Romans 15.11-Paul Cites Psalm 117.1 To Support His Conviction That The Father's Redemptive Purpose Through His Son Includes Jews And Gentiles
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday May 23, 2010
Romans: Romans 15:11-Paul Cites Psalm 117:1 To Support His Conviction That The Father’s Redemptive Purpose Through His Son Includes The Jews And The Gentiles
Lesson # 507
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 15:7.
This morning we will note Romans 15:11 and in this passage Paul cites Psalm 117:1 to support his affirmation in Romans 15:8-9a that God’s redemptive purpose through His Son not only includes the Jews but also 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.’”
Let’s look at verse 11 again.
Romans 15:11, “And again, ‘Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise Him.’”
Paul is quoting from the Septuagint translation of Psalm 116:1, which is Psalm 117:1 in our English Bibles.
Psalm 117:1a, “Praise the Lord, all you nations!” (NET Bible)
Interestingly, Psalm 117:2 presents the reason for the praise is God’s grace (chesedh) and faithfulness, which is why Paul chose this Psalm.
He chose this Psalm since he teaches in Romans 15:8-9a that Christ has become a servant to the Jews because of the Father’s faithfulness in order to fulfill the promises to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles glorify the Father because of His grace policy.
Psalm 117:2, “Because His grace overcomes us and His faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord! (My translation)
“Praise” is the second person plural present active imperative form of the verb aineo (αἰνέω) (eh-nay-owe), which means “to praise” since it denotes the joyful praise of the Lord Jesus Christ through song in the sense of singing of the excellence of His person.
In the Septuagint translation of Psalm 116:1, the verb aineo translates the Hebrew verb hallel (הִלֵּל) (haw-lal) whose root is connected to the idea of singing.
Therefore, the verb aineo means “to praise joyfully in song” the Lord Jesus Christ for who He is and what He has done.
“The Lord” is the articular accusative masculine singular for of the noun kurios (κύριος) (ker-dee-oce), which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ since the word is always used of him in Romans 12:1-15:13 and the statement in Romans 15:12 refers to Him.
The noun kurios indicates the following: (1) Jesus of Nazareth’s equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His strategic victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness in the angelic conflict.
“All you Gentiles” refers to each and every one of Paul’s Gentile Christian readers in Rome indicating that each and every one of them with no exceptions must continue to make it their habit of joyfully singing the praises of the Lord Jesus Christ for their so great salvation.
The present imperative form of the verb aineo is a “customary present imperative” whose force is for Paul’s Gentile Christian readers to simply continue joyfully praising the Lord Jesus in song for who He is and what He has done for them.
It denotes that Paul’s Gentile Christian readers were to be characterized as those who joyfully praise the Lord Jesus for who He is as the God-man and what He has done in providing their so great salvation and manifesting the Father’s grace policy towards them.
Paul’s statements in Romans 1:8, 15:14-15 and 16:19 indicate that they were in fact already doing this.
Therefore, the present imperative form of the verb indicates that Paul’s command is simply giving his Gentile readers a reminder to continue doing what they were doing and was designed to protect their fellowship with God, with the weak, who were primarily Jewish and their testimony among the unsaved.
“Let…praise” is the third person plural aorist active imperative form of the verb epaineo (ἐπαινέω) (ep-eh-neh-owe), which is a compound word composed of the verb aineo, “to praise” and the preposition epi, which intensifies the meaning of the verb and means “to shower with praise.”
In the Septuagint translation of Psalm 116:1, the verb epaineo translates the Hebrew shabach (שׁבח) (shaw-bakh), which is used in the majority of instances in the Old Testament to praise God for His mighty acts and deeds. (See Harris, Laird R.; Archer, Gleason L. Jr.; Waltke, Bruce K. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 volumes; number 2313; The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago 1980)
Paul chooses epaineo to acknowledge the deity of Christ and to emphasize the mighty acts of the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of born-again Jews since the word is used in the Septuagint to praise God rather than man for His mighty acts.
“Him” is the accusative masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός) (awf-toce), which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“All the peoples” is composed of the vocative neuter plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “all” and the articular nominative masculine plural form of the noun laos (λαός) (lah-oce), “people”
The noun laos is in the plural meaning “people” and is a reference to Israel as indicated by its articular construction, which is anaphoric meaning that the word was used in Romans 15:10 indicating that its referent is being retained here in Romans 15:11.
The adjective pas is used in a distributive sense referring to each and every one of Paul’s Christian readers in Rome who were Jewish indicating that there were “no exceptions” making clear to them that each and every one of them with no exceptions was to shower the Lord with praise.
The constative aorist imperative form of the verb epaineo indicates that Paul’s readers who were born-again Jews were “to make it their top priority” to shower the Lord Jesus Christ with praise for His mighty acts on their behalf “and do it now!”
To summarize, in addition to Psalm 18:49 in Romans 15:9b and Deuteronomy 32:43 in Romans 15:10, Paul cites the Septuagint translation of Psalm 116:1 in Romans 15:11 to further support his affirmation in Romans 15:8-9a that God’s redemptive purpose through His Son includes not only the Jews but also the Gentiles.
The passage contains two commands with the first addressed to Paul’s Gentile Christian readers in Rome directing each and every one of them to continue making it their habit of joyfully singing praise to the Lord Jesus Christ for who He is as the God-man and what He has done to provide them their so great salvation.
The second is addressed to Paul’s Jewish Christian readers in Rome directing each and every one of them with a great sense of urgency to make it their top priority to continue showering the Lord Jesus Christ with praise for who He is as the God-man and what He has done for them in providing them their so great salvation.