Lesson 154
Romans Chapter Twelve
Responsibilities in the Christian Life
12:9 - 21 Our
relationship with others;
It is interesting that Paul follows his section here on spiritual gifts with an emphasis on love.
Paul says here that Love is to guide us, love reflects the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life, and the character of Christ being produced and lived out.
The word
translated without hypocrisy = avnupo,kritoj is a transliteration,
not a translation; the idea is that we
are to be guided by genuine love.
What Paul is stressing here is that it is a short step from stage to life; from speaking from behind a mask, putting on a false front, and being open and genuine in our relationships.
As the life of Christ flows out of us it is to be genuine, w/o mask.
There are 3 areas in which Paul warns believers about exercising a Christian virtue hypocritically, about operating from behind a mask.
#1 performance love; so much pressure to be hypocritical, the
tendency is to conform to what is expected, to fit in; to be one of the
crowd; Rom 12:9; 2 Cor
6:6; 1 Pet.
#2 performance faith; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:5
#3 performance wisdom Jas. 3:17
How/Why are these things easiest to fake?
The love ~H avga,ph the whole package if you will, of your Christian life, is to be characterized by love.
What is love? We must conclude from this verse, that love is based on a sense of moral absolutes.
Moral absolutes are the root and foundation of love!
Abhor what is evil; cling to what is
good.
Abhor and cling are both present participles describing action that is to be continuing through out our lives.
To hate/abhor evil reflects a moral virtue, its a reflection of having standards; renewed minds, most seem to automatically assume that hating or abhorring something or someone is a mental attitude sin.
If there is no right/wrong; if there are no moral absolutes;
Without moral absolutes you have no basis for discerning between anything.
The object of the hatred is to be evil. to. ponhro,n( active evil;
The other side of the coin is to cling
to what is good;
Lit. keep on clinging to what is intrinsically good.
12:9 The love without hypocrisy,
(or un-hypocritical love). Keep
on abhorring what is actively evil; keep on clinging to what is intrinsically
good.
Without discerning what is evil and what is good; one is unable to love without a façade, w/o a mask.
12:10-13 is a catalog of Christian virtues that are important in relationships with others.
- Each phrase has two points; Sphere - Responsibility
Sphere in focus:
filadelfi,a - love for brother/sister; blood relationships;
Responsibility: directed toward one another; mutual relationship, between those of the same kind; i.e. fellow believers.
filo,storgoj - tender affection; naturally devoted; esp. as in family relationships
What Paul is exhorting here is that we
treat all within the body of
Christ as family; with familial love. Reinforced by 1 Jn 3:14
#2 give
preference to one another in honor;
- the sphere = in the sphere of honor/with reference to honor
- the responsibility = giving preference to one another.
- Sphere = in diligence
- Responsibility = not lagging behind
12:11b fervent in spirit, this phrase looks both ways, is to characterize our diligence, and also to characterize our service.
Sphere = in the sphere of the spirit tw/| pneu,mati
Responsibility;
- “fervent” to boil [not in anger] ze,w the sense is showing enthusiasm; effervescence; Acts 18:24-25 very eager, not cold or unemotional.
12:11c serving the Lord; lit. in the Lord serving
Sphere; With reference to your relationship with the Lord; in the sphere of your relationship with the Lord serving.
Responsibility;
Word here is douleuw which describes being in service to God; to serve and obey God;