Romans 12:12

“ Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, persevering in prayer. ”

The fervor of devotion, referred to in Romans 12:11, has no more powerful auxiliary than joy; for joy disposes us to kindness and even to self-sacrifice. But this applies only to Christian joy, to that which is kept up in the heart by the glorious hopes of faith.

The passage, chap. Romans 5:3-4, shows the intimate bond which unites this joy of hope with the patient endurance which the believer should display in the midst of trial; comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:3.

And what are we to do to keep up in the heart the joyful spring of hope, and that firmness of endurance which holds out? Persevere in prayer, says the apostle; such is the fruitful principle of those admirable dispositions. The following is Hofmann's paraphrase of the verse: “In so far as we have cause to hope, let us be joyful; in so far as we have cause of pain, let us hold out; in so far as the door of prayer is open to us, let us continue to use it.” The force of the datives which head the three propositions could not be better rendered.

Paul came down from charity and its external manifestations to the depths of the inner life; he now returns to the practical manifestations of this feeling, and points out the blessings of active charity extending to three classes of persons: brethren, strangers, enemies.