Introduction

Romans 12:9ff gives a marvelously brief presentation of principles one after another in rapid fire. It is like an automatic weapon firing all over the place. There is a collage of exhortations (in 9-21 there are more than 20 exhortations). We have a picture here with many objects in it. Things cited range from love, hate, devotion and honor to work, fervency, joy, patience, prayer, giving, and hospitality.

What I want to do is somehow avoid losing the impact of the forest as we consider the trees. Yet we must also appreciate the individual trees to see the forest. To shift back to the analogy of the picture, we want to soak in the picture as a whole but to do so meaningfully we also have to spend some time contemplating the individual objects. We actually have to change perspectives when viewing a picture or painting, we have to fluctuate back and forth between the whole and its parts.

So here is what we will do today. 1) First, we will set limits on the whole picture. 2) Second, we will then give the picture a name or title. 3) Third, we will identify the major sections of the picture. 4) Finally, we will place all the objects into suitable groups by section.

I would like to involve you in the process of discovery on these matters this morning. I will set out some matters for discussion and ask some questions that will get us into this text step by step together. Then I will make some concluding observations and applications. So let's turn now to setting limits, naming, identifying sections, and detailing objects.

1A. Setting limits on the picture as a whole

Because there are so many principles given in these verses, it will be to our advantage to narrow down the field of reference (this is a common sense approach to the preaching diet). So what we want to do is see if there is a natural place where we can divide these verses into separate units.

What might help us initially as we scan down this page of the Bible, like scanning down any page of written material? We are guided by the paragraphing indicated by indented sentences (vs. 9, 14, 17). So we could subdivide into three sections (of course, in the original Greek text there were no indented paragraphs and all capital letters; paragraphing is not inspired, it is intended to be helpful to the reader, and it is interpretation on a broad and general level).

But what in the text suggests a closer tie between the last two paragraphs (14-16 and 17-21)? Being opposed by unbelievers (or overcome by evil) seems to run like a dark thread from verse 14 to verse 21 (evil in v. 21 has the context of the enemy in v. 20). The last two can be taken together as one paragraph.

Do we have a common thread in verses 9-13 that ties these verses together and that sets them apart as a unit in contrast to verses 14-21? Or should these verses be included in the same paragraph with 14-21 (as done by Louw, A Semantic Discourse of Romans, Vol. II, 1979)?

Let's begin by asking if 9-13 deals with the same thread of truth as treated in 14-21. Speaking very broadly, 9-13 does not explicitly deal with what other people do to us (whether believer or nonbeliever) whereas 14-21 does (they persecute you, they may be at enmity toward you, evil seeks to overcome you). So the text will at least be divided into these two main parts.

2A. Naming the paragraph (vs. 9-13)

We need to find either some dominant theme (or thread) or at least some theme to which all the material can be attached. Do we have a dominant thread in this fabric? There does not seem to be one like there is in 14-21 (and some elements in 14-21 don't immediately seem to fit but a dominant theme is still evident).

What theme can embrace all the others? Is there a box car that can carry all the objects? Can we decide on a single truck for the whole load of objects? I would like to find a way to capture all of Romans 12:9ff. in some nutshell form. One good way to do this is by memorization. This is one of those sections of Scripture that imbeds many graces in the heart as a helpful step in their cultivation. For our purposes in preaching, the question is, "Can we find some arrangement of this material to help us see it in crystallized form?"

Love or brotherly love goes quite far in this direction because it is stated in verses 9, 10. Furthermore, sharing and hospitality are acts of love (v. 13). But is joy loving (v. 12, as it is in v. 15)? Not like it is in verse 15. Hating evil might be thought of as loving God but the text moves in the orbit of love for the body of Christ. If you want to name this paragraph some kind of love exhortation, I cannot complain.

But let me suggest an even broader category from verse 11. Put as a question, what very broad theme underlies all three things mentioned in verse 11 (not being slothful, fervency, and service to Christ)? It is lost in the translation. It is in the word zeal, which is work, effort, and activity. The title of the whole could be "In all that you do" or "Your Activity as a Christian" or Active/Energetic Christian Living, or Christian Busy-ness.

3A. Identifying the sections (outlining the material)

Outlining in general.  Some things should be said about outlining before we work at coming up with one. Why do it, especially when outlining means to use words different from those of the biblical author? Yet we do it all the time in preaching, teaching, and personal Bible study. 1) First, outlining is interpretation. It is simply a method or tool of interpretation. If you use the exact words of the text, you are reading instead of interpreting. 2) Second, outlining aids the mind in searching for and expressing clarity. It is helpful to hang thirteen things (as in our text) on four hooks. It is easier for most people to meditate on a picture with many objects if it is broken up into quadrants. 3) Third, outlining brings us closer to the meaning of the text rather than taking us farther away from it. It may seem like we become more and more removed from the biblical writer. But if the outlining we do is careful, intuitive, and logical then we get closer to the text even in stressing things not stressed by the writer (or in saying things in a way that is different from how the writer says things). This could be abused. We need to keep the text ever before us in all our meditations. While we seek to make things explicit that are only implicit in the text we must be driven by the text and governed by logical consistency. The driving force must be to faithfully unpack the meaning of the text to find nourishment for healthy godly living.

