“9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.”
Thus far in Chapter 12, Paul has told us that we must love God and love others by serving with our time, resources, and spiritual gifts. In verses 9 and following, Paul fleshes out what it means to be used in service to God by giving some practical application. Paul begins by warning against loving hypocritically. What does it mean to love hypocritically? Let’s turn to Paul’s writings to Timothy for some help.
“As I urged you when I went to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach false doctrine or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith. Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion.” — 1 Timothy 1:3-6
Paul tells Timothy that godly love comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. How can we attain these things? The context of Paul’s writings to Timothy involve him explaining that to love a person means to teach them truth. To spread a false doctrine is not to love at all! This is exactly what Paul means when he instructs us to love without hypocrisy. To spread ear-pleasing theology is to love one hypocritically, which is not real love.
In the second half of Romans 12:9, Paul instructs us to detest evil. What does it mean to detest something? This is not just simply a dislike or even a hatred of evil, it is a systematic hunting down and rooting out of all things evil in every context; in the world, in the church, and in our hearts.
“Don’t stifle the Spirit. Don’t despise prophecies, but test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
We are to test all things. We are to scrutinize all the thoughts of our minds and the actions of our hearts to find and remove all types of evil, and to hold on only to what is good! Fighting evil is never passive, rather it is always active. Can we strive, as followers of Christ, to love others by telling them the truth about what God says in His Word? Can we commit our lives to God as a living sacrifice, rooting out and removing all evil from every part of our lives, not just our actions, but our thoughts and motives as well? Pray to God to help you with this righteous living.