The Strong Shouldering the Weak Text: Romans 15:1-6
Introduction: The Gospel's Center of Gravity
We have come to a hinge point in Paul's letter to the Romans. He has spent chapter 14 dealing with the nitty gritty of church life, the inevitable friction that occurs when sanctified sinners, all at different stages of maturity, rub up against one another. He has addressed the "strong" brother, who understands his liberty in Christ, and the "weak" brother, whose conscience is still bound by old regulations concerning food, drink, and special days. The great temptation for the strong is contempt, and the great temptation for the weak is judgment. Paul's solution is not to create two separate churches, one for the scrupulous and one for the free. His solution is love, a love that is defined not by sentiment, but by the cross of Jesus Christ.
What we have in these first verses of chapter 15 is the theological anchor for all that has gone before. This is not a new topic, but the culmination of the previous one. Paul is grounding his practical, ethical instruction in the deepest soil of the gospel. The Christian life is not a set of rules to be followed; it is a life to be lived, and that life has a certain shape, a certain center of gravity. That center of gravity is not self. It is not personal fulfillment, or self-actualization, or the pursuit of our own spiritual comfort. The center of gravity for the Christian life is the good of our neighbor, for the glory of God, patterned after the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our culture, both inside and outside the church, is drowning in the therapeutic gospel of self-esteem and self-pleasing. We are told to look within, to follow our hearts, to be true to ourselves. But the gospel calls us to look outside of ourselves. It calls us to die to ourselves. It calls us to a radical, others-oriented way of living that is so counter-intuitive, so contrary to our fallen nature, that it can only be accomplished by the grace of God. This passage is a direct assault on the idol of self. It commands us to reorient our entire lives, not around what we are free to do, but around what love is required to do.
The Text
Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his building up. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “THE REPROACHES OF THOSE WHO REPROACHED YOU FELL ON ME.” For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God of perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 15:1-6 LSB)
Strength for Service, Not Self (v. 1)
Paul begins by stating the fundamental obligation of the mature Christian.
"Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves." (Romans 15:1)
The word for "bear" here means to carry a heavy load. It is the same word used of Simon of Cyrene carrying Christ's cross. This is not a passive "putting up with" the weak. It is an active, strenuous shouldering of their burdens. If you are strong in the faith, if your conscience is clear and your understanding of liberty is robust, God did not give you that strength for your own enjoyment. He gave you that strength for service. Your theological muscle is not for flexing in the mirror; it is for lifting the burdens of your weaker brother.
The primary weakness in view here is a scrupulous conscience, but the principle is much broader. It applies to any area where one believer is struggling, stumbling, or lagging behind. The strong are not to use their liberty as a club to beat the weak into submission. They are to use their liberty as a platform from which to serve. This is a direct command: "ought." It is a debt we owe.
And the contrast is stark: "and not just please ourselves." The default setting of the human heart is self-pleasing. We naturally gravitate toward what makes us comfortable, what we prefer, what we feel we have a "right" to. But the gospel re-wires this entire system. The question is no longer, "What am I allowed to do?" but rather, "What does love require me to do?" The strong brother might have the "right" to eat the meat, but he does not have the right to destroy his brother for whom Christ died. Christian liberty is not a license for self-indulgence; it is the freedom to not have to please yourself.
The Goal of Pleasing Others (v. 2)
Paul then clarifies the nature and purpose of this other-oriented life.
"Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his building up." (Romans 15:2 LSB)
Now, this is a verse that can be easily twisted. This is not a command to be a man-pleaser, a spineless people-pleaser who avoids conflict at all costs. Paul himself said, "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:10). The goal is not simply to make our neighbor happy. The goal is to please him "for his good, to his building up."
The word for "building up" is edification. It is an architectural term. We are to be spiritual construction workers, building up our brothers and sisters in the faith. Sometimes, that requires comfort and accommodation. At other times, it may require a gentle word of correction or instruction. But the motive is always the same: their spiritual good. We are aiming for their maturity in Christ. This means we lay aside our preferences, our rights, our comforts, if doing so will help build them up. We don't please our neighbor by flattering him in his sin. We please him for his good, which is ultimately his conformity to Christ.
The Ultimate Example: Christ (v. 3)
Lest we think this is an impossible standard, Paul immediately points us to the supreme pattern.
"For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, 'THE REPROACHES OF THOSE WHO REPROACHED YOU FELL ON ME.'" (Genesis 15:3 LSB)
This is the bedrock of Christian ethics. The indicative of who Christ is and what He has done determines the imperative of how we are to live. Christ had more "rights" and more "liberty" than any of us could ever imagine. As the eternal Son of God, He had the right to remain in the glory of heaven. Yet He did not please Himself. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2:5-8). He lived His entire life not for His own comfort, but in perfect obedience to the Father's will for the sake of others.
Paul quotes Psalm 69:9, a messianic psalm. The reproaches, the insults, the blasphemies that were rightly aimed at a holy God from sinful men, all fell on the Son. He stood in our place and absorbed the wrath we deserved. He bore our weaknesses. He carried our sorrows. He was crushed for our iniquities. He did not please Himself. He pleased the Father, for our good, to our eternal building up. If the Lord of glory operated on this principle, how much more should we, who are the recipients of such grace?
The Armory of Scripture (v. 4)
Paul's quotation from the Old Testament prompts him to explain the ongoing relevance of all Scripture for the Christian.
"For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4 LSB)
This is a crucial verse for our doctrine of Scripture. The Old Testament is not a collection of expired stories or a cancelled covenant. It was written for us. It is our book. It is Christian Scripture. It is not just for our historical information, but for our "instruction." It is God's training manual for the Christian life.
And notice what this instruction produces: perseverance and encouragement, which together fuel our hope. When we read the stories of Abraham, Joseph, David, and the prophets, we see God's faithfulness to His people through immense trials. This gives us perseverance. We are encouraged by the promises of God that are fulfilled time and again. This gives us encouragement. And seeing God's steadfast love in the past gives us a robust and certain hope for the future. The Scriptures are not a dead letter; they are a living well of hope. When we are tempted to please ourselves, to grow weary in shouldering the burdens of others, we must go back to the Scriptures to be refueled with the perseverance and encouragement that only God's Word can supply.
The Source and Goal of Unity (v. 5-6)
Paul concludes this section with a prayer that functions as a final exhortation.
"Now may the God of perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 15:5-6 LSB)
God is not only the author of the Scriptures that give perseverance and encouragement; He is the "God of perseverance and encouragement." He is the source. And Paul's prayer is that this God would grant the Roman church a profound unity: "to be of the same mind." This does not mean uniformity of opinion on every secondary matter. He just spent a chapter telling them how to live with disagreements. It means having the same mindset, the same fundamental disposition, the same attitude. And what is that attitude? It is "according to Christ Jesus." It is the mindset of self-giving love, of not pleasing oneself, of seeking the good of the other.
And what is the ultimate goal of this unity? It is doxological. It is for the glory of God. "So that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." When a church, made up of Jews and Gentiles, strong and weak, rich and poor, lays down its personal preferences and rights in order to serve one another in love, they create a beautiful harmony. They speak "with one voice." This corporate, unified worship is a powerful testimony to a watching world. It puts the glory of God on display. Our unity is not for our own comfort. It is not so that we can have a conflict-free social club. Our unity is for worship. When we bear one another's burdens, we are tuning our instruments so that together we might play a symphony of praise to our God.