Let Love Be Genuine

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:21 

Romans 12:9–21 – Romans: The Righteousness of God
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 24, 2023 (am)

Wouldn’t it be a blessing if the descriptions in the second half of Rom.12 described body life at GCD? As we’ve said each of the past two weeks, 12:1-2 mark the most significant turning point in this lengthy, detailed letter. They tell us just what to do in response to all that we’ve heard so far about God’s saving grace expressed to us in the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, summarizing all that as the mercies of God (1). And what we do is to present [our] bodies to God as a living sacrifice (1) and resist any draw to be conformed to this world in favor of being transformed by the renewal of our minds to the point where we just live and love the will of God (2).

This transformation shows up first in a humble reorientation of our self-understanding according to the measure of faith God has assigned (3). In short, think of this a meaning we come to the realization that the God of all creation has chosen us to receive His saving grace, to be adopted into His family, and then has gifted us to play a unique role in His eternal plan of redemption as He rolls it out in this world. Beyond any other involvement or accomplishment or gifting in this world, then, this calling and gifting from God should form the heart of our identity, of our self-understanding, of our priorities in this life such that we give ourselves to this role with our whole heart.

Now, today, we move into the section that tells us what sorts of qualities we exhibit as we exercise our gifts with our whole heart toward accomplishing God’s purpose—what it looks like when we live as a sacrifice, resisting conformity to this world and embracing the transforming work of God’s Spirit through His Word. Connecting words that help us know how each section of Rom.12 is related to the others are all but nonexistent in the text. But there is a clear sense of thematic flow. As we give ourselves wholeheartedly to the exercising of our gifts (3-8) in demonstration of the transforming work that’s being done in us (1-2), vv.9-21 describe what that looks like. Follow along through these two sections.

Loving Well Within the Body – 9-16

9 Let love be genuine… is the topic sentence over this whole paragraph, and perhaps over this whole section up through 13:10; you can see this theme running all the way through there: 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. But literally all that Paul has written here is, the love unfeigned (ylt) or without hypocrisy (nas). There’s no imperative here. There’s no verb here! There’s just the bare assertion that sincere (tniv), genuine love, [free of all] hypocrisy should accompany, or perhaps just mark, the humble, whole-hearted exercise of our gifts together with the body of Christ (3-8) toward fulfilling God’s present purpose in redemption history, and our unique role in that work.

And that love will bear additional qualities in expression of its genuineness. Surely it will, for instance: 9 … Abhor what is evil; and hold fast to what is good. There’s just no way possible that the love we have only because [God] first loved us (1Jo.4:19) would have any appetite for evil! Any fascination with it! By nature, it will hold fast to what is good. And it will: 10 Love one another in the body with brotherly affection. It will: Outdo one another in showing honor. Understand, this isn’t calling us to exalt other people for their own sake. Rather, this is how we should treat others whom God has chosen to participate in His saving plan (Canfield 310-311), first as recipients then as messengers.

11 Do not be slothful in zeal—probably meaning, don’t get lazy in your spiritual worship (1) (Moo 2018 796), your wholehearted exercise of your gifts (3-8); instead of caving in to inactivity, believers are to be diligent and earnest and disciplined (Schreiner 646)—be fervent in spirit, literally, on fire (boiling [ylt]) in spirit, like Apollos (Act.18:25) (Schreiner 646), or even set on fire by the Spirit (Moo 2018 796), serve the Lord. That’s where our [burning] in spirit should lead, not to mere spiritual ecstasy or emotional worship, but to serving the Lord with zeal.

12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. These surely seem related. Hope expresses our future longing, our confident assurance that God will deliver on all His promises such that we’re living in light of that day, in hope of it! Even through days of tribulation that will surely come in this fallen world that’s increasingly opposed to God and His ways, we will be patient in that hope, and constant in prayer, seeing communication with our God as the answer, the comfort, the reassurance we need most along the way.

But we’re not just enduring. We’re thriving, evidenced by the fact that our eyes are on others. We: 13 [c]ontribute to (share in, fellowship in) the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. In fact, we [pursue] hospitality. This verb (seek to show) is the same one that’s translated as persecute in the next verse (14) (Moo 2018 798). That adds some intensity to our efforts to show hospitality!

