Two Chapters That Go Hand In Hand

Eric Carpenter penned a brief post on a topic I have been harping on for years, A Pilgrim's Progress: The Danger of Separating Romans 13 from Romans 12. The church speaking generally tends to view the end of Romans 12 and the beginning of Romans 13 as completely separate thoughts even though when read together it is clearly a single argument Paul is making. If you read Romans 13 by itself you can sort of make a case for "just war" and the participation of Christians in the violence of the state but that completely falls apart when you read the end of 12 in the same sitting. Check it out and remember that the chapter and verse divisions we take for granted were added well after the actual writing of the books of the Bible.