As Paul concludes this chapter of Romans, Romans 12:9 marks a new section that explores what it means for Christians to put love into action. Paul previously discussed the importance of personal renewal and what it means to experience renewal in a church community. For the next twelve verses, Paul uses a different style of writing in which he lays out a series of admonitions centered on how Christians should demonstrate love. Love is the defining characteristic that God calls us to express in our relationships both inside and outside the church.
Paul condenses these instructions into three main points:
- Let love be genuine (love without hypocrisy or pretense)
- Hold fast to what is good (focus on helping and bringing out the best in people)
- Abhor what is evil (confront sinful habits and tendencies)
Authentic love follows a definite pattern of seeking good and resisting evil.
Let love be genuine (Romans 12:9)
Love is the universal standard for how we should interact with each other. Paul assumes that every Christian understands this. However, we are called to love without hypocrisy. This brings up two questions that we must consider:
- Is our love authentic?
- How are we defining love?
Paul is not teaching us to love people if you feel like it. To love like Christ means to sacrifice your comfort for the good of others. Paul tells us to cultivate a sacrificial mindset of love so that we can better love people without pretense, even if we aren’t fully comfortable with them.
Hold fast to what is good (Romans 12:10-16)
Dallas Willard made this observation on love in the western culture: “But to most people, to love someone is to approve of their desires and decisions and to help them fulfill them. ’If you love me, you’ll do what I want’ is the cry here.” The biblical view of loving people, Willard argues, is much more rational and beneficial since it focuses on “what is good for them and to be prepared to help them toward that” while also “disapproving of their desires and decisions and attempting, as appropriate, to prevent their fulfillment.”
Simply put, truly caring for others is deeper than just making them happy. It’s about engaging with all different types of people and desiring to be a positive influence in their lives. Living this out will be difficult, so we need the grace of God to help us remain joyful, patient, and prayerful as we deal with our various relationships.
Abhor what is evil (Romans 12:17-21)
Paul gives four instructions on resisting evil: never avenge yourself, live in harmony with everyone as far as it depends on you, bless your enemy in practical ways, and overcoming evil with good. Instead of seeking vengeance for ourselves, we trust God to bring about perfect justice in His timing. Reaching out to our enemies and meeting their practical needs provides a greater opportunity to glorify God, even if it feels underserved at the moment. Whenever possible, we should make an effort to defeat our enemies by loving them and hopefully bringing them into a place of repentance in the process.
To put love into actual practice, here are five movements of perfect love to meditate on as you continue to experience and express God’s redemptive in your lives:
- I am loved by God
- I love God in return
- I love others
- I am loved by others
- I love myself
