Romans 15:10-13 - Rejoice, O Gentiles with His people

15:10-12

The quote in 15:10 comes from the Song of Moses, Deut 32:43. 15:11 comes from Ps 117:1. 15:12 combines Is 11:1 and 11:10. So  what has Paul been doing? It seems something of a sudden jump to go from talking about attitudes to eating different foods to the whole plan of salvation. So is it a completely different section from 15:8 onwards? I think not. In the sections directly on the matter of eating or not eating meat Paul’s concern was not so much the issue itself, but the attitude people had. Then in 15:8 he talks about the attitude that Christ had, that of servanthood. In these three verses Paul states that it is God’s will that the Gentiles rejoice with the Jews, and that all of us praise the Lord. This is perhaps a continuation of what Paul has been saying in Romans 9-11. In Eph 2:11-22 Paul majors on the fact that God is creating one people in Christ, with no barriers between Jews and Gentiles.

15:13

So we are to get rid of self-centred attitudes. God’s plans are not fulfilled that way. Neither do they do us any good! Instead we are to have a Christ-centred attitude, then we are open to being filled with joy and peace, and abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is difficult to have a good attitude all the time, even most of the time. There are many things in society which mitigate against it. There are many things within us that mitigate against it. So we cannot achieve this right attitude, this hope-filled attitude by our own efforts, but through the power of the Holy Spirit it is possible.