City Life Starter

The Word: Romans 16:19-20

19 For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.

20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Reflection Questions

1. Why is it so important to stay “uncontaminated” by the world?

2. What is the significance of the imagery Paul used about crushing Satan under our feet?

3. Can you think of a time you remembered a promise from God that gave you hope and peace?

Paul is continuing in the vein of caution as he speaks in verse 19. He is letting them know that word has gotten around and all eyes are on them because of the message they are spreading, so it’s of the utmost importance that they keep the purity of their beliefs set apart from the rest of the world and those that would deceive or try to bring them down. The word “innocent” used here is not denoting an ignorance or naivety like we might think when we see this word, but the original Greek translates it as “unmixed” or “uncontaminated”. It is the same word and translation used in a similar instruction from Matthew when Jesus is sending out the the twelve disciples:

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16

Paul, and Jesus in Matthew stated above, is trying to stress the importance of being in and among the world to impact it but being able to remain pure and “uncontaminated” by it in the midst of it. I’m sure we can all attest to the fact that it can be a difficult thing indeed to try to engage the culture with the Gospel without the influence of the culture affecting the lens in which we see and understand the world, and it takes much wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit to do so.

The linguistics nerd in me knows that Paul chose the words he did in verse 20 very specifically, for a reason. First of all, he chose to say “the God of peace” to begin the verse. We know there are many attributes and names to choose from to describe God, so why specifically the God of peace? I think it is connected to the imagery he chooses after in the “crushing of Satan under your feet”. He is making a reference to the curse handed out to Satan by God in the garden of Eden at the fall of man:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15

This was one of the first glimpses of redemption in scripture, right after the fall. There is this hope and promise that even though there will be a struggle and much attack from the enemy, he will be crushed under our feet and God will have the ultimate victory in the end. There is something so reassuring and comforting about revisiting the promises that God has already given when we are facing something. These promises have a way of anchoring us down when we feel tossed and turned about, causing us to remember that what He said He would do He will do. And already did do.

So after all the caution, warnings and instructions, after all of the hard things Paul confronts throughout the book of Romans, he brings it back to the promise of God. He lays the ground for a confident hope that after the battles, the strife, the persecution, and all of the other hard things they endured/will endure, God will certainly exert His power to bring victory and establish His peace, and it’s His peace that will reign over the chaos they might be currently experiencing. Paul was always bringing them back to the eternal hope and promise they have because of what Christ has done. And Paul is still having that impact today, helping us to remember to insert all God has done for us into whatever situation we face to give us a confident hope and expectation of things to come.