Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Romans · About this commentary
Many Members, One Body
Romans 12:3-8
3 For I say through the grace that was given me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith. · WEB
Sober self-assessment opens the body image, the gifts differ by grace, and each gift's instruction is simply to do it — with its adverb.
For I say through the grace that was given me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.
The renewed mind's first assignment is self-assessment, and the verse plays on the thinking-words: not to over-think oneself but to think soberly — the clear-headed estimate, neither inflated nor falsely abased. The standard is what God apportioned: gifts are distributed, not achieved, so accurate self-knowledge is simply grace-accounting Romans 12:6. Pride mismeasures upward; false modesty mismeasures downward and buries the talent; sobriety reads the actual apportionment and gets to work.
Then the image that carries the church's self-understanding: for even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don't have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another Romans 12:4–5.
The last phrase goes beyond the familiar unity-in-diversity: members of one another — each part belonging not just to the body but to the other parts, the eye the hand's possession and the hand the eye's. Independence is not an option the anatomy offers.
And the gift list follows, seven items with a striking economy: if prophecy, let's prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; or service, let's give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; or he who exhorts, to his exhorting; he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness Romans 12:6–8.
The instruction for each gift is essentially: do it. Prophecy, prophesy; service, serve; teaching, teach. No gift is ranked above another, no envy of the next member's function is entertained, and the whole exhortation is against the two standing failures — neglecting one's gift while admiring another's, or performing it carelessly.
The adverbs at the end are the list's wisdom: giving with generosity — openhanded, unbegrudged; leading with diligence — the ruler's temptation is coasting; mercy with cheerfulness — because mercy delivered grimly wounds the one it serves. The manner is part of the gift. A church where each member does its apportioned work in its proper spirit is the body functioning — and the next verses describe its bloodstream, which is love Romans 12:9.
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