When I think of Bible chapters with long lists of commands, Romans 12 is one of the first that comes to mind. Once Paul gets to verse 9, it’s one imperative after another in a relentless stream that lasts until the end of the chapter.
As students of the Bible, we must not despair or turn away from understanding and applying passages like these. In a previous post, I suggested that we must connect lists of commands to the main point of the passage. I gave one example from 1 Peter 4, and in this post I’ll provide another test case in Romans 12:9–21.
The Context of the Book of Romans
The first eleven chapters of Romans make up Paul’s longest and most robust explanation of the doctrine of justification by faith. This is the glorious gospel which has captured Paul’s heart.
These chapters represent some of Paul’s most debated and contested writings, but Paul does not see them as dry and academic. He ends this first, lengthy portion of his letter to the Romans with a doxology.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33–36)
Chapters 12–16 of Romans is Paul’s application of these doctrines to a specific church at a specific time. This is a pattern we observe in many of Paul’s letters, where the first portion is theological truths and the second portion is his effort to help people live out these truths.
Locating the Main Point
Scholars seem unsure about whether Romans 12:1–2 is a summary/introduction to chapter 12 or to the rest of the letter (chapters 12–16). In either case, these verses are critical for understanding the main point of Romans 12:1–21, which I believe is the larger context for Romans 12:9–21.
As always, the structure of a passage is key to finding the main point. While Romans 12:3–8 is a classic passage on spiritual gifts, reading it in context helps us determine Paul’s larger goal. The explicit teaching on spiritual gifts is found in Romans 12:6–8; this flows out of Paul’s instruction that the Christians in Rome should not think of themselves too highly because they are “one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Romans 12:5).
Notice that there is no transition between topics as Paul moves from verse 8 to verse 9. The easiest explanation is that the use of spiritual gifts was the first topic covered in the teaching about unity in Christ, and Romans 12:9–13 gives us the second topic. We can sum up this second topic using a command from verse 10: “Love one another with brotherly affection.”
Finally, Romans 12:14–21 is not a disconnected screed against revenge. This paragraph is still about the love that a united body should be demonstrating. “Live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:16) is a better summary of this final paragraph.
I take the main point of Romans 12:3–21, therefore, to be something like this: Love each other as a united body in Christ.
Commands Help Us Apply the Main Point
The commands in Romans 12:9–21 pile up quickly. I count 13 commands in first five verses (Romans 12:9–13) and 17 commands in the final eight verses (Romans 12:14–21). We will be buried by these commands if we don’t read and apply them in light of the main point.
However, the connection between this list of commands and the main point of the passage also works in the other direction. These commands help us to understand and apply the main point of the passage!
Let’s take one sentence as an example: “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9). We shouldn’t meditate on that command in a vacuum but in light of the main point. This means that I must not only abhor evil in the abstract, but I must abhor any evil that affects the body of Christ (including the evil within me). I need to love my brothers and sisters enough to help them abhor the evil that might poison our unity and to hold fast to what is good for our body instead.
In the other direction, hating what is evil and holding fast to what is good are part of the way we understand exercising love as a united body.
Conclusion
We’re never meant to apply Biblical commands extracted from their context. (This is true even for the Ten Commandments!) This makes it all the more important to fight for the main point of a passage as we work to be faithful hearers and doers of God’s word.
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