Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Sixteen
THOSE WHO CAUSE DIVISIONS
Scripture Reading: verses 17-20
NOW I BESEECH YOU, BRETHREN, MARK THEM WHICH CAUSE DIVISIONS AND OFFENCES CONTRARY TO THE DOCTRINE WHICH YE HAVE LEARNED; AND AVOID THEM. FOR THEY THAT ARE SUCH SERVE NOT OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BUT THEIR OWN BELLY; AND BY GOOD WORDS AND FAIR SPEECHES DECEIVE THE HEARTS OF THE SIMPLE. FOR YOUR OBEDIENCE IS COME ABROAD UNTO ALL MEN. I AM GLAD THEREFORE ON YOUR BEHALF: BUT YET I WOULD HAVE YOU WISE UNTO THAT WHICH IS GOOD, AND SIMPLE CONCERNING EVIL. AND THE GOD OF PEACE SHALL BRUISE SATAN UNDER YOUR FEET SHORTLY. THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU. AMEN.
One would almost think this to be a parenthetic passage in the Epistle to the Romans, but it is not so. If, throughout fifteen chapters, Paul has set forth the basis of righteousness whereon those who were sinners may stand in the presence of God, he must therefore insist that practical righteousness have a place among his brethren at Rome. They must keep a weather eye open for those who cause divisions and give occasions of stumbling. This is truly a needful word for the age in which we live.
The temptation that presents itself among Christians is to obtain some kind of personal advantage at the expense of others. We must remember the Christian company is a realm of grace and it is inevitable that some who are untrue will find their way into it. These become self-seekers, and by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple. Paul beseeches his brethren to mark them and avoid them. They exist in Christendom today, finding their way among the unsuspecting, and by their religious platitudes and smooth words they deceive the unwary into believing they are godly men and women. This, and through Romans 16:20, form an apostolic warning against false and divisive teachers whom Paul expected would trouble the unity and harmony of the church in Rome. Paul had evidently received remarkably full and accurate reports on what was happening in Rome, and there were many things for which he was no doubt thankful; but his experience had taught him that the crooked zeal of false teachers would eventually reach Rome, hence this powerful warning.
Notice how intense Paul’s words are in relation to them. He says, “I beseech you, brethren.” This is like the plea in Romans 12:1, and means “I beg of you, please.” Paul attaches much importance to such deceivers, and knows the only cure for it is to warn his brethren against them and beseech them to mark and avoid them. To mark them means “identify them,” “watch out for them,” and “be on your guard against them.” In other words, do not shut your eyes to what they are doing. Do not make excuses for them or for any others who cause divisions and occasions of stumbling contrary to the Gospel, but turn away from them; brethren should have no fellowship with them.
Apparently, at the time Paul wrote, the leadership of the congregations in Rome had been able to preserve unity; and Paul’s admonition here was given to strengthen their hands and warn them against heretical teachers already operating among the churches and sure to reach Rome in time.
With all the confusion within the religious world today, this exhortation comes home to us with new meaning. In a general way the church is honeycombed with self-seekers. They want a position among the Lord’s people, and that position must contribute materially to their personal benefit. In order that this might be accomplished they are willing to cause division. They seek to carry the simple and unwary people with them by creating prejudices and spreading false reports concerning those who would stand in their way. The question to the sincere and intelligent Christian becomes this: what shall be done regarding self-seeking pretenders? Will it be our aim to ruthlessly dislodge them and set matters right within the church? We suggest a negative answer to this.
If the devil can keep us busy settling troubles among our brethren, he will be satisfied; because he knows that will destroy our efforts for any good, wholesome, constructive purpose in the Lord’s service. The confusion in the religious world today is so intensely involved that, if we are going to busy ourselves trying to rectify such things, we will have an endless job allowing little or no time for anything else. Therefore, it becomes a crucial question and we suggest a candid twofold answer.
If the issue at stake in the Lord’s church is one of gross wickedness, then a separation must take place. That separation may be done in one of two alternative ways. If the evildoer is a wicked person, instructions are provided in 1 Corinthians 5: he/she must be put out of the Christian company, in order that the flesh within that person might be destroyed, and his/her spirit might be saved. If the person is a fornicator, covetous, an idolator, a railer, a drunkard, or an extortioner, no fellowship is to be allowed. Paul says, “with such an one no not to eat.” However, if the Christian company is so captivated by the fair speeches and smooth words of the evildoer as to take no action, then it seems there is no alternative but that the sincere believer in Christ must follow Paul’s instructions given to young Timothy in his second Epistle:
In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
In that case, personal separation from evil, from evil persons, and from those who persist in company with them, is our only course of action.
