Romans 12:9 (LSB)

Passage

Let love be without hypocrisy—by abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good,

Nearby Context

Romans 12:7 or service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;

Romans 12:8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with generosity; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy—by abhorring what is evil, clinging to what is good,

Romans 12:10 being devoted to one another in brotherly love, giving preference to one another in honor,

Romans 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, being fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "love", "without", "hypocrisy", "abhorring", "evil", "clinging", and "good". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "love" and "without", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 8's "or he who exhorts in his exhortation..." into verse 10's "being devoted to one another in brotherly...", so "love" and "without" belong inside that flow. In Romans context, the local focus is righteousness by faith, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, and God's covenant faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "love" and "without" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.