Some think the transition in the text from focusing on those inside the church to those outside it could happen here (14). And there’s some form of break here, seen most clearly in the transition in verb forms from participles (9-13) to imperatives (14) (Moo 2018 798). But that question shouldn’t distract us from the groundbreaking, seismic countercultural shift that Paul’s affirming here (Schreiner 648). His words echo Jesus’ in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat.5:44 and par, although without a direct quote). But it’s a demonstrable historic reality that cursing one’s enemies was quite common in the ancient world (Schreiner 648). Paul wrote: 14 Bless those who persecute you; and in case we miss that, or can’t process it with one pass, he added: bless and do not curse them. Recognize the opportunity to model the impact of the gospel, to suffer with Christ recognizing that He enables you to do that—Jesus absorbed not just the cost of your sin against God, but the offense of all sins against you, leaving you in the place where you you can bear with, and even forgive, the sins of others against you! You’re free in Christ to do this—to bless those who persecute you without losing anything in the process, and actually gaining much! You’re free to focus all your attention on others in manifestation of the love of God! Enter into the highs and lows with others! 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do you hear what this means? Even if there’s some offense against you, whether real or suspected, intentional or accidental, you have the opportunity to neutralize it! To nullify it as an expression of honoring one another! (10) Every potential offense turns into an opportunity to live peaceably with all (18). You’re even free to cross cultural barriers without the slightest concern that it will compromise you, or cost you too much, impede you in some inconvenient way. You’re free … not to be haughty, but to associate with the lowly. Never again do you need to be wise in your own sight. Can you imagine being free of that burden?

Loving Well Outside the Body – 17-21

This is where I believe the clearest shift happens, turning our attention toward how to relate best not just with those who don’t know the Lord, but with those who hate Him and His people and oppose His mission in this world (Schreiner 652). And as Paul does this, he circles back to his instruction in v.14, urging believers to recognize that there’s no merit and no virtue in getting sucked into the cycle of evil that’s so present in this world. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. We can feel so good about pointing out and even railing against how evil this world is, and is becoming. But not only does Paul say: Don’t do that, he tells us what to do instead: 17 … give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Ponder, give attention to, be intentional, even strategize about how to return good for evil—how to do what even this world would recognize as good.

In fact: 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

And any impulse toward retaliation we may feel should be entrusted into the hands of God, in expression of the very same hope we saw earlier (12). Just as His promises of our salvation and blessing are sure to come and therefore grounds for rejoicing even now, so is the coming judgment of the wicked. And this is the backdrop for this next word; Paul reminds his readers of their standing with God in the gospel as he begins. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” And we can count on that!

So, again, we’re free to love our enemies, just as he says here. 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. I’m reminded of the statement that you don’t fight fire with fire; you fight fire with water! We often miss that, even in Christ! But we shouldn’t miss that this charge is rooted in Pro.25:21-22, OT wisdom. It is and has always been a distinguishing mark of God’s covenant people that they love their enemies, seeking their salvation and entrusting their judgment, if it comes to that, to God. So, here, [we] give [our] enemy [what he actually needs]; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Almost certainly this means that, if [our] enemy doesn’t see and respond to the gracious kindness he receives from us, his coming judgement will be magnified.

And that’s enough to finish this portrait of what a living sacrifice (1) looks like. Bottom line, we’re not overcome by evil—not conformed to this world (2)—but we overcome evil with good—we’re transformed by the renewal of [our] minds (2).

Conclusion

Nothing of what we read in this text is beyond our understanding with the first reading. And everything we read here is an essential characteristic of all true believers in Jesus—not just spiritual heroes or those called to full-time ministry, but all true believers.

Even so, we have the capacity to hear it and agree with it, yet go away and do, in many cases, just the opposite, without ever even feeling the tension. We can build a dividing wall of separation, compartmentalizing our minds and hearts and lives to the point where we can be trapped in this logical incongruity and never even notice.

We ended our first message here in Rom.12 with prayer by two Elders, recognizing there is no way for us to obey vv.1-2 in a manner worthy of God drawing on our own strength alone. What we see here in Rom.12 has to be a work of God in us. We must realize that.

But we must also realize the converse, namely, that when God does a work in us, this is what it looks like, increasingly, over time. These verses describe what the genuine, true Christian life looks like. These are the qualities, the characteristics produced by genuine belief in Jesus.

Let’s pray together, continuously, that it becomes more and more characteristic of body life at GCD.

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Resources

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NEXT SUNDAY: Pay to All What Is Owed, Romans 13:1–7