But having different gifts, according to the grace which has been given to us, whether [it be] prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of faith;
Paul has just told the believers in Rome that they are many members in one body, and that each is to think soberly about himself. Verse 6 draws the conclusion. Our differences are not accidents of talent. They are gifts of grace. That raises a question: how far does a gift reach, and where does it stop?
The word translated "gifts" is charismata. One writer traces it back to charis, the word for grace. So a gift is not first a display of power. It is grace at work through a member of the body.
Some gifts did have a clearly miraculous character, and we have lost those. I do not deny that. But I deny that this was the necessary character or real meaning of charisma. It is the effect or product of charis, grace, here applied to the action of a member of the body in service.
"Differing" could sound like ranking. One writer turns it round. The same grace that made one unlike another also made each one necessary to the rest.
Let us never forget that, whatever the differences, all are gifts. The grace that gave them has made one person differ from another. But it has also made each one necessary to the others, since all are in the one body. Whatever we have from the Lord, let us use it all in subjection to Him, and for the object He had in view.
This takes in every Christian. Not every gift is prominent.
There is no true Christian who has not something or other given him for service in the body — perhaps merely a little bit of wisdom. Everybody has got something for service to the body, as a hand or foot or eye; but not everybody has a prominent gift as a pastor or evangelist.
Sober self-judgement cuts two ways. A person can push past his assignment. He can also shrink from it.
Each did his own proper work, according to the measure of faith dealt out by God. So each would act with humility, but also with firmness. He knew it was God's will and his own service. Unbelief seeks great things. It overlooks the one thing that matters: the duty God has assigned to us. We are not to go beyond its measure, or outside its nature. Let us remember, however, that there is a false modesty that fails to act, as well as the lack of modesty that goes too far.
Prophecy heads the list. The word means more than predicting the future.
We often limit the idea of a prophet to one who foretells future events. The main idea of the prophet is that of a forth-teller, as well as a foreteller. The prophet brings his hearers into God's presence, to face their state before Him… To be effective, a prophet must aim at the conscience. That was true of Isaiah and others who addressed a sinful nation in their day. It is just as true of those who prophesy now (Rom. 12:6).
Commentators differ over this phrase. One reads it as faith that rests wholly on the word of God (F. W. Grant). The most practical reading is a limit on the speaker: do not go past what God has given you.
There is great need of this: that we attend first to the nature of our gift, and second to its measure… I do not doubt that many a person's gift would be recognised if he did not go beyond his measure in it. "If he prophesies, let him prophesy according to the proportion of faith." Everything beyond that is flesh, and putting himself forward. People feel it, and they reject his whole gift, because he has not known how to keep inside it.
Gift, then, is never its own authority.
The reality of gift did not and does not remove the need for regulation by the word. No one brings the hearer's soul into more direct contact with God than the one who prophesies; yet his prophesying must match the faith.
The list that follows sorts the gifts into two plain streams.
There were gifts, charismata, fitting each one for his service. They all flow from the Holy Spirit, as 1 Cor. 12:4 shows… Looking at the different kinds of service in the assembly, we can divide them into two classes: ministry in the Word, and ministry in other ways.
- Grace gives. A gift is charisma, the product of charis, grace. It is grace at work through a member of the body.
- Grace differs. The same grace made one member unlike another. It also made each one necessary to the rest. Even a little wisdom is something given for the body.
- Grace measures. God deals out to each one a measure of faith. Do not overstep it — and do not hide behind false modesty either.
- Grace is regulated. Even prophecy must stay in proportion to faith, under the word. Whatever goes past the measure is flesh, and people feel it.
- Grace serves. Service runs in two streams: ministry in the Word, and ministry in other ways. Both belong to the one body.
or service, [let us occupy ourselves] in service; or he that teaches, in teaching;
Paul has just said that believers, though many, form one body. Their gifts differ, and this verse names two of them — service and teaching. Both come with the same instruction: stay in it.
The ESV calls this gift "service." Older translations call it "ministry," the word the writers below use. Either way, it does not mean public speaking:
Scripture separates what people call "ministry" from "preaching," as you will find in Romans 12. The apostle speaks of the teacher giving himself to his teaching, and of the one who serves giving himself to his service. Nowadays people use "ministry" to mean only preaching or teaching. But that is not the language of the Holy Spirit. Many people who have no such power do a great deal of serving — serving the saints. It would be no great loss if there was less ministering in that way, and more ministering in a real way.
