Last time, we saw how Paul introduced a new section in his letter to the Romans, dedicated to moral and ethical instruction, with an exhortation to radical transformation. While this call to change is individual, it is always for the sake of the community. And in the six verses we’ll look at today, we’ll see the first two ways Paul believes this all plays out in community life: humility and Spirit-empowered sharing of gifts.
Text
[3] For, by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more loftily than is necessary to think, but to think with the goal of moderation, each in relation to the measure of faithfulness God has apportioned. [4] For just as how in one body we have many body parts and they don’t all have the same function, [5] so are we the many one body in Christ, and are each parts of one another. [6] And having gifts that differ in accordance with the grace given to us: whether prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; [7] service, in serving; the one who teaches, in teaching; [8] the one who encourages, in encouraging; the one who shares, in liberality; the one who leads, in diligence; the one who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.
Experience
This passage brings back memories of the Christian communities of my youth, which talked a lot about spiritual gifts of the kind Paul mentions here. Overall, the passage excites me about the potential and possibility of life in Christian community, empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is the kind of Church I’d like to see more of in the world, and to be a part of.
But what I didn’t remember was that this teaching is prefaced by a call to humility. It’s an interesting detail that we shouldn’t lose sight of.
Encounter
Here we encounter, in some ways for the first time in the letter, the Church, a community diverse not only in background and socioeconomic status, but also in abilities and proclivities. There is no hint here of top-heavy leadership, but of a community where everyone pitches in, and just as crucially, where everyone’s abilities and vocations are recognized and valued.
Explore
Humility
This passage begins with a call to humility. Paul urges his readers not to ‘super-think’ (hyperphronein), a word that generally refers to thinking lofty thoughts. But considering how often Paul has opposed boasting and spiritual hubris in Romans, the many translations that turn it into a warning against thinking too highly of oneself can be forgiven for this minor eisegesis (Witherington 287; Eberhart; Kruse 468).
Paul contrasts such ‘super-thinking’ with ‘sober-thinking’ sophronein (Eberhart). This is the verb form of sophrosyne, an important but misunderstood word. It’s often translated into English with such quaint words as sobriety, chastity, or prudence. But such translations miss that this was understood to be a form of wisdom (generally women’s wisdom), focused on the proper governance of a household. It’s the wisdom behind a well-run operation. So Paul is telling his audience not to get carried away with big ideas, but to focus on doing the work before them well and wisely.
Paul transitions directly from this to his metaphor of the Church as the body of Christ (which he developed in greater detail in 1 Corinthians 12.12-31). The faithful should consider themselves not as individuals, but as parts of a greater whole, each with their own function. This is a powerful metaphor. As Tonstad puts it, it offers a “vision of human diversity that is respectful of difference, mindful of varieties of gifts and mutual interdependence, and conscious that wholeness is possible only in community” (Tonstad 291).
In this way, from Romans 12.1-5, Paul makes a gentle three-pronged attack on arrogance:
- The faithful are to see their lives as an act of worship, which automatically puts the worshiper in their place as a ‘mere’ creation of the Creator (Witherington 288)
- The faithful are not to get distracted by big ideas, but to focus on the work and life before them
- The faithful are to understand themselves as part of a greater whole
As much as we’re used to Paul’s analogy of the body made up of many parts to describe the Church, the metaphor has a long history in political ideology, including that of imperial Rome (Witherington 289). Once again, we find that big overlap in the ancient world between the languages of politics and religion. It’s unlikely Paul used the image as a direct assault on imperial ideology, but the contrast between the two uses is not insignificant. In a world of competing ‘bodies’, which body are you going to be part of, and who will be your head (cf. Ephesians 5.23)? Do you take your lead from the emperor (or king or president)? Or do you take you lead from Christ? It’s a question that remains relevant to this day.
Spiritual Gifts
Each part of the body has a function, and Paul introduces these functions within the Church as charismata, a term that in the New Testament has a technical meaning of ‘spiritual gifts’. These are empowering gifts from God to help build up the community (Eberhart; cf. Ephesians 4). The connection to the Church is important here. In fact, Paul never writes about spiritual gifts apart from the metaphor of the body and its parts: The gifts are diversifying but the diversity is for the sake of the bigger whole. This means there is a mutual responsibility here: gifts must be used in and for the building up of the Church, but the Church therefore has the responsibility to acknowledge and lift up the gifts of its members.
The gifts are allotted ‘each in relation to the measure of faithfulness God has apportioned.’ This is a strange expression; the idea seems to be of God allotting ‘what faithfulness looks like’ for each of us as we exercise our gifts and vocation; thus it’s not ‘justifying faith’ Paul is talking about here, but gifts that empower us “to do special things” within and for the Church and broader world (Witherington 288; see Kruse 468 for a survey of options).
Paul also talks about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12.8-11 and Ephesians 4.11-14. But whereas those passages focus on specific offices or ministries, here in Romans 12, the focus is broader — gifts for the whole Church and not just its leadership (Eberhart). The list here includes: prophecy, service, teaching, encouragement or exhortation, sharing, leadership, and acts of mercy. (For a list of all the gifts mentioned in the Scriptures and fuller discussion of spiritual gifts writ large, please see the relevant post in my series on vocation.) All of these gifts benefit community life: prophecy and exhortation are about encouraging faithful persistence and the healthy theological framing of what the community is going through; service, sharing, and acts of mercy are practical matters of rendering assistance to those who need it; and teaching and leadership are about communication and effective governance (Witherington 289; Kruse 469-72; Eberhart).
While most of these have a simple description matching the gift, emphasizing the importance of acting out the gift given (i.e., the gift of teaching comes with the expectation that one will teach, etc.), prophecy is set apart from this pattern. Prophecy is to be done “according to the proportion of faith.” It could be that this is similar the ‘measure of faithfulness’ discussed above — a reminder that prophecy is only for those to whom it’s been allotted — or it could be a warning for those with the gift to exercise discernment in their messages, “speaking forth in proportion to his or her dependence on and hearing of God’s message,” lest “the prophecy … be five parts inspiration to perhaps three parts perspiration or mere wishful thinking” (Witherington 289; cf Kruse 470).
Challenge
It is often noted that much of contemporary discourse in Christian circles about spiritual gifts assumes a lot of privilege. While that’s hardly Paul’s fault, it’s important to recognize that the opportunities provided for us to use our gifts is highly intersectional, impacted by things such as class, wealth, citizenship status, race, language, marital status, sex, gender, and sexuality. For the interest of time, I won’t expound on this here, but would encourage you to check out my post on this topic from my series on vocation: “Vocation in the Real World.”
Expand
Again, it’s hard to find a passage more oriented towards spiritual growth than Romans 12. The portion we’ve looked at today offers a balanced perspective: it is empowering in its teaching on valuing the diversity of gifts present in the community; but it also keeps the ego in check by reminding us that are gifts are not meant for our own benefit, but exist to help build up the community of faith. There is an essential reciprocity involved here, and it gives us every reason to support our siblings in Christ, no matter the intersectional barriers that may exist, in the use of their gifts.
Summary & Conclusions
In Romans 12, Paul explores what a Spirit-driven community looks like in practice. In today’s passage, he emphasizes humility, which is not thinking badly of ourselves, but understanding how we properly fit into things. Just as each body part has its function, so have we each our own role to play in the Church (and beyond), and God has given us each gifts to empower us to fulfill that role.
* For full references, please see the series bibliography.
Matthew Root 