Be Devoted to One Another, Part 1

Galatians 2:19-20 says, For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. What Paul was explaining to us in that passage is that we should live for God through Christ. That is the essence of what being a Christian means. Christianity is not merely a set of beliefs and religious practices, it is a way of life—it is about living. The Christian does not live for himself or herself, but for God; and this is not done in our own strength, wisdom, or power, it is done through having a real, personal, and vital relationship with Jesus Christ. It is living for God through Christ.

Simple enough to understand, right? But what does that look like? How is that practiced? How do we know we are living for God through Christ and not to anything or anyone else? Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount we would know by our fruit, that the Christian’s life would have the effect of salt preserving and flavoring the people around us, that the Christian’s life would serve as light, banishing the darkness, helping people see God and His glory through our good deeds.

Throughout the New Testament, there are seventeen “one anothering passages” (i.e. love one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, etc.). These passages together give a clear picture of how to be salt and light towards one another; of the kind of fruit that living for God through Christ produces in our relationships.

The first two of these passages are found in Romans 12:10 (NIV), Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. My next few posts are going to look at the first sentence of this verse.

Paul’s letters often follow a similar pattern. He begins with stating a problem or concern or point. In the case of Romans, that is stated in 1:17, The righteous will live by faith.

Then Paul addresses the point or concern biblically and theologically. For Romans, chapters 2-11 explores biblically and doctrinally why it is true and what it means that the righteous will live by faith.

He then concludes with practical application outlining how the biblical truths he has just explained should impact how we live. In Romans that starts with chapter 12 and goes through the first half of chapter 15. How do the righteous live by faith? Paul says in Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The rest of chapter 12 is a fleshing out of what those two verses mean. Paul begins in verses 3-8 by saying that being living sacrifices for God means making use of our individual spiritual gifts for the good of the Body in humility; and in that humility we need to recognize the gifts God has given to each member and allow each member to freely use the gifts they are given.

In the next section Romans 12:9-21, Paul shows how as living sacrifices, love should be expressed to one another. And so we come to the first part of verse 10, Be devoted to one another in love.

The word translated as devoted in the original Greek is  (philostorge) an unusual combination of  (philos) which means to have a fond affectionate friendship for a person and  (storge) which is the love you have for family. It means having a fondness and affection for a person like you would have for your parents or children or close relatives. It is one of these words that is easier to understand conceptually than to translate concisely into English.

While this word has been translated all sorts of ways, I think the word devotion gets to the core of what is meant. The word devotion means to have strong affection for something as well as commitment to a cause, or to be exclusively dedicated for a particular purpose. We might say that by devotion Paul means having a friendly, family-like affection and commitment towards one another.

This devotion is to be done in love. There are four different words for love in Greek. The one used here is  (philadelphia) which literally means a brotherly love. Paul is saying that one of the marks of sincere love is that it shows itself in having a family-like devotion towards one another.

More tomorrow….