Studying His Word and His Works

Listen to the study here: Romans 12:9-21

Read here: Romans 12

Review

• Calvin on the theme of Romans: “Man’s only righteousness is the mercy of God in Christ, when it is offered by the Gospel and received by faith.” Romans 1:17 and elsewhere.
• IMPORTANT: Paul wrote the letter to the saints (1:7), and the letter is about the gospel, which is a reminder we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily. 
• Luther: Simul iustus et peccator = At the same time, righteous and a sinner! Romans 3:23-25
• In Ch. 1-3 Paul shows us our unrighteousness, and God’s wrath against that, and then switches to Christ’s righteousness as our covering, the propitiation of our sins (Romans 3:25) as the final sacrifice for sin, fulfilling the promise to Abraham, who had faith before any works.
• Faith being “counted” or “credited to our account” as righteousness is mentioned 11 times in Chapter 4! If “none are righteous” as Paul wrote in Romans 3:10, then this saving faith must be a gift from God.
• Ch. 5, We now have peace with God, access to God, and hope, because of what Christ did for us while we were weak(v. 6), sinners (v. 8), and enemies (v. 10). Christ did this “at the right time,” (v. 6), connecting Christ’s work on the cross and God’s plan of redemption to real history (not just a myth or legend).
• Atonement(5:6-11): Jesus satisfying God’s wrath for us through His sacrificial death on the cross.
• Ch. 5 and 6 describe federalism, this idea of one man making a difference, for righteousness (Jesus) or wickedness (Adam). 
• Ch 6 ended with lots of words pointing to the new road we are now on with Christ, the sanctification road.
  • Service is the key word, “slaves” used 8 times
  • “Present yourselves”(5), “Leads to”(5)
• Sproul: “our regeneration, our rebirth was the work of one Person, God. It was not a joint venture; but from the moment we take our first breath of regenerated spiritual life, it  becomes a joint effort.” the work of one Person is what salvation is about. The joint venture is what sanctification is about. Ch.6 ends and we continue into Ch.7 describing what this “sanctification road” looks like to walk down. We were on the sin road that leads to death, but now we are on the grace road that leads to eternal life.
• Chapter 8 is describing the assurance we have as Christians in salvation. Deus pro nobis – God for us. It is a reminder of God’s sovereignty over our salvation, and God’s infinite wisdom, in the creation, fall, redemption plan he has for not just us, but the whole world. Ultimately, God, not us, foreknows, predestines, calls, justifies and glorifies. There are many verses (Romans 2:4, John 3:16, etc) that point to God’s patience with everyone, His love for everyone, that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9), so I believe there is some free will in there somewhere, perhaps an ability to answer the call, or not. But, even if we answer the call, it is God who initiated. Even if we are crying out for God, “feeling our way to Him” like Acts 17:27 says, we are only doing this because He has already called. We are MORE THAN CONQUERORS, not on our own of course, but “through Him who loved us” from before time began. 
• Chapter 9 continues on the point of election, which, if you think about it, Paul has been discussing since Romans 1:1 when he said he was “set apart”. Paul continues to hammer the point that it is God’s free will, not ours, that matters most. It’s good to keep in mind the complexity of God, as he is not just electing, but he is doing a bunch of things simultaneously and eternally. He is electing, foreknowing, predestining, calling, justifying, glorifying, answering prayer, “giving them over to a debased mind” (Romans 1:28-32) while also being kind as a means to lead people to repentance (Romans 2:4), showing mercy to some and hardening others (9:18). It’s like God is working on an eternal and therefore infinite scale, but also an instantaneous and therefore infinitesimal scale. Pastor John Macarthur, who went home to Jesus recently, described this as a parallelism, God’s sovereign election running alongside the “whoever believes in Him will have eternal life” of John 3:16. It is Euler’s “every instant,” of God initiating, so the saved are always indebted to Him. And it’s also Paul’s “unceasing anguish” for the lost in 9:2, something we should ask God to give us, too. And something that clearly shows that God predestines us to a team, His team, and we are working with Him to save sinners. He’s just team captain and MVP. He gets all the glory!
• Also remember that Paul references almost 50 OT verses in Chapter 9 alone. He is retelling Israel’s story in many places to serve as a reminder of God’s sovereign will over nations, but also individuals like Pharoah, Moses, Jacob and Esau, etc. Some want to say election is only about nations, or only individuals, but this is another both/and. 
• Romans 9:6 is key (I think) to understanding a lot of Ch. 9-11. We need to keep going back to this, that “not all Israel belongs to Israel.” What Paul is getting at here is that true Israel are believers, regardless of nation or ancestry.
