Romans 12:1
Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν ἁγίαν εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν·
I exhort you, therefore, brothers, through the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, your reasonable service.
Paraphrase: Now, brothers and sisters, in light of all what we have learned about our depravity (Romans 1-3), all what we learned pertaining to our justification apart from law-keeping (Romans 4-5), all what we learned about God dismantling our sin nature (Romans 6-8), and all of what God will do for His people (Romans 9-11); yes, in light of all this, it now remains for us to come to God’s altar and to offer ourselves up to Him. Yes, I really mean that. This time, it’s not the body of a bull or goat which we are bringing to the altar as our fathers did, but we are taking our very own body, laying it on the altar, and offering it to God and to His service. This means that we take our entire person, our ambitions, our desires, our gifts, and all that we are and place it on the altar as a whole burnt offering. (Leviticus 1:3) Of course, I don’t mean this literally. I mean that we make a full surrender of ourselves to God, who is our King and Master. We yield ourselves completely to Him holding nothing back. Then we are not offering up a dead animal to God as was done under the old covenant. No, we are offering a living sacrifice which is acceptable to God and is the only reasonable thing to do after we have seen all the mercies of God towards us in Christ. To what other conclusion can we come? It’s the same conclusion to which Isaiah the prophet came when he simply said, “Here am I YHWH, send me.”
Comments:
Edersheim (p99): “It [the burnt offering] symbolized the entire surrender unto God, whether of the individual or of the congregation, and His acceptance thereof.”
Silva suggests the following paraphrase: “I urge you … to offer your bodies a living sacrifice … your appropriate priestly duty as a Christian.” Biblical Words p204. Cremer argues (p397) that λογικὴν must mean reasonable as in logical. There is no contrast here between the physical and the spiritual. Philippi disagrees (p251) and says that a contrast between rational and irrational ritual is out of place here. He understands the contrast to be between “material oblations and outward offerings” and “inward, rational self-consecration to God’s service.” Stuart adopts (p388) both meanings.
Your rational service, τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν ὑμῶν, viz., your spiritual offering or service, or that which is mental or belongs to reason (λόγος), in distinction from an external service or λατρεία σαρκικη, such as the Jews offered and relied on for salvation.
Romans 12:2
καὶ μὴ συσχηματίζεσθε τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ μεταμορφοῦσθε τῇ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοός, εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον.
and do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in order that you might test what is the will of God, the good and acceptable and perfect.
Paraphrase: This means that we don’t take our marching orders from the culture around us. We don’t mindlessly adopt all the ideas and lifestyle which the world holds out to us as normal and proper. On the contrary, let your mind (Romans 8:6-8) be molded and shaped by the Spirit of God. (2 Corinthians 3:18) Then you will be in the best possible position to sift through all the ideas and practices of our culture and to know which of these trends are consistent with God’s will and which are not. The truth is that not every cultural trend is evil just as not every cultural trend is good. The will of God is our measure, and God has given us a revelation of this in Scripture. (Deuteronomy 29:29) Here we can read what is acceptable to Him and what kind of lifestyle brings glory to Him.
Comments:
Principle 22 shows us that συσχηματίζεσθε is not indicative but imperative.
The reference here is to God’s revealed will, not His secret will.
Romans 12:3
Λέγω γὰρ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης μοι παντὶ τῷ ὄντι ἐν ὑμῖν μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν παρ’ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν, ἀλλὰ φρονεῖν εἰς τὸ σωφρονεῖν, ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἐμέρισεν μέτρον πίστεως.
For I say, through the grace being given to me, to every man being among you, not to think more than what is necessary to think, but to think unto sound judgment to each as God has assigned a portion of faith.
Paraphrase: Now to make such a sacrifice requires humility. That’s why, as God’s commissioned ambassador (Romans 1:5; 11:13; 15:15; 1 Corinthians 3:10; Galatians 2:9; also Ephesians 3:2, 7), I am always warning you against the sin of pride. (2 Corinthians 10:17-18; Galatians 6:3-4; Philippians 2:3-8) This sin is such an obstacle to living a life that is pleasing to God. When we think of ourselves more highly than we should, we begin to serve ourselves instead of serving God. We begin to build our own kingdom instead of laboring to build God’s kingdom. (John 3:30) Therefore, if we are going to make a complete sacrifice of ourselves (Romans 12:1), then we must be willing to set aside our own ambitions and dreams in order to walk the path which God lays out for us. We can’t yield ourselves to God as a living sacrifice if we are so determined to go our own way. Now practicing humility does not mean that we think of ourselves as nothing. On the contrary, God gives to each of us gifts which we are responsible to receive in faith and to put to use in His service. Therefore, the way of humility is to make a sober and honest assessment of ourselves and of the gifts which God has given us, for what do we have that we have not received? (1 Corinthians 4:7)
Comments:
Denney (p689): To himself, every man is, in a sense, the most important person in the world, and it always needs much grace to see what other people are and to keep a sense of moral proportion.
There are two questions to be answered in understanding the expression “portion of faith” or “measure of faith” (μέτρον πίστεως):
- How to understand the word portion or μέτρον. Does it mean measure as in an instrument used to measure the size or quantity of something? or does it mean portion as in a determined amount of something?
- How to understand the expression as a whole especially as it relates to the author’s intended meaning of faith.
For the first, I understand the meaning to be portion. For the second, I see a metonymy of the action put for the thing received by it (p549); i.e. faith is put for the gift that is received by it. Thus, portion of faith is synonymous with the gift given to each Christian; i.e. the portion of [the gift we receive by] faith. No one receives all the gifts but everyone receives some gift or portion of Christ’s gifts which He measures out to us the moment we put our trust in Jesus. Whatever gifts we have, they are gifts; and therefore, should lead to humility and not to be puffed up with pride.
