Romans 12:12

Romans 12:12

Romans 12:12 says, "Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer." We are told to rejoice in hope. In other words, to rejoice in connection with hope. It’s the hope that we have that should be and can be the source of our happiness. What makes you happy? The answer to that question will tell you how close you are to obeying this particular commandment. "Rejoicing in connection with hope." Hope is a wonderful thing, and it’s a necessary thing for human life in this world. There may be no more miserable person that the one who has no hope. And the Christian should have more hope than anyone else. We have a tremendous basis for hope because our hope is based upon who Jesus is and what He has promised. Hope looks toward the future. No matter what happens to us today, we have hope in a bright future because Jesus is the King of kings. He will return one day and right all wrongs. He will welcome His children into the eternal bliss of His eternal kingdom. He will protect His sheep, and no one shall be able to pluck them out of His hand. One of the objectives for the Christian each day should be to rejoice because of the hope.

Some people have hope in the wrong thing. Therefore, they are headed for a major disappointment or even destruction. Look what happened to those who had hope in the stock market before the crash of 1929. But if your hope is in God and in the promises of God, when all is said and done, you will find that your hope becomes realized at last. Rom. 12:12 tells us to be rejoicing based upon the hope that we have. It also tells us to be patient in tribulation. To be patient is an important quality to have. If you are going to live life the way that it was meant to be lived then you must learn to be patient. No one gets whatever they want, when they want it. Impatience has as its root both selfishness and lack of faith. Selfishness can cause impatience, because when you want what you want now, and are not willing to wait, you will be impatient. Lack of faith can also cause impatience. If we believe in God, then we should believe that He will give us what we need in His own way and in His own time.

There is a time to take action, but there is also a time to wait. We must learn to be patient and to wait upon God because we are supposed to be followers of God. We are only followers of Him if we wait for His time to do certain things. If we do things when we want without considering waiting upon God’s time, then we are followers of our own will.

Rom. 12:12 says, "Be patient in tribulation." The word that is translated "patient" is a word that means to abide, to remain, or to persevere. There are various reasons that some people stop serving God, and one of the reasons is because of tribulations. Once a person realizes that there is something to suffer when they serve God, they might just stop serving God. Jesus taught us in the parable of the sower that when tribulation arises, the seed of the Word of God will stop growing in the heart of some people. This verse reminds us to be careful to not let that happen. It says to persevere in tribulation: to abide in the faith in spite of what may happen.

The third thing that Rom. 12:12 tells us is to continue "instant in prayer." Prayer is when we talk to God. We can give continuous attention to prayer because we can talk to Him wherever we are. We can pray at any time and in any place because God is everywhere. We do need to have an ongoing conversation with our God. He certainly invites us to do so. We need Him to lead us out of temptation, we need Him to forgive us our sins when we fail, and we need Him to enlighten us to the truth of His Word. We need God to give us our daily necessities and then to give us a thankful heart for all that He has done. And all of those around us need Him too, so that we can also speak to Him about them. The victories that we have in this world, and the spiritual accomplishments that we attain to, will be directly proportionate to our success in putting into practice the last part of Rom. 12:12; "continuing instant in prayer." After all, we are not dependent upon our own goodness and strength: we are dependent upon Him.

Rom. 12:13 says, "Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality." This is the second time in Rom. Chapter 12 that giving is mentioned. This is giving in reference to other believers who are in need. During the first century of Christianity there were some times of very difficult persecution that would arise in one city and then another against those who believed in Jesus. It was the kind of persecution where people lost their homes and their livelihood. One of the places where this happened most severely was the city of Jerusalem itself. Paul mentioned the needs of believers in the city of Jerusalem in the second epistle to the Corinthians. The longest teaching in the Bible on the subject of giving is found in II Cor. Chapters 8 and 9. The teaching is not about giving for the sustaining of the local church, it’s not about giving for the spread of the gospel, and it’s not about giving for missionary work. But it is about giving to poor Christians. One of the most quoted verses in the Bible on the subject of giving is found in II Cor. 9:7 and says, "... God loves a cheerful giver." Never forget that these things were written in the context of giving to the poor believers of Jerusalem.

Rom. 12:13 says that we should distribute to the necessity of saints. That means that we should give to believers who are in need of the basic necessities of life. Rom. 12:13 also says that we should be "given to hospitality". In the Greek the word "hospitality" literally means “to love strangers”. Kindness, generosity, and friendship offered to strangers have always been an admonition given in the scriptures to the followers of God. In the Old Testament the Israelites were told to be hospitable to strangers because they were once strangers in the land of Egypt. Today all believers are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, because we look for a country whose builder and maker is God. There is a tendency for any group or any church to draw boundaries and fences around themselves and to reject strangers or to at least keep them at arm’s length. But that is not the admonition of the Bible.

There once was a day in this land, where if you were a visitor to a church you would not get out the front door without someone inviting you to their home for dinner. Today, you are fortunate if you are given a smile and a handshake. We seem to be more suspicious of strangers, perhaps because of the crime or the constant reminders from the news media about the crimes. But we should be wise enough to find ways of showing hospitality to strangers in spite of the perils of our society. If someone is a stranger, there may be bad things about them that you do not know, but there may also be good things. The Bible says that through hospitality, some have even entertained angels unawares. The message of Rom. 12:13 is obvious: you cannot claim to care about someone in a spiritual sense, if you do not also care about their physical needs.