• Chapter 10 also discusses election, as well as Macarthur’s “parallelism”, or even the “3 strands are not easily broken” analogy in Ecclesiastes 4:12. That’s what some of Chapter 10 is describing, because God could just yell the gospel down from heaven if wanted, but he chooses to use us, weak on our own but strong in Him. Ch. 10 describes a deep, personal bond God has with believers. Paul also describes Israel’s history of disobedience, how they did not hear the gospel, but in Ch. 11 again reminds that God preserves a remnant.
• Chapter 11, there is one tree, with branches being broken off and grafted in. One body of covenant believers, and broken branches are those who had the outward signs like circumcision (OT) or baptism (NT) but no belief, no Holy Spirit-given gift of faith, no imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Chapter 11 hints that God works through individuals of course, but also nations, and that He is not done with ethnic Israel. He used Israel’s “stumbling” to lead the gentiles to salvation, and these verses say he will eventually use the gentiles to lead Israel to salvation. Paul also reiterates that salvation is by grace, not works, that God is merciful in spite of man’s disobedience. Paul ends Ch. 11 with what Calvin called “finitum non capax infinitum,” meaning, “the finite cannot grasp the fullness of the infinite.” Stay humble, don’t think you have to figure everything out about God because you can’t! It’s also important to note Paul’s focus in Ch. 11 is to remind that God still has a plan for Israel. The only emphasis Paul makes in Ch. 9-11 is on their salvation, on a mission mindset, which is something Christian churches should refocus on. Getting away from blind political support for Israel, and praying for and getting the gospel to Jew and Gentile in Israel and everywhere. 

Intro

• Key words: be (7); evil, one, with, you (4); bless, do, good, love, never, not (3); all, another, give, him, his, honor, live, lord, love, overcome, rejoice(2). Paul continues his application, building off Romans 1-11 on who God is and what the gospel is, to who we should be as Christians, honoring God by avoiding evil and doing good, loving Him and loving people. While verses 3-8 were more focused on unique differences within the body of Christ, resulting from gifts God gives, verses 9-21 are more about what all Christians should or should not be. Paul provides several contrasts to show us more clearly how to turn and “present our members” towards Christ (verse 1). These are things that make our church body unique, while verses 3-8 are more about the gifts that make the members unique.
• Verse 9
  • Let love be genuine. Some translations say “without hypocrisy.” Love like this is one way only, towards good. We are to abhor, or hate what is evil. It is clear if you read the rest of this, if you connect this back to Jesus’ sermon on the mount, that this is not about hating people, but hating what is evil. This is something unbelievers enjoy taking out of context. We don’t hate other people, we pray and hope for their salvation, we don’t want to see them end up in hell. It could very well be that when confronted with a person full of evil and hate towards us, that God is putting that situation in front of us to share the gospel.
  • Unrighteousness is the fallen human condition, humans are still in this state or they are saved and being sanctified out of it. As believers, are all in the same “saved boat,” which is why Paul just said that we should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought(v. 3). 
  • Paul is saying here to abhor what is evil, don’t support it. So if a person is committing evil acts, don’t support them, don’t give them a platform. Pray for them for sure, but turn from them and present your members to Christ.
    • Sproul: “We are to see evil as an unveiled assault on the character of God and on His sovereignty.” 
    • Renewing our mind should direct us to love what Jesus loves, and hate what Jesus hates.
    • Sproul: “Hatred is destructive and demeaning, but not when it is directed against evil.”
      • If there is one thing I know about God, it is that He hates abortion.
      • More babies killed by abortion on Sep. 10, 2001, than by the Twin Tower attack on Sep. 11.
  • Despise, hate, abhor evil. Turn from that, and present yourselves towards good. HOLD FAST to what is good. Reminds me of the man in the film, Master and Commander that was having brain surgery. HOLD FAST is what he had tattooed on his knuckles.
• Verse 10
  • Of course, believers should not be the primary ones filled with abhorrent evil. If so, then that is not a saved person, “that is a sad person” as Charlie Kirk once explained to Tucker Carlson. Rather, believers should show brotherly affection to one another. This is philadelphia, brotherly love. Pray for the city of Philadelphia, PA, which is overrun currently with drugs and all sorts of brotherly hate.
  • Show brotherly love by respecting each other. The focus here is NOT honoring ourselves, but showing honor to one another. It is another call to humility, the third one in as many paragraphs. A living sacrifice in P1, not thinking of yourself too highly in P2, and here P3 honoring Christian brothers above and beyond ourselves. 
