Romans 15:7-11: a reflection

7Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God. 8Now I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given to the fathers, 9and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.” 10Again he says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.” 11Again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Let all the peoples praise him.”

Paul gives a short command with a vast foundation: welcome one another, just as Christ has welcomed you, to the glory of God. The measure of the welcome we owe each other is nothing less than the welcome Christ has already given us. He did not wait until we had cleaned ourselves up. He received us in our need, and that reception becomes the pattern for how we treat one another.

Paul then shows how wide this welcome reaches. Christ became a servant to confirm God's promises and, at the same time, to open the door so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. He stacks up quotation after quotation of the nations praising God together with his people. The gospel gathers people who were once far apart into one chorus of praise.

This challenges the small ways we withhold welcome from one another, sorting people by background, by opinion, by whether they are easy for us to like. Ask whether there is someone you have kept at arm's length whom Christ has already received. Welcome them as you have been welcomed, freely and for the glory of God. The unity that results is itself a form of worship.

Lord Jesus, you welcomed me in my need, before I had anything to offer, and you make that welcome the measure of how I should treat others. Forgive the ways I sort and exclude. Give me a heart wide enough to receive those you have already received, that together we might glorify God with one voice. Let my welcome be an act of worship. Amen.