Romans 15:1-6

The Strong Should Help The Weak, And Unity Must Be Foremost (15:1-15:6).

Paul now brings out the underlying lesson, that among believers those who are strong should have consideration for weaker brothers and sisters. They should be pleasing to their brothers and sisters in order that they might ‘at one' together, and might help to build each other up, in the same way as Christ did not please Himself but bore our reproach. He did not put self-interest first. He could have continued in Heaven and not subjected Himself to the vagaries of men, but instead He chose to come among us, pleasing not Himself but men by whose standards He lived. (We tend to overlook the fact that Jesus was never Himself criticised by the Pharisees for failing to live up to their injunctions on matters of cleanliness, demonstrating that He faithfully observed them).