And again: "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!"
Truth to Learn
God deserves our praise, so let’s give it to Him!
Behind the Words
The Greek verb translated “Praise” is aineō, which means “to sing praises.” In the New Testament it is only used for giving praise to God. The Hebrew equivalent in Psalms 117:1 is halal, meaning “to shine or to give praise.”
“Laud” is translated from epaineō, which is made up of epi, meaning “upon,” used here as an intensifier and aineō, which means “to sing praises.” The Hebrew equivalent in Psalms 117:1 is shawbakh, meaning “to praise with a loud voice.”
Meaning Explained
Today’s verse is a direct quotation from one of the shortest psalms in the Bible,
Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD! (Psalms 117)
Paul is providing additional Old Testament evidence that God has always intended that He would gather His own out of both Jews and Gentiles and that the result of His action in their lives is, has been, and will continue to be praise, freely offered up to Him.
What is really sad is the treatment that is being given to God today by those who claim to be His children, professedly Christian churches expending their energies in arguing about the color of the carpet, the proper way to observe traditions, or what is the proper type of music for a church service. I think that this and the previous chapter of Romans could have been written to the churches today. Instead of starting with,
Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over opinions. (Romans 14:1)
He might have started it with,
Quit arguing among yourselves about unimportant things and join together with other true believers in praising God for His mercy and His grace!
We give so much effort and attention to the temporal things and so little effort and attention to eternal things and to giving God the praise and obedience that He deserves. I suspect that if God were to give a performance review to our churches today He might say, as He did to the church in Laodicea,
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)
Application
Stop for a minute and consider the fact that you are a sinner who has fallen short of God’s righteousness and you deserve eternal Hell. Then consider what God in Jesus Christ did for you so that you might have eternal bliss in God’s holy presence. It’s not fair, is it? We aren’t going to get what we deserve and we should loudly proclaim His praises for it. Let us all recommit to humbling ourselves before our Almighty, Holy God and praising Him for what He has done instead of focusing on ourselves and our petty issues!
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2018 Will Krause. All rights reserved