Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

When you are born, you are born into a family. When you are born again, you are born into the family of God. Being in God’s family means you tend to have more grace for God’s people.

When Paul mentions “brotherly affection” in verse 10, he talks about God’s love to us and through us. To be devoted to one another in brotherly affection is something that we call being a burden lifter, not a burden giver. We live in a world where there are a lot of burden-givers—people just want to dump their problems on you. A burden lifter is a person who comes along and asks, “How can I help? What do you need? How can I be a blessing and an encouragement to you?” Loving one another with brotherly affection means we help lift each other’s burdens because we love each other. That love is the love God entrusts to us to share with one another.

Paul then says, “Outdo one another in showing honor.” Would you say people in our culture are particularly good at honoring each other? It seems that our culture makes the rebel the hero. After all, America was literally founded on rebellion. But as we’ve seen throughout the book of Romans and the entire Bible, God’s way is completely different from the world’s. It’s counter-cultural. Like workout partners who push each other to greater fitness levels, Christians are to push each other to greater honor levels.

If you want blessings to come down, then you need to send honor up. This is a principle of the Bible. The fifth commandment says, “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). Paul quotes this commandment in Ephesians 6:2 and provides the compelling reason: “That it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land” (v. 30). The apostle is saying that if honor goes up, then blessing comes down. If children honor their parents and their Lord, then blessings will come down from their parents and their Lord.

God does not bless dishonor; He only blesses honor. Christian parents must teach their children to honor those in authority. You don’t have to like everyone in authority in your life, but if you want blessings, then you must honor them.

When my children were growing up, I told them, “The more responsible you are, the more freedom you get. If you honor our authority and God’s authority, then we will give you more freedom. Our hope and goal are that you will become fully functioning adults and have total freedom. But if you want more freedom, then you need to demonstrate more honor so that we can give you more blessing.” (Continued on Day 261 ...)

Today’s Reflection

How do you demonstrate brotherly affection toward the people in your life?