7 Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. 8 Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.” 10 And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!” 11 And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!” 12 And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope.” 13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Commentary
Vs. 7 "Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God."
Putting aside our differences (on all non-essential matters) let us then receive each other, just as Christ also received us when we believed in Him, putting no conditions on us other than our faith in His Person as grounds for His receiving us. And so we should extend that same grace to everyone who has also unconditionally received Christ, and thus unconditionally receive them. For it is by our doing so that God will be glorified when we all worship Him with One heart and Mind.
Vs. 8-9 8 Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.”
In these verses (vs. 8-13) the Apostle Paul begins by reminding us that the Lord Jesus Christ first came in the fulfilment of God's promises given to and through His people the Jews. His doing so is not to exalt Jewish believers amongst their Gentile brethren, rather just to remind us all that God's redemption plans for all believing Gentiles is intertwined with His redemption plans for the Jews. So that He might make us all One people In Christ (Eph. 2:11-19; 1 Peter 2:9-10). And so the Apostle reminds us that Jesus Christ became "a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers." vs. 8
Meaning Jesus was circumcised according to God's commandment that God gave through Abraham, so as to confirm the promises made to the fathers, that He is the fulfillment of them. That is through them God promised that both the Messiah and the nation which He would bring His salvation through would come. Thus Jesus having done so was not just for the sake of the Jews, but also for the Gentiles as Paul states: "and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.” Vs. 9 Here the Apostle Paul is quoting from Psalm 18:49, a Psalm in which David rejoices in God's deliverance of him and indeed the nation. A nation which again God created not for the sake of the nation, but rather for the sake of His Son. So that through it Jesus the Messiah would come and bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles and one day rule over all. Thus all the redeemed of the Lord (of both Jews and Gentiles) will worship and glorify God for His mercies that we have received through His Son.
Vs. 10-12 10 And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!” 11 And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!” 12 And again, Isaiah says: “There shall be a root of Jesse; And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
The Apostle Paul continues his exhortation on our mutual praise and jubilation In Christ because salvation has come not just to believing Jews, but also to every believing Gentile as foretold in the Scriptures. Now this Paul does by quoting from, Deut. 32:43 (vs. 10); Psalm 117:1 (vs. 11); Isaiah 11:1 (vs. 12) respectively.
Vs. 13 "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
The Apostle's concluding exhortation is given in a prayer, a prayer that desires that every believer be filled with hope, joy, and peace by the power of the Holy Spirit. Something which I say a hearty amen too as well.
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Additional Resources Consulted
MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 1738). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
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