• Verse 11
  • Do not be slothful in zeal, or “lagging in diligence,” or “slothful in business(KJV),” or “when working regularly, don’t procrastinate (KBH)”. The emphasis here is on serving the Lord, not on starting a business, but we shouldn’t just ignore that. If we have a 10 minute work break, and we could spend two minutes of that memorizing Scripture or answering a text or scrolling social media, what this is saying is do Scripture memory first, then do the other stuff. If Scripture memory doesn’t even come to mind as something to do during that 10 minute break, then renew your mind, pray and ask the Holy Spirit, who is in you now, to reorganize, redirect, and refocus you.
    • Develop better habits. Be fervent, have that “busy-ness,” that passionate intensity to serve the Lord. I Cor 10:31, Paul writes that in whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. In other words, verse 11 DOES apply to your work, the things you do to make money. As if, as a Christian, you are supposed to prioritize Scripture memory on your 10 minute break, and then when the break is over, to go set your mind on being a godless pagan. The mind renewal, the thinking you can do now with the Holy Spirit on your team, should be towards godly thinking and outward actions in every aspect of your life. This should be done immediately, with heart, with a zealous desire to present everything you do to God.
• Verse 12
• So imagine, you are walking this sanctification road, you can tell you are turning your members from the world in many ways, figuring out what your spiritual gift or gifts are, and then boom! You are hit with a major trial. A relationship gone bad, a financial loss, your wallet is stolen, or the McDonald’s ice cream machine is out of order. Paul is saying in verse 12 to respond with joy, with patience, and with prayer. And the amazing thing is that you CAN do this with the Holy Spirit in you, not “helping you”, but you submitting to His authority over you.
  • Sproul says these are the top “3 dimensions” of the Christian walk; joy, patience and prayer.
    • Joyful hope for a Christian is faith looking forward. We aren’t hoping eternal life might come to pass, we are trusting it will come to pass.
    • Patience, in spite of pain and suffering. The patience of Job, “though He slay me, yet I will trust Him”(Job 13:15). The movie Unbroken. 
    • Prayer, the glue that brings hope and patience together. Note Job was praying in the verse above. 
• Verse 13
  • Hospitality and helping other Christians out is a universal Christian attribute, or should be. This is different from the gift of generosity mentioned in verse 8. You can be hospitable without having the gift of generosity.
  • 1 Peter 4:9-10 also describes hospitality as something we should do for other Christians.
    • When we host dinner group, it is potluck style, which is really a reflection of this verse, of contributing to the needs of the saints. Of course there might be times when you can’t contribute, or when you invite a guest. But contributing is an opportunity for mind renewal, to get your focus off yourself and onto others. This verse is not talking about rebuking you for that one time that you came to the party with nothing to share. This is about mind renewal, about sensing that Holy Spirit conviction about showing up empty, and using that as an opportunity for mind renewal and getting your focus off yourself and onto others. Discipleship, in other words.
• Verse 14
  • Some of this parallels Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Verses 9-13 were more focused on the body of Christ and interacting with fellow believers. Verses 14-21 discuss evil versus good, so righteous versus wicked, which means this includes how we should relate to unbelievers, as well as a brother who sins.
  • And we are supposed to bless them. When I was involved with Texas “textbook wars” over content in biology textbooks, I received a lot of persecution for that, including online death threats. God showed me through that, to respond with Scripture, or with a “praying for you, hope you find Jesus” type of comment. Whether they realize it in that moment or not, sharing Scripture is a way to bless someone who is persecuting you. Praying silently for their swift salvation, or destruction, is another. For someone wrapped up in outright wickedness, we don’t want that person continuing for a second longer with an unrepentant heart. So, it is not “bad” to ask God to swiftly save them or end them. Of course, we would prefer the “much more” of God’s mercy for them.
• Verse 15
  • This is a great gospel opportunity, to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. When someone is rejoicing, that usually means something good just happened to them. Maybe this is a sibling and you have some sibling rivalry. The flesh is not going to want to rejoice with them! Renew your mind on this! After years of watching twin grandsons NOT rejoice when the other is rejoicing, it is always a blessing to see the loser of a game say “good game” to the victor. If you can’t even say “good game,” that is the flesh, that is a sad person, an angry person. Don’t be that way, rejoice with them!
