The Christian’S Graces
THE CHRISTIAN’S GRACES
ROMANS 12:9-13
Be genuine; be loving.
Verse 9. The second and third commands go closely with the first. True Christian love depends on a genuine appreciation of spiritual values. In complete sincerity, it neither condones evil nor overlooks good. To “hate what is evil” without “holding fast to what is good” produces a critical, self-righteous attitude. The reverse process produces the sentimentalist, soft, emotional, indulgent. Christian love avoids both extremes.
12:10. The “honor” mentioned relates to the respect to be given to each other by members of a cultivated society. Paul refers to this social grace in 13:7. The two commands balance. Mutual love is not intended to produce a deadening egalitarianism, in which rank is unrecognized and worth unhonored. Rank and status, in such a society, breeds no self-esteem, and produces no servility. An eagerness in each to recognize another’s worth is a surer road to communal happiness and easy fellowship than a general jealousy of all who stand out from the mass.
12:11. The word translated “zeal” occurs twelve times in the New Testament, and it conveys the idea of earnestness and keenness. To hold such an attitude a Christian must be ardent and dedicated. Apollos is the model (Acts 18:25).
12:12. The three commands are related. Paul was no pessimist. Hope receives his blessing. Did anyone have a braver hope than he did: he aimed to conquer an empire for Christ? True hope is not tense and anxious. It can only rightly claim the name when it produces patience in times of stress. And patience sustains itself by steadfast prayer. Christian optimism is no willful blindness to grim facts. The dark side of life must be faced, but from facing it comes discipline in prayer, and waiting on God.
12:13. Note again Paul’s striving for balanced conduct. Paul begs the Roman Christians, some of them slaves, to bear each other’s needs. But he wants no closed and introverted society. The word “hospitality” means literally “love of strangers.” A Christian closing of the ranks can be forbidding to outsiders. The correct way is to have an open heart to the world at large. “Pursue hospitality,” he says, implying active search for opportunities in this matter of outreaching friendliness.