Texts in Conversation
Romans 15 and 1 Maccabees 12 share a common understanding of the Torah as a source of instruction and encouragement, with Paul expanding the language to include endurance as well as encouragement.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Maccabees 12:9
Deuterocanon
7 Even before this time letters were sent to Onias the high priest from Arius, who was reigning among you, to signify that you are our kindred, as the copy written below shows. 8 Onias welcomed honorably the man who was sent and received the letters, in which declaration was made of alliance and friendship. 9 Therefore we also, even though we need none of these things, having for our encouragement the holy books which are in our hands, 10 have undertaken to send that we might renew our brotherhood and friendship with you, to the end that we should not become estranged from you altogether; for a long time has passed since you sent your letter to us.
Date: 134–63 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Romans 15:4
New Testament
1 But we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not just please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” 4 For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. 5 Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Date: 55–58 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Paul is not interested in steadfastness or encouragement in general, as all current translations seem to assume in deleting the article. By defining it in scriptural terms, he differentiates it from soldierly courage and Stoic endurance, because biblical encouragement characteristically depends on God. Similarly, 'encouragement' is quite different in the biblical tradition where the final source of comfort is God as compared with the Greek philosophical tradition of consolation that ordinarily remains within a human framework. Moreover, by linking “the endurance” with “the encouragement,” Paul broadens the claim of biblical reliance in 1 Maccabees 12:9, which is frequently mentioned as a close parallel ..."
Robert Jewett, Romans: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007), 882.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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