  • And weep when they weep. Compassion, not toxic empathy. When one part of the body experiences loss, we should all experience loss, but if it is us who is experiencing loss, we should turn to Christ foremost. Christ is our identity, not us and our experience. A problem in our society today is people don’t turn to Christ, and demand others feel sorry for them. People even make up grievances and then demand others empathize with them over their make-believe grievance. We need sober judgment on these things, to weep with those who are truly weeping, not trying to pretend to “feel their pain,” but also not ignoring their sadness. Sad like Jesus was before he raised Lazarus, weeping with the family over this loss (John 11:35), and he wept, knowing He would raise Lazarus. Some good advice from Sproul here is just to focus on Paul’s words. Weep with those who weep. You don’t have to console with words. You do not have magic words. Just weep with those who weep. 
• Verse 16
  • Live in harmony, or “be of the same mind”, which is the general idea connected to the specifics of Verse 15, weeping with weepers and rejoicing with rejoicers. As a church body, we need to avoid being “clique-ish” but invite others in, beating to the same drum, being in-tune, etc.
  • In particular here, disharmony comes from being haughty, from people who think they are better than others. Hawaiian missionaries had to deal with this some, as racism and “superior classes” were the norm in Hawaiian society. Missionaries had this much less, but there were still a few who looked inferiorly on Polynesians.
    • Consider Sereno Bishop, who arrived in 1853, after the mission was considered complete.
      • Became a seaman’s chaplain.
      • 1861-65, American Civil War
      • 1865 Ku Klux Klan formed
      • 1871 Charles Darwin publishes Descent of Man a book about racial superiority.
      • 1887-1902, Bishop became editor of The Friend newspaper, and became very pro-annexation of Hawaii.
      • Using a fake name, Kamehameha, he wrote this in the Washington D.C. Evening Star, Dec. 17, 1896: “native rule in Hawaii is thoroughly impracticable, and the country must be run by white brains.” 
  • It doesn’t matter who you are, what so-called “race” you are, the Bible is clear here, humble yourself, associate with those who don’t know the Bible as well as you, who haven’t been a Christian as long as you, who look different, who don’t like the same sports as you. Paul is talking about fellow Christians here mostly, so when you see that person at church who looks awkward and different, talk to them, invite them into your circle. They may not stay, but you tried.
  • Living in harmony should work out into your daily life too. You don’t always have to be first in line, let someone else go first. Break rank in the military and do something for someone of lower rank than you, or just do it with them, like PT, etc.
    • Jesus also warned against this mindset many times, like Mark 12:38-39, pointing out the scribes’ ridiculous ways of getting the best seats at church, among other things.
  • And never be wise in your own sight. That’s what a selfish person does, an arrogant person who doesn’t read any books or seek any advice.
    • Form opinions, sure. Think things through, draw conclusions. But BE CAREFUL, BE PATIENT. Going through Romans has really caused me to research and read others opinions on a lot of key points. Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon, John Macarthur, RC Sproul, Voddie Baucham, Thomas Schreiner, Jack Hibbs, my pastor Jacob Pierce! And that’s a partial list. Where do others stand on certain things and why? Are they looking at the full context or just cherry picking the Bible? Seek to always figure out what God is saying in His word, not what you think He is saying or just what one guy is saying. 
    • This is just a rephrasing of verse 3, of not thinking too highly of yourself. 
    • This is also connected back to seeking God’s will, and what were our big 3 ways for doing that? Word, prayer, and wise counsel. Not being a one-man show. One man shows are not sober minded.
      • Sproul: when dealing with disagreeable people, find something you can agree on first. Might be a good way to evangelize Mormons, having an “at least they read the Bible” kind of mindset.
      • You don’t have to have an answer for everything, either. Check your bias, be biased toward God and His word, always. 
      • Question your opinions against God’s word and people you think are wise in His ways. Sproul encourages studying Socrates questioning mind, and that of his student, Plato. Connect their thinking to God’s word. Can our opinions stand the light of God’s word?
• Verse 17
  • Verse 17 connects to verse 14’s bless those who persecute you. In the same way, repay no one evil for evil. Imagine if Israel today, or those who hate them, responded like this. Imagine the peace. Pray for salvation of those in Israel and their enemies.
    • Paul is referring here to moral evil, breaking God’s commands. Sin. This is about the Lord’s prayer in Luke 11, forgiving those who sin against us.
      • Hamas performed an evil act on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Over 1,000 murdered. Israel I believe is full-on repaying evil with evil, to the tune of 60,000 killed and murdered in Gaza. This is what repaying evil for evil looks like.
