Romans 12.9-Paul Commands His Readers To Love Without Hypocrisy, Detest Evil And Be Devoted To What Is Good
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday October 28, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:9-Paul Commands His Readers To Love Without Hypocrisy, Detest Evil And Be Devoted To What Is Good
Lesson # 414
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:9.
This evening we will study Romans 12:9 and in this passage Paul commands his readers that their love for one another must continue to be without hypocrisy and that they are to continue to detest that which is evil and be devoted to that which is good.
Romans 12:9, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”
Paul employs the figure of “asyndeton” by not using a connective between the previous statement in Romans 12:8 and the one to follow in Romans 12:9 since he wants his readers to carefully meditate upon the command in verse 9.
“Let…be” does not appear in the original Greek text of Romans 12:9 but is added by the translators since they interpret Paul as using the figure of ellipsis meaning that he deliberately omits the nominative second person plural present active participle form of the verb eimi (ei)miv) (i-mee).
The verb eimi means “to possess a particular characteristic,” which is identified by the adjective anupokritos, “without hypocrisy.”
The verb eimi functions here as an imperatival participle indicating that Paul is commanding his readers that their love must possess the characteristic of being without hypocrisy.
This is a “customary present imperative,” which denotes that the Roman believers’ divine-love for each other must be characterized as being without hypocrisy.
Paul’s statement in Romans 15:14-15 implies that the Roman believers’ divine-love for each other was without hypocrisy.
Therefore, the present imperative form of the verb eimi indicates that Paul is commanding the Roman believers that their divine-love must “continue” to be characterized as being without hypocrisy.
“Love” is the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun agape (a)gavph), which means “divine-love” and is used with the Roman believers as the subject and their fellow believers as the object.
Agape, “divine-love” has two directions: (1) Vertical: Love directed toward God (Mark 12:30). (2) Horizontal: Love directed toward man (Mark 12:31).
In Romans 12:9, agape does not refer to the function of human love but the exercise of divine-love since Paul wants his readers to reflect God’s love for them in their relationships with each other.
He wants his readers to respond to God’s love for them as manifested in the merciful acts of God on their behalf.
Divine love exercised by Christians is distinguished from the exercise of human love in that the former is a response to God’s love for the Christian and expression of faith in God whereas the latter is based upon the attractiveness of the object.
Therefore, the emphasis with this word is upon the Roman believers’ divine-love as it functions towards each other since in Romans 12:9-16, Paul is issuing a series of commands and prohibitions to the Roman believers that address their relationship to each other.
“Without hypocrisy” is the nominative feminine singular form of the adjective anupokritos (a)nupovkrito$) (an-oo-pok-ree-tos), which is a combination of the negative alpha prefix and the term hupokrisis, “insincerity, hypocrisy,” thus the word literally means “without hypocrisy or sincerity.”
The adjective is used in Romans 12:9, 2 Corinthians 6:6 and 1 Peter 1:22 to describe the believer’s divine-love for his fellow believer as being without hypocrisy, i.e. sincere.
“Hypocrisy” is “a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not possess; a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.”
The Lord Jesus Christ described the teaching of the Pharisees as “hypocrisy” (See Matthew 23:27-28; Luke 12:1b).
In 1 Peter 2:1, Peter prohibits believers from getting involved with hypocrisy.
1 Peter 2:1, “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.”
Romans 12:9, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”
“Abhor” is the nominative masculine second person plural present active participle form of the verb apostugeo (a)postugevw) (ap-os-toog-eh-o), which means “to detest” in the sense of having an intense, even vehement, dislike and antipathy, besides a sense of disdain for someone or something.
The verb apostugeo functions here as an imperatival participle indicating that Paul is commanding his readers detest that which is evil.
The present tense of the verb is a “customary,” or “stative” present,” which denotes a lifestyle that is to continue among the Roman believers.
Therefore, the Roman believers are to continue making it their habit to detest that which is evil or contrary to the will of God.
As we noted earlier, Paul’s statement in Romans 15:14-15 implies that the lifestyle or habitual activity of the Roman believers’ was that they were in fact detesting that which is evil.
“What is evil” is the articular accusative neuter singular form of the adjective poneros (ponhrov$) (pon-ay-ros), which any thought or viewpoint, word or action that is contrary to the character and nature of God and His will as revealed by the Spirit in the Word of God.
To detest that which is evil in character echoes the Old Testament.
Psalm 97:10, “Hate evil, you who love the LORD, who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.”
So the second command in Romans 12:9 requires the Roman believers to continue to make it their habit of detesting that which is evil in character.
Obedience to this command will enable them to obey the prohibition in Romans 12:2 to not be conformed to the standards of this present evil age, which is dominated by Satan and his cosmic system.
Romans 12:9, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”
“Cling” is the nominative masculine second person plural present passive participle form of the verb kollao (kollavw) (kol-lah-o), which means “devoted” and is used in relation to the adjective agathos, “good,” which is a reference to obedience to the will of the Father as it is revealed by the Spirit in the Word of God.
To be devoted to something or someone is to concentrate on a particular pursuit, occupation, purpose or cause.
Paul is commanding the Roman believers to be devoted to that which is good, namely, executing the Father’s will for their lives, which is to grow up to be like Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:10-14).
The verb kollao functions here as an imperatival participle as well indicating that Paul is commanding his readers to continue to make it their habit to be devoted to that which is good, i.e. being obedient to the Father’s will.
The present tense of the verb is a “customary,” or “stative” present,” which denotes a lifestyle that is to continue among the Roman believers.
As we noted earlier, Paul’s statement in Romans 15:14-15 implies that the lifestyle or habitual activity of the Roman believers’ was that they were in fact being devoted to that which is good, i.e. they were being obedient to the Father’s will.
“What is good” is the articular dative neuter singular form of the adjective agathos (a)gaqov$) (ag-ath-os), which refers to obeying the Father’s will as it is revealed by the Spirit in the Word of God.
Thus, the Roman believers were to continue to make it their habit of being devoted to that which is good, i.e. the Father’s will.
The third command that appears in Romans 12:9 requires that the Roman believers continue to make it their habit to be devoted to that which is good.
Obedience to this command will enable them to obey the command in Romans 12:2b to permit themselves to be transformed into the image of Christ experientially, which Paul teaches is accomplished by renovating their minds.
Therefore, Romans 12:9 contains three commands, the first requires that the Roman believers’ divine-love continue to be characterized as being without hypocrisy.
This command serves as a heading for the rest of the chapter and refers to the commands to love God and one’s fellow believer and fellow man.
The second requires that they continue to detest that which is evil in character, i.e. anything that is contrary to the will of God.
The third requires Paul’s readers to continue to be devoted to that which is good, i.e. obedience to the Father’s will.
The second and third commands are related to the believer’s vertical fellowship with God or in other words, his relationship to God.
However, in Romans 12:10, Paul issues two more commands but these are related to the believer’s horizontal fellowship or in other words, his relationship with his fellow believer.