But I beseech you, brethren, to consider those who create divisions and occasions of falling, contrary to the doctrine which *ye* have learnt, and turn away from them.
Paul has been sending warm greetings, name after name. Then he stops to warn about people inside the church who cause splits and trip others up — so how do you spot them, and how do you avoid them without becoming a divider yourself?
Some take this sudden warning as trouble Paul only expected, not trouble already there. One writer disagrees, and points to how the Spirit of God works.
I cannot accept the idea that the people Paul warns the saints in Rome about had not yet appeared there. This short warning against divisions comes only at the end of the letter, and it is put in general terms. That settles nothing. It is no evidence at all that these people did not really exist at Rome. That is not the way of the Spirit of God. He may speak prophetically, but He starts from an actual groundwork of hostility to the Lord and danger to the saints.
They were not to judge by how zealous someone looked. Paul hands them one standard.
The test they were to apply was the teaching the Roman saints had learned. Learned where, and how? From those taught in the Word... Divisions, or stumbling blocks, that grew out of what was contrary to apostolic teaching showed only too clearly what those who started and supported them were doing. However zealous they might appear, they were serving their own interest, not the interests of the Lord Christ.
Going against the teaching is not always a flat denial of it.
This is exactly what the apostle condemns in Romans 16:17. It is not open contradiction of what was taught. It is over-stepping it, or going alongside it, instead of letting it govern you.
One writer traces the word behind "avoid" and shows how far Paul's instruction goes.
To avoid them is the apostolic instruction; it is the same word Peter uses when he urges us to turn away from evil (1 Peter 3:11). Now in neither case does the apostle Paul tell the saints to take the severe step of excommunication. Withdrawing from them is not putting them out. They would still have their place at the table. But the saints were to show their disapproval of such ways by withdrawing from ordinary Christian company with them. They hoped, as with the person walking disorderly, that such people would feel shame, see how wrong their course was, and give it up.
The next verse gives the reason. Such people serve their own appetite — older translations put it "their own belly" — and they win others with smooth talk.
They serve, says the Apostle, "their own belly." He picked a crude image on purpose, to pour contempt on their personal self-importance and self-interest. Filled with themselves, they were not subject to the Lord. They may indeed push themselves forward with good words and fine speeches. The self-important man wants to stand well with others, so he is always a flatterer... Experience so often shows that such people are proof against argument and appeal. So all we can do is avoid them.
The obvious objection: separating from dividers looks like another division. One writer answers it, and adds a test for spotting who is at fault.
But if believers do separate from and avoid those who form divisions, do they not also form a sect, or division? No, obedience to the word is not division. And further, you can always tell those who cause divisions by the spirit in which they act.
The command lands on the individual, and a few verses later Paul names the God of peace.
Romans 16:17 is addressed to the individual. Verse 20 shows the character of God I am to display in my separation or withdrawal — "peace"... In quarrelling I do not display the God of peace. If I can help others, well; I certainly can help no one by staying in association with evil... The sole desire should be to keep each other in a right path, and to bring back into it anyone who may have wandered from it.
Part of that care is refusing to treat everyone involved alike.
We are to mark them and avoid them, which is, I suppose, short of action by the whole assembly. Grace would even teach us to tell the difference between the active leaders and those they led in any trouble that arises.
- Watch — such people were already there. The Spirit warns from real danger, not theory.
- Test — measure them by the teaching you were given. Going beyond it breaks it as surely as denying it.
- Avoid — turn away from ordinary company. This is not putting anyone out; their place at the table remains.
- Why — smooth speech and self-interest make argument useless. Withdrawal is the remedy left.
- How — obeying the word is not division. Do it in peace, tell leaders apart from those they misled, and aim at recovery.
For such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
The closing chapter of Romans is full of warm greetings. Then Paul warns about people inside the circle who cause divisions, and verse 18 exposes what they really serve and how they win a hearing.
Paul does not say these people serve Christ badly. He says they serve something else instead. Where the ESV has "their own appetites," older translations read "their own belly."
There is no middle course between serving the Lord Jesus Christ and one's own belly!
The word sounds crude, and it is not limited to food or drink.
The "belly-service" mentioned here means more than satisfying the appetite. Overeating and drunkenness are among the evils the Lord has warned all His disciples about, yet the word reaches further. It expresses self-pleasing in all its forms, both physical and spiritual. Here and elsewhere, it stands in contrast to the service of God and of Christ.
The shock of the verse is the gap between how such work presents itself and what God calls it.
Whatever shape their opposition to the teaching we have been taught may take, the duty of the saints is to turn away. People like this are slaves not to our Lord Christ, but to their own belly. That is the contempt the Holy Spirit pours on their work, however refined it looks, however loud its boast of superior spirituality. Still, the hearts of the guileless are in danger of being deceived by the plausible, fair speech of these party-makers, and they are warned about it.
Self-importance and smooth speech are not two separate faults; one produces the other.
They serve, the Apostle says, "their own belly." The figure is crude on purpose. It pours contempt on their personal self-importance and self-interest. Full of themselves, they were not subject to the Lord. They may well push themselves forward with good words and fair speeches. The self-important man wants to stand well with others, so he is always a flatterer.
Paul's remedy is to turn away, not to debate. Arguing back is the riskier path.
If a man is clearly using his ability to make or widen splits between the saints, do not listen to his claims or so-called convictions. Such men are usually clever in argument, and that makes discussion with them all the more dangerous. He will deceive and sway the hearts of the unsuspecting. This is simply the selfish serving of his own pride, which delights in winning men over to his point of view.
Those deceived here are eager learners. What they are offered sounds like real spiritual progress.
It might not amount to open heresy. But a man may pretend to offer a finer explanation, or a deeper look into the harder mysteries of the faith. On that pretence he can make an impressive claim on the ready attention of people who are eager to grow in the knowledge of divine truth. This is an old device of Satan, and he uses it in the Church again and again.
Refusing such a man's company can look unloving. The opposite is true.
Faithfulness to the Lord and love for His people will lead us to "avoid" these men. Experience so often shows that such people are proof against argument and appeal, so nothing is left but to avoid them. It is no true love to give them practical fellowship. Their self-importance, their independence from their brothers and sisters, and their refusal to submit to the Lord cause division among the people of God.
- Two masters. Every teacher serves either Christ or self; there is no third option, and no middle ground between the two.
- Self, widened. "Their own belly" is not only appetite. It is self-pleasing in every form, physical and spiritual. It stands against the service of God.
- Self, disguised. Self-service can look refined and deep, and it can boast of superior spirituality. That is why the Spirit uses so blunt a word for it.
- Self, marketed. Flattery is the natural language of self-importance. Skill in argument makes such a man more dangerous to engage, not less.
- Self, avoided. Test everything by the teaching already received. Arguing only feeds the divider, so love for God's people refuses him fellowship.