Commentators differ on how wide the word is. Some take it as any service to the saints; others tie it to the work of a deacon:
The words minister and ministry are sometimes used of the apostles, of teachers, and of all who serve in the gospel. Sometimes they carry a narrower sense, of the office of deacon. That narrower sense seems to be the right meaning of the word "ministry" here. The deacons were officers who cared for the poor and the sick, and for the outward affairs of the church. And if a man's gift lay in ministering to the saints in this way, he was to attend to it. This is a real service of love, and one most acceptable to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His poor saints.
Teaching is more than holding the truth yourself:
The teacher not only knows and enjoys the truth himself. He also has the gift of opening it up so that others see it, enjoy it, and own its weight and importance. At the same time, do not confuse the teacher with the prophet, or teaching with prophesying.
That also settles what a teacher may say:
The teacher is one of the gifts set in the church, and Scripture tells the teacher to keep busy with teaching (Rom. 12:7). "Teaching" is the clear, intelligent setting out of the truth by the Holy Spirit. It leaves no room for the mind and opinion of man.
The repeated instruction — service in serving, teaching in teaching — draws a boundary. Each person does his own work and leaves the rest alone:
There are many members, not heads. Again, no one is to go beyond his measure. Each is to wait on his ministry, whatever it may be; let him stick to that one thing, and not attend to everything else. The one who gives, let him give with simplicity. The one who serves is to wait on his service and do the work he has to do — and let him not try anything else. In the same way, the one who exhorts is to wait on exhortation. God may give one person half a dozen gifts. One may be an evangelist only; one may exhort and move the conscience; and another may teach.
Two gifts can look alike and still not swap places:
The teacher of the gospel differs from the evangelist. The evangelist works out in the world, among the unsaved. He is a fisher of men, while the teacher of the gospel feeds the babes in God's household. The two are closely related, but they are distinct gifts with different fields of work. Often the gospel teacher grieves that no one is converted when he speaks to sinners. And the man who is purely an evangelist loses his usual freedom when most of his hearers are believers. Each "gift" is for one special work, and that is the work he is appointed to do. Let then the teacher wait on his teaching (see Rom. 12:4-8), and the evangelist on his preaching.
This is not just a personal matter. The whole church gains or loses by it:
We cannot press too strongly how important it is to take the place given us to fill, and to use the special gift or function given to us in the body. Every Christian has his own place, which no one else can fill. Each has his own work, which no other can do. The health and wellbeing of the assembly depend on believers seeing this truth and living it out.
- Given — Gifts differ according to the grace God gives. He may give one person several gifts, and another only one.
- Named — "Ministry" here means real service to the saints, not speaking. Commentators differ: some see the deacon's care of the poor and sick, others service in a wider sense.
- Unfolded — The teacher does not just hold the truth. He opens it up so others see and value it. What he sets out is the Spirit's truth, not his own opinion.
- Bounded — Each one sticks to his own work and leaves the rest alone. The teacher waits on teaching, the evangelist on preaching.
- Fruitful — Every Christian has a place no one else can fill. The health of the whole church depends on each one keeping to it.
or he that exhorts, in exhortation; he that gives, in simplicity; he that leads, with diligence; he that shews mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12 lists gifts that differ, and this verse ends the list with four of them — exhorting, giving, leading, and showing mercy. Each one comes with a manner attached. What you do for God's people matters, and so does the spirit you do it in.
This is not a list of things every Christian should try. Each person is to take up what God has actually given him.
There are many members, not heads. Again, no one is to go beyond his measure. Each is to attend to his own ministry, whatever it is. Let him stick to that one thing and not take up everything else... God may give one person half a dozen gifts.
Teaching and exhorting are named separately on purpose.
So we see that in the days of the apostles God did not always give a man a gift for both teaching and exhorting. Each gift was to have room to be used, and each person was to keep to the service God had entrusted to him. It would have been good if believers had always remembered this and acted on it.
Exhorting is not the same work as teaching. It aims at a different target, and it costs something on both sides.
