For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
Parallel translations
- WEB For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil.
- BSB Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.
- NKJV For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.
- NASB For the report of your obedience has reached everyone; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent in what is evil.
- NLT But everyone knows that you are obedient to the Lord. This makes me very happy. I want you to be wise in doing right and to stay innocent of any wrong.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul rejoices that the Romans' obedience is widely known, yet urges them to be wise about good and innocent about evil. It calls believers to discernment that embraces good while staying untainted by sin.
Overview
Paul commends the Roman church's well-known faithfulness, which gives him cause for joy, while gently urging continued growth. Echoing Jesus' words to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Matthew 10:16), he wants them shrewd in pursuing what is good but unschooled and pure regarding evil. Such discernment guards the church against the very deceivers he has just described and reflects the renewed mind that the gospel produces.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Matt 10:16Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
- 1 Cor 14:20Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
- Phil 2:15That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
- Jas 3:13–18Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
- Rom 1:8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
- Eph 5:17Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
- Phil 1:9And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
- Jer 4:22For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
- Col 3:16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
- 2 Tim 3:15–17And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
- Ps 101:2I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
- Isa 11:2–3And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
- 1 Th 3:6–10But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you:
- Eph 1:15–18Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
- 1 Th 1:2–3We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
- Luke 10:3Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
- 1 Kgs 3:9–12Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
- Col 1:3–9We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
- 1 Th 1:8–9For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 16:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.