Parenesis

Romans 12

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters,^* by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual^* worship. ²Do not be conformed to this world,^* but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.^*

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, ⁵so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. ⁶We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; ⁸the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; ¹⁰love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. ¹¹Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.^{* 12}Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. ¹³Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;^* do not claim to be wiser than you are. ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. ¹⁸If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God;^* for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ ²⁰No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If the epistle is too long to read all at one sitting (and Romans is), at least read a complete section at a time and not just a snippet. This summer of Lectionary Year A the church has us reading through Paul’s letter to the Romans, snippet by snippet. The portion appointed for next Sunday is Romans 12:9-21. It wouldn’t seem to have been too much for the lectionary framers to have had us read all of chapter 12 at one sitting, but OK.

In Romans 12, Paul tells, first the Romans and now us, how we should get along with each other within the church. Encourage each other. Each person should try to discern God’s will for his or her role in the church. Different people have different gifts, everybody isn’t the same. Treat each other with kindness.

In the Romans 12 text above, which is from the New Revised Standard Version, an asterisk appears now and then. In the on line source, Oremus Bible Browser, each asterisk opens a note that tells what Paul’s original Greek word said; for example, where it reads “brothers and sisters,” Paul wrote “brothers,” the NRSV converts to inclusive language when it can. 

There are some familiar verses. Verses 6-8 list some spiritual gifts. Verse 14 has the very difficult exhortation to bless and not curse our enemies. Verse 19b is the oft-quoted “Vengeance is mine ... saith the Lord.”

It’s a chapter of exhortation. In seminary classes the professors call it parenesis, the particular part of a letter that encourages, presses, urges.

TW+