Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (11.1)

The Epistle to the Romans

Romans 12-1-21 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

Introduction

Chapter 12 begins the practical part of the book of Romans. Verses 1-8 teach about godly behaviour, especially in the church, verses 9-21 about love towards men in general.

Decdicated Service

v.1 Paul as usual deduces practical lessons from his doctrines. Good doctrines must produce good lives. He beseeches us to respond to the mercies of God who elected, justified, sanctified, preserved and glorified us (as we learnt in the previous 11 chapters) by presenting our bodies (ie, whole man - both body, spirit and soul) a living sacrifice to God. In other words, the Christian's duty to God is consecration. Paul contrasts Christian consecration with O.T. sacrifices which consisted of dead animals. In N.T. times God does not want a dead sacrifice, but wants us to offer ourselves to Him in service. The word “living" can also mean “perpetual, lasting” as in "living bread" (JOH 6:51). In other words, unlike the once-in-a-while offering of the O.T., we must continually serve God.  Just as the O.T. sacrifice had to be without blemish, we must be holy. Unlike O.T. offerings which were often thoughtless ceremonial acts, our service must be offered with our minds, ie, it must be a reasonable service. God wants us to serve Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.

v.2 To be an acceptable sacrifice to God, we must not be conformed to this world, ie, we must not think and act according to this world's wickedness and Satan's ways. Worldliness is probably our greatest idol and the greatest hindrance to our walk with God. But we must be transformed by the renewing (ie, changed from this world's ways - not by mere external changes, but by the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word) of our minds (ie, our heart and souls). Before we can serve God, we must be like God. When our minds are spiritually renewed, then we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (ie, may approve what is good, and acceptable, and perfect, namely, the will of God).

v.3 The first fruit of the spiritually renewed mind is humility. The process of sanctification requires man's cooperation. Therefore, we must not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think (ie, overestimate ourselves). We must think soberly (ie, sanely, controlled - without overestimating ourselves, which is so natural). We must assess ourselves according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith, ie, according to gifts and offices that God has given us (- this is the likeliest interpretation because the following verses are about spiritual gifts and offices).

v.4 Just as the human body has many different members (ie, organs) with different offices (ie, functions), so there are many Christians with different gifts and offices in the church.

v.5 Nonetheless, all Christians though many, are one body in Christ (under the Headship of Christ), and every one members one of another, united by the bond of the Holy Spirit (1CO 12:13).

v.6 We have gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us by God according to His wisdom. We should never feel that we can be more useful if we had other gifts. Our duty is to exercise whatever gifts we have to the fullest –  for the glory of God, and the benefit of men.  Some of us are given the gift of prophecy. In Hebrew the word that is translated “prophet”, literally meaning ”interpreter", ie, one who explains or delivers the words of another (see EXO 7:1,2). The prophet's message may or may not contain a prediction of the future (in fact, only a small fraction of what the prophets spoke predicted the future). One who prophesied had to do so according to the proportion (ie, measure, rule, standard) of faith (ie, the Word). In other words, a prophet had to preach according the teachings of the Word.

v.7 Some (particularly the deacons) are given the gift of ministry, ie, service - to the poor and needy. Those who had the gift of teaching should concentrate on teaching. Teachers, unlike prophets, spoke what they had learnt from Scripture or from others.

v.8 Some had the gift of exhortation, ie, to invite, exhort, comfort. Those who had the gift of giving should do it with simplicity (ie, with pure motives, honestly). Those who had the gift of ruling the church had to do it with diligence because it requires much hard work to supervise the church. Those who had the gift of showing mercy to the sick and afflicted had to do it with cheerfulness (otherwise, they would not be a comfort but a hindrance!)

v.9 A Christian's love must be without dissimulation (ie, hypocrisy). In other words, it must be sincere love - without pretence, without impure motives. The whole verse reads something like this "Let love be sincere, strive to avoid what is injurious to others and earnestly endeavor to do what is kind and useful." In other words, sincere love is not mere talk or feelings but it leads to acts of love and kindness.

v.10 Prefer means to go before, to lead, to set an example. In other words, instead of waiting for others to honour us we should first honour them. Christian love is pro-active. 

“Business” means activity (which in this context refers particularly, though not exclusively to religious activity). We must be fervent (ie, zealous) in our service to God, not half-hearted.

v.l2 Christians should rejoice, be patient in tribulation and be prayerful. We rejoice because of the hope that we have, and we can be patient in tribulation because of the hope and the strength received in prayer. "Continuing instant" means "constant".

v.13 Distributing to (ie, partaker with) the needs (ie, necessities) of the saints. Because we are all members of the Body of Christ, we should have a common burden.

Hospitality is particularly necessary in times of persecution and in those days when there were few hotels.

v.14 Kindness was not to be confined to brethren or decent folks but even to our persecutors. To bless means to "pray for good", ie, instead of wishing or praying that evil will befall our persecutors we should sincerely pray for their good (MAT 5:44).

v.15 Sincere love produces not only the forgiveness of enemies but also a general sympathy for our fellow-men - just as Jesus felt our sorrows. Indifference towards others' joy or sufferings is a symptom of lack of love.

v.16 Minding high things (ie, proud ambition) is the cause of much division in the church, whilst condescending to men of low estate (ie, humility) results in unity.

Do not overestimate ourselves (ie, be not wise in your own conceits). This is the root-cause of pride and ambition. On the other hand, when we underestimate ourselves we dishonour what God has done for us. Sometimes, men dishonestly underestimate themselves to escape from responsibilities. An accurate self-estimation is necessary to serve God effectively.

v.17 "We must not recompense evil for evil but must be careful to behave in such a manner that is right in the eyes of others, especially in the matter of revenge.”

v.18  Instead of retaliating for the least offence, we should do our utmost to live in peace with others. As the preservation of peace is often not within our control, we must do it if it be possible. Of course, peace must not be sought at the expense of higher obligations, eg. truth, God's honour.

v.19  God does not allow us to avenge ourselves because we have a tendency to overdo it. Rather than avenge ourselves, we should leave that to God - because vengeance belongs to God, ie, it is His prerogative to punish (DEU 32:35), except where He has given us the duty to do so (eg. civil judges to promote law and order in society, pastors to promote order in the church). This does not imply that we should desire God's punishment on our enemies.

v.20  Rather than vengeance we should return good for evil. We should feed him and give him drink, ie, we should help him and do good to him. Who can withstand coals of fire on his head? It is the ultimate weapon! Men whose minds can withstand arguments, and whose hearts rebel against threats, will succumb to acts of love directed at them. Love melts the hardest hearts.

v.21  The natural tendency is to overcome evil with evil, but we must overcome this, by God’s grace!