However, the passage that comes to our attention in Romans 16 contemplates no such drastic move. Here is contemplated a person who causes divisions and gives occasion of stumbling to his brethren. He is not a wicked person in the sense of 1 Corinthians 5, but he is a true detriment to the people of God. What shall we do with such? Paul makes no suggestion that he should be put away from the Christian company, nor is there any indication that we should separate ourselves from the Christian company because of him. Paul’s instructions are direct and candid. They are summed up in the two words – mark and avoid. Wherever we find a self-seeking brother or sister, who is gathering around himself or herself simpleminded people who will support them in their unworthy course, Paul’s instructions are that we should mark them and avoid them. This is splendid advice, and of course since it is indited by the Holy Spirit, it must be the proper thing to do. The self-seeker in the Christian company will always bolster himself by fair words and fine speeches that will make him popular, but a proper analysis of his actions will indicate he is seeking things for himself, and does not have the interests of Christ at heart. He may be a good organizer and he often is. He may have a benign smile and a sanctimonious manner. But underneath it all there beats a selfish heart. The unwary will be deceived by it.
“For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” The contrast here is between what the false teachers are and do on the one hand and what they pretend to be and claim on the other hand. Pretending to serve Christ, they serve themselves alone, “belly” as used here being a reference to all of the carnal and fleshly desires. They were able speakers, with a ready flow of eloquent words; and impressive rhetoric and oratory were their stock in trade. Their deceitfulness and wickedness were masked and guarded with every possible camouflage of pretended piety and devotion. Intent on causing division as a means of drawing away disciples after themselves, these false teachers are Satan’s attack forces (the shift to present tense is to focus on the problem as it still exists), not merely for the times and places known to Paul, but for all times and places, including the present now and here.
“The simple [innocent]” is Paul’s reference to the naive, unsophisticated Christian, who is inclined to receive any “good speech” as the Gospel truth, no matter what sacred truth may be denied by it, and never pauses to question anything, especially if the speech is a good one, and who thus unconsciously falls into the net of the false teacher.
“For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” The threat of evil teachers and their seductive operations was pointed out by Christ Himself (Matt. 7:15-23), and the Savior’s description of such people is still the fountain source of the true knowledge concerning them. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing, being recognizable principally by their fruits. The minister, or other teacher, who scatters the flock is a wolf, regardless of his pretensions. His sheepskin garb and pretended piety cannot disguise his true status as an enemy. Of course, Paul rejoiced that until the time then present, the Roman leadership had preserved harmony and unity among the Christians; but, by Paul’s warning here, he prophetically alerted them to certain danger ahead. In giving such an alert, Paul was careful not to insinuate that the false teachers had already arrived there, hence the first clause of this verse; but it would have been folly not to warn them.
“Simple concerning evil” seems a little ambiguous as applied to Paul’s argument here and has been explained in various ways; but its manifest reference to a desired reaction against the wiles of false teachers gives a clue to the false teacher’s modus operandi, which was invariably grounded in a pretended superiority of knowledge and intelligence. Their views were always “advanced,” allegedly, and were represented to be learned and complicated, and thus contrasting dramatically with the great simplicities of the true religion of Christ. As Paul wrote: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and purity that is toward Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3).
The boldness of the false teacher is always evident in his blunt rejection of valid truth coupled with an arrogant charge of simple-mindedness against those who hold and believe it. Very well, Paul seemed to say in this place, I want you to stay simple with reference to the so-called erudition of the false teacher.
The following verse, with its reference to bruising Satan under their feet, dramatically recalls that scene in Eden where God foretold such a bruising, a thing also clearly in Paul’s mind in the verse just cited, above, and in which primeval event there existed the same element of the false wisdom still being promised by Satan and his workers. Satan promised Eve that she should be “as God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5); but the unfortunate mother of all living would have been wiser to have remained simple to the wisdom Satan offered. This is the thrust of Paul’s word here.
“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” Those commentators who view this eschatologically and allege that Paul expected the end of the world shortly, miss the plain point of this verse. This is an allusion to Genesis 3:15. Because of its particular relevance to the bruising of Satan, “God of peace” in this place clearly has reference to God maintaining peace in the church. The previous verses have in view the division caused by Satan’s instruments. It is God who bruises Satan and establishes peace in contrast with conflict, discord, and division. He is therefore the God of peace. The assurance given in this verse is the encouragement to heed the admonitions. Each element is significant. God will crush Satan; He will crush him under the feet of the faithful; and He will do it speedily. The promise of a victorious issue undergirds the fight of faith.
Thus, the bruising of Satan is not something here promised for the remote future, but is a triumph over him to be won immediately and speedily by the Roman Christians who would have the effectual aid of God in maintaining the unity and peace of the Christians when they would be attacked by the false teachers. The entire thrust of this whole passage is not forward to the eternal judgment, but retrospective to Genesis 3:15.
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” Here is another of the numerous doxologies in Romans.
Deceivers subsist before our eyes, in our Bible classrooms, worship services and various other gatherings of the Body of Christ, and the devil would be delighted if he got us all devoting full time to rectifying these things. The Lord would have us mark such people and avoid them. By doing that we bear a testimony to the truth of the righteousness of the Gospel, and to the honor of the Name of our Lord. Flagrant false doctrine and outright wicked practices must be dealt with summarily; the selfishness, greed and inconsistencies of brethren who are self-seekers may have to be tolerated for years, but in the end God will deal with them. Even Satan himself will be bruised under our feet one of these days. Truth will not always be on the scaffold and evil on the throne, and he who has faith in God can afford to wait. But in the meantime we must see to it that we choose our company and go along with those who are loyal to Christ, whose lives are in keeping with their profession.
