This is preview of the sermon for Sunday February 24, 2013, (posted in Jan 2014) at Glorious Savior Church.This is the underlying study for the message.

There is a catechism, a teaching method, used by Paul in Romans 12, that used four different forms of the imperative. If this is a bit too technical, just skip down to the “Mundane application” section below.

An imperative is a command to do something.

In Romans 12, Paul uses four kinds of imperatives (commands). These forms are: the imperatival participle, the imperatival use of adjectives, the imperatival infinitive, and the imperatival verb to express commands and authorative teaching in this final, practical section of Romans. Each of these imperatives differ in their impact on the reason, on the heart, and on the will.

The participle imperative is used to direct how we are to live in certain circumstances. For example, in loving, it should be genuine; in giving, with generosity, and the like. There are 17 of these in Romans 12. They are given like a list of Rabbinical rules, not as commands so much as a code of conduct, also presenting an easy way of memorizing many rules (in love, let your love be…” Or “In the presence of true moral evil, hate the evil.” “In trouble, hold steady.” “In praying, be constant.” “When presented with the needs of others, share with them.” The commands focus on how we are to respond in certain challenging circumstances.

The imperatives also appear as adjectives that are constructed with a descriptor (“warmly-affectionate”) and with the missing verb, “you shall be,” added to the sentence, so the imperative in translated, “You shall be warmly affectionate in your love.” But the impact is not a suggestion, it is a command.

There are 3 occasions of the adjective without the ginesthe, “you shall be” or with the negative, “you shall not be. The imperatival adjectives appear in 12:10, 11, and 16. In each case, they address the attitudes of the believer in Christ:

“Be warmly affectionate; be untiring in zeal. do not be conceited.” The adjectives create a strong appeal to our emotions, they paint a picture of an ideal of our relationships and of our duties, toward which we reach. These imperatives become a means by which we can exhort one another toward certain godly attitudes and loving relationships.

Next is the imperatival infinitive. Romans 12:15, “You ought to rejoice with those who rejoice. You ought to weep with those who weep.” There is a sense of urgency. Paul uses this construction also in Philippians 3:16 and 2 Thessalonians 3:14, but It is infrequent in the New Testament.

Miller (see reference below) postulates that the distance between Paul and his readers limited the use of the stronger imperatives and more authorative commands. This command would be something that could be done at a distance, but still have a serious intent. When a person is face to face, that is when the verbal imperative (see below) is normally used. The imperatival infinitive created a strong appeal to the human conscience. “You ought to know and you ought to do … this.” It “encodes moral duty.”

The last type of command is the (expected) grammatical imperative. Here the writer gives a direct command, as speaking with authority and a directive to the will. A choice must be made. The command begins from the will of the writer (speaker) and it is directed to the will of the reader (hearer), demanding a response, a decision, or an action to be taken. This is the most forceful and directive means of address. The final imperatives change the person of the verb from the previous plural you (“you all”) to the singular you (“you alone”), see Romans 12:20-21.

“(You alone) Feed your enemy! (You alone) Give your enemy drink!” (quoting from Proverbs 25:21-22). The stronger level of command may also be from the authority of the Word of God since it was a quotation from Proverbs. But the second person singular (you alone) continues after the quotation, suggesting that there is a personal connection with these commands.

Here is my mundane application of this little study:

The commands and exhortations must be met with the understanding and desire on the part of the hearer to comply and to do what is commanded, if they are to have any effect. This was true for the Church in Rome and it is true for your teenager.

A teenager’s famous retort to the parent who asks him to pick up his room, is, “Whatever!” But in that single word is a wholesale rejection of the command.

This study showed many ways to construct a command. Rules and code of behavior, appeal to duty, accepting the authority of the speaker (writer), and more. We, and the teenager, must ask whether we will comply with the commands we have been given.

The imperative spoken to the teenager to “Pick up your room” implies that there is the authority and the expectation that the command be followed. When the teenager says, “Whatevaaar!” they are rejecting the authority of the parent and they are saying that they will not submit their will to do what you are requiring of them. This is exactly the same as when we receive a command from God and refuse to take it to heart.

The point is that God appeals to our reason, to our emotions, and to our will, that we might become the people he wants us to be. When we cry, “Whatever!” to God we are saying that his character is not important. When we fail to listen carefully to the duties of the Christian life, or when we dismiss our duty to our enemies, or neglect to share with someone in need, we are saying, “Whatever!” to God.

Living in obedience to the Word of God creates a tender and compliant heart. Doing all that God has commanded is a sweet place to be, or a place we should long to be.

Whatever can be a wonderful word. To God we say, “Whatever you command, I will do. Whatever it is. Whatever you ask me to be, I will gladly and lovingly seek after with all my heart, for your glory. Whatever.”

Source: Neva F. Miller, “The Imperativals of Romans 12,” in Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation: Essays on Discourse Analysis, ed. David Alan Black, with Katharine Barnwell and Stephen Levinsohn.