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Commentary on Romans 15 verses 1–4
The apostle here lays down two precepts, with reasons to enforce them, showing the duty of the strong Christian to consider and condescend to the weakest.
I. We must bear the infirmities of the weak, Rom 15:1. We all have our infirmities; but the weak are more subject to them than others - the weak in knowledge or grace, the bruised reed and the smoking flax. We must consider these; not trample upon them, but encourage them, and bear with their infirmities. If through weakness they judge and censure us, and speak evil of us, we must bear with them, pity them, and not have our affections alienated from them. Alas! it is their weakness, they cannot help it. Thus Christ bore with his weak disciples, and apologised for them. But there is more in it; we must also bear their infirmities by sympathizing with them, concerning ourselves for them, ministering strength to them, as there is occasion. This is bearing one another's burdens.
II. We must not please ourselves, but our neighbour, Rom 15:1, Rom 15:2. We must deny our own humour, in consideration of our brethren's weakness and infirmity.
1.Christians must not please themselves. We must not make it our business to gratify all the little appetites and desires of our own heart; it is good for us to cross ourselves sometimes, and then we shall the better bear others crossing of us. We shall be spoiled (as Adonijah was) if we be always humoured. The first lesson we have to learn is to deny ourselves, Mat 16:24.
2.Christians must please their brethren. The design of Christianity is to soften and meeken the spirit, to teach us the art of obliging and true complaisance; not to be servants to the lust of any, but to the necessities and infirmities of our brethren - to comply with all that we have to do with as fare as we can with a good conscience. Christians should study to be pleasing. As we must not please ourselves in the use of our Christian liberty (which was allowed us, not for our own pleasure, but for the glory of God and the profit and edification of others), so we must please our neighbour. How amiable and comfortable a society would the church of Christ be if Christians would study to please one another, as now we see them commonly industrious to cross, and thwart, and contradict one another! - Please his neighbour, not in every thing, it is not an unlimited rule; but for his good, especially for the good of his soul: not please him by serving his wicked wills, and humouring him in a sinful way, or consenting to his enticements, or suffering sin upon him; this is a base way of pleasing our neighbour to the ruin of his soul: if we thus please men, we are not the servants of Christ; but please him for his good; not for our own secular good, or to make a prey of him, but for his spiritual good. - To edification, that is, not only for his profit, but for the profit of others, to edify the body of Christ, by studying to oblige one another. The closer the stones lie, and the better they are squared to fit one another, the stronger is the building. Now observe the reason why Christians must please one another: For even Christ pleased not himself. The self-denial of our Lord Jesus is the best argument against the selfishness of Christians. Observe,
(1.)That Christ pleased not himself. He did not consult his own worldly credit, ease, safety, nor pleasure; he had not where to lay his head, lived upon alms, would not be made a king, detested no proposal with greater abhorrence than that, Master, spare thyself, did not seek his own will (Joh 5:30), washed his disciples' feet, endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, troubled himself (Joh 11:33), did not consult his own honour, and, in a word, emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation: and all this for our sakes, to bring in a righteousness for us, and to set us an example. His whole life was a self-denying self-displeasing life. He bore the infirmities of the weak, Heb 4:15.
(2.)That herein the scripture was fulfilled: As it is written, The reproaches of those that reproached thee fell on me. This is quoted out of Psa 69:9, the former part of which verse is applied to Christ (Joh 2:17), The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the latter part here; for David was a type of Christ, and his sufferings of Christ's sufferings. It is quoted to show that Christ was so far from pleasing himself that he did in the highest degree displease himself. Not as if his undertaking, considered on the whole, were a task and grievance to him, for he was very willing to it and very cheerful in it; but in his humiliation the content and satisfaction of natural inclination were altogether crossed and denied. He preferred our benefit before his own ease and pleasure. This the apostle chooses to express in scripture language; for how can the things of the Spirit of God be better spoken of than in the Spirit's own words? And this scripture he alleges, The reproaches of those that reproached thee fell on me. [1.] The shame of those reproaches, which Christ underwent. Whatever dishonour was done to God was a trouble to the Lord Jesus. He was grieved for the hardness of people's hearts, beheld a sinful place with sorrow and tears. When the saints were persecuted, Christ so far displeased himself as to take what was done to them as done against himself: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Christ also did himself endure the greatest indignities; there was much of reproach in his sufferings. [2.] The sin of those reproaches, for which Christ undertook to satisfy; so many understand it. Every sin is a kind of reproach to God, especially presumptuous sins; now the guilt of these fell upon Christ, when he was made sin, that is, a sacrifice, a sin-offering for us. When the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all, and he bore our sins in his own body upon the tree, they fell upon him as upon our surety. Upon me be the curse. This was the greatest piece of self-displacency that could be: considering his infinite spotless purity and holiness, the infinite love of the Father to him, and his eternal concern for his Father's glory, nothing could be more contrary to him, nor more against him, than to be made sin and a curse for us, and to have the reproaches of God fall upon him, especially considering for whom he thus displeased himself, for strangers, enemies, and traitors, the just for the unjust, Pe1 3:18. This seems to come in as a reason why we should bear the infirmities of the weak. We must not please ourselves, for Christ pleased not himself; we must bear the infirmities of the weak, for Christ bore the reproaches of those that reproached God. He bore the guilt of sin and the curse for it; we are only called to bear a little of the trouble of it. he bore the presumptuous sins of the wicked; we are called only to bear the infirmities of the weak. - Even Christ; kai gar ho Christos. Even he who was infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, who needed not us nor our services, - even he who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, who had reason enough to pleas himself, and no reason to be concerned, much less to be crossed, for us, - even he pleased not himself, even he bore our sins. And should not we be humble, and self-denying, and ready to consider one another, who are members one of another?
