12 Being glad in hope, quiet in trouble, at all times given to prayer,
For, having done what was right in God's eyes, you have need of waiting before his word has effect for you.
Now may the God of hope make you full of joy and peace through faith, so that all hope may be yours in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Because of this my heart is glad, and my glory is full of joy: while my flesh takes its rest in hope. For you will not let my soul be prisoned in the underworld; you will not let your loved one see the place of death. You will make clear to me the way of life; where you are joy is complete; in your right hand there are pleasures for ever and ever.
Have faith in him at all times, you people; let your hearts go flowing out before him: God is our safe place. (Selah.)
But be glad that you are given a part in the pains of Christ; so that at the revelation of his glory you may have great joy.
So that you may not be slow in heart, but may take as your example those to whom God has given their heritage, because of their faith and their long waiting.
To whom God was pleased to give knowledge of the wealth of the glory of this secret among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
But Christ as a son, over his house; whose house are we, if we keep our hearts fixed in the glad and certain hope till the end.
So that, having been given righteousness through grace, we might have a part in the heritage, the hope of eternal life.
But you took as your example my teaching, behaviour, purpose, and faith; my long waiting, my love, my quiet undergoing of trouble;
But you, O man of God, keep yourself from these things, and go after righteousness, religion, faith, love, a quiet mind, gentle behaviour.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who had love for us and has given us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, Give you comfort and strength in every good work and word.
So that we ourselves take pride in you in the churches of God for your untroubled mind and your faith in all the troubles and sorrows which you are going through;
But let us, who are of the day, be serious, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and on our heads, the hope of salvation.
Having ever in mind your work of faith and acts of love and the strength of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father;
And so, when he had been waiting calmly for a long time, God's word to him was put into effect.
So that when it was God's desire to make it specially clear to those who by his word were to have the heritage, that his purpose was fixed, he made it more certain with an oath; So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false; And this hope is like a strong band for our souls, fixed and certain, and going in to that which is inside the veil;
For this reason, as we are circled by so great a cloud of witnesses, putting off every weight, and the sin into which we come so readily, let us keep on running in the way which is marked out for us,
Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope; But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing nothing.
Take as an example of pain nobly undergone and of strength in trouble, the prophets who gave to men the words of the Lord. We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.
And by the prayer of faith the man who is ill will be made well, and he will be lifted up by the Lord, and for any sin which he has done he will have forgiveness. So then, make a statement of your sins to one another, and say prayers for one another so that you may be made well. The prayer of a good man is full of power in its working.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through his great mercy has given us a new birth and a living hope by the coming again of Jesus Christ from the dead, And a heritage fair, holy and for ever new, waiting in heaven for you, Who, by the power of God are kept, through faith, for that salvation, which will be seen at the last day. You have cause for great joy in this, though it may have been necessary for you to be troubled for a little time, being tested in all sorts of ways, So that the true metal of your faith, being of much greater value than gold (which, though it comes to an end, is tested by fire), may come to light in praise and glory and honour, at the revelation of Jesus Christ: To whom your love is given, though you have not seen him; and the faith which you have in him, though you do not see him now, gives you joy greater than words and full of glory:
For it is a sign of grace if a man, desiring to do right in the eyes of God, undergoes pain as punishment for something which he has not done. What credit is it if, when you have done evil, you take your punishment quietly? but if you are given punishment for doing right, and take it quietly, this is pleasing to God.
But the end of all things is near: so be serious in your behaviour and keep on the watch with prayer;
See what great love the Father has given us in naming us the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not see who we are, because it did not see who he was. My loved ones, now we are children of God, and at present it is not clear what we are to be. We are certain that at his revelation we will be like him; for we will see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him makes himself holy, even as he is holy.
And we are certain that if we make any request to him which is right in his eyes, he will give ear to us: And if we are certain that he gives ear to all our requests, we are equally certain that we will get our requests.
The hope of the upright man will give joy, but the waiting of the evil-doer will have its end in sorrow.
Do not be glad, however, because you have power over spirits, but because your names are recorded in heaven.
Be glad and full of joy; for great is your reward in heaven: for so were the prophets attacked who were before you.
For though the fig-tree has no flowers, and there is no fruit on the vine, and work on the olive comes to nothing, and the fields give no food; and the flock is cut off from its resting-place, and there is no herd in the cattle-house: Still, I will be glad in the Lord, my joy will be in the God of my salvation.
