome so
that in unity they might better serve and glorify God.
Chapter
15 continues the idea that chapter 14 ended on. The first few verses remind the readers that as Christians strong
in the faith, they/we are called “to bear with the scruples of the weak” (v.
1). As believers we are called to look
after the good and edification of our brothers (v. 2). In spite of the fact that Paul (the Holy
Spirit through Paul, to be more accurate) could have given this exhortation ex
cathedra, he gives us reasons why we should behave in such a way. He shows in verse 3, that the basis of our
acceptance of our brothers is our Lord Jesus Christ’s humility. He is our perfect model, the One whom we
should strive to follow. However, He is
also the One who graciously provides the strength that we need to accomplish
that. In this context, just like He did
not look after His own good, we also should not look after our advantage but
rather look after the edification of our brothers.
An
important first point to notice in this section is Paul’s attitude towards his
or mission. The amount of work that
Paul did and the suffering and effort it took him to do it would dwarf the
career of any of the modern-day preachers.
In spite of this fact, we see in verses 17-19 that he only glories in
what Christ accomplished through him.
He has the right, godly attitude.
He understands that he is merely the instrument of God’s “mighty signs
and wonders”. God through the Holy
Spirit is the One who guided him and who worked through him. That is true for us today. We are God’s instruments and He uses us to
work out His will in this world. We can
take this to an extreme and revolt at the fact that we are mere marionettes in
God’s hands. First of all (in order to
destroy this straw man J), that is a
wrong conclusion to arrive at; God’s sovereignty in no way excludes our moral
responsibility. Second of all, we
should be comforted and realize that if God works in us and through us we gain
credibility and, very importantly, are not alone.
A
second interesting point is what verses 20 and 21 say. Paul states that his purpose was to preach
the Gospel in new places where Christ was not named. Paul could have most likely stopped in any of the cities that he
preached in and have himself a mega-church.
However, he knew that he had a higher and more important purpose. His love for the Lord and passion for
preaching the Word drove him to conquer new areas of the known world for the
Lord. For us today, it is quite
difficult to find places where Christ is not named/known in our proximity. However, we should pray for boldness and
wisdom so that when the opportunity arises we would be able to preach the Word
faithfully.
Thanks be to
God!
Dallas, TX
18 March 2004
Soli Deo Gloria!