September 29, 2023 – Friday
Romans 15:13 NKJV
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.
Romans 15:13 NIV
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Comments
One commentator simply said of this verse, “As God fills us with the blessings of His joy and peace in believing, we are equipped to live in this common bond of unity God calls us to.” I was disappointed as this seemingly ignores the latter part of the verse, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit per the NKJV. I prefer the NIV that says, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
If we look in the verse as a whole, as Christians, we are filled with all joy and peace because we believe or trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. As a result, we may abound or overflow in/with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus we have the triad of joy, peace and hope which (Ellicott’s Commentary) “represents the attitude of the Christian in looking towards the future, and so far as that future is reflected on the present.”
Note the God of Hope only fills those who believe or trust or have faith in Jesus as their Redeemer. Without this belief, this trust, this faith, there can be no filling with all joy and peace nor any abounding or overflowing in or with hope. Paul does not state this, he treats it as a given. Paul is telling us how God directly interacts with us as believers.
In MacLaren’s Expositions we read, And in these days, when all around us we see a shallow conception of Christianity, as if it were concerned principally with conduct and men’s relations with one another, it is well to go down into the depths, and to remember that whilst ‘Do, do, do!’ is very important, ‘Be, be, be!’ is the primary commandment. Emphasis added as this also describes much in these days in our own time! He added, Paul’s focus here is on the inward life of the Christian. And Alexander MacLaren was born in 1826 Glasgow Scotland and died in 1910 in Manchester England!
Then we come to abound or overflow. The God of hope ensures believers abound or overflow with hope! Both words come from the G4052 perisseuo, which is defined as to be over and above, to abound. Where to abound is to have more than necessary to make it to the end. Such is the generosity of God for those who believe. My thought is if we have over and above what we need, then we are to share our hope which is only natural for a Christian. We do not hold our hope inside, hidden, but we share it as it lights our individual lives. And Jesus told us in Matthew 5:15-16, we are not to hide our light.
Bottom Line: Believing in Jesus as our Redeemer leads to God filling us with peace and joy so that we may abound or overflow with hope which lights our lives and that light is to be shared, not hidden from others.
Prayer: Father God, Thank You for the gifts of peace, joy and hope as we face such an uncertain future in this life along with great assurances in the life to come. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor