'Turn the Other Cheek' Has Nothing to Do With Letting Someone Hit You | Romans 12:9-21

Now, the final part of our last lesson regarded gifts of specific aptitudes and abilities that were given to each believer by God. Now, these are better known in Christian circles as spiritual gifts. Now, they were, as Paul listed them in Romans chapter 12, prophecy, serving, teaching, counseling, giving, leading, and doing acts of mercy. No priority or preeminence seemed to have been assigned to these gifts by Paul. They had to be presented in some order or another. And he says nothing about the first gift listed, which is prophecy, being greater than any of the following gifts, nor the last gift listed, doing acts of mercy, is the least of them. Now, if one gift was indeed greater than the others, then Paul's entire metaphorical soliloquy about parts of the body all being different yet needed for their own purpose, and his other thoughts about the equality between Jews and and Gentiles, it would be contradictory. So, it seems to me that the spiritual gifts all have approximately equal value and importance in God's kingdom, so that no one should boast about which gift you might have received. There is a hint, however, of a spirit of a of a hierarchy of spiritual gifts in Corinthians 12: 28. But I think Paul is simply numbering them and not listing them in some kind of a numerical picking order. Beyond that, the lists from of spiritual gifts from 1 Corinthians and from Romans don't really match. All right? At least partially because they are written to different audiences. Now, Paul having spoken now about different gifting that is given to different people according to the Lord's will, what now follows, beginning in verse 9, are the apostles' instructions that that apply universally to all believers. And before we read this section of Romans chapter 12, I want to remind you that the Jewish Rabbi Paul establishing instructions for believers must be looked at through the Jewish perspective. That is You see, with within the Jewish world of his day, these kinds of religious rulings that we read in Romans are called halakot. halakot And with any within any community of Jewish people, these rulings were the norm for establishing behavior and doctrine. But what makes them unique in Romans chapter 12 is that this is Messianic halaka. That is these are religious rulings for followers of Yeshua. However, lest we think that Paul's rulings were different from what was being practiced already in Jewish society, these rulings that we read in Romans bear a striking resemblance to the manner and terminology and in many cases the theology used by the Essenes in establishing the community rules for their Dead Sea sect of Judaism. So, let's start reading at verse 9 of Romans chapter 12. If you have a Complete Jewish Bible, that'll be page 14 17, 14 17. Romans chapter 12 starting at verse 9. Don't let love be a mere outward show. Recoil from what is evil, cling to what is good. Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love. And set examples for each other in showing respect. Don't be lazy when hard work is needed, but serve the Lord with spiritual fervor. Rejoice in your hope. Be patient in your troubles. Continue steadfastly in prayer. Share what you have with God's people and practice hospitality. Bless those who who persecute you. Bless them, don't curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Be sensitive to each other's needs. Don't think yourselves better than others, but make humble people your friends. Don't be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but try to do what everyone regards as good. If possible, to the extent that it depends on you, live in peace with all people. Never seek revenge, my friends. Instead, leave that to God's anger. For in the Tanakh, the Old Testament, it is written, Adonai says, "Vengeance is my responsibility. I will repay." On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink, for by doing this you will heap fiery coals of shame on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. Paul's first general instruction concerns love and hate. Now, we're going to spend a few minutes with this subject of love and hate because it can sometimes be hard in this modern world, including within Christianity, to define these two terms. Due to what they have come to mean in the West, as opposed to what they meant 2,000 years ago in a Jewish Middle Eastern context. Now, what ought to matter to us is what love and hate means from God's perspective. First and foremost, love means a wholehearted acceptance, and hate means a complete rejection. Thus, as it relates to our relationship with God, to love him is to fully accept him, to hate him is to fully reject him. To love what is good is to fully accept and internalize what's good. To hate what is good is to purposely and knowingly reject what is good. Second of all, love is complete devotion to a person, to an ideal, to a god, or perhaps even to a way of life. Hate is a complete disregard. It's an aversion towards a person, an ideal, a god, or a way of life. But third, as biblically defined, love and hate intrinsically involve actions, outward behavior. And this may be the largest departure from how these two terms are thought of today, whereby love and hate are seen as mostly products of emotion. While love and hate can certainly involve our emotion, biblically speaking, love and hate are not the names of two of our emotions. Nor are love and hate primarily