Romans 15:5 - Meaning and Application

The apostle, after giving two commands, pauses to pray that what he has said will succeed. Faithful ministers mix prayer with preaching, because although they sow the seed, it is God who gives the growth. We can speak to the ear, but only God can reach the heart.

Notice first the name he gives to God: “the God of patience and consolation.” God is both the source and the support of all patience and comfort in believers. He gives the grace of patience, and as the God of comfort he keeps that grace alive. The comforts that come through the Holy Spirit help believers stand firm and bear hardships with courage and gladness.

Paul asks God for this because he is seeking love and unity among Christians. He speaks to God as the God of patience and comfort in two ways. First, God bears with us and comforts us. He is not quick to condemn our failings, but is ready to comfort the downcast, and he teaches us to show the same love to our brothers and sisters. In this way, we preserve unity by being patient with one another and a comfort to one another.

Second, God is the one who gives us patience and comfort. Paul had just spoken of the “patience and comfort of the Scriptures” (Romans 15:4), but here he looks beyond the Scriptures to God himself as the fountainhead. Scripture is the channel, but God is the spring. The more patience and comfort we receive from God, the better prepared we are to love one another. Nothing disturbs peace more than an impatient, irritable, and fretful spirit.

Next, Paul asks for this mercy: “Grant you to be like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus.” Christian love and peace rest on like-mindedness, a shared judgment as far as people have understood the truth, or at least a harmony of heart. It means to think the same way, with differences set aside and quarrels laid down. But this like-mindedness must be according to Christ Jesus, according to Christ’s command and the royal law of love, and also according to Christ’s example, which Paul had just set before them (Romans 15:3).

In other words, Christ Jesus must be the center of Christian unity. We are to agree in the truth, not in error. There was a sinful unity among those who joined together to give their power to the beast (Revelation 17:13), and there was the same kind of evil agreement among the builders of Babel, who were united in rebellion (Genesis 11:6). That kind of agreement is not like-mindedness according to Christ, but against Christ. When we pray, we should ask first for truth and then for peace, because the wisdom from above is first pure and then peaceable.

This kind of unity among Christians is a gift from God, and it is precious. We must earnestly ask him for it. He is the Father of spirits, who shapes human hearts alike (Psalm 33:15). He opens understanding, softens hearts, sweetens affections, and gives the grace of love, along with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of love, to those who ask him. We are taught to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and in heaven it is done in full unity among the angels, who praise and serve God with one heart. We should desire the same among the saints on earth.

The purpose of all this is that God may be glorified (Romans 15:6). That is Paul’s plea in prayer, and also his reason for urging them. In every prayer, we should keep God’s glory before us. That is why the first request in prayer is, “Hallowed be your name.” Christian unity serves God’s glory, because it leads believers to glorify him with one mind and one mouth. It is good for Christians to agree in everything they can, so that they may together praise God.

This brings honor to God, who is one, and whose name is one. It is not enough to have one mouth if there is no one mind, because God looks at the heart. In fact, one mouth will rarely be found where there is not also one mind, and God is not much glorified where the two are not joined together in sweetness. One mouth is seen in confessing God’s truth, praising his name, speaking kindly in daily life, and not biting or devouring one another. It is also seen in the gathered church, where one person speaks, but all join in.

Paul also says God is to be glorified as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the New Testament way of speaking about him. God is now revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, and he is our Father according to the gospel. Christian unity glorifies God in this way because it reflects, in a small and fitting way, the oneness between the Father and the Son. We are allowed to think of unity in this way, and to pray for it with this in mind, from John 17:21, where Jesus prayed that all believers might be one, just as the Father is in him and he is in the Father. That is a great expression of the beauty and honor of the saints’ unity. It continues, “that the world may believe that you have sent me,” and in that way God is glorified as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.