Romans 12:9-10 - Homiletics

"Love unfeigned."

Church-life is very important; but human life is wider and more important still. In the first age, and when Christian communities were few and small and persecuted, the life the followers of Jesus led was very much a life in common, and very distinct from that of the world around. We cannot wonder that so many of the apostolic counsels and injunctions referred to the conduct of Church-members towards one another, and towards one another as connected with actually existing societies. Still, many admonitions were given to Christians as men and women moving more or less in general society. They were bidden to "honour all men," to "walk in wisdom towards those without." So, in this practical chapter, when Paul has instructed the Roman Christians in their mutual duties as members of a society, and has shown how each ministry is to be discharged, how each office is to be filled, and how each gift is to be employed, he proceeds to more general counsels. He describes the spirit which is to be displayed in the common intercourse of life, both amongst themselves and in their association with the unchristian world. First and foremost among his exhortations is this to brotherly love and kindness. For all precepts beside are merely the unfolding of that Divine law of charity which is designated "the bond of perfectness."

I. Consider THE DIVINE PRINCIPLE AND MOTIVE OF CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE AND LOVE . We are sometimes told that mutual good will is evolved in settled society, being found advantageous to all, and preferable to suspicion, distrust, and malevolence. But the fact is that this is very much a matter of individual character, and that in very primitive societies there are found Christians who are superior to the malice and hatred which prevail around them; whilst in the most civilized communities there are multitudes who prefer their own pleasure and interest to all beside. Christianity reveals to us the true principle of universal brotherhood, basing it upon the Fatherhood of God and the redemption of Christ. The apostle of love, St. John, tells us that "God is love," and makes this the Christian's motive to the love of his brother. And Paul, writing to the Ephesians, says, "Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God." And here the precepts of the apostle must be taken along with what goes before in this Epistle, and it must be remembered that the entreaty is urged "by the mercies of God." All earthly duties have a heavenly origin. Religion is designed to govern our whole spirit and life. The man who believes in the infinite love, in the fatherly heart, of God, who believes that God sent his Son to save us from hatred and all other sins, has a root for his renewed dispositions and his changed habits of regarding and treating his fellow-creatures; it becomes natural to him to live a life of love.

II. LOVE INVOLVES ALL VIRTUE , AND IS THE COMPENDIUM OF THE MORAL LAW . We have the unquestioned authority of our Lord for this view of love; for Jesus approved of the summing-up of all duty, of the whole Decalogue, in both tables, in the two precepts, "Love God," and "Love thy neighbour." Where there is true love, vice and crime are banished. And every virtue and grace may be regarded in practice as the fruit of this plant. Even justice, the first of the virtues, is not above this alliance; for how can we wrong those whom we love? It is thus we must account for the exhortation, with which verse 9 closes, coming in this place. Evil is hatred, and is therefore abhorred; good is love, and is therefore so right and held fast with a firm grasp. Some, indeed, interpret this clause, "Cleave to the Good One, i.e. Christ," bringing; the motive of a personal attachment to the Saviour to bear upon the redeemed nature. Let us not neglect the Divine method, or spurn the aid which infinite wisdom and grace have preferred. Is it in any respect hard for us to obey God, and follow in the steps of Christ? Then let us call to mind the love of God revealed in his dear Son, and allow that love to prompt us to obedience, gratitude, and consecration. And let us, adopting Christ's new commandment, live in the spirit of love and kindness. This, by the help of the Holy Spirit, will render difficult duties easy, and will enable us to fulfil, in the right spirit and in the right way, the will of God concerning us, in all our relations with our fellow-creatures.

III. CHRISTIAN LOVE SHOULD BE UNFEIGNED . As variously rendered, "without dissimulation," "without hypocrisy." There were hypocrites, not only among the Jewish Pharisees, whom Christ denounced for their pretences and insincerity, but also among the Christian communities. Thus Ananias and Sapphira professed love and generosity, but there was no reality corresponding to the profession. It is hard to understand how, in those times, there could have been any inducement to hypocrisy. However, the language of the apostle here seems to imply that there was a danger of some professing disciples of Christ avowing a love which they did not really feel. There is certainly such danger now. Public sentiment requires that charity should be professed among Christians. Yet there obtains very much which is inconsistent with such profession. There are those who call one another "dear brethren," who nevertheless slander and injure one another when opportunity occurs. It is the curse of the so-called religious world; and it would be well for a while to have in this matter a little less profession and a little more practice. The pretence of brotherly love without the reality is self-delusion, and it is most pernicious in its influence over the unbelieving world.

IV. CHRISTIAN LOVE SHOULD BE CHARACTERIZED BY SYMPATHY AND TENDERNESS . The language used by the apostle here is very remarkable: "Be tenderly affectioned one to another." There is a quality in Christian love which is peculiar to our religion, which was but little known previously to our Saviour's coming, and which may be sought almost in vain in the heathen world today. We are not to show kindness merely from a sense of duty; but to do so in the spirit of him who brake not the bruised reed, who was often moved with compassion, who, even on the cross, was meek and gentle, considerate and foraying. Paul had much of the same spirit. A keen logical mind, a rhetorical style, a commanding will, were in him united with the tenderness of the nurse, the mother. His was the love of forbearance and patience, of sympathy and pity. Now, there are many classes whom it is especially desirable that we, as Christians, should deal with in this spirit and temper. For instance, the young, the destitute, the afflicted, the wayward. All of these need to be approached in the spirit commended in this passage; not in a hard, cold, mechanical manner, such as seems habitual with some people, who in some respects might be called good; but in a Christ-like attitude, and with Christ-like tones, such as are proper to disciples of him who is touched with a feeling of human infirmities.

V. CHRISTIAN LOVE SHOULD DISPLAY ITSELF IN MUTUAL RESPECT AND HONOUR . Brotherly affection is opposed to self-seeking, pride, and arrogance, as pole to pole. It fosters humility as regards self, and it prompts to put honour upon others. In both these respects the Christian spirit is opposed to the spirit of the world, which impels men to push themselves forward, to urge their own claims, and, on the other hand, to depreciate their neighbours and to thrust them into obscurity. It is a precept of Christianity, "Be courteous." And true courtesy has its deep, Divine root in brotherly love, springing from the soil of fellowship with God in Christ.

APPLICATION .

1. Let any one who may be living in hatred and malice towards any fellow-creature learn to suspect the reality of his Christianity; for such dispositions are not the fruit of the Spirit.

2. Let those whose demeanour towards their neighbours is hard and unsympathetic, consider whether this is the temper of mind which their Lord exemplified in himself and approves in his followers.

3. Let all Christians cultivate that spirit of love which will fit for the immortal fellowship of heaven, the abode of harmony and charity.