about emotion. Because the Bible makes it clear that love and hate both emanate from the heart, then because of the modern romantic sense of the heart being the seat of our emotions, especially of love, then the knee-jerk reaction of Christians and even secular people uh uh to the terms love and hate is to think of them as just these super intense emotions. So, for modern people, to love is to like someone or something to an extreme level. To hate is to dislike someone or something to an equally extreme level. However, as we've discussed times, when the Bible uses the term heart, it mean it it means it as the seat of our will and our intellect, not of our emotions. In that era, the biblical era, the kidneys and the liver and even the stomach, these were seen as the seats of our emotions. So, to summarize, in Bible times, the heart was not seen as the seat of our emotions, rather as the seat of our intellect. Yes, back then it was assumed that the human heart organ was where our mental processes, our thinking, took place. They knew nothing of the brain as part of the thinking process. So, the better way to perceive what the Bible means by heart, lev in Hebrew, cardia in in Greek, is to substitute the word mind. Now, God tells us that it is our minds that give birth to love and hate. But, he also tells us that our actions, our outward behaviors, are used to express love and hate. Thus, when in Romans 12:9, Paul speaks about not letting our love be mere outward show, not letting love be only insincere actions, instead of our behavior expressing our true inward mind, it is meant to connect nicely with what he's been teaching in previous chapters of Romans about following the law of Moses in inward spirit. And not only in an outward mechanical following of religious instructions. I think it would be fair to say Paul is telling believers not to be hypocritical or phony. Building upon what I just explained about biblical love and hate, it always involves action. Paul says then, recoil from what's evil. Cling to what's good. And once again, while certainly the instruction to recoil from the one and cling to the other brings the begins with our minds making a decision. And for believers, this decision should be based upon what the Lord has taught and commanded us. Recoil and clinging also characterizes our outward behavior. So, let me give you an example of this in our time. And I'm going to use something that is pretty sensitive and challenging for our time in order to try to deal with it. In this matter of homosexuality. You know, homosexuality is approached in a very straightforward manner in both the Old and the New Testaments. And it is as listed as among the worst sins possible. Thus, it is biblically immoral. It's even called aberrant by God. Therefore, what is to be the Christian reaction to this lifestyle that God calls evil? Paul says we're to recoil from evil. So, what does that mean? Are we to be merely Are we to just just intellectually reject it? Just kind of leave it at that? No. Does it mean being outwardly nasty, even abusive, to the person who has embraced the sin of homosexuality? No. Cuz that violates the principle of loving your neighbor. Does it mean we should be accepting, excusing, tolerant of the lifestyle of the person who has embraced homosexuality in the show of love? No to that as well. To recoil means to reject any particular evil for ourselves. First mentally, then behaviorally. But it also means to never compromise and accept any evil as merely a reasonable personal choice for others. Unfortunately, in some cases, it can mean having as little to do as possible with the unrepentant person who has fully embraced that sin and is its accompanying lifestyle. Therefore, we must not recoil in our conscience from from some particular sin, but at the same time cling to it in our behavior. Nor should we cling in our conscience to something, but then outwardly recoil against it. To try to do so reveals that we are self-deceived or it's just the epitome of hypocrisy. Now, that may not be a political politically correct viewpoint today, but biblically, that's how it is. So, what does it mean then, biblically speaking, to cling to good? Well, in our time, just as it meant in Paul's day, it means to constantly behave in a righteous manner that conforms to God's Torah. The law of Moses. It is the Torah that sets down the standard of good for the entire world. So, the good it mandates should be especially followed followed and embraced by followers of Yeshua. Now, we don't have time to get into the deep discussion of exactly how to bring across the intent in the proper spirit of all the 613 laws. How we should do that in modern times. Some are much more difficult to do than others. But, rather I mean to generalize just as Paul is doing to say that our outward behavior needs to stay closely tied to the biblical definitions of good that we mentally agree with. Even if our friends or authorities think we're being too prudish, maybe inflexible, or intellectually backward for the 21st century. You know, it's a fine thing to mentally agree with God's definitions of good and that those principles ought to be obeyed. It's another to act it out, especially around others who do not walk with the Lord or don't take their faith as seriously as you do. I'm going to give you another rather touchy example to mull over for our time. And that is about eating and diet. The Torah has clearly set aside certain edible items as for God's followers and other