Romans 15.9a-Christ Is Serving The Circumcision In Order That The Gentiles May Glorify The Father Because Of His Mercy
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 18, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:9a-Christ Is Serving The Circumcision In Order That The Gentiles May Glorify The Father Because Of His Grace
Lesson # 504
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:7.
This evening we will continue with our study of Romans 15:8-9, which teaches that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision, i.e. the Jews because of the Father’s faithfulness in order to fulfill the promises to the patriarchs of Israel so that the Gentiles glorify the Father because of His grace.
Romans 15:7, “Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.”
Romans 15:8, “For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers.”
Romans 15:9, “And for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, ‘Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles, and I will sing to Your name.’”
“And for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy” is a direct consequence of the previous statement in Romans 15:8 indicating that the second purpose of Christ being a servant to the Jews is a direct consequence or result of Christ fulfilling the first purpose in fulfilling the promises to Israel’s patriarchs.
By fulfilling the promises to the patriarchs of Israel, Christ provided the Gentiles the opportunity to experience eternal salvation through faith in Him since the promises to the patriarchs included blessings for the Gentiles and not just Israel.
Therefore, Paul is saying that Christ welcomed the weak and the strong because He became a servant to the Jew because of God’s faithfulness in order to fulfill the Father’s promises to the patriarchs.
Thus, consequently, a second purpose was fulfilled, namely that the Gentiles would glorify the Father because of His mercy.
“The Gentiles” is the accusative neuter plural form of the noun ethnos (ἒθνος) (eff-noce), which is used in contrast to the Jews and thus refers to all those individuals who are “not” of Jewish racial descent and thus “not” members of the covenant people of God, Israel.
“To glorify” is the aorist active infinitive form of the verb doxazo (δοξάζω) (thock-sah-zoe), which means “to glorify” in the sense of the Gentiles worshipping the Father as expressed through adoring praise, honor, recognition and worshipful thanksgiving because they were declared justified through faith in Christ.
The word functions as an infinitive of purpose, which indicates that Jesus Christ is serving the Jews because of God’s faithfulness, not only to fulfill the Father’s promises He gave to the patriarchs of Israel but also that the Gentiles may glorify the Father because of His mercy.
The aorist tense of the verb is a “constative” aorist describing in summary fashion the period of time in which the Gentiles are being saved through faith in Christ and thus glorifying the Father for His mercy.
This period began in Acts 10 with the conversion of Cornelius and his family who became the first Gentile family to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit just as the Jews did on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2.
This period will extend through the church age and will continue on to the end of human history.
“God” is the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), which refers to the Father since the articular construction of this noun in the New Testament commonly signifies the first member of the Trinity unless otherwise indicated by the context.
The articular construction is also anaphoric indicating that the word was used in Romans 15:8 and its meaning in that verse is being retained here in verse 9.
In Romans 15:8, the noun theos refers to the Father since Christ fulfilled the Father’s plan to provide salvation for both Jew and Gentile and fulfilled the promises to the patriarchs of Israel and so that the Gentiles would glorify the Father for His mercy.
“For His mercy” is composed of the preposition (ὑπέρ) (ee-perr), “for” and the genitive neuter singular form of the noun eleos (ἒλεος) (el-ay-oce), “His mercy.”
The noun eleos first appeared in Romans 9:23.
Romans 9:23, “And we agree that He has done so in order to make known publicly and explicitly His infinite glory upon vessels destined to be the objects of grace, which He prepared in advance for glory.”
In this passage, eleos speaks of God’s grace from the perspective that it is a reflection of His character and nature, which was expressed through the spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the Cross and through the gospel by extending compassion to sinners and offering them the forgiveness of their sins.
By far the most common Hebrew term for which eleos is equivalent in the Septuagint is chesedh, “grace.”
Therefore, we can see that the noun eleos is related to God’s grace policy.
The other Greek New Testament word for grace is charis, which speaks of God’s grace policy towards sinners from the perspective that it is unmerited favor.
On the other hand, eleos speaks of God’s grace from the perspective that it is a reflection of His character and nature, which was expressed through the spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the Cross and through the gospel by extending compassion to sinners and offering them the forgiveness of their sins.
In Romans 11:31, the noun eleos means “grace obtained” and speaks of God’s grace from the perspective that it is obtained or appropriated by the Gentiles through faith in Christ.
Romans 11:31, “So in the same way they also have now been unbelieving in order that because of the grace you obtained, they themselves would now also obtain grace.”
In Romans 15:8, the noun eleos means “grace” since this is how Paul used the noun in Romans 9:23 and 11:31 and the context of Romans 15:8 does not indicate that his usage of the word has changed.
It speaks of God’s grace from the perspective that it is a reflection of His character and nature, which was expressed through the spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the Cross and through the gospel by extending compassion to sinners and offering them the forgiveness of their sins.
In Romans 15:8, the noun eleos functions as the object of the preposition huper, which functions as a marker of cause or reason indicating that the Gentiles glorify the Father “because of” His grace policy towards them.
The Father’s grace policy towards the Gentiles was manifested by His compassion in sending His Son to the cross and offering them the forgiveness of sins through faith in His Son.
To summarize, in Romans 15:8, Paul presents the first of two purposes for Christ becoming a servant to the Jews, namely, it was because of the Father’s faithfulness in order to fulfill the Father’s promises to the patriarchs of Israel.
In Romans 15:9, He presents the second purpose for Christ serving the Jews, namely, that the Gentiles would glorify the Father because of His mercy and this second purpose is a direct consequence or result of Christ fulfilling the first purpose.
By fulfilling the promises to the patriarchs of Israel, Christ provided the Gentiles the opportunity to experience eternal salvation through faith in Him since the promises to the patriarchs included blessings for the Gentiles and not just Israel.
Therefore, Paul is saying that Christ welcomed the weak and the strong because He became a servant to the Jews because of God’s faithfulness in order to fulfill the Father’s promises to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles would glorify the Father because of His grace policy.