The nature of a text will limit the nature of the outlining. Some texts lend themselves to more flexibility in the outline than others. Units of Scripture that present us with a collage of principles lend themselves to greater flexibility in their presentation. Perhaps the least creative outline would have thirteen points (each using words different from the text like "be long in suffering" for patience). But clarity of presentation, workmanship/creativity with the word, common sense in communication (who can absorb a thirteen point outline?), and the godly necessity of using logic all suggest arranging this material in some way different from what is found in the text. The goal is to bring out what is there not to depart from it.

Normally, the arrangement of the material will reveal the shape of the material in the text. The goal in outlining as part of the interpretive process is to find that shape. But lists like the one in Romans 12:9ff are somewhat amorphous. Here there is no arrangement present other than that of a list of thirteen exhortations.

Of course, the danger here is that we will say more or less than Paul on some particular point (or on the whole or on a group within the whole). To guard against that danger, we must stay attend carefully to how each particular is treated. Love, for example, is being discussed in verse 9 as an internal thing: the internal should not be "dis"-similar to how it appears. So though we group it with other things in the context (like brotherly love, v. 10) that have a different emphasis (the external act of brotherly love is to be characterized by tenderness), we do not want to lose sight of this inward look. Thus in the outward things we do for our brothers and sisters in the Christian family such as honoring, giving and showing hospitality, we are to examine our hearts before God and do these things with the right motive. Likewise we should not lose sight of the fact that affliction in this section is more general than the persecution of the next section.

Finding the spokes of this wheel.  If the wheel is Christian action, activity, work, doings in life, or busy-ness, then what are the spokes? What are the sections of the painting? How can we cluster the objects?

We can answer these questions by grouping things together that fit together. After grouping them we can try to give a title to the group. Grouping and naming can unfold at the same time. We might come up with a category first then put things in it (positive/negative; inward/outward; toward God/toward man). What are some things that can be grouped together or what are some possible spokes?  Here is a suggestion:

• There is a quality of our doings; they are to be good.
• Our doings are to be for others (more particularly for the church, cf. body functions).
• What we do is to have heart or be from deep within (fervent).
• It has a focus that is ultimate. That focus is on whom?

All our doings are services rendered to Christ. We could begin each section with "All that you do should…." and then fill in the rest. Or we could end with "…in all that you do" filling in what comes before. If work is seen broadly as all the effort you put forth in life in whatever you do (on the job, at home, and somewhere in between) then all the other categories apply to it.

Thus we can say that in one way of looking at it the theme is work in the broad sense of all human activity. And four basic things are said about the efforts we put forth in life whatever they may be. 1) All that you do (all your energetic doings) should persist on the pathway of doing good (cf. Jesus went about doing good). 2) All that you do should be especially oriented to the body of Christ (cf. good to all but especially to the body of Christ). 3) All that you do should arise from an inner strength. 4) All that you do should focus on the Lord Jesus. Ending with "in all that you do" the outline of the whole would be:

• 1) Persist on the pathway of doing good in all that you do.
• 2) Orient to the body of Christ in all that you do.
• 3) Have an inner strength in all that you do.
• 4) Focus on the Lord Jesus in all that you do.

Conclusion

Thinking about the whole by means of its parts is a good way to receive the teaching of this passage into your heart and conscience. Thus, we are exhorted to be busy as Christians but busy in a particular way. We are to plant our feet on one turf, that of the good, and walk, hop, skip, and run in one direction on the narrow way doing good like the Lord Jesus did in His life-work. We are to persist fervently on this pathway, energetically, abhorring evil and sticking like glue to the good. We are to orient all our busy-ness to the body of Christ to show love, brotherly kindness, honor, generosity, prayer, and hospitality. We are to be active as a Christian from an inner strength of joy and patience. We are to stick to the good, love the family of God, and have an inner strength as the servants of the risen Lord Jesus. He is to be our focal point in all our efforts.

This is truly a high standard and a great goal for well-rounded Christian living. We must depend on the Lord. This is a matter for prayer, reflection, and earnest cultivation to His honor and glory. Prayerful meditation in this way (including outlining) cultivates these things in our hearts and lives because beholding the glory of God in Christ is the way of being transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).

Detailing All the Objects

in the Picture of

Christian Busy-ness