Romans 15:7 – Filthy Righteousness
Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.
Truth to Learn
God freely receives all who come in humble faith.
Behind the Words
“Received” is translated from proslambanō, which is made up of pros, meaning “to or toward” and lambanō, meaning “to take.” Thus, proslambanō literally means “to take to oneself.”
Meaning Explained
In the opening verse of chapter fourteen, Paul began a new subject. He began this treatise with:
Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. (Romans 14:1)
The disputes over doubtful things that Paul warned about had to do specifically with the fact that some church members believed that Christians had to adhere to the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic Law. Others disputed over whether or not we should regard one day of the week as more holy than the rest. Even though Paul has gone to great lengths to show that we should not judge each other based on how we are individually convicted about such minor spiritual matters, it is not until the current verse that he completes the point he began back in Romans 14:1.
God doesn’t receive any one of us based on what we have done or what rules we have established for our lives. He accepts or rejects based on righteousness. He has already taught the Roman Christians that none of us are righteous apart from the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. In fact, God’s description of our own righteousness is captured by the prophet Isaiah:
But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6a)
Isaiah compares our righteousness to “filthy rags.” That doesn’t seem too bad to us until we look at what he means by “filthy,” which is translated from the Hebrew word ‛iddāh. It refers to the uncleanness of a woman’s menstrual period.
I know that’s kind of a disgusting description to some of us, but it graphically portrays how God views our own personal righteousness. All of our efforts put into obeying the rules, all the good deeds that we do for others, all the sacrifices that we make for God, and all that we give to Him end up looking to Him like stinking, filthy menstrual rags.
And yet, Christ receives all of us who come to Him in humble faith when we confess our sinfulness and need of salvation. At that point God credits us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. He turns away no one who comes to Him in humility because He sees Jesus’ righteousness in us. He accepts us immediately and completely with open arms. That, according to Paul in the current verse, is how we are to receive other Christians into our fellowship. We need to be convinced that a new member is genuinely saved, but once we are convinced of that, we are to welcome him or her just as Christ accepted us, to the glory of God!
Application
God doesn’t want your goodness or your gifts. He wants your humble spirit and the recognition that you don’t deserve what He freely offers. Once we recognize how utterly worthless we are to Him and that we bring nothing of worth, then He can use us to bring glory and praise to Himself, and He is worthy!
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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