CHAPTER 12. CHAPTER 12. The distinction of doctrinal and practical is not one that can be pressed anywhere in the N.T., and as little in Paul as in any other writer. It is under practical compulsion of some kind that he develops most of his characteristic doctrines, and he has no doctrines which do... [ Continue Reading ]
παρακαλῶ οὖν : the reference is to all that has been said since Romans 1:16, but especially to what more closely precedes. _Cf._ Ephesians 4:1; 1 Timothy 2:1; 1 Corinthians 4:16. The οὖν connects the two parts of the epistle, not formally but really, and shows the dependence of the “practical” upon... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ μὴ συνσχηματίζεσθε : the imperative is better supported ([24] [25] [26]) than the infinitive ([27] [28] [29] [30]). For the word _cf._ 1 Peter 1:14. The distinctions that have been drawn between συνσχηματίζεσθε and μεταμορφοῦσθε on the ground of other distinctions assumed between σχῆμα and μορφή... [ Continue Reading ]
The duties of members of the Church as such: avoidance of self-exaltation, and mutual service in the measure of the gift bestowed on each. λέγω γάρ : the γὰρ indicates that “humility is the immediate effect of self-surrender to God” (Gifford). διὰ τῆς χάριτος κ. τ. λ. Paul illustrates in his own per... [ Continue Reading ]
f. καθάπερ γὰρ : For language and figure _cf._ 1 Corinthians 12:12. Also Ephesians 4:15 f., Colossians 1:18. The comparison of the community to a body the social organism is very common in classical writers: see Wetstein and Jowett here. πρᾶξιν : Romans 8:13. It is that at which the member works in... [ Continue Reading ]
ff. At this point an application, apparently, is made of what has been said in Romans 12:4-5, but the grammar is very difficult. Both A.V. and R.V. supply what is needed in order to read the verses as an exhortation; thus in Romans 12:6, “ _let us prophesy_ ”; in Romans 12:7, “ _let us wait_ ”; and... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ ἀγάπη ἀνυπόκριτος : see 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22. Probably the following clauses ἀποστυγοῦντες … κολλώμενοι κ. τ. λ. are meant to explain this. Love is undissembled, it is the un-affected Christian grace, when it shrinks, as with a physical horror, from that which is evil (even in those who... [ Continue Reading ]
As far as any single idea pervades the rest of the chapter it is that of the first words in Romans 12:9 : ἡ ἀγάπη ἀνυπόκριτος. The passage as a whole has a strong affinity to 1 Corinthians 13, and along with what may be a reminiscence of our Lord's words, it has something intensely and characteristi... [ Continue Reading ]
τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ = in point of brotherly love, _i.e._, your love to each other as children in the one family of God. _Cf._ 1 Thessalonians 4:9; Hebrews 13:9; 1 Peter 1:22; 2 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 3:8. ἀδελφὸς in the apostolic writings does not mean fellow-man, but fellow-Christian; and φιλαδελφία is the m... [ Continue Reading ]
τῇ σπουδῇ μὴ ὀκνηροί : σπουδὴ occurs twelve times in the N.T., and is translated in our A.V. seven different ways. It denotes the moral earnestness with which one should give himself to his vocation. In this Christians are not to be backward: Acts 9:38. τῷ πνεύματι ζέοντες : the same figure is frequ... [ Continue Reading ]
τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες : the hope in which they are to rejoice is that of Christians: _cf._ Romans 5:2. The meaning is practically the same as in that passage, but the mental representation is not. τῇ ἐλπίδι is not = ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι there, but in a line with the other datives here: in point of hope, rejoici... [ Continue Reading ]
ταῖς χρείαις τῶν ἁγίων κοινωνοῦντες : “the saints” as in Romans 8:27; 1 Timothy 5:10 are Christians generally. The curious variant ταῖς μνείαις “taking part in the commemorations of the saints” dates from an age at which “the saints” were no longer Christians in general, but a select few, as a rule... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐλογεῖτε τοὺς διώκοντας, εὐλ. κ. μὴ καταρᾶσθε : not a quotation of Matthew 5:44, but probably a reminiscence of the same saying of Jesus. The change in construction from participle to imperative, the participle being resumed in the next sentence, suggests that the form of the sentence was _given_ t... [ Continue Reading ]
χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων κ. τ. λ. The infinites give the expression the character of a watchword (see Hofmann in Weiss). For the grammar see Winer, 397, n. 6. To weep with those that weep is easier than to rejoice with those who rejoice. Those who rejoice neither need, expect, nor feel grateful for sy... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ αὐτὸ εἰς ἀλλήλους φρονοῦντες : here the Apostle returns to his own grammar (or disregard of grammar), and holds to it till Romans 12:19, when he changes to the imperative (μὴ δότε) with which he concludes (Romans 12:21 μὴ νικῶ, νίκα). τὸ αὐτὸ φρονεῖν, Romans 15:5, is a favourite expression, best... [ Continue Reading ]
From this point the subject treated is chiefly the Christian's attitude to enemies. μηδενὶ κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ ἀποδ. μηδενὶ is emphatic: to no one, Christian or un-Christian. Nothing can ever justify revenge. _Cf._ 1 Peter 3:9, but especially Matthew 5:38-48. προνοούμενοι καλὰ ἐνώπιον κ. τ. λ. Proverbs... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ δυνατὸν : _cf._ Matthew 24:24. τὸ ἐξ ὑμῶν : for what depends on you. _Cf._ Romans 1:15. Over others' conduct we have no control; but the initiative in disturbing the peace is never to lie with the Christian.... [ Continue Reading ]
μὴ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικοῦντες, ἀγαπητοί. Even when the Christian has been wronged he is not to take the law into his own hand, and right or vindicate himself. For ἐκδικεῖν see Luke 18:3; Luke 18:5. ἀγαπητοί is striking, and must have some reason; either the extreme difficulty, of which Paul was sensible, o... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλὰ : On the contrary, as opposed to self-avenging, and even to the merely passive resignation of one's case to God. ἐὰν πεινᾷ κ. τ. λ. Proverbs 25:21 f. exactly as in LXX. The meaning of “heaping burning coals on his head” is hardly open to doubt. It must refer to the burning pain of shame and rem... [ Continue Reading ]
μὴ νικῶ : the absence of any connecting particle gives the last verse the character of a summary: in a word, be not overcome by evil. ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ = by the evil your enemy inflicts. The Christian would be overcome by evil if it were able to compel him to avenge himself by repaying it in kind. Wrong... [ Continue Reading ]