God's Love in Romans

Q: I have two questions: Please tell me the meaning of Romans 12:10 and Romans 8:32.

A: Romans 12:10 says, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." This verse comes after the Apostle has talked at length about the mercy the Jews and Gentiles, all mankind, have received from God through Jesus Christ. "For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all (Romans 11:32)." The Jewish nation's disobedience to God, which was magnified in their rejection of Jesus Christ, allowed salvation in Christ to be offered to the Gentile world. Similarly, now that we have been offered the salvation rejected by the Jews, they are now offered salvation in Christ because they are God's chosen people who He has not forgotten. That is why we read, "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved...(Romans 11:25-26)." It is the recognition of how merciful God has been to us, despite our disobedience to Him, that plays itself out as we live our lives in Christ.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1)." The mercy God has expressed towards us in Christ humbles us to the point that allows Him, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, to do with us as He sees fit in order to accomplish His will that all men come to faith in Jesus Christ. Why would we want it any other way? For anybody who has come to a saving faith in Christ, there is an acknowledgement of just how undeserving we are of His love, forgiveness and acceptance. That is why we become living sacrifices, dying to ourselves and what we want, and submitting to God and what He wants to do through us in love. In Christ there is no Jew or Gentile. That is why we read, "so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (Romans 12:5)." As one body, belonging to each other, we should all strive for unity, agreement and harmony because we know that we are all recipients of God's mercy. None of us is better than the other which is why we are to focus on what God is doing through each one of us whether it be teaching, encouraging, serving, prophesying, giving, etc. All of this stems from the love God has shown towards us and that we share with those around us. Thus, when we are serving one another in love we won't be sinning against them, but rather serving them by putting their needs above our own. That is where Romans 12:10 comes into play.

Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" This passage is similar to Romans 12:10, in that it too has as its core meaning the idea of God's love. Arguably one of the most well known scriptures in all the Bible begins this chapter. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...(Romans 8:1)" Why is there no condemnation for a Christian? It is because God "did not spare his own Son" by sending Him to take the condemnation we deserved on our behalf. He did so in order to give us all things which is Himself. Salvation is the restoration of the life of God. The life breathed into Man at Creation was the very life of God. When Adam sinned that life was removed and Adam died spiritually. Subsequently, all mankind, including you and I, were born into this world spiritually dead to God in our sins. God desired to once again indwell mankind like He once did, but before He could He had to deal with the sin that caused Him to remove His life. That is where Jesus came in. Being God in the flesh He was the only man born with a life to give that would satisfy God as payment for our sins. Now, raised from the dead, He can offer that life back to us as a free gift to all who accept Christ by faith.

Now you see why Romans 8:32 is so important. We had nothing to offer God that would cause Him to forgive us and restore His life. And the "all things" He has give us, out of His love for us, is Himself, in the Person of Jesus Christ. The most important thing for any Christian to learn is their identity in Christ. We must be certain of who we are and all we have been given through faith in Christ. We are forgiven, holy, blameless, sanctified and justified children of God. As you read further in chapter 8 you see what all we have leads to and gives to us. Because of all we have in Christ, what did Paul exclaim? "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)." The first and last verses of this chapter are bookends that answer the question raised in verse 32. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus because God gave up His Son so that, in Him, nothing could separate us from His love! God graciously and mercifully gave us His Son so that we could have all things in Him for all eternity. Amen!