The Battle of Christian Living

Excerpt from Abhor What Is Evil; Hold Fast to What Is Good by John Piper

[Romans 12: 9]

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Notice Paul’s verbs: “Abhor (apostungountes) what is evil; hold fast (kollömenoi) to what is good.” He did not say “Choose against evil and choose good.” His words are very strong. “Abhor” is a good translation. “Loathe,: “Be disgusted with” (Liddell and Scott Lexicon) would also be correct. “Hold fast to what is good” means embrace it. Love it. The word is used for sexual union in 1 Corinthians 6:16.

In other words, God is not mainly interested in a willpower religion or a willpower morality. Choosing is not enough. It doesn’t signal deep moral transformation. Remember the meaning of hypocrisy—changing the outside with willpower choices. Now Paul says, Don’t just avoid evil, hate evil. Don’t just choose good, embrace the good. Love the good. The battle of Christian living is a battle mainly to get our emotions changed, not just our behavior.

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