Day: June 9, 2026

“Where Romans Lands” Summer Intensive with N.T. Wright was organized by Admirato.org.

The entire letter is building towards Romans 15.
Far too many read Romans as just about justification by faith but this ignores Romans 1:1-7 and the landing spot of Romans 14-15.

God has one worldwide Abrahamic family now through Jesus – not two! (Romans 1:5, 5-8, 9-11, and here again in 14-15.

This is not about how people go to heaven as the Reformers seemed to think.

Of course, there is so much about salvation from death through the resurrection of Jesus, but that is not the thrust. Paul wants to see his church united and holy, bearing witness to the watching world of this new humanity.

The local church is a small working model of new creation.

The ecumenical movements tried to downplay doctrinal differences, but that isn’t the way to do it. We need to draw each other closer to true message of the Bible and the trinitarian love of God. We should come together to read the Bible together as pastors from different denominations.

We, the “strong” ones, should bear with the frailty of the “weak,” and not please ourselves. ² Each one of us should please our neighbor for his or her good, to build them up.

³ The Messiah, you see, did not please himself. Instead, as the Bible says, “the reproaches of those who reproached you are fallen on me.” ⁴ Whatever was written ahead of time, you see, was written for us to learn from, so that through patience, and through the encouragement of the Bible, we might have hope. ⁵ May the God of patience and encouragement grant you to come to a common mind among yourselves, in accordance with the Messiah, Jesus, ⁶ so that, with one mind and one mouth, you may glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

United praise under the Messiah’s universal rule

⁷ Welcome one another, therefore, as the Messiah has welcomed you, to God’s glory. ⁸ Let me tell you why: the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised people in order to demonstrate the truthfulness of God—that is, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, ⁹ and to bring the nations to praise God for his mercy. As the Bible says:

That is why I will praise you among the nations, and will sing to your name.

¹⁰ And again it says, Rejoice, you nations, with his people.

¹¹ And again, Praise the Lord, all nations, and let all the peoples sing his praise.

¹² And Isaiah says once more: There shall be the root of Jesse, the one who rises up to rule the nations; the nations shall hope in him.

¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit.

Paul uses the Hebrew Scriptures to help “the weak” understand more fully the message of this one new family. Ironically, they were those more likely to know the Hebrew Scriptures as opposed to the pagan Gentiles who turned to Jesus. Paul takes the story of the people of Israel as a signpost of the now revealed Messianic pathway. The Gentiles see themselves as part of the story and not some sort of add on as they are learning to see the Hebrew Scriptures.

Paul doesn’t expect a quick fix to the problem of unity. Scripture will give us “the patience and the encouragement” we need to make progress. Reading the Bible across denominational lines will surprise us on how much we have in common.

Paul sees the shared study of the Scriptures as the path towards unity.

The summary of Paul’s argument goes from Romans 15:7-13
“Welcome one another as the Messiah welcomed you.” Once again Paul uses the word “welcome” to the Roman Christians.

Paul was teaching that a fresh Messianically shaped reading of the Hebrew Scriptures will lead to a common mind (a renewed mind) and unified worship. He says that here:

“the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised people in order to demonstrate the truthfulness of God – that is, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, and to bring the nations to praise God for his mercy.“

Jesus was not plan B because Israel messed up. God did not mess up! Jesus was the plan all along!
God’s purposes for humanity always needed a faithful Israelite to carry this out. Jesus was the faithful Israel!
The promise of a “snake crusher” to Eve and the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 were fulfilled in Jesus!

Romans 15:9 which says: “to bring the nations to praise God for his mercy” is an echo of Romans 9-11.

In Romans 15b-12, Paul quotes a passage from all three sections of the Hebrew Scriptures. Perhaps this was his way of emphasizing his point. All 3 verses point out the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s family and then include a reference to the Davidic heir promised to one day be King which was fulfilled in Jesus.

Paul has transformed military victory that David pursued into a spiritual victory through Jesus.

“Rejoice, you nations, with his people” comes from Psalm 18:49 or 2 Samuel 22:50.
“Praise the Lord, all nations, and let all the peoples sing his praise” comes from Deuteronomy 32:43 which is part of the Song of Moses and from Psalm 117:1 which was the shortest psalm in the Bible.
“There shall be the root of Jesse, the one who rises up to rule the nations; the nations shall hope in him” comes from Isaiah 11.

Often when Paul quotes a verse he has in mind the following verses as well. Psalm 117: 2 says: “For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.”

Paul held back Isaiah 11 back until this moment in order to make his strongest point at the end of his argument.
Paul uses this quote to conclude a series of Old Testament passages, demonstrating that God’s plan of salvation was always intended to include both Jews and Gentiles.

Notice more of the prophecy in Isaiah 11:6-9 leading up to Paul’s quote which reads:

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb,
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
    and a little child will lead them.
⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

Many of the Judeans would know that his quote from Isaiah 11 would also include the New Creation which meant the end of war between the animals and war between the nations.

In light of Jesus’ death and resurrection, “the one who rises up to rule the nations” now seems to obviously be a prophecy of Jesus’ “rising up” from the dead.

