Verse 15: When others are happy, you should be happy with them. And when others are sad, you should be sad too.
Now the Apostle Paul segues from sympathy to empathy. No matter how well-intentioned a Christian’s kindness and hospitality may be, the last thing any person who is disabled or disenfranchised wants to hear them say is: “I feel sorry for you.” There is a distinct difference between sympathy and empathy. Sympathy expresses feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of what another person is facing, sometimes without them being fully communicated in an explicit manner.
6 Frédéric Louis Godet: On Romans, op. cit., loc. cit.
7 Cf. Romans 2:19; 1 Corinthians 4:12-13; 6:7; 7:10; James 4:9; 5:12; 1 Peter 3:9, 14.
12 John Stott: On Romans, op. cit., loc. cit.
15 Douglas J. Moo: On Romans, op. cit., loc. cit.