Romans 12.13-Paul Commands Romans To Continue Contributing To The Needs Of The Saints And Practicing Hospitality
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 10, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:13-Paul Commands Romans To Continue To Contributing To The Needs Of The Saints And Practicing Hospitality
Lesson # 420
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:9.
This evening we will study Romans 12:13 and in this passage Paul commands the Roman believers to continue to make it their habit of contributing to the needs of the saints and practicing hospitality.
Romans 12:9-13, “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.”
“To the needs” is the articular dative feminine plural form of the noun chreia (xreiva) (khri-ah), which means “needs” referring to that which other Christians were lacking and particularly necessary or essential for proper human existence such as food, shelter and clothing (Acts 2:45; 4:35; 20:34; 28:10; Ephesians 4:28; Philippians 2:25; 4:16, 19; Titus 3:14; 1 John 3:17).
The first century apostolic church practiced providing for the needs of its own (Acts 2:45; 4:32-37; 9:36-41; 11:27-30; Romans 15:25-28; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 8:1-4; 9:1-15).
There was great poverty in the first century apostolic church due to persecutions.
Therefore, it was critical for believers who were prospering or did have the essentials for maintaining a proper human existence to share their prosperity and abundance with those in the royal family of God who were destitute or poverty stricken.
When the believer provides for the needs of those who are poverty stricken in the body of Christ whether they are in his or her own periphery or in different parts of the world, it produces thanksgiving to God (2 Corinthians 9:1-15).
When the believer provides for the needs of those who are poverty stricken in the body of Christ whether they are in his or her own periphery or in different parts of the world, it is an expression of God’s love in their life (1 John 3:16-18; Galatians 6:9-10).
Romans 12:13, “Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”
“Of the saints” is the articular genitive masculine plural form of the adjective hagios (a^gio$), which is a technical term describing all the members of the royal family of God in Rome who have been set apart through the Baptism of the Spirit at the moment of salvation in order to order serve God.
“Contributing” is the nominative masculine plural present active participle form of the verb koinoneo (koinwnevw) (koy-no-eh-o), which means to “contribute” to the needs of those believers who are in need of food, shelter and clothing.
Koinoneo refers to the act of sharing of one’s possessions with the implication of some kind of joint participation and mutual interest.
The verb is related to the concept of Christian fellowship, which has two directions: (1) Vertical: God (2) Horizontal: Royal family of God.
Christian fellowship is a relationship and partnership with God and His royal family and involves sharing His objective of advancing His kingdom on earth by caring for and working together with the royal family in this endeavor.
A study of two word groups (koinonia and metochos) that are employed in the Greek New Testament to denote the concept of fellowship, express four related and essential elements that describe what fellowship involves.
(1) Relationship with Christ: We are all permanently united together by the common (eternal) life that we share as a result of regeneration and the Baptism of the Spirit (Acts 2:42; 1 C. 1:9; 1 Jn. 1:3).
(2) Partnership: We are to work together for a common purpose to obtain common objectives for the glory of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ (cf. Phil 1:27; Phlp. 1:5; Gal. 2:9; Heb. 1:9).
(3) Companionship: We are to communicate with one another and have fellowship with one another sharing with one another the things (viewpoint and thinking) of Christ (Acts. 2:42; Heb. 10:25; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Thess. 5:11; Rom. 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Thess 5:11; Phlm. 6).
(4) Stewardship: We must recognize that all we have belongs to the Lord and has been given to us as trusts from God to invest for His purposes and thus we must be willing to share our material possessions for the promotion of the gospel and to help those in need (Rom. 12:13; 15:27; Gal. 6:6; Phil. 4:15; Rom. 15:26; 2 Cor. 8:4; 9:13; Heb. 13:16; 1 Tim. 6:18).
In Romans 12:13, the verb koinoneo refers to the companionship aspect of Christian fellowship, which is the interchange or communication (communion) that exists among companions, those associated together through a relationship they hold in common.
The key ingredient in companionship is communication, which is the sharing of concepts, feelings, ideas, information, needs, etc. through words or other symbols like body language and actions so that all members of the relationship hold these things in common.
In the Christian community, companionship includes communicating on a spiritual level through a mutual sharing of the viewpoint and thinking of Christ: the Word, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the ministries and gifts of the various members of the body of Christ.
Companionship with other believers involves sharing and communicating truth together and building up one another (Rom. 1:11-12; Col. 3:15-16);
It also involves sharing together in worship, i.e., the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 10:16) the singing of hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16), prayer (Acts 2:42; 12; Phlp. 1:19), the ministry of the Word (Luke 19:47-48; Acts 20:20; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Pet. 4:10-11);
It involves sharing together as partners in the needs (Eph. 4:28), burdens (Gal. 6:2), concerns (Rom. 12:15), joys, and blessings for the purpose of encouragement, comfort, challenge or exhortation (1 Thess. 5:14; Heb. 10:23-25), praise, prayer and physical help according to the needs and ability (cf. Phil. 1:5 with 1:19; and 2:4 with 1:27; also 4:3; Rom. 12:15; and 1 Thess. 5:11,14,15; Heb. 10:33).
Romans 12:13, “Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”
“Practicing” is the nominative masculine plural present active participle form of the verb dioko (diwvkw) (dee-o-ko), which means, “to eagerly seek out opportunities to practice” hospitality.
The implication is that of looking for opportunities to practice hospitality to one’s fellow believer and not simply extending hospitality when called upon.
The word speaks of going out and earnestly seeking out individuals whom one can extend hospitality to and not simply waiting for someone to knock on your door.
It denotes going out of one’s way to show hospitality to one’s fellow believer and is an expression of God’s love.
“Hospitality” is the noun philoxenia (filoceniva) (fil-on-ex-ee-ah), which is a compound word composed of the noun philos, “friend” and xenos, “stranger,” thus the word literally means “a friend of strangers.”
Thus one who entertains strangers and demonstrates hospitality towards them.
This term means “hospitality” and was rare in classical Greek and appears only twice in the Greek New Testament (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2).
In the first century, there was a great need in the church to provide shelter and food to visitors who had been uprooted from their homes because of persecution.
Furthermore, in the ancient world there were few motels or hotels, most of which were very undesirable.
In the Roman Empire, inns were many times places of ill repute and travelers, whenever possible, stayed with friends, thus, the New Testament emphasizes hospitality to strangers (1 Tim. 3:1-3; 5:9-10; Tit. 1:7-9; Heb. 13:2; 1 Pet. 4:9).
Since believers are members of the body of Christ according to 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 3:6 and Colossians 3:15 of which body, Christ is the head according to Ephesians 4:15, 5:23, Colossians 1:18, then when believers practice hospitality towards one another, they are in fact doing it to Christ (Matt. 25:40; Acts 9:4).
In the Old Testament, Abraham and his nephew Lot were examples of those who earnestly sought to demonstrate hospitality to strangers (Genesis 18:2-8; 19:1-3).
As we have seen from our study of Romans 12:13, this passage contains two more commands that are related to the horizontal aspect of Christian fellowship, namely fellowship with other believers.
Obedience to these two commands is an expression of not only the believer’s love for his fellow believer but also his love for the Lord since the believer loves the Lord who he can’t see through his fellow believer who he can see (Compare Matthew 25:40; Acts 9:4).
Since Christ is the head and the Christian is a member of Christ’s body, any act of love and service on behalf of one’s fellow believer is equivalent to loving and serving the Lord.
Obeying these two commands is a manifestation of the righteousness of God and the practice of it since practicing the righteousness of God means fulfilling one’s obligations to love both God and one’s fellow human being (Romans 13:8-10).