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Love must be sincere (Romans 12:9a).

One might argue that this little phrase, \u201cLove must be sincere\u201d, is the heart of Romans 12. Everything that has come before--the stuff about personal transformation: \u201c\u2026in view of God\u2019s mercy\u2026offer your bodies as a living sacrifice to God\u2026be transformed by the renewing of your mind\u2026discerning God\u2019s good, pleasing and perfect will\u2026\u201d and the stuff about the relationships within the church, \u201cDo not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment\u2026in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others\u2026we have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us\u2026\u201d--all of this leads into the command, \u201cLove must be sincere.\u201d

Yes, it is written as a command. Actually, the phrase has no verb. Its as if the apostle is saying, \u201cLove that is sincere will\u2026\u201d and then he spends the rest of the chapter telling us what sincere love is all about. In upcoming \u2018Wilderness Wanderings\u2019 we will take a deep dive into \u2018love\u2019, \u2018sincere love\u2019.

There is good reason to do this. In our culture, the word love has become rather vague. It\u2019s lost its crispness. We love sweaters and the weather and we love each other. It\u2019s a feeling that comes and goes like a wave in the bay. We also claim to make love. So, what is love and what makes it sincere?

The word used for love here is agape. So far in Romans all references to agape have been to the \u2018love of God\u2019\u2014as demonstrated on the cross (5:8), as poured into our hearts (5:5) and as doggedly refusing to let us go (8:35, 39). This is a pursuing, wooing, winning back kind of love. The lover is willing to sacrifice himself unto death to express his love. So that is our reference point, our example. But it is also our source. This love has been poured into us. Now it must flow out. Here the focus shifts to agape, that is, love, as the essence of Christian discipleship. Romans 12-15 are a sustained encouragement to let love govern and shape all our relationships. At the end of the chapter, Paul will write about love for our enemies (17-21), but first he portrays it as pervading the Christian community (9-16).

The word \u2018sincere\u2019 means \u2018without hypocrisy\u2019. In the ancient world, hypocrite was the word for actor. Thus, Paul starts by saying that acts and words of love must not be pretend. We should not tell someone we love them, when we really don\u2019t. Neither should we act in love, when in reality, we despise or even hate someone. For early Christians, the primary example of non-sincere love was Judas, betraying Jesus with a kiss. This was hypocritical love in its vilest form.

It is in this matter of sincere love that Christian discipleship is counter-cultural. Feelings are paramount among us. \u201cIf I don\u2019t feel like it, I don\u2019t have to do it.\u201d But for Christians love is the law (13:8-10). When Paul says that love must be sincere, what he means is that if we don\u2019t feel loving, we need to change our attitude; our hearts need to change. We need to love like God loves us. How does that happen? The cure for a non-loving heart is not to try harder. It is to look to God, to see his love for me. For Christians, confession is not primarily about feeling bad, it\u2019s the road to experiencing God\u2019s mercy again. Love begins with a view to God\u2019s mercy. Only with our eyes fixed on Jesus, can our love become sincere. So, let us fix our eyes on him.

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