O my God, let your ear be turned and give hearing; let your eyes be open and see how we have been made waste and the town which is named by your name: for we are not offering our prayers before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercies. O Lord, give ear; O Lord, have forgiveness; O Lord, take note and do; let there be no more waiting; for the honour of your name, O my God, because your town and your people are named by your name.
I said to myself, The Lord is my heritage; and because of this I will have hope in him. The Lord is good to those who are waiting for him, to the soul which is looking for him. It is good to go on hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.
And you will go on crying to me and making prayer to me, and I will give ear to you. And you will be searching for me and I will be there, when you have gone after me with all your heart.
And he said to them, Which of you, having a friend, would go to him in the middle of the night and say to him, Friend, let me have three cakes of bread; Because a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to put before him; And he, from inside the house, would say in answer, Do not be a trouble to me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; it is not possible for me to get up and give to you? I say to you, Though he will not get up and give to him, because he is his friend, still, if he keeps on making his request, he will get up and give him as much as he has need of. And I say to you, Make requests, and they will be answered; what you are searching for, you will get; when you give the sign, the door will be open to you. For to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire; and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open. And which of you, being a father, will give a stone to his son, who makes request for bread? or for a fish, will give him a snake? Or for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If, then, you who are evil are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who make request to him?
For my love they give me back hate; but I have given myself to prayer.
Your wisdom will be my guide, and later you will put me in a place of honour. Whom have I in heaven but you? and having you I have no desire for anything on earth. My flesh and my heart are wasting away: but God is the Rock of my heart and my eternal heritage.
You, who have sent great and bitter troubles on me, will give me life again, lifting me up from the deep waters of the underworld. You will make me greater than before, and give me comfort on every side. I will give praise to you with instruments of music, O my God, for you are true; I will make songs to you with music, O Holy One of Israel. Joy will be on my lips when I make melody to you; and in my soul, to which you have given salvation.
As for me, I will make my prayer to God, and he will be my saviour. In the evening and in the morning and in the middle of the day I will make my prayer with sounds of grief; and my voice will come to his ears.
Take your rest in the Lord, waiting quietly for him; do not be angry because of the man who does well in his evil ways, and gives effect to his bad designs.
For what is the hope of the sinner when he is cut off, when God takes back his soul? Will his cry come to the ears of God when he is in trouble? Will he take delight in the Ruler of all, and make his prayer to God at all times?
Then Jacob was by himself; and a man was fighting with him till dawn. But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged. And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.
But if we have hope for that which we see not, then we will be able to go on waiting for it.
Full of strength in the measure of the great power of his glory, so that you may undergo all troubles with joy;
Be glad in the Lord at all times: again I say, Be glad.
For the rest, my brothers, be glad in the Lord. Writing the same things to you is no trouble to me, and for you it is safe.
With prayers and deep desires, making requests at all times in the Spirit, and keeping watch, with strong purpose, in prayer for all the saints, And for me, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make clear without fear the secret of the good news,
And about this thing I made request to the Lord three times that it might be taken away from me.
But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Give yourselves to prayer at all times, keeping watch with praise;
Through whom, in the same way, we have been able by faith to come to this grace in which we now are; and let us have joy in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but let us have joy in our troubles: in the knowledge that trouble gives us the power of waiting; And waiting gives experience; and experience, hope:
So Peter was kept in prison: but the church made strong prayer to God for him.
Then we will give all our time to prayer and the teaching of the word.
By going through all these things, you will keep your lives.
