For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”
And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”
And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:4–13
Christ is the great unifier. Imagine the strange attack the first-century Jews must have felt at the inclusion of the Gentiles. There was the slavery to Egyptians, exiles in Babylon, the endless wars, the Greeks have come and gone, and don’t forget the Maccabees and their fight to maintain the true faith. Now the Romans are a domineering presence throughout Israel. Christ comes, the Messiah, and establishes “the way” and, for some reason, it includes the Gentiles after this history of adversity? What about the whole chosen people thing? How can the historic injustices be ignored?
Paul must illustrate that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction… ” Paul, the persecutor of the church, becomes the envoy to and defender of the Gentiles. Paul reveals that Isaiah’s words are not foretelling a conqueror like Alexander, but rather the slow growth of the church that the “Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.”
Christ is coming into a fractured world, both in the first century and in this twenty-first century. A world dominated by power and might for millennia, and He comes armed with mercy and love. Tribes and nations have subsumed and consumed others in the past, but rarely were they united. The baby about to be born in Bethlehem is the ultimate uniter. Christ always defies our earthly expectations. Christ was supposed to be a political messiah. He was supposed to be the earthly king of the Jews. Instead “… Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.”
Through him, every tribe and tongue will become one church. Is there a more hopeful message than that? You no longer need to fear your neighbor; you need to love your neighbor.
I am writing this on the shortest day of the year. In the darkness of winter. How many people all around the world all through the ages have felt the hopelessness of this literally dark day? Instead of darkness and hopelessness, we are about to have a festival of lights. I get to praise God in this darkness and say:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
What honor is this? What grace is this? What light is this? What child is this?
Greg Lookerse is an assistant professor of art at Hope College.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.