Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“Let each one of us please his neighbor for his good, for the purpose of edification. For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For whatever was written beforehand was written for our instruction, in order that through patient endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of patient endurance and of encouragement grant you to be in agreement with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that with one mind you may glorify with one mouth the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also has accepted you, to the glory of God.” (Romans 15:2-7)

Chapter fifteen starts by summarizing up Paul’s main point of chapter fourteen: we’re not in this alone. Jesus didn’t live on His own, but to the glory of the Father and for the purpose of the joy that He would bring to us (Hebrews 12:2). True freedom in Jesus manifests when we stop ourselves from behaviour that would make a weaker believer stumble. Jesus spent His life obeying every precept of the law, but never yielding to any of the added legality humans put on it. He went out of His way to do things He knew to be human foolishness, but did it so that He wouldn’t cause them to stumble (Matthew 17:27). Not all scripture is about the believer in Jesus, but all scripture was written FOR the believer in Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:6-11).

Now Paul starts summing up his whole point. The gospel message is for Jew and Gentile alike. The scriptures are FULL of the message. The prophets pointed to it, Jesus fulfilled them and CONTINUES to fulfill them. Jesus came in full accord with the promises of the Old Covenant and cut a New Covenant with the Father, which they extend to us in Jesus. Whomever believes. Whomever confesses. Whomever humbly submits. The scriptures taken as a whole are the revelation of this mystery of mercy that is the gospel. And this gospel message is that fills us with all joy, all peace, and enables us to abound in hope for all the promises yet to be fulfilled through the power of Holy Spirit. It is Holy Spirit which makes these precious things real to us as we walk with God, hand in hand, cooperating with His will and His purpose.

The rest of chapter fifteen and all of sixteen filled with Paul’s desire to travel to Rome and fellowship with them face to face. His final exhortations to the believers over the proper behaviour of one believer to another. And finally a long list of greetings to specific people who Paul knew and cared about. He also encourages the church in Rome to fully accept Phoebe, from the church in Cenchrea, who Paul was sending the letter with. He asked the church in Rome to help her with her mission and mentions that she has been a huge help both to Paul personally and others as well. Paul blesses them, mentions all the people involved in the letter and who also send them greetings, and then closes with this doxology:

“Now to the one who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for eternal ages, but now has been revealed, and through the prophetic scriptures has been made known according to the command of the eternal God, resulting in obedience of faith to all the Gentiles, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for eternity. Amen.” (Romans 16:25-27) [Note that not all manuscripts have the doxology and end on verse 24.]

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church was written around 55 to 57 A.D. when Paul was in Ephesus. It was a response to reports about the Corinthian church that had been brought to him. It is a stern letter, expressing some frustration and bewilderment that so soon the Corinthians had latched onto strange doctrine and permissive behaviour (behaviour out of alignment with God’s moral character as clearly displayed in the scriptures). In addition to the report he received, Paul also got a letter from the Corinthian church asking about some doctrinal and ethical matters. Paul responds by addressing Christian life, Christian conduct, and the moral character of God. When we get to chapter thirteen, the great treatise on love, you can replace ‘love’ with God’s name and it reads just the same. The whole chapter is insight into God’s character and how He approaches and behaves toward us. The theme of the letter is that Holy Spirit lives within us. Because He does, we should live holy lives that reflect His unity, love, and holiness because it is the nature of God.

“I give thanks to my God always concerning you, because of the grace of God which was given to you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were made rich in him, in all speech and all knowledge, just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed in you, so that you do not lack in any spiritual gift as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called to fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:4-9)

Paul had founded the church in Corinth during his second missionary journey (49-52 A.D.). He enjoyed them and had enjoyed his time with them. He prayed for them. But now he had heard of divisions among them. He encouraged them to hold to the name of Jesus in all their dealings with each other. Speaking in agreement and choosing not to divide into factions (Matthew 12:25). Looking back, Paul was thankful he personally baptized almost no one because the church were wearing names as badges, which was inappropriate. Who gave you the salvation message and who baptized you was in NO WAY important. Aren’t we all belonging to Jesus? Paul had walked among them not to give fancy speeches or to baptize to make a name for himself, but to preach the power of the gospel of Jesus.

The gospel message – the preaching of the cross of Jesus as the saving us from our sins – is the power and wisdom of God. And the foolishness of God is better than the wisest wisdom of men. People were getting all concerned about the PEOPLE, but had lost their love and the fervour of the MESSAGE. God sent the message and those who hear it, truly HEAR it, will embrace it. To the world it is foolishness. But to those who have HEARD it, it is the power of God. God didn’t choose the best of the best of the best to spread the message. He picked ordinary people in order that the message could be centre stage. So that it was very clear to everyone: because of JESUS we are something, not because of ourselves. If we are going to boast, we should be boasting about JESUS.

Summary

Key Players: God, Jesus, Paul

Key Verse(s): Romans 15:7-13; 16:17-20; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31