We read in Ephesians 1:10 that “God’s plan was to sum up the whole cosmos in the Messiah—yes, everything in heaven and on earth, in him.”

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit.” This line has so many echoes of so many other letters from Paul.

The God who can bring heaven and earth together can bring Jews and Gentiles together!

The Western Church has missed so much of the message of Romans due to the Platonic misunderstandings.

“Where Romans Lands” Summer Intensive with N.T. Wright was organized by Admirato.org.

The Romans were more than likely pleased that Claudius had expelled the Judeans because they did not worship the gods and had a lazy day once a week and did odd things to their little boys.

The Gentile Christians welcoming back Judean Christians will be inviting back into their community people who were disliked perhaps making it harder for them by associating with them.

¹⁰ You, then: why do you condemn your fellow Christian? Or you: why do you despise a fellow Christian? We must all appear before the judgment seat of God, ¹¹ as the Bible says:

As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall give praise to God.

¹² So then, we must each give an account of ourselves to God.

The way of love and peace

¹³ Do not, then, pass judgment on one another any longer. If you want to exercise your judgment, do so on this question: how to avoid placing obstacles or stumbling blocks in front of a fellow family member.

¹⁴ I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself, except that some things do become unclean for the person who regards them as such. ¹⁵ For if your brother or sister is being harmed by what you eat, you are no longer behaving in accordance with love. Don’t let your food destroy someone for whom the Messiah died!

¹⁶ So don’t let something that is good for you make other people blaspheme. ¹⁷ God’s kingdom, you see, isn’t about food and drink, but about justice, peace, and joy in the holy spirit. ¹⁸ Anyone who serves the Messiah like this pleases God and deserves respect from other people. ¹⁹ So, then, let’s find and follow the way of peace, and discover how to build each other up. ²⁰ Don’t pull down God’s work on account of food. Everything is pure, but it becomes evil for anyone who causes offense when they eat. ²¹ It is good not to eat meat, or drink wine, or anything else which makes your fellow Christian stumble.

²² Hold firmly to the faith which you have as a matter between yourself and God. When you’ve thought something through, and can go ahead without passing judgment on yourself, God’s blessing on you! ²³ But anyone who doubts is condemned even in the act of eating, because it doesn’t spring from faith. Whatever is not of faith is sin.

“you then, why do condemn and despise?” – Paul takes a harsher tone of rebuke.
Paul wants to establish a hierarchy of truths with some things as essential and some things as important and some things as not important.

Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23 in Romans 14:11 and reiterates the meaning in Romans 14:12. Future judgement is part of Paul’s message in his letters to the churches.

Love is willing to give up its rights for the other.
Paul is saying: “Don’t forget that bringing non-kosher foods to the church family dinners could really hurt the devout Judean Christians.”
Paul doesn’t want them to give up on their faith in Jesus over something like this.

Paul never backs off from his own convictions that all food is now clean, but he does not want the “strong” to force their beliefs on the “weak.”

What matters is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That is the way to please God.

Paul does not use the phrase “God’s Kingdom” much but when he does it appears to be his shorthand for all of the work of Jesus and the movement of His Church.

In Ephesians 2-3, God’s overall purpose was to create a single new humanity as opposed to a split version.
This is incredibly important because the principalities of darkness seek to divide us all.
The Church says to the dark forces that Jesus is the True God!

If the “strong” fail to accommodate the “weak” they could harm them. It is better to sacrifice to keep others from stumbling.

“The faith” refers to the commitment to the risen Jesus. Eventually that faith will come to understand that Gentiles and Judeans are all welcome in Christ even with their cultural differences.

“Eating while doubting” should be avoided.
“Whatever is not of faith is sin.” – Paul is not wanting the strong to force the weak to do anything against their conscience.
In other words, “Don’t insist on things which will undermine the faith of other believers as their faith may be at this moment.”

It is far easier to have a rule book!
But there are many areas where we need to grow up and make decisions using wisdom.
We need to grow to think through and pray through decisions of the heart.

Justification by Faith – Romans 1-11
Fellowship by Faith – Romans 12-16

It’s not quite accurate to say the first part of Romans is about doctrine and the second part about ethics. Paul would not have seen it quite like that. Justification by faith gets us to fellowship by faith! They cannot be separated!

God putting the world right at last = justice.
Call to true worship – Romans 12:1-2
Call to true justice – Romans 12:3-Romans 15:13

Applications from Romans 14:

1. “We, the “strong” ones, should bear with the frailty of the “weak,” and not please ourselves.” – Romans 15:1 
2. This is not a renunciation of the law. Consider this section not as ethics but as addressing key cultural issues that mark one group from another.
3. This is not about tolerance about different theological views on sexuality. Sexual ethics are about the goodness of creation and the launching of new creation. Sexual ethics are not cultural issues.
4. Human community is always precarious. Shared worship is part of the solution! We can show the world a new way to live!
   We live in a time where people have been deeply polarized with tyranny and anarchy as the extremes of both sides. The Church needs to demonstrate beautiful unity and the new way of being human.
5. We are peacemakers and reconcilers! We should not condemn and despise along cultural differences.
   There are important discussions that are important to have to come together.

