Acceptance Commanded

Paul now begins to wind up this last major teaching section of Romans. Since 14:1, he has been showing his readers how they should live in relation to one another amid disagreements over “doubtful things,” behaviors and practices the Word of God does not specifically address. He began the section by commanding the “strong” to “receive one who is weak in the faith” and commanding the weak not to judge the strong. Now he brings his instruction in this section full circle and spells out his bottom line: “Receive one another.” Dr. James M. Boice points out that the word here translated “receive” and elsewhere translated “accept” essentially means “welcome.” Simply put, Christians are to welcome other Christians—into the fellowship of the faith, into their churches, into their homes, into their lives, their affections, and their care. “This command follows clearly and obviously from the call to unity in the preceding verses, for the way to maintain Christian unity is to accept those other women and men for whom Jesus died,” Boice writes in his Romans commentary.

To illustrate this point, Paul again holds up the example of Jesus, just as he did in 15:3. We are to receive other believers, Paul writes, just as Christ received us. The key fact to remember as we consider Jesus’ acceptance of us is that we were rebels against God’s rule, deserving not His acceptance but His wrath. And yet, by His grace and on the basis of Christ’s redemptive work, the Father did receive us (14:3), as did the Son. We, therefore, can do no less for others. As Boice writes, “With that kind of welcome, who are we to hold to our petty prejudices or to keep up our damaging rejection of other Christians?” His question needs no answer.

In this verse, Paul also reiterates the powerful testimony of true Christian unity before the watching world. He mentioned this in his prayer in verses 5–6, asking God to grant the Romans unity so that they might glorify God with one mind. Here he simply notes that loving acceptance of one another, transcending all the hatreds and prejudices of men, is a vivid demonstration of the reality of the work of God the Holy Spirit in our midst. Fallen human beings are naturally jealous, suspicious, and hateful toward one another. When Christians defy these tendencies, the world notices, and God is honored.