(3.)That therefore we must go and do likewise: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning. [1.] That which is written of Christ, concerning his self-denial and sufferings, is written for our learning; he hath left us an example. If Christ denied himself, surely we should deny ourselves, from a principle of ingenuousness and of gratitude, and especially of conformity to his image. The example of Christ, in what he did and said, is recorded for our imitation. [2.] That which is written in the scriptures of the Old Testament in the general is written for our learning. What David had said in his own person Paul had just now applied to Christ. Now lest this should look like a straining of the scripture, he gives us this excellent rule in general, that all the scriptures of the Old Testament (much more those of the New) were written for our learning, and are not to be looked upon as of private interpretation. What happened to the Old Testament saint happened to them for ensample; and the scriptures of the Old Testament have many fulfillings. The scriptures are left for a standing rule to us: they are written, that they might remain for our use and benefit. First, For our learning. There are many things to be learned out of the scriptures; and that is the best learning which is drawn from these fountains. Those are the most learned that are most mighty in the scriptures. We must therefore labour, not only to understand the literal meaning of the scripture, but to learn out of it that which will do us good; and we have need of help therefore not only to roll away the stone, but to draw out the water, for in many places the well is deep. Practical observations are more necessary than critical expositions. Secondly, That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. That hope which hath eternal life for its object is here proposed as the end of scripture-learning. The scripture was written that we might know what to hope for from God, and upon what grounds, and in what way. This should recommend the scripture to us that it is a special friend to Christian hope. Now the way of attaining this hope is through patience and comfort of the scripture. Patience and comfort suppose trouble and sorrow; such is the lot of the saints in this world; and, were it not so, we should have no occasion for patience and comfort. But both these befriend that hope which is the life of our souls. Patience works experience, and experience hope, which maketh not ashamed, Rom 5:3-5. The more patience we exercise under troubles the more hopefully we may look through our troubles; nothing more destructive to hope than impatience. And the comfort of the scriptures, that comfort which springs from the word of God (that is the surest and sweetest comfort) is likewise a great stay to hope, as it is an earnest in hand of the good hoped for. The Spirit, as a comforter, is the earnest of our inheritance.
Christ did not please himself nor did he think it was robbery to be equal with God, but wanting to please men, that is, to save them, he suffered the reproaches of those who reproached God, as it is written.
In the sixty-eighth Psalm [LXX] the Savior says that he did not come to please himself but God the Father. For because he said: “I did not come down from heaven to do my will but the will of him who sent me,” the Jews objected and put him to death as a sinner. Therefore the psalmist puts himself in Christ’s place and says: “The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me.”
In the sixtyeighth Psalm [lxx] the Savior says that he did not come to please himself but God the Father. For because he said: “I did not come down from heaven to do my will but the will of him who sent me,” the Jews objected and put him to death as a sinner. Therefore the psalmist puts himself in Christ’s place and says: “The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me.” Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
And this he always does. For when he was upon the subject of alms, he brought Him forward and said, "Ye know the grace of the Lord, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor." (2 Cor. viii. 9.) And when he was exhorting to charity, it was from Him that he exhorted in the words "As Christ also loved us." (Eph. v. 25.) And when he was giving advice about bearing shame and dangers, he took refuge in Him and said, "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame." (Heb. xii. 2). So in this passage too he shows how He also did this, and how the prophet proclaimed it from of old. Wherefore also he proceeds: "The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell upon Me." (Ps. lxix. 9.) But what is the import of, "He pleased not Himself?" He had power not to have been reproached, power not to have suffered what He did suffer, had He been minded to look to His own things. But yet He was not so minded. But through looking to our good He neglected His own. And why did he not say, "He emptied Himself?" (Phil. ii. 7.) It is because this was not the only thing he wished to point out, that He became man, but that He was also ill-treated, and obtained a bad reputation with many, being looked upon as weak. For it says, "If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the Cross." (Matt. xxvii. 40). And, "He saved others, Himself He cannot save." (ib. 42). Hence he mentions a circumstance which was available for his present subject, and proves much more than he undertook to do; for he shows that it was not Christ alone that was reproached, but the Father also. "For the reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell," he says, "upon Me." But what he says is nearly this, What has happened is no new or strange thing. For they in the Old Testament who came to have a habit of reproaching Him, they also raved against His Son. But these things were written that we should not imitate them. And then he supplies them for a patient endurance of temptations.
