Romans 15:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

When He comes, you will preserve all good things. As our life is sustained by food and food produces life, so also, if we have good works, we shall have the Spirit. If we have the Spirit, we shall have good works. The reverse is equally true. If we do not have good works, the Spirit flies away from us. If we are deprived of the Spirit, we shall be lame in good works. As soon as the Holy Spirit withdraws from us, an unclean spirit comes to us, as happened with Saul. What does it matter if he does not torment us as he tormented Saul? He oppresses us in another way, through evil deeds. Therefore we need David's harp, so that we may sing divine songs for the soul. I mean both the songs of David and the songs of good works (1 Kgs 16:14, 23). But if we do only one of the two, and while listening to hymns resist the Psalmist by our deeds as Saul never did, then the very medicine will turn into condemnation. The madness will become more dangerous. Before we began listening, the evil demon fears that, after hearing the hymns, we may amend ourselves. But when we hear and remain the same, this frees him from fear. Therefore let us sing the song of deeds, so that we may cast sin out of ourselves, for sin is fiercer than a demon. A demon does not entirely deprive us of heaven. Sometimes he even helps a vigilant man. But sin decisively separates us from the Heavenly Kingdom. Sin is a voluntary demon, a self-chosen madness. Therefore no one pities it, and no one excuses it. Let us therefore sing songs for the soul that lies in sin, drawing them both from the rest of Scripture and from blessed David. Let the lips sing, and let the mind be instructed. Even singing alone is no small thing. If we train the tongue in singing, then when the tongue sings, the soul will be ashamed to desire the contrary. Nor is this the only good we shall gain. We shall also learn many things useful to us. In the Psalms you are told about the present and the future, about visible and invisible creation. If you wish to know whether heaven will always remain as it is now or be changed, David will answer you clearly: "The heavens will grow old like a garment; You will roll them up like a cloak, and they will be changed" (Ps 101:26-27). If you wish to hear about the form of the heavens, listen again: "Who stretches out the heaven like a curtain" (Ps 103:2). Or if you desire to know more about the surface of the heavens, he again tells you: "Who covers His upper chambers with waters" (Ps 103:3). He does not stop there, but describes for you the breadth and height of the heavens and shows that they are proportionate. "As far as the east is from the west," he says, "so far has He removed our transgressions from us." And again: "As high as heaven is above the earth, so has the Lord established His mercy upon those who fear Him" (Ps 102:11-12). Are you curious about the foundations of the earth? This too will not be hidden from you. Hear how David sings and says, "He founded it upon the seas" (Ps 23:2). Do you wish to know why earthquakes occur? He will free you from every perplexity, saying, "He looks upon the earth and makes it tremble" (Ps 103:32). If you ask about the use of night, you will learn this too when you hear from him that "in it all the beasts of the forest will pass through" (Ps 103:20). If you ask what benefit the mountains have, he answers you: "The high mountains are for the deer." Why the rocks? He tells you: "The rock is a refuge for the hyraxes and hares" (Ps 103:18). Why barren trees? Know this: "There the birds will make their nests" (Ps 103:17). Why springs in the wilderness? "By them the birds of heaven dwell, and the wild beasts" (Ps 103:11-12). Why wine? Not only to quench thirst, for water is enough for that, but to gladden and comfort you: "Wine gladdens the heart of man" (Ps 103:15). Having understood this, you will know in what measure wine should be used. What feeds the birds and the beasts of the field? Hear what David says: "All look to You, to give them their food in due season" (Ps 103:27). Or if you ask why there are working cattle, he answers that this too is for you. "He makes grass grow for the cattle," he says, "and green plants for the service of men" (Ps 103:14). What benefit do you receive from the moon? Hear what David says: "He made the moon for seasons" (Ps 103:19). He also clearly teaches that God made all things that exist, visible and invisible, saying, "He spoke, and they came to be; He commanded, and they were created" (Ps 148:5). He also teaches you that there will be deliverance from death, saying, "God will redeem my soul from the hand of Hades when He receives me" (Ps 48:16). From where did our body come? He says this too: "He remembered that we are dust" (Ps 102:14). Where will it go again? "It will return to its dust" (Ps 103:29). For whom was everything created? For you. "You crowned him with glory and honor, and You set him over the works of Your hands." Do men have anything in common with angels? He answers this also, singing: "You made him a little lower than the angels" (Ps 8:6-7). Concerning God's love, he says, "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him" (Ps 102:13). He also teaches what awaits us after life, that peaceful lot: "Return, O my soul, to your rest" (Ps 114:6). Why is heaven so vast? He says this too: "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps 18:2). Why are there night and day? Not only to give light and rest, but also to instruct: "There is no speech nor language where their voices are not heard" (Ps 18:4). How does the sea surround the earth? "The deep, like a garment, is its clothing" (Ps 103:6). Thus it stands in the Hebrew text. Beginning from what has been said up to now, you will learn the rest as well: about Christ, the Resurrection, the life to come, rest, torment, moral teaching, and all doctrines. Thus you will find that David's book is filled with countless blessings. If you fall into temptation, you will draw from it great consolation for yourself. If you fall into sins, you will find many remedies in it. If you fall into poverty or sorrow, you will see many harbors in it for yourself. If you are righteous, you will find firm support in it. If you are sinful, you will draw great consolation from it. If you are righteous and suffer afflictions, hear what David says: "For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for slaughter." And again: "All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten You" (Ps 43:23, 18). If your good works move you to arrogance, hear what the Psalmist says: "Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living shall be justified before You" (Ps 142:2). You will immediately be humbled. If you are a sinner and despair of yourself, often repeat what he sings: "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation" (Ps 94:7-8). You will soon rise up. If you wear a crown on your head and think highly of yourself, learn from him that "a king is not saved by much strength, and a giant is not saved by the abundance of his might" (Ps 32:16). Then you will become more modest. If you are rich and renowned, listen again to what he sings: "Woe to those who trust in their strength and boast in the abundance of their riches" (Ps 48:7). And again: "As for man, his days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so he flourishes" (Ps 102:15). And again: "His glory shall not descend with him" (Ps 48:18). Then you will not consider anything earthly to be great. If the most splendid things, glory and power, are so cheap, what else on earth can be worthy of your attention? But are you despondent? Hear what David says: "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I shall confess Him" (Ps 41:6). Do you see those prospering who are unworthy? Say, "Do not envy evildoers, for they shall soon wither like grass and quickly fall like green herbs" (Ps 36:1-2). Do you see both righteous and sinners being punished? Know that the cause is not one and the same. "Many are the wounds of the sinner" (Ps 31:10), says David. But speaking of the righteous, he does not mention wounds, but says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and the Lord will deliver them from them all" (Ps 33:20). Again he says, "The death of sinners is evil" (Ps 33:22). And again: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Ps 115:6). Repeat these things constantly and receive instruction from them. Each of these words contains an immeasurable sea of thoughts. We have only touched them lightly. If you wish to examine what has been said attentively, you will see great wealth. Yet what has been said is already enough for us to be freed from the passions that possess us. If David forbids you to envy, to grieve, and to be despondent at the wrong time, and teaches you to despise wealth, misfortunes, poverty, and even life itself, he frees you from every passion. Let us therefore thank God for this and make use of the treasure. Through patience and the consolation drawn from Scripture, let us preserve hope and enjoy the blessings to come. May all of us receive them by grace and love for mankind, and so forth.