edible items that are to be shunned by his followers. The permitted items are to be the sole food sources for believers. The prohibited items are not to be considered food at all. Even though technically they might be perfectly edible, perhaps even tasty and desirable. See, the list of prohibited and permissible items is not something that neither is difficult to bring across time and culture nor is it difficult to follow, frankly. All of the edible items listed in Leviticus are generally available in near every nearly every culture of the world, but especially so in the West. Therefore, we must first mentally put ourselves subject to God's commandments regarding food and diet. Then, we must put that decision into action. However, if we are not convinced in our conscience about eating biblically kosher, even though I think all believers should be, then to eat kosher anyway because our friends do so, or so we can fit in with a certain religious group, so we can look good, means that we're doing it for the wrong reasons. We're neither clinging nor recoiling. We're being hypocritical. Spiritually speaking, we're trying to love and hate the same thing at the same time. The Bible calls this being double-minded. Okay, let's move on from love and hate to Paul's next ruling. Verse 10 >> [clears throat] >> is essentially Paul making a ruling based on his midrash, that is his interpretation of the meaning of Leviticus 19:18. Leviticus 19:18 is this, "Do not take vengeance on or bear a grudge against any of your people, rather love your neighbor as yourself. I am Adonai." Now, it's important to notice that this religious ruling that Paul makes for believers to love your neighbor as yourself and to show honor to others is not a new Christian innovation. Paul is merely stating a fundamental principle within mainstream Judaism of his day. The Pirkei Avot, which in English means Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of Hebrew ethical and moral teachings that have been passed down from the rabbis. And in Pirkei Avot 2:10, we read this, "Rabbi Eleazar said, let the honor of your friend be as dear to you as your own. Then who is he that is honored? He who honors his fellow man. As it is said, for them that honor me, I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." Now, what we just heard is basically a rabbinic way of pronouncing the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Another ethical teaching Paul introduces to the believers at Rome follows now in chapter 12 verse 11. When he Paul says, "Don't be lazy when hard work is needed, but serve the Lord with spiritual fervor." Now, clearly this verse is less about not being lazy at our jobs, more about how zealously we are to serve in the kingdom of God. And the idea is for believers to not shun getting our hands dirty doing kingdom work. But rather we should be eager participants. That is, don't leave everything to the other guy. And especially the hard things or even the little things that go largely unseen by others in the community. Even more we are to do whatever our task might be with the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in us as our motivation and our guide. Paul then gives this instruction in verse 12. Rejoice in your hope. Be patient in your trouble. Continue steadfastly in prayer. Now Yeshua made these two statements that no doubt Paul had in mind when he wrote these words. In Matthew 10:22, Yeshua said this, "Everyone will hate you because of me, but whoever holds out till the end will be preserved from harm." And Christ also said in John 15:18 and 19, "If the world hates you, understand it hated me first. If you belong to the world, the world would have loved its own. But because you don't belong to the world, on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world. Therefore, the world hates you." So, Paul's telling believers we need to rejoice in hope. But a hope of what? See, whenever Paul speaks of hope, it is nearly always hope for resurrection from the dead. That's what he's thinking. Believers receive hope of personal resurrection because of our trust in Yeshua and his resurrection. So then it follows that we will be afflicted with hatred from the world because of the world's staunch hatred of him. See, the source of hate from the world is going to come upon us from two sources. Individuals and governments. Paul uses the term troubles just to describe this hateful opposition that believers are going to face. What's our solution? What should we do about this? Nobody wants to be hated for their faith. Nobody wants to be hated for our hope. Should we protest in the streets? Should we try to overthrow our government and install a Christian one? Paul says our solution is to be steadfast in prayer. So that we can rejoice in our hope at the same time we are patient in our troubles with the world. Let me be quick to comment as regards troubles aimed at believers. In Paul's time there was no such thing as democracy. There were only autocratic governments. So citizens had no choice about who ruled over them, what laws were enacted to control them. But in modern times, especially in the West we have government leaders who for the most part are chosen by the people. So the context Paul is operating under is that all government actions against believers are dictatorial. Therefore, the dynamic is is believers should not lead society in rebellion, but rather instead should pray. This would apply somewhat differently when we live in a democracy where