Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 4 Study # 2
February 16, 2019
Humble, Texas
(042)
1769 Translation:
9
Let] love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
10 [
Be] kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
16 [
Be] of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [
rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [
is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
1901 ASV Translation:
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
10 In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another;
11 in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving
the Lord;
12 rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer;
13 communicating to the necessities of the saints;
given to hospitality.
14 Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not.
15 Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep.
16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind on high things, but
condescend to
things that are lowly. Be not wise in your own conceits.
17 Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men.
19 Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath [
of God]: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord.
20 But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
- I. A General Overview Continued.
- A. The major thesis: Let love be without hypocrisy: 12:9a.
- B. The first sub-thesis: Let this be true in respect to the saints: 12:9b-13.
- 1. Abhor what is evil; cleave to what is good: 12:9b.
- 2. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love: 12:10a.
- 3. Prefer one another in honor: 12:10b.
- 4. Do not be slothful in business: 12:11.
- a. Be fervent in spirit: 12:11a.
- b. Be serving the Lord: 12:11b.
- 5. Rejoice in hope: 12:12a.
- 6. Be patient in tribulation: 12:12b.
- 7. Continue constantly in prayer: 12:12c.
- 8. Distribute to the needs of the saints: 12:13a.
- 9. Be given to hospitality: 12:13b.
- C. The second sub-thesis: Let this be true in respect to the "enemies": 12:14-21.
- 1. Bless those who persecute you: 12:14.
- 2. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep: 12:15.
- 3. Be equitable with all men, high or low: 12:16.
- 4. Recompense to no man evil for evil: 12:17a.
- 5. Be obviously honest with all men: 12:17b.
- 6. Live peaceably with all as much as possible: 12:18.
- 7. Do not avenge yourselves: 12:19-20.
- 8. Overcome evil with good: 12:21.
- II. The First "Application" of Unhypocritical Love: One's "Attitude" Toward Evil and Good especially in regard to the saints.
- A. "Abhor" "The Evil" ("to poneros").
- 1. In the larger picture, one's attitude toward "The Evil" resurfaces under the auspices of a different word (technically, an adjective) in both 12:17 and 21 ("kakos") under the "second sub-thesis" as outlined above.
- 2. The word translated by the Authorized Version as "abhor" ("apostugeo") is a verb only found here in the entire New Testament.
- a. It is not even found widely in the surviving Greek records (according to Liddell & Scott), but it is given the "definition" as "to hate violently".
- b. There is one other use of the root word in the New Testament in Titus 3:3 (given the "definition" as "odious"), so that with a prepositional "intensifier" added as a prefix, Paul really meant to take a very strong "attitude" toward The Evil.
- 3. The word translated by the Authorized Version as "The Evil" ("to poneros") is a noun only found here in Romans, though it is used in 71 texts of the New Testament Alternatively, the word that resurfaces this "theme" of "evil" ("kakos") is found 13 times in Romans and in 46 texts of the New Testament as a whole.
- a. "To poneros".
- 1) "Evil" can be conceived of in different ways. This word which Paul chose is not widely used by him in his letters, but the majority use is found in the Gospels, especially Matthew. He does, like the author of Hebrews, tie this concept of "evil" to the absence of "faith" (2 Thessalonians 3:2 and Hebrews 3:12) and its consequent "works".
- 2) It is defined in the Greek English Lexicon in terms of an essential corruption of the expected character (as in "a rotten apple") with a particular emphasis upon the greatness of the corruption and its hurtfulness. The lexicon that is based on semantic domains makes it a major description of "spirits" that are "evil" when they are called "demons".
- 3) 1 John 2:13-14 identifies "the wicked one" ("to poneros") as God's primary adversary, and 3:12 says of Cain that his works were "evil" in contrast to Abel's which were "righteous". We know from Genesis 4 that the essence of Cain's "evil" was his arrogant demand that God accept the works of his hands (this is "the pride of life" run amuck) and, when rejected by God, those "works" turned into murder (just as the same arrogance generated murder in Herod's actions toward John the Baptizer and in the Jew's actions toward Jesus, and in Pilate's decision to bow to the "evil" he actually recognized as being rooted in "jealousy"). "The pride of life" thwarted always ends in attempted murder. Thus, as far as John is concerned, "to poneros" is essentially a demented pursuit of "glory" (just as recorded in the record of the building of Babel "to make a name for ourselves").
- 4) We can, thus, say that "poneros" is, at root, the lust for God's "glory" as one seeks to replace Him upon "the throne of His glory", and, at outworking, "the intentional destruction of anyone who blocks the pursuit of that lust".
- b. The complementary word Paul switched to in 12:17 and 21: "kakos".
- 1. Paul used this word thirteen times in Romans and seemed to mean "any action that is contrary to justice". This shows up most clearly in 13:3-4 where "evil" is a violation of laws of divinely established government and the reason for "wrath" as "retribution" under law for actions taken "unlawfully" against another.
- 2. Thus, Paul moves from the underlying "root" ("poneros") to the overt "fruit" ("kakos").
- 4. What Paul, then, is calling for, in this first "application" of unhypocritical love for the brethren, is an aggressive hatred of this "demented pursuit of 'glory' and its works...not so much in others as in the inner attitudes of one's own heart.
- B. "Cleave" to "The Good".
- 1. In the larger picture, one's attitude toward "The Good" resurfaces under the auspices of the same noun in 12:21.
- a. This "return" to "The Good" from its first mention in the paragraph in verse nine to the last instruction given in the paragraph in verse twenty-one does at least one thing: it creates a "focus" upon "The Good" that, then, gives the appearance of "the over-all concern" of the "love" that is to be unhypocritical. For "love" to be unhypocritical, the "hate" must be intense whenever the spectre of treating a fellow believer badly (simply to raise one's own "status") arises.
- b. This "return" also reveals Paul's determination that his readers grasp this principle as it applies, not only to fellow believers, but also to "enemies".
- 2. The idea of "cleaving".
- a. The verbal idea is surfaced in 11 texts in the New Testament with five of those eleven being found in Acts. Paul only uses it three times in all of his letters and his references all refer to the idea of a powerful uniting of two (as if by "glue"). Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon has a reference that translates the verb "to weld" (putting two metal parts together by melting both into a common "pool" and letting the melted metals cool, united). It appears to be a word designed to indicate a potent uniting, though Luke's uses in Luke 10:11 and 15:15 are not in harmony with this notion of potency.
- b. Paul's use here is deliberately contrastive to the idea of "violently hating"; thus we assume his concept of "cleaving" was just as "violent" as that of the "hate".
- 3. The concept of "The Good".
- a. There are 90 uses of this word in the New Testament. There are 19 in Romans alone.
- b. Illuminatingly, 2:7 and 10 make "good" the basis for participation in eternal life. This argues for a strong link between "righteous" and "good".
- c. In 7:19 Paul makes a similar "contrast" (see 2.b. immediately above) between "good" and "evil", using the same word for "evil" ("kakos") as is found in verses 17 and 21 of this paragraph. He does this again in 9:11 and implies the same idea as 2:7 and 10 above. Closer to our present consideration is 12:2 where the "will of The God" is described as "good" in the same sense as 8:28.
- 4. Paul's "Point" is that the unhypocritical "love" that reaches to both fellow believers and enemies is to be primarily characterized as not merely "harmless" but positively beneficial.