Romans 12:14,15 - Bless those who persecute you

12:14

This reflects Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemies. Part of kingdom living is doing things differently, not being different for the sake of it, but where God commands. So we are to bless those who persecute us. In Paul’s day Christians were periodically persecuted, and this continues in many parts of the world. It now also happens in the West, though at a lower level at present. Our natural instinct would be to curse the prosecutor, but we are to live by the Spirit, not by the flesh, so we are to bless, not curse.

12:15

We are to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to weep with those who weep.  So we take account of where someone is. If one is blessed then all are blessed, if one is suffering then all suffer. We are to identify with each other. Rejoicing with those who rejoice can sometimes go against our human nature, for we may be tempted to be jealous of their success.

Numbers 5:11-22 - If any man's wife goes astray

5:11-15

Adultery and other forms of sexual unfaithfulness are considered to be most serious. If a man suspects his wife of unfaithfulness, but there is no direct proof, then the matter is to be taken to the priest. So the matter was to be resolved one way or another. Determining either the guilt or innocence of the wife. In Lev 2 the grain offering involved olive oil and incense, but in this case these were not to be included, because this was not an act of worship as such, but a matter of dealing with jealousy.

5:16-22

We then get a ritual that was to be carried out. This all seems rather strange to us, but the key aspects are that the woman is to subject herself to God’s judgement. So if she is innocent no harm will befall her, but if she is guilty then there will be consequences and she will miscarry. Everything we do is done in the sight of God, He knows all that we do. 

Romans 12:11-13 -Be fervent in spirit

12:11

Back in Romans 10:12 Paul talked about the misplaced zeal of Israel. They sought righteousness, but not according to God’s ways. However, zeal is not the problem. We are to be zealous, as long as our zeal is based on the truth, on God’s revelation. We are to be “fervent in spirit” serving the Lord. Christianity is not meant to be a drab, dead following of a religion, but a fervent enthusiastic following of Christ.

12:12,13

We are to rejoice in hope and be patient in tribulation. We know what our destiny is, we know where Christ is leading us, what God is doing in our lives (working to make us ever more Christlike). So we should rejoice. We will go through various times of affliction and difficulty, sometimes terrible tribulation, when we encounter these times we should be patient. God’s plans have not changed, and He is still guarding and guiding us. We are to pray at all times. We are also to contribute to the needs of the saints and to practise hospitality. These two things are of practical benefit to others, they are also a positive statement that we are in God’s kingdom, not the kingdom of the world. We refuse to be defeated.

Numbers 5:1-10 - Put out of the camp

5:1-4

Back in Leviticus we had detailed instructions on skin diseases and discharges, and other forms of uncleanness, such as touching a dead body. Here the people are reminded that the unclean must live outside the camp until the uncleanness was dealt with. They were not to take part in worship. We find all this difficult to comprehend today. However, we can take the Law as pointing forward. Without Christ the Law simply pronounced judgement upon Israel, because no one could keep the Law. However, in Christ there will come  a time when we do worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth (Jn 4:23).

5:5-10

When we wrong someone else we are unfaithful to the Lord. When asked about the greatest commandment Jesus said the first commandment was to worship the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Matt 22:36), then He said the second, to love your neighbour as yourself, is like it (Matt 22:39). And John says that if we do not love our brother then we cannot possibly love God (1 John 4:20). There is a very close relationship between loving God and loving people. This is follows on from Lev 6:1-7.

Romans 12:9,10 - Let love be genuine

12:9

“Let love be genuine”. Love in the Bible is far more than than sentimentalised tosh that tends to be spoken about, and it is more than romantic love. What the world calls love is often nothing of the sort, either being mere sentimentalism, or sexual lust. In the Bible love is a far more concrete thing, always backed up by consistent actions and commitment. This is one of the reasons why sex is for marriage only. Love cannot be built upon sex, sex should be built upon the solid foundation of a firm commitment to each other. And love applies in many other contexts than marriage. Whatever is evil is to be abhorred, utterly detested. Instead we are to hold on to what is good. Sadly our society is doing the exact opposite, holding on to what is evil and detesting what is good.

12:10

We are to love each other with “brotherly affection”, or sisterly affection. And we are to outdo one another in showing honour. So there is affection and there is action. Love seeks the well being of the other, it is not self-centred.

Numbers 4:29-49 - List them by their clans

4:29-33

Last up are the sons of Merari, with the same age bracket being selected. Presumably the reason for including even the youngest children in the original census was for the purposes of redeeming them. The Merarites were responsible for carrying the frames of the tabernacle. So each clan had its clearly assigned duty to carry out. All the work was overseen by Ithamar, the son of Aaron, and there was even a list of the specific items they had to carry. Everything was done in order (1 Cor 14:40).

4:34-49

We are then told how many men of serviceable age there were in each clan. The figure of 8580 does match exactly with the sum of the individual numbers in each clan. The text emphasises that everything was done as the Lord commanded, and was carried out through Moses, but it was the Lord at work. 

Romans 12:6-8 - Having gifts that differ

12:6a

We all have different gifts. The most important point is that these gifts are given to us by the grace of God. We are not to be measuring one gift against another completely different gift, trying to increase the emphasis on one gift at the expense of another. All gifts are “charismatic”, given by the grace of God. We are to use them, but we use them not to extol ourselves, but to glorify Christ and to build up the body.

12:6b-8

So if we have the gift of prophecy we are to prophecy. Prophecy seems to cause problems for some, and it can be misused. But throughout the Bible God has spoken to individuals, and has given specific direction to individuals and to groups of people. There is no reason to think He has stopped doing so. However, all prophecy must be in accordance with the faith, it must be consistent with the word of God. If serving is our gift then we are to serve, if teaching then we are to teach. Whatever God has given us to do we are to do it. We have a responsibility to use the gifts that God gives to us, as the parable of the talents demonstrates. If we are able to exhort or encourage, then we are to do so. If we are able to give we are to give generously. Leaders are to lead with zeal. The one who is merciful is to show mercy gladly. Now all of us will do most of these things to a limited degree, but there will be some gifts where we excel. Note that all these gifts can be misused. We can show mercy reluctantly, we give grudgingly etc. As well as naming the gifts, Paul gives the attitude with which we are to use them.