Romans 15:1-3 - Exposition

We then (rather, but we, or now we. The δὲ here certainly seems to link this chapter to the preceding section; but it is not inconsistent with the chapter being an addition to a completed letter, of which it takes up the concluding thought) that are strong (St. Paul, here as elsewhere, identifies himself with the more enlightened party) ought ( ὀφείλομεν expresses obligation of duty ) to bear the infirmities of the weak (cf. Galatians 6:2 ), and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good (rather, for that which is good ) to edification . For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me . The quotation is from Psalms 69:9 ; one in which a righteous sufferer under persecution calls on God for deliverance, and to some parts of which even the details of Christ's Passion strikingly correspond. The first part of the verse here quoted, "The zeal of thine house," etc., is applied to him in John 2:17 .