there are legal and peaceful means to change government leaders and policies. Thus, Paul's point of prayer uh yeah, rather Paul's point is prayer instead of retaliation. Pray instead of retaliating against individuals. Pray instead of rebelling against governments. Why pray instead of of retaliate or rebel? Listen to this excerpt from the Testament of Benjamin. Now, the Testament of Benjamin is taken from a Jewish work that was composed in the mid-hundreds, 100s AD. And it's part of a larger work called the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Now, I want to quote this cuz it helps to demonstrate the mindset of the traditional Jewish community in general during and following Paul's time. Now, I want to keep highlighting that most of what Paul issues as halakha, a series of rulings for believers in Christ, is little more than a rephrasing what was already taught and practiced within mainstream Judaism in his day, but of course within the context of the gospel of Christ. Here's from the a quote from the Testament of Benjamin. If anyone wantonly attacks a pious man, he repents since the pious shows mercy to the one who abused him and maintains his silence. And if anyone betrays a righteous man, the righteous man prays. Even though for a brief time he may be humbled, later he will appear far more illustrious as happened with Joseph, my brother. So here members of Jewish communities are being urged to pray for those who are oppressing them instead of retaliating against them. Even going so far as to do good to their enemies. Now remember, this work I'm quoting from is not a work of believing Jews, but rather of non-believing Jews. And yet look how close this comes to the things that even Christ said. For instance, in Matthew 5:44, "But I tell you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you." And after dealing with the spiritual side of tribulation against us from the world, in verse 13, Paul turns to the humanitarian side. For Jews, attending to the practical needs of those who form the community was seen as a biblical measure of righteousness. Paul demonstrated this in the book of Acts when he went from synagogue to synagogue in the diaspora collecting money to take with him to donate to needy believers in Jerusalem. And while we must never think that the only people believers should help are other believers and those of our own community, it is the believers of our community that ought to be top priority. Why is that? Because the world takes care of its own. And believers are no longer part of the world. That's the principle. The world does and always will far outnumber us demographically. They will always outstrip us in resources. In Bible times, the precise definition boundaries of one's own community weren't exactly the same as they are today because social systems systems of change that evolved. But notice that Paul demonstrated that regardless of which local believers community we might belong to, we must always remember and always consider the Holy Land, Israel, as part of our community. And especially Messianic Jews living in the Holy Land who have need. They are part of our community. Yeshua said this in Luke 6:27. Nevertheless, to you who are listening, what I say is this, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. So in verse 14 now, Paul essentially reiterates this fundamental commandment that Christ gave to his disciples. Now while I'm not a fan of very many of Calvin's doctrines, he does provide some pretty sharp insight on parts of the New Testament. Here I want to quote him because I think it precisely captures Paul's purpose in saying what he did. Calvin says, although there is hardly anyone who has made such advance in the law of the Lord that he fulfills this precept of love your enemies, no one can boast that he's a child of God, or can he glory in the name of being a Christian who has not at least partially undertaken this course, meaning love your enemies, and does not struggle daily to resist his personal will to do just the opposite. This is followed now in verse 15, where Paul speaks of rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep weep. This is Paul's way of saying that the true measure of caring and compassion for our fellow man, re- gardless of whom that might be, is to join in empathizing with that person's experiences in whatever way they might occur. Is this to a new Christian ethic? Well, once again, this fundamental principle within Jew- This is what this was indeed a fundamental principle within Jewish society in Paul's day. In fact, in Ecclesiastes 3, we read this. A man should not rejoice when among people who weep or weep when among those who rejoice. He should not stay awake among people who sleep or sleep among those who are awake. He should not be standing when all others are sitting or sit when sit when all others are standing. This is the general rule. A man should not deviate from the custom of his companions or from society. Another way of thinking about Paul's regulation is that we should respect and give a fair hearing to the views of others within the community to which we belong. Why? Because only then will we have any ground upon which we can create the kind of a relationship where upon we can lead them to the Lord? You know, I've said to many well- meaning believers who all want to go to Israel with this grand vision that they are going to bring Jews to Christ. Leave your Christian tracts at home. And begin by creating an honest relationship of