Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans John Calvin (continued)
Chapter
Romans 15:1-3
Romans 15:1-3
1. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
1. Debemus autem nos qui potentes sumus, infirmitates impotentium portare, et non placere nobis ipsis:
2. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. 2. Unusquisque enim nostrum proximo placeat in bonum, ad aedificationem. 3. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
3. Etenim Christus non placuit sibi ipsi; sed quemadmodum scriptum est, Opprobria exprobrantium tibi, ceciderunt super me.
1. We then who are strong, etc. Lest they who had made more advances than others in the knowledge of God should think it unreasonable, that more burden was to be laid on them than on others, he shows for what purpose this strength, by which they excelled others, was bestowed on them, even that they might so sustain the weak as to prevent them to fall. For as God has destined those to whom he has granted superior knowledge to convey instruction to the ignorant, so to those whom he makes strong he commits the duty of supporting the weak by their strength; thus ought all gifts to be communicated among all the members of Christ. The stronger then any one is in Christ, the more bound he is to bear with the weak. 437
By saying that a Christian ought not to please himself, he intimates, that he ought not to be bent on satisfying himself, as they are wont to be, who are 436Introduced here, as the conclusion of the last chapter, by Griesbach and other collators of MSS., are the three last verses of the Epistle, 25-27. It appears that the largest number of copies is in favor of this arrangement, countenanced by the Greek fathers, and the Syriac and Arabic versions. In favor of the present order, as in our version, there are some good MSS., the Latin fathers, and the Vulgate, etc. What strongly favors and decidedly confirms the order which we have, is the evident connection as to matter between this and the last chapter, which shows the impropriety of having those verses intervening between them. — Ed.
437The word for "strong" is {δυνατοὶ}, "able," which Calvin renders potentes, powerful, or able. They were the more advanced in knowledge and in piety. They were to "bear," {βαστάζειν}, in the sense of carrying or sustaining the infirmities of the weak, impotentium, "the unable," {ἀδυνάτων}, such as were unable to carry their own burdens. The duty is not merely to bear with or tolerate weaknesses, (for this is not the meaning of the verb,) but to help and assist the weak and the feeble to carry them. The most literal rendering is — "We then who are able ought to bear (or carry) the infirmities of the unable." — Ed.