Romans 12:14

Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. BLESS (THAT IS, WISH AND CALL DOWN BY PRAYER A BLESSING ON) THEM WHICH PERSECUTE YOU: BLESS, AND CURSE NOT. This precept is taken from the Sermon on the Mount, which, from the numerous allusions to it, more or less direct, in different parts of the New Testament, seems to have been the storehouse of Christian morality among the churches....

14._Bless them, etc. _I wish, once for all, to remind the reader, that he is not scrupulously to seek a precise order as to the precepts here laid down, but must be content to have short precepts, unconnected, though suited to the formation of a holy life, and such as are deduced from the principle the Apostle laid down at the beginning of the chapter. He will presently give direction respecting the retaliation of the injuries which we may suffer: but here he requires something even more difficult, — that we are not to imprecate evils on our enemies, but to wish and to pray God to render all things prosperous to them, how much soever they may harass and cruelly treat us: and this kindness, the more difficult it is to be practiced, so with the more intense desire we ought to strive for it; for the Lord commands nothing, with respect to which he does not require our obedience; nor is any e...

9-16 The professed love of Christians to each other should be sincere, free from deceit, and unmeaning and deceitful compliments. Depending on Divine grace, they must detest and dread all evil, and love and delight in whatever is kind and useful. We must not only do that which is good, but we must cleave to it. All our duty towards one another is summed up in one word, love. This denotes the love of parents to their children; which is more tender and natural than any other; unforced, unconstrained. And love to God and man, with zeal for the gospel, will make the wise Christian diligent in all his wordly business, and in gaining superior skill. God must be served with the spirit, under the influences of the Holy Spirit. He is honoured by our hope and trust in him, especially when we rejoice in that hope. He is served, not only by working for him, but by sitting still quietly, when he cal...

Verse Romans 12:14. _BLESS THEM WHICH PERSECUTE YOU_] ευλογειτε, Give _good words_, or _pray_ for them that give you _bad words_, καταρασθε, who make _dire imprecations_ against you. _Bless_ them, pray for them, and on no account curse them, whatever the provocation may be. Have the loving, forgiving mind that was in your Lord....

BLESS THEM ... - see the note at Matthew 5:44; compare Luke 6:28. BLESS, AND CURSE NOT - Bless only; or continue to bless, however long or aggravated may be the injury. Do not be provoked to anger, or to cursing, by any injury, persecution, or reviling. This is one of the most severe and difficult duties of the Christian religion; and it is a duty which nothing else but religion will enable people to perform. To curse denotes properly to devote to destruction. Where there is power to do it, it implies the destruction of the object. Thus, the fig-tree that was cursed by the Saviour soon withered away: Mark 11:21. Thus, those whom God curses will be certainly dest

EXPOSITION VER. 1–CH. 14:23 III. HORTATORY. It is St. Paul's way to supplement his doctrinal treatises with detailed practical directions as to the conduct that should of necessity ensue on belief in the doctrines propounded. So also in Ephesians 4:1, etc., where, as here, he connects his exhortations with what has gone before by the initiatory παρακαλῶ οὖν_. _Beyond his exposition of the truth for its own sake, he has always a further practical aim. Saving faith is ever with him a living faith, to be shown by its fruits. Nor, according to him, will these fruits follow, unless the believer himself does his part in cultivating them: else were these earnest and particular exhortations needless. If, on the one hand, he is the great assertor of our salvation being through faith and all of grace, he is no less dist

BLESS THEM WHICH PERSECUTE YOU,.... It is the lot of God's, people in this world to be persecuted by the men of it, in some shape or another, either by words or deeds; either by reviling and reproaching them, and speaking all manner of evil of them; or by hindering them the free exercise of religious worship, by confiscation of their goods, imprisonment of their persons, by violently torturing their bodies, and taking away their lives; under all which circumstances they are taught to BLESS them; that is, to pray for them, that God would show them their evil, give repentance to them, and the remission of their sins; which is the order Christ gave to his disciples, Matthew 5:44; and encouraged to an observance of, by his own example, Luke 23:34; and has been followed herein by his disciples and

Romans 12:1. _I beseech you therefore, brethren,_ Paul is a calm reasoner. He is a bold starer of truth, but here he comes to pleading with us. I think that I see him lift the pen from the paper and look round upon us, as. with the accent of entreaty, he says, «I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, by God's great mercy to you, his many mercies, his continued mercies.» What stronger plea could the Apostle have? «I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.» Romans 12:1. _By the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service._ Though he beseeches you to do it, he claims a right to it. It is but your reasonable service. Do we need to be entreated to be reasonable? I

ROMANS 12:14 diw,kontaj @u`ma/j# {C} It is difficult to decide whether u`ma/j was deleted in order to extend the range of the exhortation, or whether copyists, recollecting the parallel sayings in Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:28, added the pronoun. Since both readings are fairly evenly supported in the witnesses, a majority of the Committee preferred to print @u`ma/j#....

III. EXHORTATIONS AND THE CONCLUSION. Chapter s 12-16. CHAPTER 12 _ 1. The Body as a Willing Sacrifice. (Romans 12:1 .)_ 2. Service. (Romans 12:3 .) 3. The Daily Walk in Holiness. (Romans 12:9 .) Romans 12:1 . Grace calls for obedience. After God has made known the riches of His grace, the fulness of the Gospel, His Spirit shows how believers should walk in a world of sin and tribulation. The first thing is to present the body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. This connects with the truth of Romans 6:19