• Romans 12:11 – Serving God is an active lifestyle.
  • Romans 12:13 – Hospitality in those days was more the idea of having someone in your home that needed a place to stay.
  • Romans 12:14 – We should continue to speak well of people who are persecuting us and remember them in prayer to God. God requires us to love even our enemies.
  • Romans 12:15 – We share in both rejoicing and weeping because we love each other. Jealousy could make it easier to weep when others suffer, so we must be careful.
  • Romans 12:16 – We are all children of God. We should not see ourselves as being above others.
  • Romans 12:17 – It can take a lot of control to not repay evil for evil. If you don’t stop the cycle, evil just continues.
  • Romans 12:18 – Strife should not start with us.
  • Romans 12:19 – We must leave it to God to punish in the perfect way.
  • Romans 12:20 – See Proverbs 25:21. Treating your enemy well could be like throwing cold water in his face – an embarrassment and a wake-up call.
  • Romans 12:21 – This is a good summary of the preceding verses.
  • Romans 13:1 – In what sense does God establish governments? See John 19:10-11. God clearly doesn’t approve of every leader just because they hold a leadership position. God approves of governments existing in a general sense.
  • Romans 13:2 – Resisting authority = resisting God. See Titus 3:1; I Peter 2:13-17. It is okay to resist government when it contradicts God. See Acts 4:18; 5:8, 42.
  • Romans 13:3-4 – God authorizes capital punishment for governments – they “do not bear the sword in vain.” The New Covenant does not have the idea of the “avenger of blood.” Now the civil government has that role. See Genesis 9:6.
  • Romans 13:5-7 – There are two reasons to be in subjection to the government – fear of punishment and our own conscience. We are commanded to pay taxes regardless of how the government is using them. The Roman government used tax money to persecute Christians, yet Christians were still instructed to pay the taxes.