Romans 15:13
Scripture Explained · Pairs with New Beginnings
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13 · World English Bible
What it meant then
By the time Paul reaches this verse, he has spent several chapters asking Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome, two groups with genuine friction between them, to make room for each other despite real differences in conviction and practice. Whatever peace existed in that congregation was fragile and recently negotiated, nothing like the peace that comes automatically when people already agree.
This verse is a prayer. Paul asks “the God of hope” to fill his readers with joy and peace as they believe, and to make hope grow in them through the Holy Spirit’s power. The order matters: joy and peace arrive through believing, hope grows through the Spirit’s power, and neither one waits on the friction in the room actually getting resolved first.
What Billy Graham wrote
Pairs with
This verse is one of the cards in the New Beginnings Scripture Card set, and pairs with the New Beginnings journal.
Graham wrote of the hope that steadies each ordinary day: “Therefore I live for today — certain of finding at sunrise guidance and strength for the way. Power for each moment of weakness, hope for each moment of pain, sunshine and joy after rain!”
Billy Graham, Hope for Each Day: Words of Wisdom and Faith