Romans 16:19
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. 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.
The obedience of believers had come abroad unto all men, and this widely known obedience was cause for gladness on their behalf. Paul was glad because their obedience was known to all, yet even then he added his charge to them. Gladness for obedience so published does not remove the need for vigilance to discern good, to remain ignorant of evil, and to separate from divisive influences.
The charge is to be wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil. To be wise toward good is to be skilled in choosing good, and to be simple toward evil is to be unlearned, innocent, ignorant, and unknowing in evil. Christ expects this obedience known abroad unto all men joined with goodness and separation from evil, so every believer is to examine what his own showing is in this obedience, goodness, and separation from evil. Those who meet this expectation come into working order with Him and receive the heaven of blessings He has reserved for them.
Obedience to the truth sanctifies the soul and makes men and women Christlike in thought, word, and deed by copying the perfect pattern, whose ways are pleasantness and peace. It brings habits and practices and ideas into conformity to the Word and makes them earnest, wholehearted, and sensible defenders of truth. Living out wisdom toward good and simplicity toward evil means standing as watchmen by earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, holding fast to Christ and hiding the life with Christ in God. It means maintaining a strong presentation of evidence about present dangers and standing ready to defend truth.
The charge belongs with marking those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine learned and avoiding them. They serve not Jesus Christ but self, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple and the unsuspecting with persuasive words. They do Satan's work of leading men and women with all deceivableness of unrighteousness to deny the faith. For those in responsible positions this wisdom and simplicity means exercising great caution, being swift to hear and slow to speak and slow to wrath, realizing accountability under the eye of an all-seeing God, and such wisdom toward good and simplicity toward evil would make a great change among leaders.
It calls for refusing to make mind and heart a repository for Satan's suggestions and seeds of doubt and unbelief and infidelity, and for making individual efforts strengthen faith in God and in present truth. It is done by lifting the voice in warning and reproof to stay evil and bring light amid darkness, continuing that work till the close. It requires refusing to step between the warning and the one God would warn and draw back from evil. The Word is to be taught always, at all times and in all places, because nothing else can take its place as truth against error, and the sacred Word holds enduring power.
Debaters who suppose themselves very keen and wise yet fail to show this wise choice of good and ignorance of evil stand as an offense to God, for they misrepresent the truth as it is in Jesus. God has power to establish believers according to the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.