Paul spent the first 11 chapters explaining the greatness of Christ in relation to the totality of our salvation. Christ’s great work on the cross justified us. Christ living in us brings about our sanctification. We will one day be glorified in and by Christ. Romans 12 begins with the word “therefore” telling us that because of the greatness of the person and work of Christ in saving us, we ought to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God by being ever increasingly conformed to the image of Christ.
Romans 12:9-13 is a paragraph that describes the love Christians ought to have for one another,
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.” (NASU)
It seems to me that the main point of this paragraph is “love without hypocrisy” and the rest of the paragraph is a practical explanation of what that looks like. If we fail to “abhor what is evil and cling to what is good”, we have not loved or we have loved with hypocrisy. We do not get to decide what is evil and what is good. God alone has that prerogative. If we fail to hate evil (that which God hates), then we do not truly love. Many Christians are familiar with the biblical statement that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord”. However, many are not familiar with Proverbs 8:13, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” (NASU) So, hating evil can be legitimately called the beginning of wisdom. Psalm 97:10 states, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord.” (NASU) Psalm 119:104, 128, and 163 all indicate that the person who loves God’s law will hate every false way. Hebrews 1:9 says that Jesus hates lawlessness. In Revelation 2:6 Jesus praises the church at Ephesus because they hate the same thing that He does.
First Peter 3:10-11 quotes from Psalm 34, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. 11 He must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." (NASU) Certainly there is evil outside of ourselves that we are called to oppose. And if we do not oppose evil, then we are not loving without hypocrisy. Just as certainly, there is evil within our own selves that we must hate as well. First Peter 3:10 states very plainly that the one who desires to love must keep his tongue from evil and deceit. Verse 11 goes on to say that the one who desires to love must turn away from evil and do good. Surely that can mean that we should not do the evil that others are doing and rather do good. It also can mean that we ought to turn from the evil that was in our own heart to do and rather do good. If you need any additional motivation, verse 12 declares that God listens to the one who is righteous but the face of the Lord is against the one who does evil.
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