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.
Remember the words of Christ’s prayer concerning his passion: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt.”
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SUMMARY
Romans 15:3 serves as a profound theological anchor for Christian conduct, immediately following Paul's exhortation for stronger believers to bear the infirmities of the weak and to prioritize the edification of their neighbors. This verse grounds the call for self-sacrificial love and unity in the supreme example of Jesus Christ, who did not live to please Himself but willingly absorbed the reproaches intended for God, thereby establishing the ultimate pattern for His followers.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Paul masterfully employs several literary devices in this concise verse. The primary device is Allusion or Quotation, as he directly cites Psalm 69:9. This serves to ground his theological argument in the authoritative witness of Scripture, demonstrating that Christ's self-sacrificial nature was not merely an admirable trait but a fulfillment of ancient prophecy. By applying a messianic psalm to Christ, Paul reinforces Jesus' identity as the promised Messiah. Furthermore, the verse uses Exemplarism, presenting Christ as the supreme example for believers to emulate. The contrast between "pleased not himself" and bearing "reproaches" creates a powerful Antithesis, highlighting the radical nature of Christ's self-denial in opposition to self-interest. The imagery of "reproaches... fell on me" can be seen as a form of Metonymy or Personification, where the abstract concept of insults is given a tangible, burdensome quality that Christ physically bears, emphasizing the weight and impact of the suffering He endured.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Romans 15:3 is a cornerstone for understanding the nature of Christian love and service, rooting it firmly in the character and actions of Jesus Christ. Theologically, it underscores the profound humility and self-emptying (kenosis) of Christ, who, though God, did not cling to His divine prerogatives but embraced a life of service and suffering for the sake of others. This verse teaches that true spiritual strength is not found in asserting one's rights or preferences, but in following Christ's example of self-denial for the greater good of the community and the glory of God. It calls believers to a radical shift from self-centeredness to Christ-centered other-centeredness, recognizing that the insults and opposition faced in serving God are a participation in Christ's own suffering.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Romans 15:3 offers a profound challenge to every believer, calling us to re-evaluate the motivations behind our actions and the priorities that govern our lives. If Christ, the Son of God, did not live to please Himself but willingly bore the weight of reproach for the sake of God's honor and humanity's salvation, how much more should we, His followers, embrace a life of self-sacrificial love? This verse compels us to consider whether our daily choices are driven by personal comfort, reputation, or preference, or by a genuine desire to serve God and build up our brothers and sisters in Christ. It encourages us to look beyond our own rights and liberties, especially in areas of conscience, and to actively seek the good of others, even when it requires enduring discomfort, misunderstanding, or reproach. By imitating Christ's selfless example, we contribute to the unity, health, and witness of the church, demonstrating the transformative power of the gospel to a watching world.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of Paul quoting Psalm 69:9 in Romans 15:3?
Answer: Paul's quotation of Psalm 69:9 is highly significant for several reasons. Firstly, it grounds his argument for Christ's selflessness in the Old Testament Scriptures, demonstrating that Christ's life and suffering were not accidental but part of God's pre-ordained plan. Psalm 69 is a messianic psalm, depicting the suffering of a righteous individual who is zealous for God's house and endures reproach because of it. By applying this verse to Jesus, Paul affirms Jesus' identity as the Messiah and highlights that the insults and scorn directed at God were absorbed and borne by Christ Himself. This emphasizes Christ's profound identification with God's honor and His willingness to suffer on behalf of God and His people, providing a powerful biblical precedent for the self-sacrificial life he calls believers to emulate.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Romans 15:3 is profoundly Christ-centered, presenting Jesus as the ultimate embodiment of self-sacrificial love. His life was not lived for His own comfort or glory, but entirely for the Father's will and the redemption of humanity. The "reproaches" He bore, as prophesied in Psalm 69:9, were not due to His own sin, but were the insults and scorn directed at God, which Christ willingly absorbed. This act of taking upon Himself the shame and hostility intended for God and humanity culminates in His atoning death on the cross, where He became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and bore the full weight of divine wrath, offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 9:14). His resurrection then vindicates His perfect obedience and selfless love (Romans 1:4). Thus, Christ's selflessness is not merely an ethical example but the very foundation of our salvation and reconciliation with God. His willingness to suffer reproach for us empowers and enables believers to live lives of similar self-denial, fostering unity and love within the body of Christ, and serving as a light to the world (Matthew 5:16).