And he made a story for them, the point of which was that men were to go on making prayer and not get tired; Saying, There was a judge in a certain town, who had no fear of God or respect for man: And there was a widow in that town, and she kept on coming to him and saying, Give me my right against the man who has done me wrong. And for a time he would not: but later, he said to himself, Though I have no fear of God or respect for man, Because this widow is a trouble to me, I will give her her right; for if not, I will be completely tired out by her frequent coming. And the Lord said, Give ear to the words of the evil judge. And will not God do right in the cause of his saints, whose cries come day and night to his ears, though he is long in doing it? I say to you that he will quickly do right in their cause. But when the Son of man comes, will there be any faith on earth? And he made this story for some people who were certain that they were good, and had a low opinion of others: Two men went up to the Temple for prayer; one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-farmer. The Pharisee, taking up his position, said to himself these words: God, I give you praise because I am not like other men, who take more than their right, who are evil-doers, who are untrue to their wives, or even like this tax-farmer. Twice in the week I go without food; I give a tenth of all I have. The tax-farmer, on the other hand, keeping far away, and not lifting up even his eyes to heaven, made signs of grief and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I say to you, This man went back to his house with God's approval, and not the other: for everyone who makes himself high will be made low and whoever makes himself low will be made high. And they took their children to him, so that he might put his hands on them: but when the disciples saw it, they said sharp words to them But Jesus sent for them, saying, Let the children come to me, and do not keep them away, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Truly I say to you, Whoever does not put himself under the kingdom of God like a little child, will not come into it at all. And a certain ruler put a question to him, saying, Good Master, what have I to do so that I may have eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you say that I am good? No one is good, but only God. You have knowledge of what the law says: Do not be untrue to your wife, Do not put anyone to death, Do not take what is not yours, Do not give false witness, Give honour to your father and mother. And he said, All these things I have done from the time when I was a boy. And Jesus, hearing it, said to him, One thing you still have need of; get money for your goods, and give it away to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven; and come after me. But at these words he became very sad, for he had great wealth. And Jesus, looking at him, said, How hard it is for those who have wealth to get into the kingdom of God! It is simpler for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a man who has much money to come into the kingdom of God. And those who were present said, Then who may have salvation? But he said, Things which are not possible with man are possible with God. And Peter said, See, we have given up what is ours to come after you. And he said to them, Truly I say to you, There is no man who has given up house or wife or brothers or father or mother or children, because of the kingdom of God, Who will not get much more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life. And he took with him the twelve and said to them, Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things which were said by the prophets will be done to the Son of man. For he will be given up to the Gentiles, and will be made sport of and put to shame: And he will be given cruel blows and put to death, and on the third day he will come back to life. But they did not take in the sense of any of these words, and what he said was not clear to them, and their minds were not able to see it. And it came about that when he got near Jericho, a certain blind man was seated by the side of the road, making requests for money from those who went by. And hearing the sound of a great number of people going by, he said, What is this? And they said to him, Jesus of Nazareth is going by. And he said in a loud voice, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And those who were in front made protests and said to him, Be quiet: but he said all the more, O Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus, stopping, gave orders that he was to come to him, and when he came near, he said to him, What would you have me do for you? And he said, Lord, that I may be able to see again. And Jesus said, See again: your faith has made you well. And straight away he was able to see, and he went after him, giving glory to God; and all the people when they saw it gave praise to God.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 12
Commentary on Romans 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
The apostle, having at large cleared and confirmed the prime fundamental doctrines of Christianity, comes in the next place to press the principal duties. We mistake our religion if we look upon it only as a system of notions and a guide to speculation. No, it is a practical religion, that tends to the right ordering of the conversation. It is designed not only to inform our judgments, but to reform our hearts and lives. From the method of the apostle's writing in this, as in some other of the epistles (as from the management of the principal ministers of state in Christ's kingdom) the stewards of the mysteries of God may take direction how to divide the word of truth: not to press duty abstracted from privilege, nor privilege abstracted from duty; but let both go together, with a complicated design, they will greatly promote and befriend each other. The duties are drawn from the privileges, by way of inference. The foundation of Christian practice must be laid in Christian knowledge and faith. We must first understand how we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, and then we shall know the better how to walk in him. There is a great deal of duty prescribed in this chapter. The exhortations are short and pithy, briefly summing up what is good, and what the Lord our God in Christ requires of us. It is an abridgment of the Christian directory, an excellent collection of rules for the right ordering of the conversation, as becomes the gospel. It is joined to the foregoing discourse by the word "therefore.' It is the practical application of doctrinal truths that is the life of preaching. He had been discoursing at large of justification by faith, and of the riches of free grace, and the pledges and assurances we have of the glory that is to be revealed. Hence carnal libertines would be apt to infer."Therefore we may live as we list, and walk in the way of our hearts and the sight of our eyes.' Now this does not follow; the faith that justifies is a faith that "works by love.' And there is no other way to heaven but the way of holiness and obedience. Therefore what God hath joined together let no man put asunder. The particular exhortations of this chapter are reducible to the three principal heads of Christian duty: our duty to God t ourselves, and to our brother. The grace of God teaches us, in general, to live "godly, soberly, and righteously;' and to deny all that which is contrary hereunto. Now this chapter will give us to understand what godliness, sobriety, and righteousness, are though somewhat intermixed.
Rom 12:1-21
We may observe here, according to the scheme mentioned in the contents, the apostle's exhortations,