“Cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9

Romans 12:9 is a verse that encouragers Christians to behave as Christians should.

In its entirety, the Romans 12:9 reads, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.”

If you’re seeking best practices for living a Godly life, Romans 12 is the chapter to read. I’ve always loved the book of Romans, and chapter 12 in particular is one of those parts of the Bible from which I glean something new each time I read it. (See also the book of Proverbs).

Romans 12 lays out the standards for Christian morals and how one ought to live. Verse 9 in particular stands out. In MacLaren’s Expositions of the Bible, he states it like this: “…resolute clinging to good is as essential to the noblest forms of Christian love as is the sincerity enjoined in the previous clause. To detest the one and hold fast by the other are essential to the purity and depth of our love. Evil is to be loathed, and good to be clung to in our own moral conduct, and wherever we see them. These two precepts are not mere tautology, but the second of them is the ground of the first. The force of our recoil from the bad will be measured by the firmness of our grasp of the good; and yet, though inseparably connected, the one is apt to be easier to obey than is the other.”

“Cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9