'Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality. 14. Bless them which persecute you: bless,
and curse not. 15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
and weep with them that weep.'--ROMANS xii. 13-15.
In these verses we pass from the innermost region of communion with
God into the wide field of duties in relation to men. The solitary
secrecies of rejoicing hope, endurance, and prayer unbroken, are
exchanged for the publicities of benevolence and sympathy. In the
former verses the Christian soul is in 'the secret place of the Most
High'; in those of our text he comes forth with the light of God on
his face, and hands laden with blessings. The juxtaposition of the
two suggests the great principles to which the morality of the New
Testament is ever true--that devotion to God is the basis of all
practical helpfulness to man, and that practical helpfulness to man
is the expression and manifestation of devotion to God.
The three sets of injunctions in our text, dissimilar though they
appear, have a common basis. They are varying forms of one
fundamental disposition--love; which varies in its forms according to
the necessities of its objects, bringing temporal help to the needy,
meeting hostility with blessing, and rendering sympathy to both the
glad and the sorrowful. There is, further, a noteworthy connection,
not in sense but in sound, between the first and second clauses of
our text, which is lost in our English Version. 'Given to
hospitality' is, as the Revised margin shows, literally, pursuing
hospitality. Now the Greek, like the English word, has the special
meaning of following with a hostile intent, and the use of it in the
one sense suggests its other meaning to Paul, whose habit of 'going
off at a word,' as it has been called, is a notable feature of his
style. Hence, this second injunction, of blessing the persecutors,
comes as a kind of play upon words, and is obviously occasioned by
the verbal association. It would come more appropriately at a later
part of the chapter, but its occurrence here is characteristic of
Paul's idiosyncrasy. We may represent the connection of these two
clauses by such a rendering as: Pursue hospitality, and as for those
who pursue you, bless, and curse not.
We may look at these three flowers from the one root of love.