The God of Peace Who Crushes
Introduction: The Necessity of Doctrinal Fences
As Paul brings his magisterial letter to the Romans to a close, after sixteen chapters of glorious, high-octane theology, and after a long list of warm, personal greetings, he suddenly seems to grab the church by the lapels for one last, urgent warning. It feels abrupt, like a sudden clap of thunder on a sunny afternoon. But it is not out of place at all. It is, in fact, the necessary practical application of everything he has just said. Doctrine is not an abstract hobby for theologians in ivory towers; it is the load-bearing wall of the entire Christian life. Sound doctrine creates a healthy church, and a healthy church must be a guarded church.
We live in an age that despises boundaries. Our culture celebrates the blurring of every line and the demolition of every fence. And sadly, this sloppiness has seeped into the church. We are told that to be loving is to be inclusive, to be kind is to be tolerant of error, and to be unifying is to never, ever divide over doctrine. But this is a lie from the pit. Paul here commands the Roman church to be loving by being exclusive, to be kind by being intolerant of error, and to be unifying by dividing from the dividers. A refusal to discipline those who threaten the integrity of the church is not love; it is a form of discipline directed against those who love the peace and purity of the church.
You cannot have a garden without a fence, not for very long anyway. The deer and the rabbits will see to that. And you cannot have a healthy church without the fence of doctrinal integrity. The wolves will see to that. Paul is not being cantankerous here. He is being a faithful shepherd. He knows that the flock is always threatened by two things: wolves that attack from the outside, and disease that rots from the inside. This passage is his instruction on how to deal with the disease of false teaching that masquerades as genuine Christianity.
So, as we come to these final warnings, we must see them as an act of profound love. Paul loves the Roman Christians too much to leave them exposed. He loves Christ too much to see His flock scattered. And he loves the gospel too much to allow it to be perverted. Here we are given the church's essential duty of identifying, marking, and avoiding those who would destroy the flock for their own selfish gain. And in the middle of this stark warning, we are given one of the most glorious promises in all of Scripture a promise of total, final, and personal victory over our ancient enemy.
The Text
Now I urge you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and stumblings contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own stomach, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. For the report of your obedience has reached to all. Therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
(Romans 16:17-20 LSB)
Mark and Avoid (v. 17)
Paul begins with a strong, apostolic exhortation.
"Now I urge you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and stumblings contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them." (Romans 16:17)
The word for "keep your eye on" is skopeo, from which we get our word "scope." It means to watch out for, to mark, to scrutinize. This is not a passive suggestion. It is a command to be vigilant, to be discerning watchmen on the wall. The church is not supposed to be a gullible collection of sentimentalists. We are to be sharp. And what are we to be looking for? "Those who cause dissensions and stumblings."
Now, we must be very precise here. Who is the divisive one in the church? Our therapeutic culture would say it is the one who points out the error, the one who "names names." But Paul says the exact opposite. The schismatic is the one who introduces teaching "contrary to the doctrine which you learned." The one causing the division is the theological innovator, the one who departs from the apostolic standard. The faithful pastor who stands up and says, "That is a departure from the gospel," is not the divider. He is the defender of true unity. Unity is not found in doctrinal indifference. True Christian unity is unity in the truth. To cry for peace and unity at the expense of foundational truth is to side with the wolf against the sheep.
Notice the standard: "the teaching which you learned." The standard for orthodoxy is not a new word, a new revelation, or a new insight. The standard is the old word, the apostolic deposit of faith. These men are causing stumblings, or scandals. They are creating traps for believers to fall into. Their teaching is not just wrong; it is destructive. It trips people up.
And what is the prescribed action? "Turn away from them." The Greek here is ekklino, which means to bend away from, to shun. This is excommunication. This is the biblical discipline of separation. We are not to argue with them endlessly. We are not to give them a platform. We are not to "agree to disagree" when the gospel itself is on the line. We are to identify them, and then have nothing to do with them. This is for the purity of the church, and it is also for their own good, that they might be ashamed and repent (2 Thess. 3:14).
Their Master and Their Method (v. 18)
Paul then exposes the true motivation and the deceptive methods of these false teachers.
