Romans 15:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do not utter that cold saying: "If he loves me, I will love him. If my right eye does not love me, I will pluck it out." These are satanic words, worthy of publicans and pagan faintheartedness. But you, as one called to a higher life and enrolled in heaven, are subject to higher laws. Do not say this when he does not wish to love you. Then especially show greater love, so that by this you may draw him in. He too is a member. When a member, by some necessity, is separated from the rest of the body, we use every means to attach it again. In that very case we show greater care. The reward is greater when you draw to love one who is not disposed to it. If Christ commands us to invite to a meal those who cannot repay us, so that we may receive a greater recompense for this (Lk 14:12), much more must this be done with love. If the one you love also loves you, he has already given you repayment. But if the one you love does not love you, he has made God his debtor on his behalf. Moreover, when he loves you, you do not need to apply much care to him. But when he does not love you, then he especially needs your help. Therefore do not turn the reason for care into a reason for neglect. Do not say, "Since he is sick," for the cooling of love is a sickness, "I will not care for him." Rather, warm the one who has grown cold. But you will say, "What should I do if he does not grow warm?" Continue doing your part. "What if he turns away from me even more?" By this he prepares an even greater recompense for you and reveals you still more as an imitator of Christ. If mutual love is the mark of Christ's disciples, for Christ says, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35), then consider how great it is to love one who hates you. Your Master loved and called to Himself those who hated Him. The weaker they were, the more He cared for them, and He proclaimed aloud: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick" (Mt 9:12). He even deemed publicans and sinners worthy of His table. In general, the more greatly the Jewish people dishonored Him, the more, or rather far more, He showed them care and goodwill. You also imitate Him. This is no small work. Without it, as Paul says, even a great martyr cannot please God. Do not say, "Since he hates me, I do not love him." On the contrary, for this very reason especially you ought to love him. In any case, it is impossible quickly to hate one who loves. Everyone, even if he is a beast, will love those who love him. Christ says that even pagans and publicans do this (Mt 5:46-47). If everyone loves those who love them, who will not love those who love while being hated? Prove this in yourself. Do not cease saying, "However much you hate me, I will not cease loving you." By this you will overcome every stubbornness and soften every soul. This sickness arises either from inflammation or from coldness. But the power of love, by its warmth, usually heals both. Have you never seen those devoted to shameful love endure blows, spitting, insults, and thousands of annoyances from dissolute women? What then? Can all these insults cool their love? Not at all. They inflame it even more. Though the women who insult them are dishonorable both by their corrupt life and by their low and obscure origin, while those insulted can often point to famous ancestors and speak of other renown, even this does not weaken their love or turn them away from the woman they love. How are we not ashamed if, in love that is pleasing to God, we cannot show the strength that devilish and demonic love has? Do you not understand that love pleasing to God is the strongest weapon against the devil? Do you not see that the evil demon stands watch, draws to himself the one you hate, and wishes to make him his member? Yet you run past and lose the reward of the contest. Your brother lying between you and your enemy is the reward. If you conquer, you receive a crown. If you are careless, you depart uncrowned. Cease, then, uttering these satanic words: "If my brother hates me, I do not even want to see him." Nothing is more shameful than such speech, though many consider it a sign of a noble soul. Nothing is less noble, more senseless, or more hardhearted than this. This is why I especially grieve: many consider evil deeds to be virtue. Neglecting and despising others seems to them something fine and honorable. This is the most dangerous snare of the devil, when vice is clothed with a good reputation. For that reason it becomes hard to eradicate. I myself have heard many take pride in not approaching a man who turned away from them, though your Master takes glory even in this. How many times did men spit on Him? How many times did they turn away from Him? Yet He does not cease coming to them. Therefore do not say, "I cannot approach people who hate me." Say instead, "I cannot spit on those who spit on me." This will be the speech of a disciple of Christ. The former is devilish speech. This made many renowned and glorious. The former made them contemptible and ridiculous. Therefore we admire Moses. When God Himself said, "Let Me alone, and in My wrath I will consume them" (Ex 32:10, 32), Moses could not despise those who had often turned away from him. He said, "If You will forgive their sin, forgive it; but if not, blot me out." Thus Moses was a friend and imitator of God. Let us not boast of what we ought to be ashamed of. Let us not utter words used in the marketplace by wicked people: "I spit on everyone." If anyone else says this, let us rebuke him and make him be silent, as a man boasting of what he ought to be ashamed of. Tell me, what are you saying? You despise a believing man, while Christ did not despise him when he was still unbelieving. What do I mean, "did not despise"? Christ loved him so greatly that He died for him, though he was His enemy and covered with deformity. Christ loved him greatly even in that condition. But you despise him now, when he has become beautiful and worthy of wonder, a member of Christ and the body of the Master. How do you not consider what you are saying? How do you not perceive what you are resolving to do? Christ is his Head, table, garment, life, light, and bridegroom. Christ is everything for him. Yet you dare say, "I spit on him," and not on him alone, but on all like him. Stop, man. Put aside your madness. Recognize your brother. Understand that such words befit a mad or deranged man. Say the exact opposite: "Even if he spits on me a thousand times, I will not depart from him." In this way you will gain your brother, live for the glory of God, and become a partaker of the blessings to come. May all of us attain them by grace and love for mankind, and so forth.

