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Context No. 1817 of 4322 · Romans

Context · Reflection

Romans 16:17-25: in context

17Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them. 18For those who are such don’t serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent. 19For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil. 20And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 21Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives. 22I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord. 23Gaius, my host and host of the whole assembly, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, as does Quartus, the brother. 24The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! Amen.

As Paul closes his letter, he warns the Romans to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in the way, contrary to the teaching they received; such people, he says, serve not Christ but their own appetites, and deceive the hearts of the naive with smooth and flattering speech. He rejoices in the Romans' obedience, and then gives a memorable instruction: I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent in what is evil.

Paul's phrase holds together two things we might think are in tension: wisdom and innocence. Be wise in what is good, he says, and innocent, or simple, in what is evil. He wants his readers to be discerning, knowledgeable, mature about the good, deeply versed in the ways of God and truth; and at the same time to keep a certain innocence about evil, not needing to be experienced in wickedness, not worldly-wise in the ways of sin. This cuts against two errors. The first is a naive goodness that is innocent about evil but also ignorant about good, undiscerning, easily deceived, unable to tell truth from error; Paul does not want that, for he has just warned them to watch out for deceivers with smooth speech, which requires discernment. He wants them wise, able to see through the flattery and division that would lead them astray. But the second error is the opposite: the worldly sophistication that thinks it must become experienced in evil to be wise, that dabbles in sin to know it, that loses its innocence in the name of maturity. Paul does not want that either. We do not need to be experienced in wickedness to be wise; there is a knowledge of evil that only corrupts, and Paul counsels innocence there. The balance he calls for is a wisdom that is fully engaged with the good, discerning and mature, joined to an innocence that has not steeped itself in evil. Be wise as serpents, Jesus said, and innocent as doves; know the good deeply, and keep clear of the intimate knowledge of evil that only stains. This is a wisdom worth seeking: to grow ever more knowing about what is good and true, discerning enough not to be deceived, while guarding an innocence about evil, not needing to taste wickedness to be wise. Wise in good, innocent in evil: that is the balance Paul commends.

Do I pursue a wisdom that is discerning and mature about what is good, able to see through deception, while guarding an innocence about evil, not needing to become experienced in wickedness to be wise, or have I fallen into a naive goodness that is easily deceived, or a worldly sophistication that has steeped itself in evil in the name of maturity?

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