Bible Commentaries
Romans 12

Verses 1-13

22 Nothing shows the blindness of Christendom more than their severe denunciation of faithless Israel, yet they are following precisely the same course and have not the slightest idea that God will deal with them as He did with Israel.

24 If a wild graft can be introduced into a cultivated tree with good results, how much better will it be to graft back the good branches!

25 The secret that Israel's present condition is not permanent, but only untill all who were chosen are called out of the nations, has never been generally believed, hence the haughty attitude of Christendom toward Israel.

26 Only a few, comparatively, are being saved among the nations, but when Israel again regains its proper place, all Israel shall be saved. Then the whole nation, from the least to the greatest, will know God. And they will become the light of the world, as they were always intended to be.

28 Let us always remember that Israel is still beloved, whatever its present attitude toward

God.

29 God never regrets any favor He has shown. No individual or nation whom He calls ever disappoints Him, for He knows full well what they are and what they will do. This alone proves that Israel will yet fulfill the part He has prepared for it.

30 Mercy can be shown only to those who are in need of it. So God plays Israel and the nations against one another that each in turn may taste of His mercy.

32 God's purpose includes all nations. No matter what their present attitude toward Him, it is all apart of His plan and a preparation for the display of His mercy. Here we have the real reason why all, in turn, become stubborn. God Himself locks them up to it, not that He may condemn them, but that He may have occasion to manifest His mercy.

33 God's judgments and ways are too deep for human perception, but we can grasp His purpose. We do not know how fruit is made, but we can plant a tree and enjoy its product. We can grasp God's goal, but the process by which He attains it is too complex for our feeble minds.

36 This is the most comprehensive statement which can be uttered. God is the source of all, the channel of all, and the object of all. The universe sprang out of Him, it has its course in Him and He will be its ultimate. This settles all speculation as to the origin of all things.

Creation is out of God, not out of nothing. This explains universal history. God is the One back of all the movements of mankind. This reveals the goal of all things. God is so guiding all His creatures that, eventually, He will become their All. To Him, indeed, be glory for the eons!

1 This section is in marked contrast with the conduct of mankind ( Rom_1:18 - Rom_3:20 ), as shown in the literary framework [omitted]. The exhortation is based on the previous teaching concerning our bodies in the sixth, seventh and eighth chapters. Our mortal bodies are vivified by the indwelling spirit ( Rom_8:11 ). God is no longer pleased with dead substitutes, but asks for living offerings. He longs for worship in spirit and in truth. Hence we have no altar and ritual, with bleeding victims which did not satisfy God, but we offer our bodies, dead indeed to Him, yet energized by His Spirit, so that they are employed in good deeds, which ascend as a sweet savor to Him. This is real religious service. It displaces the forms of divine service connected with the law. It is the only divine service which He recognizes in this economy. This is the

Godward side.

2 On the manward side our conduct is not to look like that of the world. There is to be a transformation wrought by means of our minds, through the influence of God's revelation. We can never be like the world at heart, so we are not to appear to be like it. We are to become more and more unlike it by contact with the mind of God.

4 Our behavior toward one another is based on the marvelous figure of the human body. We all have distinct functions, designed not merely for our own use, but for the edification of all. This is the key to conduct among our fellow-saints. As the body is a vital unity, so the saints are one in Christ.

Verses 14-21

14 The conduct of the saints in any given economy is based on God's dispensation. If He dispenses law, He requires conduct in accord with law. Mercy calls for a higher standard, while grace appeals for the highest type of loving deportment under even the most trying circumtances. The law allowed men to hate their enemies, to exact an equivalent, as an eye for an eye, and, indeed, to act toward one another as God dealt with them. God's grace, then, is the model after which we may pattern our conduct. As He never curses now, we may not curse, but bless even those who are persecuting us.

18 If God should avenge Himself on His enemies where would we be? We were His enemies and as such we were conciliated by the death of His Son. Hence we should never avenge ourselves.

20 An enemy in distress, instead of calling for hate and vengeance, is a special opportunity for the display of God's grace. The "morsel," a special portion of food with which a host favored an honored guest, was a token of esteem and consideration. Mercy might provide an enemy with food, but grace accompanies the gift with every mark of love and honor. This is the way in which God vanquished our enmity, hence we should do likewise.

1 Unlike Israel, we do not come into conflict with the rulers of the world. The setting up of the kingdom will involve the subjection of them all to the suzerainty of Christ. But we have no place in that earthly kingdom. While Israel is thrust aside we must recognize the existing authorities. God is not at variance with present governments. It is not a question of obeying God rather than man, as when Peter refused the orders of the Sanhedrin. We must not withstand regularly constituted magistrates, but depend on God to overrule their acts, if they seem to conflict with our duty to God or our convictions of His truth. Our conflict is with the sovereignties, and the authorities and the world mights, the spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials. We are to be sandaled with the evangel of peace ( Eph_6:12-15 ).

5 The true believer should make the most exemplary citizen, for he has a deeper motive and a more powerful impulse to obedience than the unbeliever. He recognizes the civil authorities as God's servants and has a conscience which should make him most law-abiding. The unbeliever is deterred from evil by fear and respect for a human institution. We recognize existing governments as of divine origin.

6 It may seem a strange paradox, yet it is a sad fact that many who are ministers of God in name, are not so in truth, and many a magistrate, who would not dare consider himself a minister of God, is such in fact, in the execution of his office.

8 The debtor is the servant of the lender. The servant of God should never be under obligation to another. Love alone is the great debt which never can be fully discharged. Law is useless where there is love, for every precept is more than met by the dictates of love. Apart from love law is a broken fragment, incomplete, unsatisfactory. Love is its complement, and rounds it out to a satisfactory, complete whole.

11 Time, in Scripture, is variously characterized. We make an effort to distinguish between the various terms used. The longest divisions of time are the five great eons or ages. The present eon stretches all the way from the flood to the coming advent of Christ. But there are shorter divisions of time, often spoken of under the term SEASON. Sometimes this refers to a literal season of the year, as the harvest season ( Mat_13:30 ). Usually, however, it denotes some characteristic period or era , as in this scripture. It is illustrated by the dawning of the day. Deeds of darkness are done at night. But this is not the era of darkness but of light. The full day is approaching when our salvation will be complete at His advent. Just as we rouse ourselves in the morning, preparatory to the duties of the day, so, in this larger sense, our conduct should reflect the coming of the light and not be tainted with the dark doings which seek the shades of night to hide their shame.