Roma 15:7-13

Exhortation to Mutual Acceptance

15:7 Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory. 15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised ¹  on behalf of God’s truth to confirm the promises made to the fathers, ²  15:9 and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. ³  As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.” ⁴  15:10 And again it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” ⁵  15:11 And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.” ⁶  15:12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.” ⁷  15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, ⁸  so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

[15:8]  ¹ tn Grk “of the circumcision”; that is, the Jews.

[15:8]  ² tn Or “to the patriarchs.”

[15:9]  ³ tn There are two major syntactical alternatives which are both awkward: (1) One could make “glorify” dependent on “Christ has become a minister” and coordinate with “to confirm” and the result would be rendered “Christ has become a minister of circumcision to confirm the promises…and so that the Gentiles might glorify God.” (2) One could make “glorify” dependent on “I tell you” and coordinate with “Christ has become a minister” and the result would be rendered “I tell you that Christ has become a minister of circumcision…and that the Gentiles glorify God.” The second rendering is preferred.

[15:9]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 18:49.

[15:10]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 32:43.

[15:11]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 117:1.

[15:12]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 11:10.

[15:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “in the believing” or “as [you] believe,” with the object “him” supplied from the context. The referent could be God (15:13a) or Christ (15:12).