Read or listen the Epistle to the Romans chapter 15 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

Christ's example – Rom. 15:1-6

Paul continues the discussion of the topic he started in the previous chapter: Christians need to take care of one another. Above, Paul showed that a Christian needs to give up even his spiritual freedom if it can become a stumbling block for another. The "strong" must be so strong that they do not always have to act following their own will and opinion but can change their behavior – within the biblical limits – according to the needs of the "weak". Paul himself has lived like this; he has been a Greek to a Greek and a Jew to a Jew.

But now Paul brings out an even more important reason: the example given by Christ himself obliges us to do this. Jesus left the glory of heaven and became a man (cf. Phil. 2:5-11). Jesus took our sins upon himself. He gave himself up to be mocked and tortured for our sake. He himself did not need the cross of Calvary and the atonement it brought, but he did it to make propitiation for us, the people, and for our sins.

Therefore, every Christian must be ready to give up his own ideas and customary practices if they can harm another Christian or hinder someone from becoming a Christian. There is only one, but even more important restriction: You must not act against the Bible. It is God's revelation, and you cannot deviate from it.

Paul's reasoning is important in another sense too: we can get the strength to do good from God alone. As the religious reformer Martin Luther said, "Good works do not make a good person, but a good person does good works." The strength for good deeds comes only from the love of Christ; when we see how much God loved the world, we want to show that love to our neighbour as well. So it is not a question of imitating, copying Christ, but conforming to his attitude towards our neighbour.

A common future – Rom. 15:7-13

Paul is concerned about the future of Christians who have converted from paganism and Judaism: will the fellowship between these two groups last, or will they separate into their own churches? (cf. verses 30-32)

Paul reminds the predominantly Jewish congregation in Rome of three things:

1. The Gospel came from the Jews.

2. Even in the Old Testament, it was prophesied that God's promises would also apply to the Gentiles.

3. Both the Gentile and Jewish Christians have a common hope for the future.

Paul uses four passages from the Old Testament, chosen so that all three parts of the Hebrew Old Testament are represented:

• the Law (Deut. 32:43, verse 10),

• the prophets (2 Sam. 22:50; Isa. 11:1, 10, verses 9 and 13) and

• the writings (Ps. 117:1).

Even today it is good to stop and think that all Christians have a common future. Sometimes it feels like some Christian churches and groups that are fighting each other do not even fit in the same heaven.

Future plans – Rom. 15:14-24

In verse 14, Paul begins to reveal the reasons, why he wrote the letter to the Christians in Rome.

Paul's principle has been to act as a builder of the foundation of the Christian church: he tried to work only where others had not yet spread the gospel. Paul did not imagine that he had evangelized the entire eastern end of the Mediterranean, but he saw that his part was done: churches had been born in big cities, and they would be in charge of spreading the gospel to their surroundings.

Paul speaks of his work as a "priestly" ministry. The underlying thought is the idea of a sacrificing priest. However, Paul has not sacrificed animals, but Gentile nations to God, and they have become God's property. After all, a sacrifice was something that belonged to God, and was "returned" to God in the sacrifice.

Paul has been God's servant: therefore he has not wanted to speak on his own authority, but what his "employer", God, has wanted him to speak. And he does not want to boast about his own work, but about what God has done (through him).

However, Paul is not going to Rome to start a church, but he has written to the Christians in Rome in order to receive travel assistance from them for his planned trip to Spain. Another reason for the letter was apparently the fear that messages directed against Paul would be sent from Jerusalem to Rome, so that the Christians in Rome would not welcome Paul. Now Paul wants to tell in advance what his gospel is, so that the Christians of Rome would not have to rely on second-hand information. Paul presented his gospel, which he had preached everywhere, to the Christians of Rome.

From the Acts of the Apostles, we learn that the church in Rome accepted Paul and the gospel he preached (Acts 28:15). Whether Paul ever made it to Spain, is unclear. Early Christian tradition (1 Letter of Clement 5:7) says that Paul was freed from imprisonment, and he visited the west, but this is uncertain.

Aid to the poor of Jerusalem – Rom. 15:25-33

Paul has often intended to go to Rome (verse 22), but there have always been obstacles. And Paul can't promise anything for sure this time either, because before the trip to Rome, he must go to Jerusalem to deliver the aid collected by the Gentile congregations to the poor in Jerusalem. Paul knows that the journey to Jerusalem is very dangerous, because he has many opponents there, both Jews and Christians. But Paul does not want to miss that trip, because from his side, it is an indication that the Gentile Christian churches that he has founded want to maintain the unity of the church: they want to belong to the same church as the Christians who converted from Judaism. The gift delivered by Paul was therefore not just a gift of money, but a sign of unity.

In their meeting (Acts 15), the apostles had discussed the circumcision of the Gentiles, and the conclusion was that the Gentiles do not have to follow the entire Old Testament law, but their task is to help the poor of the Jerusalem church, and thus recognize Jerusalem and Judaism as the "homeland" of the gospel (Gal. 2:10).

Luke says in the Acts of the Apostles that Paul's forebodings came true: he was imprisoned in Jerusalem. On the other hand, it also went well, as the collection from the Gentile Christians was received, which means that Jewish Christians also wanted to cherish the unity of the church. In the end, Paul made it to Rome too, though as a prisoner.

The decision of the meeting of the apostles had been interpreted differently in different groups (compare the difficulties in Galatia and Corinth, Gal. and 2 Cor.), but the leadership of the Jerusalem church accepted the gospel proclaimed by Paul (Acts 21:18-26). Paul's opponents, the Judaizers, were left in the minority. The Christian church and faith remained independent and did not integrate with Judaism. After all, Paul's opponents did demand that the Gentile Christians also observe the Jewish regulations in full. If Paul’s opponents had won, the Christian church would have become nothing more than a sect of Judaism.