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Pelagius

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 465 passages across 8 books

Commentary

421–440 of 465
Romans 15:2

Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.

Let us be commended not by ourselves but by our neighbors, just as Paul sets his own example before us elsewhere when he says: “Just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage but that of many, that they may be saved.” For nobody can build up another person if he has not first attracted him by his good life. But those who do their own will, because they are seeking their own advantage, are pleasing themselves. Paul indicates how and why we should please, so that we do not do it for worthless glory.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 15:3

For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

An imitator and disciple of Christ does not seek his own advantage. Christ died for the salvation of others and bore the most bitter reproach.… But whatever insults are cast, not only upon Christ but also upon the saints for God’s sake, are cast upon God himself.

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Romans 15:4

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

No Scripture is written without reason, for the merits and temptations of the righteous contribute to our edification, because they so very obviously lived for God. Through the encouragement of the Scriptures we await with great patience the hope which is to come.… Those who enjoy the encouragement of the law cannot be moved by any temptation. By the examples of patience and encouragement which have been written down, we may hope for encouragement both in present temptations and … in the future. For it is great cause for encouragement if we know that our Lord and his saints have already borne the things which we suffer.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 15:5

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:

The God of steadfastness is the Holy Spirit, who grants that with one mind, in accordance with Christ, we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. His steadfastness is meant to lead to repentance, and his encouragement is for those who have already repented.We are to live in harmony, so that each one may seek the salvation of the other as if it were his own, just as Christ saved everyone from death by his own death.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 15:6

That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is truly glorified when we praise him with one mind and with one voice.

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Romans 15:7

Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

For the sake of God’s honor bear one another’s burdens. … If God took us upon himself while we were ungodly, how much more should we, who are like one another, support each other!

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 15:8

Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:

Once more Paul urges both Jews and Gentiles to unity with each other. He agrees with the Jews that Christ was promised to them and came to them first and that the Gentiles were called later on, because of God’s mercy. Nevertheless, both peoples have now been made into one.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 82

Romans 15:9

And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.

Paul deprives the Jews of presumption when he teaches that it was foretold that the Gentiles would be saved, even though this was not announced to them. Christ accepts those Gentiles who have received mercy because they too belong to his body.

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Romans 15:10

And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.

These Gentiles have been brought to salvation along with God’s people, the Jews.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 15:11

And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.

The Gentiles must praise God because they have been brought to salvation.

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Romans 15:12

And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.

Jesse was the father of David, from whose seed, through Mary, Christ was born [cf. 1:3].… It is thus proved to the Jews that their Messiah has already come, because it is clear that all the Gentiles hope in Christ.

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Romans 15:13

Now 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 the joy of believers should be in the hope to come. Where there is peace, all is joy. However, there is no joy in discord but only widespread sorrow.… Hope rests in the signs and wonders of the Holy Spirit.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

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.

As a good teacher Paul rouses the people to further progress by praising them, so that they might blush for not being the sort of people the apostle thought they were. He is careful not to appear as if he has sternly rebuked the quarrelsome, the dissident or the foolish.

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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 that is given to me of God,

Paul means: “I had greater confidence to write because I knew that you were sensible people, ready to accept a reasonable argument.” … Paul wrote to them not because of earthly obligations or to earn praise but to discharge the task he had received.

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Romans 15:16

That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

By his example Paul was showing that what he performed with so much fear is holy. For some pass off as human what they proclaim as divine, with the result that what is holy seems to be unholy, since it is not done in a holy way.… Following Paul, however, the Gentiles become an acceptable sacrifice to God, sanctified and exalted not by fire but by the Holy Spirit.

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Romans 15:17

I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.

Paul has glory in the sight of God, even though he is defamed and attacked in the public eye.

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Romans 15:18

For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,

Paul has not tried to claim that he has done anything in his own strength. God did all these things through him.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

Romans 15:19

Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.

Paul was talking not about words here but about miracles. The gospel is fully disseminated when the Gentiles also believe.

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Romans 15:20

Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation:

A man who builds on someone else’s foundation is not doing anything wrong, as long as he builds with gold and such. Here Paul is referring to those false apostles who always went to converts and never to the Gentiles because they could not work miracles. Paul also shows that he had done a good job, for he both laid the foundation and also built on top of it.

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Romans 15:21

But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.

Paul shows that his work was foretold. Christ was made manifest in the apostles through the miracles which they performed in his name.

PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS

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