Romans 15:1

“ We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ”

The δέ, then, is progressive. The domain enlarges; it is no longer simply the question of meats, but in general of the relation between Judeo-Christianity more or less legal, of which the party of the weak, chap. 14, was a branch, and that pure spirituality, which is the proper character of Paul's gospel. This tendency to enlarge the subject had already appeared in the preceding chapter, in Romans 15:5-6, where the example taken from the observance of feast days was evidently borrowed from a more general domain. The apostle now expresses his entire thought regarding the relation between a Christianity still allied to the legal spirit, and that which is wholly exempt from it. Since the two elements co-existed in the church of Rome, Paul must once at least before closing utter his thought as to their normal relation, and he does so here quite naturally by applying that law of love in which he has just pointed out that the soul of the Christian life is to be found. It is this gradation in the subject treated which is indicated by the δέ progressive (then) of Romans 15:1. It is no doubt for the same reason he changes the expression which he had used to designate the weak in chap. 14. He now employs the terms δυνατός and ἀδύνατος, able, unable, whereas he had made use of the term ἀσθενής. It would be improper, however, completely to identify the contrast expressed by these two terms, employed Romans 15:1, with that between Judeo-Christians and believers of Gentile origin. For by saying ἡμεῖς, we, the apostle shows clearly that he puts himself among the strong, and not only himself, but all those also of his Jewish fellow-countrymen who, like Aquilas and Priscilla, for example, have risen to the height of Christian spirituality. Among the weak, on the other hand, might be found a goodly number of former proselytes who had brought with them into the gospel their attachment to the law. We acknowledge then, with Mangold, that the contrast between the strong and the weak in chap. 15 does not coincide absolutely with that of chap. 14. There the matter in question was only a special feature of Judeo-Christian formalism; here the apostle speaks of the conduct to be observed toward the formalist spirit in itself. But, on the other hand, it is impossible to adopt the opinion of the same author, when he represents the strong and the weak here as two small minorities, two ultra parties of the right and left, the one of extreme Gentile-Christians, the other of particularly narrow Judeo-Christians, whom Paul contrasted with the in general moderate Judeo-Christian mass of the church of Rome. How could Paul himself, by saying: we, the strong, take his place in one of these extreme parties, which, according to Mangold, wished even (see at Romans 15:7) to excommunicate the weak! This construction, whereby it is sought in the face of this whole passage to save the hypothesis of a Judeo-Christian majority in the church of Rome, is an expedient which all critics have hitherto judged untenable. ᾿Ασθενήματα, the infirmities or weaknesses; these are, as Hodge says, “the prejudices, errors, and faults which arise from weakness of faith.” The strong ought to show his strength, not by humiliating the weak and triumphing in the feeling of his superiority, but by bearing the burden of his weakness with love and tenderness. To serve is always in the gospel the true sign of strength (Galatians 6:2).

But to be able to act thus, there is an enemy that must be swept out of our own heart: self-complacency. The man who boasts of his superiority in understanding and in Christian liberty, is not fitted to assist the weak; rather he estranges and revolts them.