Romans 15:7-13·~1 min

Christ the Servant of Jews and Gentiles

Paul calls the church to accept one another as Christ accepted them, grounding welcome in Christ’s own ministry — a servant to the circumcised for God’s truth and a mercy to the Gentiles so they would glorify God.

A⁷ccept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring glory to God. ⁸For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs, ⁹so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written:

Paul lines up a short chain of scripture voices that each call the Gentiles to join in God’s praise, demonstrating that Gentile inclusion is no innovation.

¹⁰Again, it says: ¹¹And again: ¹²And once more, Isaiah says:

Paul closes the section with prayer: may the God of hope fill the church with joy and peace in believing, so that hope overflows by the power of the Spirit.

¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Section summaryPaul presents Christ as the servant who confirmed the promises to the patriarchs and opened mercy to the Gentiles. He strings Old Testament witnesses together and closes with a prayer that God would fill the church with joy, peace, and overflowing hope.

Role in the chapterThis middle section anchors mutual acceptance in Christ’s own servanthood for both Jew and Gentile, and ties the whole argument of Romans to the unity of God’s people.