The teacher deals mainly with the understanding, the exhorter with the conscience. It takes great grace to be an exhorter, and just as much grace to receive a word of exhortation... Exhortation includes warning and comfort. It urges people to practical duties and turns them away from neglecting duty. It points out where they fall short. It applies the promises or the warnings of Scripture, as each case needs.
Another writer explained why this gift is rarer than preaching or explaining Scripture.
The power to do this is a very distinct gift from God. It is much rarer than the gift of the evangelist or of the one who explains Scripture. Those two keep the mind within limits — the first to the good old gospel, the second to the passage of Scripture and what is in it. In exhortation you have to apply the truth of Scripture to the soul. You have to know how to slide it in between flesh and spirit, so that it condemns the flesh and gives liberty to the spirit.
Older versions read "with simplicity" here. The word points first at the giver's motive.
The same word that describes God's own giving is the one Paul urges on the Christian: "He that gives, in simplicity." How often mixed motives try to get into the heart when we give! Liking instead of love in one case, dislike holding us back in another. Self-importance, concern for our reputation, going along with others on one side; on the other, a cautious or unbelieving fear hiding behind excuses... A single eye here, as everywhere, promotes love, because it lets in light. And what it leads to is generosity.
This also explains why "simplicity" and "generosity" end in the same place.
A man who gives simply will give generously. The need speaks to him and stirs the love in him. And true love is wise; there is nothing blind about it. Divine love is never separate from divine wisdom.
Leading is its own kind of service, and it comes with its own demand.
It is striking that leading appears among the services God has given to the saints. The leader is not always gifted to teach or preach, and the teacher and preacher is not always a leader. The leader is the one whose wisdom and experience fit him to guide the people of God. He is to use his gift with the diligence that puts thought and care into his guidance.
Where this gift sits in the list matters too. It blocks any attempt to sort these gifts into an official class and an ordinary one.
God guards us here from drawing so sharp a line that it would favour the ruinous split between clergy and ordinary Christians, into which the early church soon slipped. Some try to find in this list a move from public gifts to private ones. But that is wholly fanciful. The Holy Spirit has made such a scheme impossible by placing the most public gift of all, the ruler or leader, between "the one who contributes" and "the one who does acts of mercy."
The last pairing guards the way kindness feels to the person receiving it.
This is a fine gift, and one that everyone who visits the poor and the suffering should want. We are not only to show mercy. We are to show it so cheerfully that it is plain the help comforts them and is a pleasure to us. The value of any service of love done for people in sorrow depends mainly on the spirit in which it is done.
- Gift — Take up what God actually gave you. No one is to go beyond his measure, and one person may not be gifted for both teaching and exhorting.
- Manner — Each gift comes with its own spirit: simplicity, diligence, cheerfulness. How you do it is part of the doing.
- Conscience — Teaching aims at the understanding. Exhortation aims at the conscience, applying Scripture so that it condemns the flesh and frees the spirit.
- Motive — Simplicity in giving keeps out self-importance, concern for reputation, and unbelieving fear. The single eye still ends in generosity.
- Reach — Leading takes thought and care. Mercy takes a cheerful face, because a kind act done coldly loses its worth to the person who receives it.
Let love be unfeigned; abhorring evil; cleaving to good
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
as to brotherly love, kindly affectioned towards one another as to honour, each taking the lead in paying it to the other
Paul has moved from teaching to daily life. He has just told believers that love must be genuine, and now he turns to the circle of God's own family. The verse asks two things that cut against our instincts. It asks for an affection built on relationship, not on how appealing someone is. And it asks us to compete at giving honour instead of receiving it.
The command does not stand alone. It follows a call to sincere love. One writer sees a narrowing here, with the standard set by the closest family ties:
The love spoken of in the previous verse is most likely love to all people. Here brotherly love is singled out. The teaching of the Spirit in this verse appears to be that Christians should have a love for each other, as brothers in Christ, that is as sincere and tender as if they were their closest relatives.
Commentators differ on what that earlier love means. William Kelly reads it as deeper than kindness between believers or kindness to everyone:
Love is the activity of the divine nature in goodness. So it cannot be separated from that nature when it is reproduced in the children of God.
