Commentary - Romans 12:9-13

Bird's-eye view

After laying the glorious, unshakeable foundation of our justification by faith alone, Paul now pivots to the necessary outworking of that reality. Romans 12 is where the rubber of our high octane theology meets the road of our everyday lives. Having presented our bodies as living sacrifices, we are now shown what that sacrifice looks like in the hustle and bustle of Christian community. These verses are not a disconnected series of sentimental platitudes or moralistic exhortations to "be nice." Rather, this is a rapid fire description of the character of a man or woman who has been genuinely transformed by the gospel. This is what the new man in Christ looks like, how he acts. It is a portrait of supernatural love, the kind that only the Holy Spirit can produce in a redeemed heart. It is active, discerning, affectionate, diligent, fervent, patient, and generous. This is practical Christianity in concentrated form.

What Paul gives us here is a description of true Christian fellowship, or koinonia. This is not a to do list where you work on one item for a few months and then move to the next. No, this is a cluster of graces that grow together, all at once, like a healthy crop. They are interconnected and they all flow from the same source: a heart made right with God through Christ. This is what it looks like when the people of God, having been shown immeasurable mercy, begin to live in a manner worthy of that mercy. It is a beautiful, compelling, and distinctly counter cultural picture of the church functioning as it ought.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

Verse 9

Let love be without hypocrisy, Paul begins with the absolute centerpiece of Christian conduct: love. But it must be a particular kind of love, the genuine article. The Greek word is anypokritos, meaning "unhypocritical" or "without a mask." This is not the flimsy, sentimental love of our age, which is all smiles and affirmation. This is a robust, steel-spined love. It is not play acting. It doesn't say one thing to a man's face and another behind his back. It doesn't put on a show of affection in the church foyer and then harbor bitterness in the car on the way home. True Christian love has integrity. It is sincere all the way down.

by abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good, And here is the first test of whether our love is the real deal. Genuine love is not morally neutral. It has a functioning immune system. It hates, it abhors, what is evil. The word means to shrink back from something in horror, to detest it utterly. A love that tolerates sin is a counterfeit love. A love that makes peace with wickedness is a treacherous love. For our love to be sincere, it must have a backbone. It must hate perversion, lies, idolatry, and every form of rebellion against God. And at the same time, it must cling to what is good. The word means to be glued to it, to be cemented to it. We are to be passionately attached to righteousness, truth, beauty, and holiness. This is a love that discerns, a love that takes sides. It hates the sin but loves the sinner, which it demonstrates by calling him to repent of the very evil that genuine love must abhor.

Verse 10

being devoted to one another in brotherly love, The scene shifts from the general principle of love to its specific application within the covenant community. We are to be devoted to one another with philadelphia, with brotherly love. This is family affection. The church is not a club or a weekly meeting of disconnected individuals. It is a family, adopted by the same Father. This means we are to have a deep, settled, familial affection for one another. It's the kind of loyalty that sticks through thick and thin. It's the natural affection that ought to exist between brothers and sisters who share the same blood, only our bond is thicker than blood, it is the blood of Christ.

giving preference to one another in honor, This is what that brotherly love looks like in practice. It is a contest of humility. In a world that scrambles for the best seat, the first place in line, and the position of honor, Christians are to be engaged in a different kind of competition. We are to be trying to outdo one another in showing honor. You defer to your brother. You seek his good above your own. You esteem others as better than yourself, not because they actually are in every respect, but because this is the posture of a heart transformed by the one who left the highest honor of heaven for the lowest shame of the cross.

Verse 11

not lagging behind in diligence, Christian love is not lazy. It is not slothful. The gospel does not produce layabouts. The zeal Paul speaks of is a practical, hard working diligence. Whether in our secular vocations or in our service to the church, we are not to be slackers. An idle Christian is a contradiction in terms. We are to do our work with high quality and care, as though we are serving the Lord directly in it, because we are. This diligence is a direct outworking of a heart that is grateful for the grace it has received. We work hard not to be saved, but because we are saved.

being fervent in spirit, This diligence is not to be a joyless, mechanical drudgery. We are to be fervent in spirit. The word means to be boiling or glowing with heat. This is spiritual zeal. This is passion. Our service to God and to one another should not be lukewarm or half hearted. It should be hot. This is the opposite of the spiritual malaise and apathy that so easily besets us. This is a heart set on fire by the Holy Spirit, eager and enthusiastic to serve the Lord. This is the engine that drives our diligence.

serving the Lord, And here is the ultimate aim of all our love, our honor, our diligence, and our fervor. We are serving the Lord. Christ is our master. This keeps our service from becoming mere man pleasing. It keeps our diligence from becoming workaholism. It keeps our brotherly love from becoming an insular clique. In all things, from the mundane tasks of our daily work to the highest acts of worship, we are to see ourselves as servants of King Jesus. This elevates everything. Changing a diaper, balancing a spreadsheet, or visiting a sick brother are all acts of service to the Lord when done in faith.

Verse 12

rejoicing in hope, This string of exhortations continues with three pillars of Christian endurance. The first is to be rejoicing in hope. Our joy is not rooted in our circumstances, which are fickle and often grim. Our joy is rooted in our hope, which is the sure and certain promise of our final salvation and the coming glory of Christ's kingdom. We can rejoice in the middle of trials because we know how the story ends. This is not a flimsy optimism, but a robust joy that is anchored in the future that God has guaranteed for us in the resurrection of His Son.

persevering in affliction, Because our hope is secure, we can be patient in tribulation. The Christian life is not a playground; it is a battlefield. Affliction is not an elective; it is part of the required curriculum. Paul does not say "if" affliction comes, but assumes that it will. And when it does, we are not to despair or give up. We are to persevere, to remain under the load with steadfast endurance. This patience is not passive resignation; it is the gritty, grace-empowered resolve to keep going when things are hard, trusting that God is working all of it for our good.

being devoted to prayer, The third pillar is to be devoted to prayer. How do we rejoice in hope and persevere in affliction? We do it on our knees. We are to be constant, steadfast, and persistent in prayer. Prayer is the lifeline of the Christian. It is the means by which we access the grace and power we need to live this supernatural life. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian. Devotion to prayer is not about the eloquence of our words, but the persistence of our hearts in crying out to our Father who hears and answers.

Verse 13

contributing to the needs of the saints, Christian love is not just a feeling or a set of spiritual attitudes; it is radically practical. It gets its hands dirty. It opens its wallet. We are to contribute, to share, with the saints who are in need. This is a basic function of the body of Christ. When one part hurts, the other parts rally to help. This is not the task of the deacons alone, but the privilege of every believer. We are to be a people marked by lavish generosity toward our brothers and sisters, sharing our resources as a tangible expression of our unity in Christ.

pursuing hospitality. The final exhortation in this section is to be given to hospitality. The word is stronger than just being willing to have people over if they invite themselves. It means to pursue it, to hunt it down. We are to be actively seeking out opportunities to open our homes to others, both to saints and to strangers. Hospitality is a key weapon in building true Christian community. It is in the ordinary setting of a shared meal around a dinner table that the "one another" commands of Scripture are fleshed out. It mortifies our selfishness and weaves us together into a tightly knit fabric of fellowship. In a fragmented and lonely world, a hospitable church is a powerful apologetic for the gospel.