      • The US blowing up narcoterrorist drug boats is defense. Some might argue it is repaying their evil with evil. I do not believe it is anything remotely close to that. It’s like saying a father is “evil” for using force, including death, to protect his child from a molestor. What WOULD be evil though is if we started bombing large swaths of Venezuela to “teach them a lesson” and killing innocents along the way.  We will consider the government’s proper role again in Ch. 13.
    • Do the honorable thing, which, always means to forgive, but can also involve other actions.
• Verse 18
  • Building off v. 17, it shows what “doing the honorable thing” looks like. If you are forgiving like Jesus forgives, you are moving towards living peaceably with all men. Again though, forgiving others that have harmed you doesn’t mean you just stand there, thinking that automatically means they will be like, “ok, let’s live peaceably now!”
    • When you see a dictator invade one country, then another, then another, then he says he will “agree” to your peace deal between him and your country, don’t believe him.
      • Sproul tells the story of Neville Chamberlain, who thought he had achieved peace between Hitler when he had not. 
  • If possible is a really important phrase in verse 18! The if possible is a reminder there are wolves out there. It is a reminder that there are those who are lying about their “agreement to peace.” If possible is a reminder to form nations and protect the people within our borders and to not run around trying to dominate all the other countries (which America does more than it should), but instead to defend ourselves when others try to destroy us.
    • We should not go looking for fights, or retaliation when someone hurts our feelings. Speak the truth, God’s truth, that’s how we retaliate. Build churches, families, give your kids a Christian education, build God-honoring governments and communities. These are all ways to bless those who persecute us. Speaking the truth in love, Eph. 4:15.
    • There is a balance here between being a troll and a warmonger, and being a coward. Find the healthy middle ground by speaking the truth in love.
• Verse 19
  • Beloved, never avenge yourselves. When Paul says beloved, he is making a louder than normal appeal to fellow Christians. Here he is doubling down on vengeance.
    • Luke 18:7-“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry out to him day and night?”
      • What does God’s justice look like for humanity? The death penalty. 
  • God allows governments to form, and Ch. 13 has more on how God delegates to them the responsibility of vengeance. Verse 19 is not saying to just stand there and watch someone slaughter your family.
  • Sproul writes: “If vengeance were left to us, our fallen condition is such that we would not be satisfied unless we could inflict more pain than the crime deserves. God never does that.”
    • I can’t not think about these words by Sproul without thinking about Israel’s war on Palestinians. Israel certainly has a right to defend themselves, but that war looked more like fallen humanity’s response, to “inflict more pain than the crime deserves.” 
• Verse 20
  • This is not some new idea about how Christians respond with Jesus now. Paul is actually quoting Proverbs 25:21-22. So, it has always been this way, for Jew and Gentile. Defend ourselves, yes, for sure. Jesus told his disciples to sell their cloaks and use the money to buy weapons(Luke 22:36). Verses 19-21 are showing us what our defense looks like, individually, and as a church body.
  • The Bible describes three “spheres of influence” or magistrates: The church, the family, and the government. What Paul is referring to here is the church and family response, what our defense should be against evil.
    • For example, when you wrong someone, it is good to apologize, that is overcoming evil with good. If they don’t forgive, then the burning coals are heaped on their head. Likewise, forgive like Erika Kirk did, in front of 100 million people. That is what heaping burning coals on evil looks like. It smolders it, smothers it, reduces it to nothing. 
• Verse 21
• Overcome evil with good.
• What is good? The Greek word is “agathon”, which is different than “dikaiosynē”, or righteousness. Good is basically “lived out righteousness,” while evil is “lived out wickedness” Evil is what sinning produces, good is what Christ’s righteousness, imputed to us, produces. Good is a product of discipleship.
  • Using theft as an example, evil is what it looks like to break into someone’s home, steal all their possessions, leaving them with nothing. Good in this case includes setting up a government that enforces laws against theft. Good includes preparing your household to defend against theft. Good includes forgiving the thief and praying for him/her, giving him a Bible, visiting them in prison. We could do this with every commandment, think about it, especially the last 6.
    • Like the 9th commandment, don’t bear false witness. This one is really simple. Evil includes slander, just saying stuff about someone that is a lie. Evil is when someone says something we disagree with or that offends us, and so we create a  “straw man,” we set up in our own mind a representation of this person that is false. Evil is blaming our sin on someone else, like Adam did in the garden. Good includes setting up a government that enforces laws against defamation of character and slander. Good includes being unoffendable, which helps us see people more truthfully and not lie about them because we got our feelings hurt or because they said something we don’t like. Good includes accepting responsibility for our sins and not blaming them on other people.
• Up next: Romans 13:1-3