Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 4 Study # 7
June 7, 2020
Humble, Texas
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(051)
Thesis: In responding to those who are following "official" policies to attempt to force us to accept their ways, we are to "bless" them and refrain from "cursing" them.
Introduction: As we have been considering the implications of an "unhypocritical love", we have seen that there are both attitudes and actions that we are to adopt by the Spirit so that "Love" will not prove to be hypocritical. We have a "Love" that focuses upon a definitive rejection of the desire for "reputation" in the eyes of men and a deliberate, and potent, embrace of the desire to bring benefit into the lives of those among whom we live. This, according to
12:10-13, is to begin with the household of God, and is then to be extended to those who make our lives unpleasant according to
12:14-21.
In our last study we backed away from the details of Paul's flow of thought in order to put his words into the larger concepts of "evil" as he addresses this extension of "Love" into the culture of the day. There are two parts to his concept of "evil": there is the "evil" of attempting to please men for reputation's sake (12:9, which is made more significant by Galatians 1:10) and there is the "evil" of desiring and acting in such ways as to bring "damage" into the lives of others (12:17 and 21). It is the latter issue that is before us in this study.
- I. The "Occasion" For the Rise of the "Evil" of the Second Kind.
- A. In general, this "occasion" is addressed by Paul's concept of "persecution".
- 1. The concept itself.
- a. The word translated "persecute" is used in 44 texts of the New Testament and 31 of those texts have our word "persecute" as a translation of dioko.
- b. Many of the 31 uses assume the readers will already have a concept of the meaning in their minds.
- c. A few of the 44 uses give us the content of that assumption.
- 1) In Romans, for instance, Paul used dioko in ways that fill in the particulars of its meaning.
- a) Romans 9:30-31 is both the "first use" by Paul in Romans and is the most enlightening to us.
- i. The contrast between the Gentiles and Israel is extreme in terms of dioko .
- ii. The Gentiles did absolutely nothing to obtain a righteous standing before God.
- iii. Israel was absolutely "fixated" upon their attempt to obtain that standing.
- iv. Thus, we get an immediate sense that the main idea of the word has to do with "an intense commitment" to the achievement of an objective.
- b) Romans 12:13 uses the word within a four word proximity of its use in 12:14, but with a meaning that has little to nothing to do with what we call "persecuting".
- i. The 12:13 use has to do with just how high up the scale of "important activities" the provision of "hospitality" is supposed to be to us in regard to the brethren.
- ii. The 12:14 use, just four words from 12:13's use of the word, has a meaning that is absolutely not about "hospitality" (no one would be tempted to "curse" their "hospitality host" under normal considerations).
- c. Romans 14:19 is Paul's final use in Romans and it describes the issues of "making peace" and "building one another up" (the primary idea of the application of "unhypocritical love" to the brethren in 12:10-13) in terms of a level of intensity in the pursuit of an objective.
- 2) Thus, for Paul in Romans, the issue splits into two parts: the "level of intensity" and the "particular objective".
- a. When "pursuit in terms of the level of intensity" is the idea, we understand Paul's use of the term in 9:30-31.
- b. When "pursuit in terms of objective" is the idea, we can understand Paul's use of the term in respect to "persecution": "persecution" is the attempt to get someone to "get in line" with the "values held" by the one making the attempt.
- 3) Thus, when dioko is used, we must look for "the level of intensity" involved and "the objective that is being sought".
- 2. The boundaries of the concept.
- a) When dioko is "the attempt to force someone to accept the values of the actors", the idea is "persecution".
- b) But, the idea of "persecution", as the word is illustrated by historical narratives, is actions of "force" that arise from "cultural authorities" (such as religious and civic leaders who have a "power" of enforcement that is considered legitimate in the culture).
- c) This means that the concept of "persecution" is limited to attempts to "force" a different system of values by those who are supposed to have that power within the boundaries of the culture: it does not extend to people who have no such power, such as robbers, bullies, snotty neighbors, etc.
- B. Thus, the concept is that of an intense effort to enforce the values held in the culture by those entrusted with that task.
- II. The Believer's Dual Responsibilities When Under Efforts to Force Them to Depart From Biblical Values.
- A. "Bless" those doing the enforcement.
- 1. The concept of "blessing" is developed by Paul in Romans by the use of the noun, the adjective, and the verb.
- 2. The basic idea is that of a "condition" of great privilege: 4:6-9.
- 3. Thus, "blessing" someone is either a declaration of their "condition" or "status" of having the great privilege that is in view, or it is a declaration of a wish for someone to come into such a "condition": it is this latter concept that is in view in our text.
- 4. Paul's emphatic repetition signals a need for a similar level of intensity as is involved in the attitude of the "persecutors" ("Bless...bless and curse not.").
- B. "Curse not" those doing the enforcement.
- 1. The "cursing" involves a word that is only used as a verb in 5 texts of the New Testament.
- 2. The meaning is clear from Matthew 25:41 and Mark 11:21.
- a. Matthew 25:41 makes "cursing" the idea of being totally rejected in terms of any concept of "good".
- b. Mark 11:21 makes "cursing" the idea of pronouncing a wish for someone/something to be subjected to the denial of the glory of one's created function.