“Where Romans Lands” Summer Intensive with N.T. Wright was organized by Admirato.org.

Who were these people in the church of Rome that Paul was writing?

There were 1 million people in Rome which was not nearly as expansive as Houston which has 2.5 million people. The best guess is there were 200-300 Christians. Most people in Rome would not have heard of these Christians until Nero made them the scapegoats of the great fire of A.D. 64.

Most likely each church had 6-10 in one, 15-20 in another, and maybe another in the home of a wealthy person with 40-50 people. There were passwords and secret signs to help Phoebe find these meeting places. It’s even possible that not all of the Christians knew each other or even trusted each other as there were Jews and Gentiles in these churches.

50,000 Judeans lived in Rome before being expelled by Claudius around A.D. 45-50 or so. Many returned, but the Gentiles who were Christians had gotten used to life without them..

The new Gentile believers were no longer idolatrous pagans, but their culture was very different than the Judean Christians. There may have been prejudices on both sides.

Paul is writing the church in Rome so that they will worship together and support his desire to journey to Spain.

Why not just let these little churches meet separately based on ethnicity?
Paul knew that unity was essential. He experienced persecution and knew it was coming. They needed to be there for each other!
Civic officials were always suspicious of new religious groups as they posed at threat to their power.
Paul is starting churches that are small examples of the Kingdom!

In Romans 14-15, Paul refers to some who does this and some who do that. He is not calling out the Judeans or the Gentiles by name. He is ratcheting down the tension at first before he does move to the topic of circumcision.

Paul is declaring that the Creator God is now doing what He always promised, and this happens through His Church!

In Galatians, Paul is addressing the fact that the Gentiles are no longer sinners who worship many gods.

In 1 Corinthians Paul is addressing the fact that Gentiles were eating meat sacrificed to idols. He uses the language of “the weak and the strong” in this passage as well.

“Weak” = anxious. “Strong” = robust.
Paul considered himself as one of the “strong” which is probably referring to mostly the Gentiles.
The weak have not thought through the fullness of all the good God is doing!

Paul wants the Gentiles to make every allowance they can for the Judean Christians who have just started returning back to Rome.
The Gentiles had gotten used to church life without them.

Romans 14:1-9

The weak and the strong

Welcome someone who is weak in faith, but not in order to have disputes on difficult points. ² One person believes it is all right to eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats should not despise the one who doesn’t, and the one who doesn’t should not condemn the one who does—because God has welcomed them.

⁴ Who do you think you are to judge someone else’s servants? They stand or fall before their own master. And stand they will, because the master can make them stand.

⁵ One person reckons one day more important than another. Someone else regards all days as equally important. Each person must make up their own mind. ⁶ The one who celebrates the day does so in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, does so in honor of the Lord, and gives thanks to God; the one who does not eat abstains in honor of the Lord, and gives thanks to God.

The final judgment is the only one that counts

⁷ We none of us live to ourselves; we none of us die to ourselves. ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, then, whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ That is why the Messiah died and came back to life, so that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

“Welcome” is a word that Paul uses repeatedly in Romans 14-15. “Welcome” can mean “bring near.”
God has rescued us and brought us into His presence! What God is doing, the Church is to do!

Gentile believers and Judean believers must get together in shared worship which happened over a meal which is why Paul is addressing what they are eating and not judging others of what they are eating.

“Weak in faith” does not mean that are not yet followers of Jesus or doctrinally off on a topic or two.
It refers to some believers who have not thought through the full implications of the work of Jesus.

In Romans 14:3 means: “the one who eats meat sacrificed to idols or non Kosher meat” should not judge those who don’t and vice versa.
Paul points out that all parties will all be judged by Jesus, the only One who can truly judge us all.

In Galatians 4, Paul has harsh words for Gentile Christians who started going along with Judean holy days as a sort of superstitious addition to their faith. He is doing the same thing here.

This is a vital shift in perspective even though it is subtle and nuanced. Paul is shifting decision-making from the Torah to the individual’s conscience. Paul is assuming a kind of maturity and grown up understanding.

Paul is not just trying to get everyone to get along and forget their issues. He was calling them towards maturity with a renewed understanding of the others and a more Kingdom perspective.

In essence, Paul is saying: “Mutual love is already fulfilling Torah and so we can move on from there.”
We can make demands on others’ charity but not make demands on others’ conscience.

Paul is often telling the strong not to force the issue with the weak!

We need to decide which differences make a difference and which ones do not.

A joke on national laws:

Britain: “Everything is permitted unless it is forbidden.”
Germany: “Everything is forbidden unless it is permitted.”
France: “Everything is permitted, even if it is forbidden.”
Russia: “Everything is forbidden, even that which is expressly permitted.”
Italy: “Everything is strictly forbidden on paper, but practically permitted if you know the judge, have a connection, or just negotiate the exception.”

Food laws were not on the same level as immorality or adultery.
Some things previously off limits are now available.

Christian theology is never isolated. All we do is done before the Lord and with others.

Jesus is the Lord and this changes everything!