And what blessing does hope give us? The acquisition of the power of the Holy Spirit, which will make our hope stronger. For hope, on the one hand, gives us the power of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, it becomes stronger in us through the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle commands us not only to hope, but to abound in hope. This means hoping from a pure heart and imagining that we already see the blessings hoped for. Such hope, as the Apostle said, imparts the grace of the Spirit.

"I mean," the Apostle adds, "that Jesus Christ became a minister to the circumcised for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy," as the prophets had foretold.

The Apostle Paul himself offered in himself a living example of how one must bear the infirmities of the weak. As St. Chrysostom notes, "he himself circumcised, cut his hair, offered the Jewish sacrifice, and so forth." Or, as the Apostle says of himself, "I became all things to all men," of course in matters indifferent, "that by all means I might save some" (1 Cor 9:22).

If anything is lacking in any of them, one may hope that God will supply the deficiency by the power of His Holy Spirit. He guides into all truth and consoles in everything with the highest hope. By this hope all our present shortcomings are covered, and all the perfections and gifts of God, abundantly given to us, are brought to fulfillment.

The Apostle confirms by many prophecies that the Gentiles were called by God through mercy. According to St. John Chrysostom, in them he "brings everything forward as proof that all must be united and glorify God." At the same time, he wishes "to humble the Jew, so that he will not exalt himself over the Gentile. Because all the prophets call the Gentiles to the glorification of God." He also wishes "to teach modesty to the Gentile, showing that he is bound to give greater thanks to God."

At the conclusion of his exhortation, the Apostle prays to the Lord Himself. He asks Him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to fill the Romans with the spirit of joy, peace, and all-perfect hope.

Concerning this prayer, Bishop Theophan observes: "This prayer, while verbally attached to the prophet’s words just cited, corresponds in its content to the whole preceding section, chapters 14 and 15. The object of the prayerful good wish is abundance of hope. For this to exist, he wishes the heart to be filled with joy and peace. Faith is indicated as the source of these gifts. Faith gives birth to joy and peace. Joy and peace multiply hope. All this comes about by the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit engenders spiritual life. It sustains it and leads it to perfection. From it come all movements and changes in the spiritual life. In view of the Romans’ condition, the Apostle especially wishes them joy and peace. When these are present, the minor differences in convictions of which he speaks will no longer have the harmful consequences that now arise from them. Joy and peace will suppress every quarrel, division, and estrangement, and will no longer allow them to arise."