If affection depended on how appealing a person is, it would collapse as soon as someone became difficult. The verse rests it on something else:
Our affection for one another should flow from our relationship as brothers, not from some quality in them that we find attractive or useful. Brotherly love makes us ready to let others have honour instead of grabbing it for ourselves.
That same ground holds even when a believer is weak:
We are not asked to love the sinful nature in our brothers. We are to love them because they are brothers, despite all their weaknesses.
One writer presses the point that honour here means going first:
The point here is not just to repay the courtesy of others. It is to take the lead in treating them with honour, and so by example to lead them into the same lovely ways.
The failure to move first is rarely dramatic. It hides behind ordinary awkwardness. Then it gets blamed on everyone else:
Some have a false modesty, and others a secret pride. Either one makes them slip out of a meeting fast, so that people who would gladly have spoken to them never get the chance. When this goes on for a while, people complain that the believers are cold and show no love to strangers. But who is at fault?
Paul did not leave the instruction as theory. Later in the same letter he greets two believers, Andronicus and Junias, and hands them the credit:
The claims of kindred are not forgotten; but the higher claim to remembrance, in the case of Andronicus and Junias, is that they had suffered with the Apostle as "fellow-prisoners". The Apostle carries out his own exhortation, "In honour preferring one another" (12:10), for he says they "are of note among the Apostles", and "were in Christ" before himself.
The everyday form is simple enough to start today:
Let us delight in paying honour to other believers. Draw attention to their good qualities and their work instead of our own.
Sometimes warm treatment cannot continue. One writer draws a line between the affection itself and how we show it:
Through the power of Satan, a brother may be living in a disorderly way, or he may fall into error, and so become a proper case for discipline. We must change how we treat him, though our love stays the same, or even grows stronger.
- Relationship first. Love your fellow believer because he is your brother. Not because he is attractive or useful to you.
- Family warmth. The affection asked for is as sincere and tender as what you would give your closest relatives. It grows out of shared birth into God's family.
- Take the lead. Honour here is not repaying a courtesy. It is going first, and setting an example that draws others after you.
- Give the credit away. Paul did it by saying that others were well known, and were in Christ before he was. You do it by pointing at someone else's work instead of your own.
- Love outlasts kindness. When a believer's life calls for discipline, the treatment changes. The love stays the same, or grows stronger.
as to diligent zealousness, not slothful; in spirit fervent; serving the Lord.
Older translations read "not slothful in business" here, where the ESV says "Do not be slothful in zeal" — and that one word has caused centuries of confusion. So two questions come first: does this command cover my daily job, and how does anyone stay fervent for a lifetime?
The word behind the older rendering means diligence — an attitude, not a set of tasks.
This next clause has been much abused, and the misunderstanding comes from the way words change their meaning over time. We naturally take "business" to refer to our daily jobs — these are, in fact, the things men are most "busy" with, and think they must be. But the word simply means "diligence": "In diligence not slothful." There is a way of being busy about things without any real diligence.
Notice also what Paul does not command. He sets a floor, not a ceiling, and he places the fire somewhere other than the workload.
It is often quoted as "diligent in business," which is not what is said, though man's selfishness likes to think so. The "business," I take it, means whatever might rightly claim a believer's attention — "whatever your hand finds to do." About such matters it is clearly wise to say simply "not slothful." On the other hand, the word is "fervent in spirit," not fervent in business. The one refers to the outward life, the other to the inner.
Commentators differ on how wide the first clause reaches. Kelly takes it broadly, as anything that has a claim on you. Andrew Miller limits the phrase to service for God, yet he still allows the Christian no laziness anywhere.
The exhortation refers to religious activity, not to the active work of our everyday jobs. Many have supposed it does, and the word "business" in our text suggests as much. At the same time, whatever the Christian does, in temporal or spiritual things, he should not be slothful or indulge in laziness. In every duty he should show a spirit of zeal and devotion. "In spirit fervent" is the Lord's word. Scripture says the same of Apollos, a teacher who was "fervent in spirit" and taught accurately about the Lord (Acts 18:25).
Diligence alone can harden into busyness with nothing behind it. The second clause exists to prevent that, and the third supplies the reason.
Three exhortations follow that more directly have the Lord in view. In our service to the Lord we are to be diligent, with a holy zeal that resists slothfulness. Zeal, however, can degenerate into mere outward activity, so the call is to a fervency of spirit that keeps the Lord before us as the motive of the service.