Rom. 12:14 says, "Bless them which persecute you: bless and curse not." This is another way of saying the great commandment that Jesus gave: to love your enemies. In theory it’s a wonderful commandment, and it’s easy to say when things are going well, but it’s much harder to keep when someone does or says something against you. One thing is for sure; you will have enemies. You can’t please everyone, and Jesus said that the servant is not greater than his Lord. There is no question that you will have enemies. The question is: how will you treat your enemies? It says in Rom. 12:14 that you should "bless" them. The word that is translated "bless" is the Greek word from which we get the word eulogy, and it literally means to say good things. Often we give a eulogy for someone when they die. At the funeral someone makes a speech and says good things about them. Rom. 12:14 says to give people a eulogy before they die. Everyone has something good that can be said about them, even your enemies.

In today’s world, one area where humans often fail to put this admonition into practice is in a political campaign. A political campaign should be a time when a candidate presents a positive message to the public of what he or she will do if elected. They should not resort to attacking and speaking against their opponent. A politician might say, ‘That is the only way to win the election.’ Well, maybe God does not want you to win the election. Maybe He wants you to be an example of how an election should be run, win or lose. It’s more important to do what is right than it is to win. If you do what is wrong, you have lost. The real contest is to see how you will treat your enemies.

Rom. 12:15 says, "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." We should understand what other people are going through, we should walk a mile in their shoes, we should look at things from their perspective, and we should empathize both with their joy and with their sorrow. Unity among believers is very important to God. Sometimes we are too easily in opposition to others. If you oppose someone else’s idea, you may be opposing the will of God. You are definitely opposing His will if you are contentious and in opposition when you do not need to be.

What is important among believers is unity: working together. And so Rom. 12:16 says, "Be of the same mind one toward another..." There are two things mentioned in Rom. 12:16 that can be very harmful to Christian unity: one is having the wrong attitude about other people, and the other is having a wrong attitude about yourself. The rest of Rom. 12:16 says, "...Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits."

Human beings tend to set up a system of status, whereby some have a reputation of being near the top and others near the bottom. God is not like that. He views us equally: we are equally sinners and equally the objects of His love. In every group humans tend to recognize some as being near the top of the group, and they will give more recognition to those that are considered powerful or popular. The world may do such a thing, but Christians are admonished not to. Do you honor those who otherwise would be considered of low estate? If not, then you are not obeying Rom. 12:16.

To honor some greatly and others not at all is not the will of God. Neither is it His will to think too highly of yourself. Maybe you oppose the ideas of others because you have too high of an opinion of your own ideas. You can only learn if you are willing to admit that you do not know everything, and you can only contribute to unity if you are willing to listen to someone else’s ideas.

Rom. 12:17 says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men." The first part of Rom. 12:17 tells what not to do when someone does us wrong. We are not to do the same thing back to them. One of the popular sayings of the world is, “I don’t get mad, I just get even.” But that should never be the saying of a Christian. "Vengeance is mine," says the Lord, "I will repay." When we get even with someone who does us wrong, we are in effect denying that God exists and we are forgetting that He is the judge of all the earth. It’s not only a lack of obedience to take revenge, but it’s also a lack of faith. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, He said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek. Do not take vengeance. Bless those who persecute you. Recompense to no man evil for evil. All through the New Testament the message is very consistent. There is no greater or more noble philosophy of life, than that which Jesus gave. If more people followed just this one teaching to love their enemies, the world would be transformed over night.

It’s a teaching about personal relationships. It’s not so hard to love those who love you, but what about your enemies? How you treat your enemies will be the true test of what you believe. It’s so important of an issue; that of all the things mentioned in Romans Chapter 12, the longest explanation is given to the subject of how a believer treats his enemies and those who have wronged you or hurt you. The Bible goes on to say in Rom. 12:18-21, "If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

Peace has always been closely associated with Jesus. When you think of Jesus, you should think of peace. Hundreds of years before He was born, it was prophesied by Isaiah that He would be called the Prince of Peace. When Jesus was born in a manger the angel announced peace on earth to men of good will. When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount He said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." And when Jesus talked to His disciples, He said to them, "My peace I give unto you."

It should be the objective of those who believe in Jesus to have a similar attachment to peace. We have peace with God through Jesus, so perhaps we can also have peace with man through Him. Proverbs says that a soft answer turns away wrath. If you want to ensure that there will be a war with someone, all that you have to do is to recompense evil for evil; and then when they do the same thing, the cycle never ends. You should do everything that you can to create peace. As it says in Rom. 12:18, "If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men." One person can be a peacemaker, but ultimately it will require some cooperation from the other. As we learned from WW II, there are some that are so obstinate and determined to force the issue; that peace will be impossible. But that should always be the fault of the other person, and never the fault of the Christian.

Goodness is stronger than evil. We have nothing to fear. If God be for us, who can be against us? If you resort to the tactics of your enemies, then they have conquered you. Remember that Rom. 12:20 says, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

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