Through hope in the Lord and His Christ, everything will be ordered in the best way for our good and salvation.

Thus this prayer is verbally attached to the words of the Prophet just quoted. Yet in its content it corresponds to the whole preceding section, chapters 14-15.

The relation of spiritual feelings and dispositions is remarkably outlined here by the Apostle in a compressed word. The object of his prayerful good wish is abundance in hope. For this to exist, he wishes the heart to be filled with joy and peace. Faith is indicated as their source.

Faith begets joy and peace. Joy and peace multiply hope. All this takes place by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is why the prayer is addressed to the God of hope. God is the God of hope because the very word "God" already moves one to hope. For He is goodness itself, boundlessly wishing us good and doing us good.

He knows better than we what we need. He is always ready to satisfy it, and He possesses every means for doing so. Therefore the prophet David confesses that our God is the God of salvation; cf. Ps 67:21.

And blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord; cf. Ps 39:5. God is also the God of hope because He Himself implants it in the heart. He is the source of all spiritual good things.

"The God of hope," he says, "fill you with all joy and peace in believing." "In believing," εν τω πιστεύειν, means because you believe, or insofar as you believe. First comes faith. God has given you faith, and you believe.

Because you believe, there is no obstacle to God filling you with every spiritual good. He will indeed fill you, insofar as you believe. Faith is both the channel through which God’s mercies flow and the vessel that receives them.

Of all spiritual goods, the Apostle wishes the Romans only joy and peace. Apart from the condition of the Romans, joy and peace are named before the other goods because they are inseparable companions of faith. They make themselves more tangibly felt by the believer.

The believer’s sins are forgiven. Take this into your feeling, and you will feel as though a mountain has fallen from your shoulders. How can one not rejoice at this?

The believer is received into God’s mercy, into sonship to God, and is embraced by the warmth of God’s fatherly love. Whoever receives this in feeling cannot but rejoice.

Thus joy is inseparable from faith. Peace is also inseparable from joy, for joy cannot exist without peace.

Peace is established by the overshadowing of grace. When grace comes, it suppresses all the passions because of self-denial, and it gives them neither course nor strength. When the passions are not in motion, nothing can disturb the peaceful order, either within or without.

Then everything remains in its natural order. The natural order is the peaceful movement and ordering of all things.

Still more, peace comes because grace unites one with God, who is the God of peace and brings peace with Him everywhere.

In relation to the Romans’ condition, the Apostle especially wishes them joy and peace because, when these are present, the slight differences of conviction about which he speaks will no longer have the bad consequences now arising from them.

Joy and peace will suppress every quarrel, division, and estrangement, and will no longer allow them to arise.

Blessed Theophylact writes, "The Apostle prays that the believers from the Jews may be filled with joy, for they were grieved by reproaches, and that the believers from the Gentiles may be filled with peace, for they were showing themselves unpeaceful toward those who held to the law. Better still, he prays that both groups may be filled with joy and peace."

But the Apostle does not stop his good wish at joy and peace. He extends it further: "that you may abound in hope." "To abound," εις το περισσεύειν, means unto abounding. He wishes the heart to be filled with joy and peace so that they may abound in hope.

Hope that God, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, will order our essential good in the best way is born together with faith. It grows and multiplies according to the tasting of the goods of faith.

The good received and tasted assures one that all the rest will also certainly be received, and thereby multiplies hope. Joy and peace are goods of faith. The Apostle’s good wish is this: grant them, O Lord, to be filled with peace and joy, so that they may abound in hope.

Hope, or abundance in hope, is set forth as the highest good and the limit of all good wishes. So it truly is. Even in the ordinary course of life one without hope cannot live, still less in the spiritual order.

On the contrary, life flourishes in both orders as hope increases, broadens, and abounds.

Yet one must keep in mind that spiritual feelings and dispositions are so closely bound together and so influence one another that their sequence cannot be fixed as a general and unchanging law.

We say that faith begets joy and peace, and joy and peace multiply faith. But one may also say that faith multiplies hope, and hope fills one with joy and peace. Or again, hope fills one with joy and peace and thereby supports and enlivens faith.

Spiritual life moves by the flowing of spiritual feelings and dispositions into one another. Only such flowing movements testify that spiritual life is alive.

All this is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. It also sustains it and leads it to perfection. From it come all movements and changes in spiritual life.

As there is no life in the body without the soul, so there is no spiritual life in the soul without the Spirit of God.

The God of hope first sends the grace of the Spirit. This grace then begets faith, fills with joy and peace, multiplies hope, and orders every mutual influence and transition among them.

Therefore the Apostle completed his good wish with the wish that everything among them might be by the power of the Holy Spirit. Where this power is, everything is firm and full of good hope.