ACC ~ Romans 15 v14

THE RELATIVITY OF HUMAN GOODNESS. ORIGEN: This fullness is relative. Paul and those like him are full of goodness, etc., in comparison with their fellow believers, but naturally they are still vastly inferior to the perfection of God. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER. AMBROSIASTER: These are words of encouragement. By praising them he is exhorting them to better understanding and behavior. For one who sees himself praised develops the works he has been given, so that the things which are said might be true. Therefore he did not say that they should teach one another but that they should exhort one another. Exhortation normally occurs when it becomes clear that something is undermining the mind or that it has grown slack. The rest is clear and needs no explanation. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

SATISFIED ABOUT YOU, MY BRETHREN. CHRYSOSTOM: This applies to the exhortation just given [in the preceding verses]. It is as if Paul was saying: “It was not that you were cruel or haters of your brethren that I gave you that exhortation to receive and not to neglect or destroy the work of God. For I am aware that you are full of goodness.” HOMILIES ON ROMANS 28.

THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF PRAISE. PELAGIUS: As a good teacher Paul rouses the people to further progress by praising them, so that they might blush for not being the sort of people the apostle thought they were. He is careful not to appear as if he has sternly rebuked the quarrelsome, the dissident or the foolish. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

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