Our Living Sacrifice, Pt. 1

March 31st, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

As every Christian knows, acting in accordance with one’s faith in every situation life gives is not easy. Behavior that glories Christ is not necessarily natural, but since believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, it is of course attainable. The Christian, having been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, now has the responsibility of living like a little Christ—a Christian. What Paul does in Romans 12:9-21 is to spell out for the Christian what it means to be transformed by the daily renewing on one’s mind (v. 2). The overarching theme is love, and love must be sincere.

Much like he does in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul begins his exhortations to serve the risen Jesus by instructing about true love. Now in the Greek text there is no verb of command to “let love be genuine” but is literally “the love genuine.” This has caused some scholars to believe that this first phrase is merely a heading for what follows. But the insertion of the verb in English is fitting, for the essence of the OT Law is love (Mark 12:28-34), and love is the central mandate for the New Covenant (John 13:31-35). Now whether love is commanded or is used as a heading for the instruction that follows, the point is that godly love is genuine; it is “without hypocrisy.”

The word for “love” in the Greek text is agape. This is the volitional, unconditional love that true believers have for God, set in contrast to emotional or sexual love. Since God loves His people unconditionally, His people are to love Him unconditionally, their love being without “without hypocrisy” (Gr. anupokritos). Since hypocrisy means “to play a role,” like an actor on stage, true love for God is never an act, and it can never fail. Whereas love for our fellow man, even our spouses and children can fail, the Christian’s love for God, if it is genuine, can never fail. This is because the Christian has submitted himself to God who can never let us down. A Christian’s love for God is thus never an act but is always working, serving, and enduring.

A second admonition of Paul in v. 9 naturally follows a genuine love for God, namely to “abhor what is evil.” “Abhor” (Gr. apostugeō) means “to be disgusted; to loathe; to violently hate.” Sincere love for Christ and His Church and for the things of God, therefore, entails hating that which God hates—all evil, sin, and wickedness. King David said as much, telling God, “Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies” (Ps. 139:21-22). Love is never genuine when one is led to do evil or to avoid doing what is good. If the fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13), then Christians must be well aware of all that God hates and hate it too.

Paul’s third admonition for Christians is to “cling to what is good.” Like “abhor,” the verb “cling” (Gr. kollaō) is also a strong term meaning “to hold to; to glue; to unite.” The word is used of the sexual relationship where both partners are bound together in an intimate and special way for life (cf. 1 Cor. 6:16). Christians are therefore commanded to be glued to that which is “good” (Gr. agatha) while loathing that which is evil—clinging with clenched fists to truth.

Food For Thought
Ask yourself today, “Do I really love God?” If you say you do, what might God do to you or allow to happen to you that would make you question His love? Consider Job. He lost ten children, his health, and his wealth. And he had three so-called friends who strove day and night to convince Job that he was guilty when in fact he was a blameless man in God’s eyes (Job 1:1, 8). If what happened to Job were to happen to you, would you still love God? Too many have a conditional love for God, yet Paul tells us to make sure our love for Him is genuine. If it is, we will not only be faithful to Him, we will grow daily in our walk with Him, recognizing what God loves and what He hates—always clinging to what is good. Is that you? Strive to be such.