Fervency is not a mood we manufacture. Heat needs fuel, and we take it in private before we spend it in public.
Lukewarm Christians are the devil's delight and the Lord's grief. Fervency of spirit is what we should desire above all things. But if our hearts are to burn in this cold world, the oil of grace must flow into them; and for that we must cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. Then His own supplies never run out. They come to us in secret, and they are more than enough to meet every public demand, despite the world, the flesh, and the devil.
A few old copies read "serving the season" instead of "serving the Lord." Kelly weighs the evidence and rejects that reading.
Then, instead of allowing slothfulness, the apostle insists on zealous diligence. In case this should be only outward work, he at once adds "in spirit fervent." Both then have a blessed motive: "serving the Lord." It is well known that Griesbach followed a few manuscripts, versions and early writers, and joined Erasmus in reading kairo ["season"] for Kurio ["Lord"]. He did so against the weight of the evidence and almost every other editor… Serving the time — the "season" or "opportunity" — seems at least a little unworthy, suits the context poorly, and is easily open to the worst abuse.
Nothing makes us go slack faster than watching others get the honour we wanted. That is why this fervency answers to a Master, not to an audience.
Nor should this lessen our own diligent zeal and leave us slothful — a common tendency when we see others honoured and not ourselves. Rather, let us keep a true inward fervency of spirit that guards us from every discouragement and makes us independent of the approval of men. Then "serving the Lord" will be a very real thing to us, and no mere formal phrase or idealistic sentiment.
- Diligence — the word older translations render "business" means diligence, not employment. You can be busy all day and still not be diligent.
- Outward — the command about work is modest: not slothful. A floor, not a demand for frantic activity.
- Inward — Paul puts the fire in the spirit, not in the workload, because zeal can shrink into empty activity.
- Upward — "serving the Lord" steadies both. The weight of manuscript evidence also supports this reading over "serving the season."
- Onward — fervency feeds in secret and answers to a Master, so it survives being overlooked.
As regards hope, rejoicing as regards tribulation, enduring as regards prayer, persevering
Three short commands stand together here in a run of practical instructions. Each names a different part of life: what we look forward to, what we are going through now, and what we do about both. Commentators read them as one chain rather than three separate duties.
Writers note that the clauses before and after this verse are not a random list. Kelly starts from the words about serving the Lord. That mention leads straight into the future, then the present, then the support that holds a believer steady through both.
To my mind, the Spirit links the mention of the Lord and of serving Him with the bright future: "Rejoice in hope." That in turn connects simply with present suffering: "be patient in tribulation." And it connects with the great support of the soul, whatever comes meanwhile: "be constant in prayer."
Hamilton Smith describes the same order as the road itself. Trouble comes along the way.
The following three exhortations refer to the trials along the way. The hope of the coming glory will hold us up in trial and make us patient under it. And prayer, which casts everything on the Lord, will support us in it.
The joy commanded here is not a new emotion to be worked up. One writer traces it back to the joy a believer had at the start, and asks why it should ever fade.
"Rejoice in hope" carries on the same joy in hope of the glory of God that filled the heart at conversion (compare Rom. 5:2). The hope itself has not changed — in fact it is nearer than when we believed: why then should our joy fade? Is tribulation sometimes the answer? "If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small." Let us consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself. This will give us patient endurance and will not lessen our joy.
Another writer points to daily duties as what gets in the way of that joy.
Next we have "rejoicing in hope." Sadly, how the present, with its calls and duties, can interfere with that! We need to keep our heads up continually and to be looking at the unseen realities which are ours. Here we have reason to rejoice that will never fail us. As the apostle reminds us, it will carry us through tribulation itself.
Hope here has a definite object. One writer fills it out with the return of Christ, and lists what the mind should dwell on when sorrow is heavy.
The hope of the Lord's coming is the most effective means of producing patience under present trials. Think of the One who is coming, of who He is, of our union with Him. Think of meeting Him in the air, and of being brought by Him into the house with many rooms. Think of seeing Him face to face, hearing His voice, seeing His glory, and knowing His love and grace more fully. Such thoughts are made to calm a troubled mind and to sweeten the bitterness of sorrow.
