Romans 15.9b-Paul Cites Psalm 18.49 To Support His Conviction That The Father's Redemptive Purpose Through His Son Includes Jews And Gentiles
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday May 19, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:9b-Paul Cites Psalm 18:49 To Support His Conviction That The Father’s Redemptive Purpose Through His Son Includes The Jews And The Gentiles Too
Lesson # 505
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:7.
This evening we will complete 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 mercy.
This evening in Romans 15:9b, Paul cites Psalm 18:49 to support his teaching that God’s redemptive purpose through His Son includes the Jews as well as the Gentiles.
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.’”
Romans 15:10, “Again he says, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.’”
Romans 15:11, “And again, ‘Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him.’”
Romans 15:12, “Again Isaiah says, ‘There shall come the root of Jesse, and He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles hope.’”
In Romans 15:9b, Paul introduces a series of four Old Testament quotations, which all mention the Gentiles and the first three speak of the praise of God.
The second quotation in Romans 15:10 is from Deuteronomy 32:43 and links Gentiles and Jews together in the praise of God while the fourth quotation from Isaiah 11:10 teaches that the Gentiles confidence in God is based upon the Jewish Messiah.
Therefore, the quotations are employed by Paul to support his teaching in Romans 15:8-9a that God’s redemptive purpose through His Son includes both the Jews and the Gentiles.
The apostle cites from each of the three major divisions of the Old Testament.
He quotes from the “writings” in verses 9b and 11, the “law” in verse 10 and the “prophets” in verse 12 to demonstrate that the inclusion of the Gentiles with the Jews in praising God is a part of God’s plan of salvation and thus the offer of salvation is universal (See Luke 24:44).
The first quotation that appears in Romans 15:9b is almost an exact translation from the Septuagint translation of Psalm 17:50, which in our English Bibles is Psalm 18:49.
Paul is attributing the quotation to Christ or in other words, the quotation is Messianic though Dave spoke about praising God himself among the Gentiles as a result of his victories over the heathen during his lifetime.
It also speaks of David praising God among the Gentiles during Christ’s millennial reign.
So the words quoted from Psalm 17:50 of the Septuagint are attributed to Christ Himself and portrays Him as giving praise to the Father among the Gentiles when the Gentiles praise the Father through Him, thus, David is a type of Christ in this Psalm.
Therefore, all of these Old Testament quotations that appear in Romans 15:9b-12 are designed to teach the weak Christian who is primarily Jewish to welcome into fellowship with themselves their strong brother or sister in Christ and vice versa.
The weak and the strong should welcome each other since both will be praising the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for their so great salvation.
“As it is written” introduces an Old Testament passage, namely, the Septuagint translation of Psalm 17:50, which supports the previous statement that appears in Romans 15:8-9a.
It emphasizes that Psalm 17:50 in the Septuagint, which is Psalm 18:49 in our English Bibles, is applicable to Paul’s readers who are weak and primarily Jewish.
This Psalm teaches the weak to accept the strong who were primarily Gentile and for the strong to accept the weak since it was through the Jewish Messiah that they received salvation.
If the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ is going to praise the Father while among the Gentiles during His millennial reign, then the weak who are primarily Jewish must accept the strong and the strong the weak since they received eternal salvation through faith in the Jewish Messiah.
“Therefore” is composed of the preposition dia (διά) (thee-ah), which is followed by the accusative neuter singular form of the immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “this.”
The preposition dia, “because of” with the accusative form of houtos, “this” functions as a marker of cause denoting the basis or reason for Christ praising the Father among the Gentiles.
The immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos “this” is “anaphoric” referring to the immediate preceding statement in Romans 15:8-9a.
Therefore, this indicates that Christ will praise the Father among the regenerate Gentiles during His millennial reign because of the Father’s faithfulness in fulfilling through Him the covenant promises to the patriarchs of Israel so that the Gentiles glorify the Father because of His grace policy towards them.
“I will give praise” is the first person singular future middle indicative form of the verb exomologeo (ἐξομολογέομαι) (ex-omo-low-ya-owe), which means “to give praise” and is used of the Lord Jesus Christ as its subject and God the Father as its object.
“To You” is the dative second person singular form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ) (eh-go), which refers of course to the Father since the Son came to glorify the Father and Christ is portrayed in this Psalm as praising the Father among regenerate Gentiles during His millennial reign.
“Among the Gentiles” indicates that during His millennial reign Christ will stand in the midst of regenerate Gentiles and praise the Father for His faithfulness in fulfilling through Him the covenant promises to the patriarchs of Israel so that the Gentiles glorify the Father because of His grace policy towards them.
“I will sing to” is the first person singular future active indicative form of the verb psalo (ψάλλω) (psah-low), which means “to sing praises” and is used with the Lord Jesus Christ as its subject and the Father’s character and nature as its object.
“Your name” is composed of the articular dative neuter singular form of the noun onoma (ὄνομα) (owe-no-mah), “name” and the genitive second person singular personal pronoun su (σύ) (see), “Your.”
The noun onoma refers to the character and nature of the person of the Father and especially those attributes of His person mentioned by Paul in Romans 15:8-9a, namely His faithfulness and His grace policy.
To summarize, the apostle Paul in Romans 15:8-9a 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 policy.
Then, in Romans 15:9b, he cites Psalm 18:49 to support his affirmation that the Father’s redemptive purpose through His Son includes Gentiles along with Jews.