Romans 12:3–8. Paul has just said, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” His very next instruction concerns how we think about ourselves. A renewed mind produces humility.
Then Paul uses the picture of one body with many members. We should also be careful with the miraculous gifts mentioned here. Paul is describing gifts actually present in the first-century Roman church; this paragraph itself is not addressing how long those gifts would continue.
ONE BODY, MANY MEMBERS
Romans 12:3–8
Paul has just told Christians:
“Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
Now he immediately talks about how Christians should:
think.
That connection is easy to miss.
Paul says:
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.”
— Romans 12:3
A transformed mind begins with an honest view of:
ourselves.
DON'T THINK TOO HIGHLY OF YOURSELF
Paul doesn't say:
Think badly of yourself.
He says:
“Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.”
There is a difference between:
humility
and
self-contempt.
Paul isn't asking Christians to pretend they have no abilities.
In fact, he is about to tell them to use their abilities.
The problem is not recognizing what God has enabled us to do.
The problem is thinking that makes us:
better than someone else.
THINK WITH SOBER JUDGMENT
Paul continues:
“But to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
The word sober suggests clear thinking.
Don't exaggerate your importance.
Don't underestimate your responsibility.
See yourself accurately.
And remember that whatever place you have in God's work ultimately comes from:
God.
Paul himself begins:
“By the grace given to me...”
Even Paul's apostleship was something he had:
received.
ONE BODY
Now Paul gives an illustration:
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function...”
— Romans 12:4
Think about your physical body.
An eye is not an ear.
A hand is not a foot.
Each is different.
But difference does not mean:
competition.
The hand doesn't need to become an eye.
The eye doesn't need to prove that it is more important than the foot.
Each has its own function.
SO IT IS WITH CHRISTIANS
Paul continues:
“So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
— Romans 12:5
Notice both sides.
Many.
And:
one.
Christian unity does not require everyone to be identical.
People have different abilities.
Different responsibilities.
Different personalities.
Different opportunities.
But in Christ they belong to:
one body.
And Paul goes even further.
We are:
“Members one of another.”
We don't merely belong to Christ.
We belong to each other.
CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A SOLO ACT
That is increasingly important in a culture that emphasizes individual choice.
We sometimes think:
My faith is between me and God.
Certainly each person must personally trust and obey God.
But Paul's picture is bigger.
When we enter Christ, we become part of:
a body.
Other Christians need us.
And we need them.
A Christian who says:
“I don't need other Christians”
is rather like a hand saying:
“I don't need the rest of the body.”
Paul's picture doesn't allow that kind of independence.
DIFFERENT GIFTS
Paul says:
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.”
— Romans 12:6
Again notice:
grace.
Paul has used that word twice in this short paragraph.
His own ministry came through grace.
Their gifts came through grace.
So why boast?
If something is a gift, we didn't create it ourselves.
The proper response to a gift is not:
pride.
It is:
faithful use.
“LET US USE THEM”
That may be the practical heart of the paragraph.
If God has given you an ability:
use it.
Don't spend your life wishing you had someone else's ability.
Don't bury what you have because someone else seems more talented.
Don't use your ability to prove your importance.
Use what God has given you to serve:
the body.
Then Paul gives examples.
PROPHECY
First:
“If prophecy, in proportion to our faith.”
— Romans 12:6
Prophecy was present in the first-century church.
We see it elsewhere in the New Testament.
Paul discusses prophets and prophecy in considerable detail in 1 Corinthians 12–14.
We should let Romans 12 say what it says without making it answer another question.
This paragraph tells us that prophecy was among the gifts operating in the church.
It does not tell us here:
how the gift was received
or
how long it would continue.
Those questions must be answered from other passages.
That's another example of letting a passage do the job it was written to do.
SERVICE
Next:
“If service, in our serving.”
This sounds much less spectacular.
But Paul puts it right beside prophecy.
Serving matters.
Some Christians may never stand before a congregation.
They may never teach a class.
Their names may never be widely known.
But they see something that needs to be done and:
do it.
In Christ's body, that matters.
THE ONE WHO TEACHES
Paul continues:
“The one who teaches, in his teaching.”
Teaching is a gift and a responsibility.
A teacher isn't supposed to impress people with how much he knows.
The teacher's responsibility is to:
teach.
Explain the truth clearly.
Help people understand the Word.
And point them toward Christ rather than toward:
the teacher.
THE ONE WHO EXHORTS
Then:
“The one who exhorts, in his exhortation.”