friendship and mutual respect. This is going to take time. Perhaps years. And it must be sincere without agenda or you will quickly be found out. And all opportunity to speak about Yeshua is going to vanish. You know, a a 10-day Israel tour is not going to provide sufficient time to create that relationship. And it will almost certainly require you being as open to learning from them and bending to their society and customs as what you hope to show to them. And this is precisely what verse 16 is telling us to do as a general rule. And from there Paul moves on to yet another traditional Jewish maxim. Don't repay evil with evil. In other words, don't seek revenge for a wrong done to you because this violates, once again, the principle of loving your neighbor as yourself. Among the most pious of Jews, including the Essenes the reason behind this regulation is that perhaps, just perhaps a merciful person who has been dealt an evil blow by someone will be able to lead that offender to behaving more righteously. Let's revisit that Testament of Benjamin for a moment. In chapter 4 of the Testament of Benjamin, we read, "See then, my children, what is the goal of a good man. Be imitators of him in his goodness because of his compassion in order that you may wear crowns of glory. For a good man does not have a blind eye." Means it's not stingy. "But he's merciful to all, even though they may be sinners. And even if persons plot against him for evil ends by doing good, this man conquers evil being watched over by God. He loves those who wrong him as he loves his own life. If anyone glorifies him, he holds no envy. If your mind is set towards good, even evil men will be at peace with you." Now, this sounds almost like something Yeshua himself could have said. Again, I want to draw you back to the major point of this week's lesson. These principles Paul introduces in his letters that frankly the average believer thinks are being newly formed by Paul's words and thus belong exclusively to Christianity and Messianic Judaism were neither new nor were they revolutionary as so much of the Christian world assumes. In fact, we see a pattern emerge. Paul is essentially but reminding the Jews of the diaspora, in this case the believing Jews in the city of Rome, of these long-held bedrock principles of Judaism at the same moment he is introducing these same principles to new Gentile believers who as former pagans are likely hearing them for the first time. Truly, Christianity has a Hebrew heritage. Now next in verse 18 is Paul one of Paul's more famous sayings, especially embraced by pacifists. Romans 12:18, "If possible and to the extent it depends on you, live in peace with all people." Now let's begin by talking about what this verse does not say. It does not say we are obligated to be at peace with all people. It does not say that. It also does not say that even though a person refuses to be at peace with you, as a believer, you must be at peace with them. Neither does it say that peace is entirely our responsibility. Rather, there are two significant caveats surrounding this instruction to live in peace with all people. The first is if it's possible. The second one is to the extent depends on you. So as a believer, my desire ought to be peace with all people. And I should do every reasonable thing within my sphere of control to make that happen. I should try to see the other person's viewpoint. I should not take retaliatory action merely because I've been offended, even shamed. But does this But this does not mean Listen to me. This does not mean that if a person is holding a knife to my wife's throat, that Paul says I must stay peaceful. I must allow that criminal to proceed without interfering. It does not mean that when an aggressor nation threatens or attacks us, that we shouldn't defend ourselves. And if we go to war, it certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't play to win. Rather, provided there is a way to make peace with another party who also seeks peace, without compromising our moral principles and our relationship with God, without passively allowing ourselves to be taken over by a criminal or a tyrant, we are obligated to make every effort to affect peace to the point that our efforts are finally, firmly rejected. However, as says verse 19, it also means that even when we have been wronged in some way, we should not seek revenge for the sake of revenge. This, of course, plays to the Jewish principle, one that Christ reiterated, that we are to love our enemies with the hope that they will repent and turn to the God of Israel. And we can be assured that at some point either in this life or the next one, God is going to exact a price for that wrongdoer's attack upon us. In fact, God prefers that we leave such a matter of justice to him, but don't misunderstand. Criminal justice on Earth administered by human governments is expected by God. And this is one reason he created nations and installed governments. Paul's statement more concerns Pay attention to this. Again, this is important. More concerns actions against us that for any number of reasons go unpunished. We need to be aware of just how difficult of an injunction this was for believers, Jew or Gentile, in Paul's era. Avenging a family member or your or yourself was not only common practice, it was assumed. In fact, because most of the world operated in a shame-honor society to some degree, to be wronged not only produced harm, it produced shame. And the only way to get