Writers set the third command against mere religious habit. It calls for warmth and persistence, and they treat it as what keeps the other two alive.
"Be constant in prayer." Meanwhile, come what may, we fall back on the great resource of the soul — fellowship with God, keeping on in prayer… Only this way of dealing with God can feed hope, patience, and every other virtue. It is the direct opposite of formality. Only prayer that is steady, warm and persistent answers to what God asks here. No duty is done well, and no service done rightly, without this kind of prayer.
In practice, this touches how we plan a day and whether we keep the promises we make to pray.
Romans 12:12 tells us to be constant in prayer (older translations say "continuing instant in prayer"). The stress is on perseverance: not giving up until the answer comes… To have time to pray, we may need to put it before other things in our busy day. This takes effort, and interest and concern for others and for Christian things… When we say we will pray for someone or something, do we? And for how long do we do so?
- Hope first. The joy commanded is the joy that filled the heart at the start. The hope is nearer now than it was then, so why let the joy fade?
- Hope has a face. Writers fill hope out with the Lord's coming: meeting Him, seeing Him, His love and glory. Such thoughts calm a troubled mind.
- Hope carries you through trouble. Trouble is expected along the road. Looking at the coming glory is what makes us patient in it.
- Prayer carries the other two. Writers call persevering prayer the great resource of the soul. Nothing else feeds hope and patience.
- Test it practically. Persevering prayer is the opposite of formality. It costs time, and it means keeping the prayers we promise others.
distributing to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not.
Paul has just told the believers in Rome to care for one another and open their homes. Now the circle widens to people who are doing them harm, and the command is doubled: bless, and do not curse.
The instructions in this chapter cover several different relationships. Verse 14 belongs to the group about dealing with people in general, not only fellow believers.
These exhortations apply to the different relationships of life where believers may find themselves: as members of the one body (Rom. 12:3-8), as brothers (9-13), as people on earth having to do with others (14-21), as citizens in the world, subject to the powers that be (Rom. 13:1-7), or as neighbours (8-10).
One writer asks whether the command stops at hostile outsiders:
A glance now at the outside, hostile world is given us — and yet, may the exhortation always be confined to that? There are, sadly, forms of persecution here too which may find their place even in the ranks of the saints.
Blessing an enemy is not ordinary decency stretched a little further:
The apostle now introduces the Christian into an entirely new line of practical Christianity. Blessing, not cursing, is to mark his whole life and ways. This command carries us far beyond the power of nature... The apostle has urged him to show love and kindness among his brothers in Christ. But now he must go a step further. He must bless — never curse — even the enemies who are persecuting him. To have this spirit, and to practise this command, is to be a heaven-born child of God.
Blessing here is not a vague good wish. It aims at the persecutor's eternal good:
It is not God's time of cursing, but of blessing in mercy to sinners who will receive His Son. Let us bless them — speak in compassion toward them — desiring their eternal blessing. This is to be so whether the persecution comes from unbelievers or from believers.
Miller notes the repeated wording, and points to prayer as the main way we bless:
The repetition of the command adds greatly to its divine energy and importance. It is the Christian's own privilege to pray for all people, friends and enemies. God has given him this place of honour here — to bless others by means of his prayers. He should be like a vessel from which the precious blessings of Christ flow out to enrich many around him. We must not wish or pray that evil will overtake our persecutors. Instead we must pray sincerely to the Lord to pardon and bless them.
This command fits the present time in God's dealings. It stands against prayers for judgment found elsewhere in Scripture:
The present period is one of unmixed grace. God is not now charging people with their trespasses. He is freely forgiving all who believe in Jesus, even the worst. And to us the exhortation is, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them."... While His enemies were nailing Him to the cross, our Lord Himself said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But a time is coming when prayers like this will go up to heaven — inspired prayers, remember: "O God, why do you cast us off forever?"
Stephen was stoned for his testimony, and he prayed for the men killing him. He did not find that power in himself:
Christ's martyr Stephen afterwards prayed in the spirit of his Master, but he could only do so because of the cross and victory of that blessed One.
One writer applies the verse to a church leader who urged his city to take up arms against his attackers:
The Reformer urged the government of Zurich to take up arms over two things: the slanders and the persecutions of his opponents. But what does the blessed Lord say?... "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them." The gracious Lord knows the anger that slander and persecution stir up. So He comes near to the oppressed in the most tender terms: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'"
- Widening. The chapter moves from the one body, to brothers, to people outside — and blessing enemies belongs to that widest circle.
