We have a lengthy epistle text for this week (Romans 12:9‑21), so let’s jump right in. At first glance the text presents a fairly unstructured, wide‑ranging series of general ethical admonitions. The generic literary description of this style of presentation is “parenesis.” Paul's apparent lack of any one theme and variety of admonitions seems to earn the description of “paranetic” for this passage.

However, more recent scholars have discerned a common thread running through all of these Pauline imperatives (see D.A. Black, “The Pauline Love Command: Structure, Style, and Ethics in Romans,” Filologia Neotestamentaria 1 [1989], 3‑21). The common thread or organizational center around which all of Paul's admonitions revolve is found in his first directive: “Let love be authentic” (v.9a).

Paul…