Therefore, he says, receive one another, just as Christ also received you, to the glory of God. Let us receive one another, preferring to be of one mind, bearing one another's burdens (Gal 6:2), and preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:3).

Thus God received us in Christ. True is the one who said that the world was so loved by God and the Father that the very Son was given for us (cf. Jn 3:16). For He was given as a ransom for the life of all. We received the price paid for death, and we were redeemed from death and sin.

The Apostle makes clear the purpose of the divine economy, saying: Christ became a minister to the circumcised for the sake of the truth, and so on. Since God had promised the fathers of the Jews that He would bless the seed that would come from them, as numerous as the stars of heaven (Heb 11:12), the Word appeared in the flesh and became man, being God. Yet He Himself upholds all creation and, as God, grants well-being to all that exists.

He came into this world with flesh, yet not to be served, as He Himself says, but to serve and to give His soul for the redemption of many (Mt 20:28). He also clearly confessed that He had come to fulfill the promise given to Israel, for He said: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24).

Therefore Paul would not lie when he says that He became a minister to the circumcised, in order to fulfill what had been promised to the fathers. Besides this, He was appointed by God and the Father for mercy to the Gentiles, so that they too might glorify the Savior and Redeemer as the Cause of being and the Maker of all.

It was necessary, indeed necessary, since the circumcised, through much disobedience, impiously insulted Him and did not accept the redemption offered by Him, that the ineffable grace of God should not appear inactive. Only very few from Israel were saved and believed.

Therefore the brightness from on high was, as it were, spread over all, and the Gentiles were received. Thus it is seen that the mystery of wisdom in Christ did not depart from its purpose directed toward meekness. By the mercy of God, instead of those who stumbled, the whole world under heaven was saved.

That the mystery had been foretold by the voice of the saints who foresaw the future in the Spirit, he shows most clearly by setting forth the prophecies. In the following verses (Rom 15:9-12), the Apostle cites a series of Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming salvation of the Gentiles: Ps 17:50, which is 2 Sam 22:50; Deut 32:43; Ps 116:1; and Is 11:10.

The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His wound we were healed" (Is 53:4-5). Consequently, when we do not turn away from our neighbor because of his sins, but endure him and strive in every way that he may be healed of sinful wounds and receive salvation, then we receive him as Christ also received us. Here one must also note that this work constitutes the glory of God. For he says that Christ received us to the glory of God. Indeed, the salvation granted to men through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ is truly the glory of God. For those saved by Jesus Christ continually offer thankful glorification to God.

" the Apostle adds, "that Jesus Christ became a minister to the circumcised, for the truth of God, to fulfill the promises made to the fathers, and to the Gentiles, out of mercy, that they might glorify God," as the prophets foretold. The Apostle Paul himself gave a living example of how one should bear the infirmities of the weak. As Chrysostom observes, "he himself circumcised, cut his hair, offered a Jewish sacrifice, and so on." Or, as the Apostle says of himself: "I became all things to all men," certainly in indifferent matters, "that by all means I might save some" (1 Cor 9:22).

Do not estrange yourselves from them, but receive them into your love, into your embrace, and into every communion with yourselves. Thus blessed Theodoret says: "The Master Christ did not love us when we were righteous, but received and justified sinners. Therefore you also must bear the weakness of the brethren and apply every means for their salvation." Thus Ambrosiaster says: "We were received by Christ in such a way that He took our infirmities and bore our diseases (cf. Mt 8:17). Therefore, moved by this example, we must patiently bear our mutual infirmities, lest we make void the glory of the name we have received. By the grace of Christ, we are called sons of God." "To the glory of God" may be referred to Christ's reception: as Christ received you to the glory of God. By the glory of God one may understand the divine and great glory granted to those received, as the prophet Isaiah foretold. "I will give an honorable place and an everlasting name," says the Lord, to those who enter His covenant and are faithful to Him (see Is 56:5, 4). So Ambrosiaster understands it. Or "to the glory of God" means for the sake of the glory of God's name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son as most merciful. This may also be referred to your mutual reception of one another: receive one another to the glory of God. This is how our other interpreters take it. Theophylact writes: "The Apostle repeats the former exhortation and brings Christ as an example, that we should receive one another, because this serves the glory of God. Our unity especially glorifies God. By contrast, disagreement brings dishonor to God. For when the Gentiles see that Christians disagree among themselves, they accuse the faith itself." Chrysostom draws this from it: "God is especially glorified when we are fenced about by one another. Therefore, if you are grieved by disagreement with you and begin a quarrel with your brother, consider that by laying aside anger you will glorify your Master. Be reconciled with your brother, if not for his own sake, then for the glory of God. Or better, be reconciled for that above all. Christ Himself repeated this continually. When speaking with the Father, He said: By this all will know that Thou hast sent Me, if My disciples are one (see Jn 17:21)." Yet from what follows. It is clear that the Apostle joined "to the glory of God" with "received you." For he says that the Jews were received so that the truth of God might be made manifest in the promises to their fathers, while the Gentiles were received by mercy, so that God might be glorified thereby.