Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Romans 12:9
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
We have seen that all believers are members of the body of Christ, the church; that all are gifted for the good of the body, and that, consequently, all are interdependent. Thus, should we not be appreciative of one another, recognizing that all of our brothers and sisters make contributions to the good of the whole and therefore are worthy of our acceptance and respect? Well, yes. But Paul wants us to go far, far beyond appreciation, acceptance, and respect. He calls us in today’s passage to nothing less than God-like love for our fellow Christians.
It is interesting that Paul does not explicitly command love in this verse. Rather, he immediately begins to characterize the love that is to exist among members of the body of Christ. He simply assumes that such love will be present. Also, the apostle does not really say what love is. He does, however, list two characteristics of Christian love in today’s verse before moving on in verses 10–13 to illustrate how love behaves. With these clues, we can reach a thorough understanding of that to which Paul is exhorting us here.
The love that should exist among brothers and sisters is to have two key characteristics, Paul says. First, it must be genuine. Paul writes, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” The Greek word translated “without hypocrisy” means “without a mask,” indicating that our love is to be genuine and unfeigned. The New International Version renders this passage slightly differently: “Love must be sincere.” The word sincere comes from Latin words meaning “without wax,” an ancient seal of quality for pottery intended to show that wax had not been used to conceal defects. A sincere person, therefore, is one who does not conceal his true nature. Second, love must be discriminating. In the Greek, Paul’s exhortations to “Abhor what is evil” and “Cling to what is good” are linked grammatically to the words “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Though it seems strange to see the word hate in such close proximity to the word love, we should remember that God is love and yet He hates what is evil. We must emulate Him in this, embracing the good with sincerity but rejecting evil in all its forms.
The goal Paul sets before us is indeed God-like love, for he uses the Greek word agape, which refers to the love of God. We are to love one another as God loves us, with sincerity and discrimination.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Do you love the other believers in your church fellowship? Do you love them all sincerely or do you have to pretend with some of them? Do you love them enough to withhold your fellowship if they fall into sin? Body life is no simple matter. Pray for wisdom in your relations with other believers. Pray, too, that you might love as God does.
For Further Study
- Leviticus 19:18
- Ecclesiastes 3:8
- John 13:35
- 1 Timothy 1:5
- 1 John 4:8–10