Exhortation includes:
encouraging,
urging,
strengthening,
and sometimes:
challenging.
Some people have an unusual ability to help another Christian keep going.
That too serves the body.
THE ONE WHO CONTRIBUTES
Paul says:
“The one who contributes, in generosity.”
Giving isn't merely:
handing over money.
Paul emphasizes the manner:
generously.
God's gifts are not given merely so we can accumulate more for ourselves.
What we possess can become a way of serving someone else.
THE ONE WHO LEADS
Paul continues:
“The one who leads, with zeal.”
Leadership requires effort.
It is not merely having a title.
A Christian leader should take the responsibility seriously.
Not lazily.
Not carelessly.
But:
diligently.
THE ONE WHO DOES ACTS OF MERCY
Finally:
“The one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
That last word is worth noticing.
It is possible to help someone while making them feel like a burden.
Paul says mercy should be shown:
cheerfully.
Not:
“I suppose I'll help you if I have to.”
Mercy reflects something we ourselves have received from God.
Romans 12 began:
“By the mercies of God.”
People who have received mercy should know how to:
show mercy.
NOT EVERY GIFT IS SPECTACULAR
Look again at Paul's list.
Prophecy.
Service.
Teaching.
Encouraging.
Giving.
Leading.
Showing mercy.
Some might attract attention.
Others may happen quietly where hardly anyone notices.
Paul doesn't create a ranking.
Each serves the body.
Sometimes the person quietly helping someone in need may be doing something every bit as important to the body as the person standing in front teaching.
Different functions.
Same body.
DON'T CONFUSE DIFFERENCE WITH IMPORTANCE
That is one of Paul's main lessons.
We naturally compare ourselves.
He can do something I can't.
She receives more attention than I do.
Nobody notices what I do.
But a body doesn't work through competition among its parts.
It works when each part does:
its job.
The question isn't:
“Am I as important as that person?”
The better question is:
“Am I faithfully using what God has given me?”
WHAT ABOUT MIRACULOUS GIFTS TODAY?
Romans 12:3–8 is sometimes brought into that discussion because Paul includes:
prophecy.
But we should be careful.
The immediate question here is not:
When will miraculous gifts cease?
Paul is writing to a first-century congregation in which such gifts existed.
His point is:
Use whatever God has given you faithfully and humbly for the good of the body.
Questions about the origin, duration, and cessation of miraculous gifts require us to examine other passages—such as Acts 8, 1 Corinthians 12–14, and Ephesians 4—rather than forcing Romans 12 to settle a question Paul isn't addressing here.
That is simply good exegesis.
SOMETHING ELSE CONNECTS THIS TO ROMANS 11
Remember what Paul warned Gentile Christians in the previous chapter:
“Do not become proud.”
Now Romans 12 says:
“Do not think of himself more highly than he ought to think.”
That's not accidental.
Pride threatened the unity of Jewish and Gentile Christians.
Paul has spent chapters telling them:
Nobody gets to boast.
Jews cannot boast in ancestry.
Gentiles cannot boast over broken Jewish branches.
Christians cannot boast about their gifts.
Everything rests upon:
grace.
READ PAUL BEFORE READING A SYSTEM INTO PAUL
It would be easy to turn Romans 12:3–8 into a personality test:
“Discover your spiritual gift.”
That may produce useful discussion.
But that isn't Paul's main point.
Paul is addressing:
humility,
unity,
and
service.
Don't think too highly of yourself.
Remember that you are one member among many.
Recognize that your abilities come by grace.
Then:
“Let us use them.”
The emphasis is not:
Discover how special you are.
It is:
Use what God has given you to serve others.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
Ask the text:
How should a Christian think about himself?
“With sober judgment.”
Are all Christians supposed to have the same function?
No.
“The members do not all have the same function.”
How many bodies are there?
“One body in Christ.”
Where do our abilities come from?
“According to the grace given to us.”
What should we do with them?
“Let us use them.”
Why is boasting foolish?
Because whatever we have is:
a gift.
And whatever our function may be, we belong:
to one another.
Paul now moves from particular gifts to something that should characterize every Christian.
And he begins with perhaps the most important word of all:
Love.
But not just any kind of love.
“Let love be genuine.”
NEXT: LET LOVE BE GENUINE
Romans 12:9–21
TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.
Questions, comments, or disagreements?
We welcome them. Use the response form on our HOME page to send us a note.
Return to New Testament Books