Or, To Love, Honor, and Not Hold Back
Scripture: Romans 12:9-13
Date: August 6, 2023
Speaker: Sean Higgins
I have loved this paragraph for a couple decades. It is a kick in the living-sacrifice pants, a kick in the member-of-one-body pants, a kick in the pants for people who don’t love grammar, or the Christian lifestyle. Here is application par excellence, application for those who might want to go back to abstract ideas if this is what application looks like.
There are really good reasons to observe verses 9-21 all together. That said, I think a good case could be made for a division at verse 17, which appears to address how Christians behave toward non-Christians, though there’s a piece of that in verse 14. The ESV breaks a paragraph after verse 13, which does have a grammatical benefit as well, since verse 14 is the first verse that technically has a command, an explicit imperative verb rather than implied imperatives. More on that in a moment.
In Romans 12 we’ve acknowledged Paul’s appeal to be transformed, we’ve received Paul’s analogy about being members of one body. What are these verses about? Some editions of the Bible provide headings over verses 9-21 such as “Rules of the Christian Life” (UBS4). “Marks of the True Christian” (ESV). “Love in Action” (NIV). “Christian Ethics” (HCSB). I’d like to say these are the Ancient Jealousable Ways. When you want to know what a living sacrifice does on the altar, here’s a good start; these are altar commitments. When members of the body want something more practical than just appreciating other members, here’s how that appreciation looks in practice.
The grammar here is fun. As I said, the first un-implied command is in verse 14, but there are three implied commands of “be (a particular way)” in verses 9-13, with some follow up to each. Between the adjectives and a lot of participles, both of which modify main ideas, I’d translate the verses like so:
Let love [be] without hypocrisy;
abhorring what is evil,
clinging to what is good. [Be] devoted to one another in brothers affection,
outdoing one another in [showing] honor. Do not [be] slothful in zeal;
being fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord,
rejoicing in hope,
persevering in tribulation,
being devoted to prayer,
contributing to the needs of the saints,
seeking to show hospitality.
With this structure in mind we see the first three altar commitments.
The verse opens with an article, a noun, and an adjective, with an assumed linking verb, more than likely a command. The rest of the verse has a pair of participles that not only make an obvious contrast, but also help explain the first line. Again:
Let love [be] without hypocrisy;
abhorring what is evil,
clinging to what is good.
Love has its hands all over the Bible. It is the Greatest Commandment and the second is like it, which got its start in Deuteronomy and renewed by Jesus (Matthew 22:36-40). The Spirit produces love in believers (Galatians 5:22); it is the way the world knows we are Jesus’ disciples (John 13:34-35). Love binds the body parts together in harmony (Colossians 3:14). And such love should be un-hypocritical, without pretense, “without play-acting” (BAGD).
If you read the next two phrases as commands, such as in the ESV, fine. Obeying all the parts of the verse gets to the same outcome. But there’s another level of clarity about what makes love hypocritical: abhorring evil and holding to the good.
Sincere love discriminates. Love isn’t love if it does not distinguish between evil and good and act accordingly. This is one reason we don’t say “Love is love.” Love does not deny standards. Love that clings to evil and abhors what is good is not love; that’s like loving the thorn, not the flower.
Similar to verse 9, verse 10 opens with an article, a noun, a prepositional phrase, and then an adjective: the brotherly-love — to one another — loving dearly. Or:
[Be] devoted to one another in brotherly affection,
outdoing one another in [showing] honor.
Philadelphia is brother-love. Is it easier, or harder, to love your brother? Yes.
I’ve benefited from Rene Girard’s observations that we usually have a harder time loving the ones that want the same things as us. I don’t really have a lot of fights with the Lesbian Unitarian pastors; we’re not competing for the same demographic, at least not week to week. And while it may be true that, at the end of the day, a brother would willingly spare a kidney for another brother, lots of times brothers punch each other; sibling rivalry is real. They’re stuck in the same location, the resources are limited, they’re fighting it out for attention and space, and glory.
Brotherly love is recognizable and command-able. It’s also why the follow up participle does a lot of work. Love honors, and if there is any competition, it’s a competition for who can show more honor to the other person. The NASB has “give preference in honor,” “honor above yourselves” says the NIV, “showing eagerness in honoring” (NET). But Tyndale and the ESV seem better, “In gevynge honoure/goo one before another.” Beat one another to honoring one another.
One more time, verse 11 begins with an article, a noun, a negative, then an adjective, followed up by seven participles that modify. It’s a bunch of Christian basics under the basic reminder of: don’t be lazy.
Do not [be] slothful in zeal;
being fervent in spirit,
serving the Lord,
rejoicing in hope,
persevering in tribulation,
being devoted to prayer,
contributing to the needs of the saints,
seeking to show hospitality.
Zeal is the virtue, an eagerness and haste. Don’t just sit there, get busy. The adjective slothful has the idea of “lagging behind” (NASB), hesitation, reluctance (BAGD). Don’t let the zeal flag flop. Maybe this could be like the opposite of telling someone to “Calm Down. Relax.” which hardly seems to work. Does the command to !Be excited! really help? It could be emotional volume without substance, but that’s one benefit of the next bunch of modifiers, which most English translations turn into commands. And fine. But they belong together in such a way as to say: don’t hold back.
Be(ing) fervent in spirit is probably one’s human spirit rather than the Holy Spirit, and it means to get charged up. Homer used the word for boiling or seething liquid, so figuratively our spirit should be stirred up, our affections excited, on fire. John Calvin said, “our flesh, like the ass, is always torpid.” Go ahead, be a Jesus freak.
Serving the Lord frames the zeal because we are not the Master. Our confession is that He is Lord, we do what He says. When the zeal and fervor is at low tide, remember that you are working for the Lord and not for men, and it’s from the Lord that you will receive the reward (Colossians 3:23-24).
Into verse 12, these three phrases work together for good, all in parallel form. We’re zealously rejoicing in hope , which earlier we learned is the hope of glory (Romans 5:2). Hope is the flavor of rejoicing. We’re zealously persevering in tribulation , which is a steadfastness, also which we know God works for our perfection (James 1:2-4). And we’re zealously being devoted to prayer , which should go along with the attitude in afflictions, because we need the Lord’s help.
The two phrases in verse 13 complement each other. There’s zeal for contributing to the needs of the saints and seeking to show hospitality . Some have the gift of giving (Romans 12:8), all of us have different ways we can give. The hospitality part, especially in the first century, was more important since it was often strangers who needed it. Maybe evangelists were traveling, maybe there just weren’t available inns for passers-by. Christians had a great ministry in their homes, not just outside of them. It’s not ridiculous to think that we can apply this, but having your favorite family over for dinner and game night is not exactly the same. That said, it’s good practice in an inhospitable world (Murray).
Zeal is cheerful, faithful, prayerful, merciful, bountiful.
Don’t hold back love, don’t hold back honor, don’t hold back at all. This shows what altar commitment looks like. These are the Ancient Jealousable Ways. While much of Romans expects our “Amen!”, these require us to Act!
“Good works are conspicuous/obvious, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden” (1 Timothy 5:25). Love the good. Find someone to outdo in honor. Pray. Be patient. Give when you can. Don’t hold back.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23–25, ESV)