rid of this shame was to get your honor back. And usually the only way to get your honor back was some sort of revenge upon the one who shamed you. Usually, this involved killing that person. So that you understand this this better, I'm going to expand that a little bit more. Whether among Jewish society or Roman society. There were strict civil laws and there were police forces. There were court systems. There were systems of justice and punishment. So, murder and theft and mayhem, that didn't usually go unpunished. However, certain crimes also produced shame upon a victim. Rape, for instance. And at other times, non-criminal acts, like a male being slapped on his face as an insult, also produced shame. Thus, the criminal acts could be handled by the criminal justice system, whether it was Jewish or Roman. However, the criminal justice system had no capacity to solve the issue of loss of honor due to an insult. This, by custom, was left in the hands of the one who was shamed. Both Judaism and the Roman government actually established civil laws that tried to stamp out this practice of vengeance in order to restore honor. But honor killings were still common Paul's era. In fact, in one of Jesus of Nazareth's most famous quotes, we find him teaching about what a victim of insult ought to do or not do about losing their honor. I'm sure you'll remember it. In Matthew 5:39, "But I tell you not to stand up against someone who does you wrong. On the contrary, if someone hit you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left cheek, too." >> nothing to do with criminal activity. It is not a call to not defend yourself when you're being attacked, nor is it a call to allow a criminal to harm you and you refuse to prosecute them. God's justice requires requires that we are to always administer justice according to his divine regulations. Being struck on the cheek might be cause for assault and battery in the Western world, but it was not so. Still isn't so in the Middle Eastern world today. Rather, slapping someone on his face was a cultural act of shaming that person. It was very serious. Although judicial authorities would have no involvement cuz it's not considered a crime. A slap on the face would almost certainly result in the person who got slapped seeking revenge on the one who slapped him, and the one who did the slapping would have expected it. Thus, a blood feud could erupt that entangled the entire family. It could go on for decades. The goal of the one whose cheek was slapped always is to regain his lost honor. And this is done at any cost of two and including murdering the offender. So, Yeshua's only point was to tell those whose honor was taken from them by such a thing as having your face slapped was to not seek revenge. Instead, allow the offender to strike the other cheek as well. Because this issue of shame and honor was based strictly on man-made cultural customs. It has no actual basis in God's moral or ethical laws. However, the retaliation of the one who had his cheek slapped would nearly always involve his committing a criminal act that would violate God's laws in hopes of regaining his honor. Yeshua says that among those who follow him that should not occur. Well, Paul quotes first Deuteronomy 25:35 and then he follows that up with quoting Proverbs 25:21 and 22. Notice the term "your enemy" is used. Now, listen, while we think of our enemy mostly in terms of war, that is not how it was thought of in ancient times. Your enemy was often a person you hated or hated you for some breach of cultural protocol or some offense that had been committed. This only sometimes involved criminality. More often than not it involved an insult within the cultural shame-honor system of that particular society. This is why the final few words of the chapter read, "You will heap fiery coals of shame upon his head." But you have to take it within the Jewish context. This is about shame. It's not about criminal justice. Thus, in the case of all that Paul has been addressing to close out this chapter, Paul has not been talking so much about criminal activity, but rather about the cultural problem of shame and honor and how to restore our honor. Paul's solution is to allow God to make the determination about what kind of revenge, if any, ought to be exacted upon the person who caused you to lose your honor in the eyes of your peers. And finally, Paul sums up essentially the entire chapter by saying that we are not to be conquered by evil, but rather we should conquer evil with good. The bottom line to this is that the best way to bring people into a relationship with Yeshua is through love and mutual respect. And to determine never to exact revenge from someone who has offended you. To be conquered by evil means for us to give in to our evil inclinations. That's what it means. This will result in our burning desire for revenge. That's where it comes from. Rather, God's way to conquer both our evil inclination and doing evil in response to someone who has wronged us is instead to respond with love and with good. Whatever just punishment that ought to happen, but maybe it didn't for whatever reason, God will meet out according to his wrath. Or perhaps just as he's done for countless millions of us, he will meet it out with his mercy. We'll begin Romans chapter 13 next time. For more teachings of real Bible study and to rediscover God's word with Tom Bradford, visit TorahClass today on the web, streaming TV, or download the TorahClass mobile app.