"For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own stomach, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting." (Romans 16:18 LSB)
Here is the diagnosis. These men are not servants of Christ. They are slaves, but their master is their own belly. The word is koilia, stomach or appetite. This is a visceral, earthy metaphor. Their god is their gut. They are in ministry for what they can get out of it: money, power, influence, sensual gratification. As Paul says in Philippians, "their god is their belly" (Phil. 3:19). This is the root of all false teaching. It is not born from sincere intellectual error, but from a corrupt heart that refuses to bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They serve themselves.
And how do they operate? What is their primary tool? "By their smooth and flattering speech." They are masters of rhetoric. They are good communicators. Their words are plausible, pleasant, and winsome. They don't come in with horns and a pitchfork. They come in with a warm smile, a soothing voice, and a message that tickles the ears. They are masters of the half-truth, the clever evasion, and the pious-sounding platitude that guts the gospel of its power. They are not persuasive because they are truthful; they are persuasive because they are slick.
And who are their victims? "They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting." The word for unsuspecting is akakos, which means guileless, simple, or innocent. It describes those who are not cynical or suspicious. In one sense, this is a commendable Christian virtue. We are to be innocent as doves. But here, it is a liability. Paul is telling the Romans that their admirable obedience and simple faith could make them vulnerable. Their lack of guile makes them prime targets for the guileful. This is why Paul will immediately tell them to pair that innocence with shrewd wisdom.
Wise and Innocent (v. 19)
Paul commends their reputation but immediately qualifies it with a crucial exhortation.
"For the report of your obedience has reached to all. Therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil." (Romans 16:19 LSB)
The obedience of the Roman church was famous. This is high praise. Their faith was being proclaimed throughout the whole world (Rom. 1:8). Paul genuinely rejoices in this. But he is a wise pastor, and he knows that a strength, if unguarded, can become a weakness. Their simple, straightforward obedience is wonderful, but it must be married to discernment.
And so he gives them the formula for spiritual maturity, echoing the words of our Lord: "be wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matt. 10:16). "I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil." We are to be experts in goodness. We should be graduate students in the things of God, studying righteousness, mercy, and truth. We should know the Scriptures inside and out. We should be connoisseurs of sound doctrine.
But when it comes to evil, we are to be "innocent." The word is akeraios, meaning unmixed, pure, simple. We should be amateurs in sin. We should be flunking the devil's kindergarten. We should be ignorant of the clever justifications for sin, the intricate webs of deceit, the latest trends in rebellion. A Christian should be a master craftsman when it comes to building up, and a clumsy fool when it comes to tearing down. The false teachers are the reverse. They are experts in evil, using smooth speech to manipulate, but they are fools when it comes to the simple goodness of the gospel.
The Promised Crushing (v. 20)
After this stern warning, Paul concludes with a stunning, world-altering promise.
"And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." (Romans 16:20 LSB)
This is a direct and unmistakable echo of the protoevangelium, the first gospel promise in Genesis 3:15, where God tells the serpent, "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Paul takes this foundational promise and applies it directly to the Roman Christians. This is breathtaking in its implications.
Notice who does the crushing. It is "the God of peace." This is not a contradiction. The God of peace establishes His shalom by going to war against all that threatens it. True peace is not the absence of conflict; it is the presence of righteousness that has been established through victory. God makes peace by crushing His enemies. He is the warrior who secures our rest.
But where does this crushing take place? "Under YOUR feet." This is the heart of postmillennial optimism. The victory of Christ is not something we just watch from the cheap seats. We are participants in it. Christ crushed the serpent's head at the cross and resurrection, but He applies that victory throughout history through His body, the church. We are the heel that Christ brings down on the serpent's head. As the church goes forth in obedience, armed with the gospel and wise to the devil's schemes, we are the instruments by which the God of peace subjugates His enemies.
And when will this happen? "Soon." This does not mean that the final victory was just a few weeks away for the Romans. It means that the process has already begun and is moving swiftly toward its certain conclusion. The deathblow was dealt at Calvary. The serpent is thrashing in his death throes. And as the gospel advances, century by century, we are mopping up. We are taking territory. We are seeing Satan crushed under our feet in our families, in our churches, and in our nations. This is a promise that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the advancing church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul finishes with his characteristic benediction: "The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." This is not a pious platitude. It is the fuel for the entire enterprise. How can we be wise? By grace. How can we stand against false teachers? By grace. How can we crush Satan under our feet? Only and altogether by the grace of our Lord Jesus.