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Earlier in Matthew's gospel, Jesus identified His critical mission as a Good Shepherd type ministry designed to save and direct the feet of His elect refered to as "oppressed" or "helpless": "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." (Matthew 9:36). Jesus as Saviour and teacher in ones life, brings rest for the weary soul, a feeling of inner comfort and peace which can only be built upon the Rock who is Christ; how superior is this to the human nonsense of human performance in keeping the rules. Christ here invites His children who are weighed down by personal exhaustion, awareness of personal sin and living in the flesh or overwelmed by the sheer weight of law keeping advocated by Pharisism or any professed "religion" that is built upon adding to the Words of the LORD: "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." (Matthew 23:4). Jesus came full of Grace (John 1:14) and Truth to bring a gospel of pure grace and lighten the burden place upon His people by Pharisaic and other types of legalism (Matthew 12:1-14). |
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Romans 12 offers one of the greatest discourses in the Bible pertaining to how the abundant life of Christ is a life dedicated to service. It is truly great in that it is not highly allegorical, rather a direct exhortation in no uncertain terms about our lives as obedient servants to Christ.
Although the whole chapter is magnificant and is dealing with the same subject, I wanted to focus on verse 9ff because this is where God through the inspired Paul, seems to pick up the pace regarding the subject matter on hand. We see and will examine how the chapter ends on a glorious high-note in verse 21.
But getting back to the text, starting at verse 9 we read: "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.". The word "dissimulation" means hypocricy. In other words, we are being told to let love be without hypocricy. This is the same principle that is taught in 2 Corinthians 6:6:
"But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned" (2 Corinthians 6:4-6).
To love without hypocricy is the first of many exhortations we read from verse 9-21 in Romans 12; as we look at all of them we must remember it is our duty and role as Christians to blend all these exhortations together without either contradiction or leaving any out; this is an indication one is truly growing in the abundant and service driven life in Christ.
So as we continue verse 9 also tells us to abhor what is evil. Remember we must keep all these exhortations in mind. We cannot embrace that which we believe is evil for the sake of unity or tolerance; however, at the same time we must remember as Romans 12:21 states we overcome evil with good. So we must abhor evil yet overcome it with good.
Romans 12:9 also tells us to "cleave" cling to what is good. This is a pretty intense word; it comes from "Kollao" in the Hebrew which literally means "to glue together or join oneself to". SO we see the importance of keeping our focus on what we percieve is goodness. and avoid evil.
Now verse 10 in Romans 12 goes on: "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another". Here we are exhorted to be devoted to one another in brotherly love and prefer one another in honor. The second part of the verse can literally be translated: "outdo one another in showing honor" as in the nas margin. To "outdo" shows a level of competitiveness; too often this quality has been taken the wrong way by many Christians, after all here we read first hand how excellent it is in being competitive for good or outdoing one another in showing honor! This again shows intensity and is one of a few interesting things to look at here. Another is the idea od being affectioned or devoted to our fellow beloved in Christ. Likewise in John 13, Jesus said:
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:34,35).
One other thing concerning verse 10 of Romans 12, note that we are to be kindly affectioned to one another. "one another" is a term which identifies with true believers, the eternal church, it is a parallel to "ourselves" in Hebrews 10:
"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." (Hebrews 10:23-25).
Romans 12:11 exhorts us to be fervent in spirit serving the LORD. again we have the word serving. Would you agree fervent is a pretty intense word also? It surely identifies with Paul's ministry:
"Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations" (Acts 20:19a).
Romans 12:12. Three more exhortations in this verse: Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. The first, rejoicing in hope relates to what we read in Romans 5:
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1,2).
"Devoted to prayer" also an admirable evidence of a true saint:
"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." (Acts 1:14).
Romans 12:13. Exhortation here to contributing to the needs of the saints. This is not primarily speaking of physical giving, although that is a lesser aspect of what is in view. What is more important is that we contribute encouragement, prayer, and exhortation to our brothers and sisters in Jesus.
Romans 12:14. As we continue to blend all these exhortations together like mentioned earlier, this is a pretty difficult one to add to the mix. How hard is it for us to pray for those who have hurt us or whom we feel have done injustice to us? If it is no longer too hard, that's a great indication one is growing in Christ. This is growing in spiritual maturity and a mark that identifies one as a Child of Christ:
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:44,45).
"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." (luke 6:27,28).
Romans 12:15. Here we are told to share the emotions of our brethren. Jesus did this as He both attended joyful weddings and wept as well on other occassions. Job who was an upright man as well as a spiritual portrait of Christ also declared:
"Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?" (Job 30:25).
Romans 12:16-20. As we note the wonderful unfolding of the chapter, the exhortations continue to pile on. Here being admoished not to be rude, conceited or arrogant. We are told whenever possible to be at peace with all men. This is another area Jesus, the prince of Peace stressed during His life in the flesh:
"For he that is not against us is on our part. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." (Mark 9:40,50).
In closing, Romans 12:21 ends these exhortations with a wonderful summary to not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. This is a teaching that should be forever in view as we live from day to day. Again how intense is the idea? How beautiful? Dear reader take the opportunity this week to carry a paper or notepad and pen with you. Continually strive to overcome evil with good. Make a short note of when and how you did it. After your first or second transcription, chances are you will be hungry to record more, try it for a week, if you so choose to do so, count the number of times at the end of the week that by grace you chose to overcome evil with good. If helpful, do the same thing for another week only try to increase the number of times.
Overcoming evil with good. few things can be said that can more beautifully portray the nature of the true gospel.
"You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:2-6) nas.
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