- Above nature. This command reaches past anything human nature can produce. To live it is the mark of a heaven-born child of God.
- Blessing defined. To bless is to speak with compassion toward the persecutor. It is to pray for his pardon and eternal good, not for evil to overtake him.
- Right season. This is God's time of blessing in mercy, not of cursing. Prayers for judgment belong to another day in His dealings.
- Sourced at the cross. Stephen could bless his killers only because of Christ's own cross and victory. The same grace rules out taking up arms against those who slander and persecute us.
Rejoice with those that rejoice, weep with those that weep.
Paul has just told the Christians in Rome how to use their gifts and how to make love real. Now he turns to daily life with other people: their good news and their grief. The verse asks less about what we say to a happy or hurting person. It asks whether we are free enough from ourselves to feel what they feel.
The command follows a run of instructions about love, generosity and forgiveness. Sympathy flows from a heart already rooted in love.
We have been urged to love, to do good to others, and to forgive our enemies. Now we are told to share in the joys and sorrows of other people, and especially of fellow Christians. Rooted and grounded in love, these graces flow out naturally, as from their own spring. What could be more unlike the spirit of Christianity than a selfish indifference to every interest but our own! How much more like the blessed Master is the Christian who enters into the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own! This is the true expression of the fellowship of the saints. It is the unselfishness of those who walk in the light of God's own presence. That presence is the only place where we lose our selfishness.
Both halves press against something in us. Which is harder depends on how our own life is going.
Do others have cause for rejoicing? Let us rejoice with them! This may not be easy if there are thorns or sorrows in our own path, but it is true, unselfish Christian character. Or do others weep? Let us weep with them. We may not be so ready if our own life is going well. It is a pointed test of our selfishness or unselfishness.
Elsewhere the same writer names what this verse replaces: envy.
We cannot get rid of this covetous attitude unless the Lord Jesus works in our hearts by new birth. His work makes us willing to judge our motives and to live by wholehearted faith. Then, instead of envying others, we shall know how to "rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." We shall be glad if others are blessed, even if we go without.
Saying the right thing at a funeral is one thing. Carrying another person's trouble is another.
If we want to sympathize with those who suffer, we must take their sorrows on ourselves. Just speaking a word of comfort to someone is not genuine sympathy. We must take on the trials of others and carry them on our own spirit. For such a service we need the Spirit of the Master within us. We learn His comfort for ourselves first, and then pass the same comfort on to others.
John the Baptist's followers buried him and went to tell Jesus. Commentators point to that scene as the verse lived out before Paul wrote it.
There was not another heart on earth in which they could have found such a response as in the tender, loving heart of Jesus. His sympathy was perfect. He knew all about their sorrow. He knew their loss and how they would be feeling it. They therefore acted wisely when "they went and told Jesus." His ear was always open and His heart always ready to comfort and sympathize. He perfectly lived out the command the Holy Spirit later put into words: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."
Sympathy like this has a source and a condition.
So we can rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. The cause for our joy or weeping is not in ourselves but in others, and our sympathy is divine and gracious. But we must be wholly with Christ to do it truly, and truly human to feel it, as He was. In our case this assumes we are dead to self, because in us self is selfishness.
Ignoring this command is not neutral. It costs us.
With all this, we are not to be shut up in ourselves. We are to "rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." How much joy is open to us this way that we never take! And how much sorrow do we shut ourselves out of, when that sorrow is the very school God would use to make us fruitful!
- Source. Sympathy is not a personality trait. It overflows from a heart rooted in love. In God's presence we stop being selfish.
- Test. Rejoicing is hard when your own path has thorns. Weeping is hard when your own life is comfortable. Each half exposes self from a different side.
- Cost. Real sympathy carries the other person's trouble on your own spirit. A word of comfort by itself is not what the verse commands.
- Model. Jesus received the grief of John's followers with a heart always ready to comfort. He lived the verse before Paul wrote it.
- Gain. Shutting ourselves in costs us joy we could have shared. It also costs us sorrow God would have used as a school to make us fruitful.