Romans 12:4
καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι πολλὰ μέλη ἔχομεν, τὰ δὲ μέλη πάντα οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει πρᾶξιν,
For just as in one body, we have many parts, and not all the parts have the same function,
Paraphrase: Consider your own local church of which you are a member. I am sure that there are a wide variety of different people who make up this church each having their own gifts. Now since each of these members is using his or her gift to build up the church as a whole (Ephesians 4:12), we can say that each local church is similar to the human body. It too is composed of many different parts each performing its own unique role and function such that the person can flourish.
Comments:
Romans 12:5
οὕτως οἱ πολλοὶ ἓν σῶμά ἐσμεν ἐν Χριστῷ, τὸ δὲ καθ’ εἷς ἀλλήλων μέλη.
In this manner, the many are one body in Christ and who [are] each parts one of another.
Paraphrase: In fact, our physical bodies are a good way to think about the local church. Our physical bodies are made up of a variety of different parts each with their own unique function. Each of these parts, different as they are, all work together to cause our bodies to flourish. Now in the same way, there are so many different people in the church, each with their own personality, character, and gifts. Just like our physical bodies, all these different persons make up one body which is united under Christ whom we can say is the head of the body, and each of these members, different as they may be, contribute to the functioning of the body as a whole.
Comments:
The article τo is functioning like a relative pronoun. (GGBB 213)
Romans 12:6
ἔχοντες δὲ χαρίσματα κατὰ τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν διάφορα, εἴτε προφητείαν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως,
Now having different gifts according to the grace given to us. If prophecy according to the analogy of faith.
Paraphrase: So every Christian has different gifts which God freely and graciously gives to each of His children. No Christian has every gift, but every Christian has some gift. Now our responsibility as Christians is to know our gift (1 Timothy 4:14), to develop it (2 Timothy 1:6), and to use it for the edification of the entire body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11–13) Some Christians have been given the gift of prophecy which is a great privilege. (1 Corinthians 14:1, 39) We should be so thankful to God for giving some Christians this gift. Nevertheless, let those of you who have this gift be careful to prophecy only in such a way that what you deliver as from God agrees with the body of teachings already given to us by our Lord and His apostles. (Deuteronomy 13:1–5; 18:20–22; Acts 17:11; 1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 John 4:1–6)
Comments:
Parse χαρίσματα and διάφορα recalling principle 7.
The gift of prophecy was esteemed very highly by the apostle. It appears second in his lists. (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11)
The analogy of faith here is not the same thought as was given in Romans 12:3 where Paul is speaking of the subjective act of one’s personal faith. Here, Paul gives a warning to the prophets not to deliver any prophecy which contradicted the doctrines or the faith which had already been received from Jesus and His apostles. Along the same lines, Paul commands the Corinthians to judge the prophecies given by the prophets (1 Corinthians 14:29) to ensure that they are consistent with the body of truths already in place. Others understand this as Paul’s warning to the prophets not to prophecy or to speak beyond what God had revealed to them. They understand faith here to be the subjective act of faith put forth by every believer. Macknight (also John Murray) takes (p366) this position:
The Apostle’s meaning is, that such as enjoyed the prophetic inspiration were not to imagine, that because some things were revealed to them, they might speak of every thing; but that in prophesying, they were to confine themselves to what was revealed to them. The same rule we have at Ephesians 4:7.
But how is this prophesying in proportion to one’s act of believing? How would an act of subjective faith be a safeguard against false prophecy? The passage makes much more sense if we understand faith here in its objective sense which gives us the idea of a prophecy contradicting previously given revelation. (Deuteronomy 13:1–5; 18:20–22; Acts 17:11; 1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 John 4:1–6) In defense of the objective reading, I point out that in the classics, Josephus, and Philo, the word ἀναλογια means agreement. (p310) Liddon says (p235) that ἀναλογια was used in mathematical contexts. (also Dunn on this verse) This is grounds for understanding faith in its objective sense. Denney calls (p690) the objective reading “an anachronism as well as an irrelevance.” He makes the claim, “There was no rule of faith when the Apostle was thinking out the original interpretation of Christianity contained in this epistle; and there is no exhortation or warning.” Denney shows his bias against systematic theology here. Paul and the other apostles repeatedly warned against false teachers, spoke of holding fast to the form of sounds words, and made use of creedal statements. Blocher is (p28) more cautious:
The apostle, when dictating Romans 12:6, barely thought of the technical ‘comparing Scripture with Scripture’; yet, he concerned himself with the agreement of Christian discourse with the whole body of teaching given by inspiration of God, in its main emphases and overall balance (analogia), all parts included. Substantially, his point was not far removed from our suggested conception of the analogy of faith.
See also Preus, The Unity of Scripture; Fairbairn, chapter 6.
Romans 12:7
εἴτε διακονίαν ἐν τῇ διακονίᾳ, εἴτε ὁ διδάσκων ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ,
If serving, in serving; if teaching, in instruction
Paraphrase: If you have received from God the gift of being a deacon, then serve as a deacon to the edification of the whole body. If God has given you a gift for teaching, then be the best teacher you can be and bring instruction to all as you have opportunity.
Comments:
Romans 12:8
εἴτε ὁ παρακαλῶν ἐν τῇ παρακλήσει, ὁ μεταδιδοὺς ἐν ἁπλότητι, ὁ προϊστάμενος ἐν σπουδῇ, ὁ ἐλεῶν ἐν ἱλαρότητι.
If exhortation, in exhorting; the one giving, in sincerity; the one in authority, in diligence; the one showing mercy, in cheerfulness.
Paraphrase: If God has given you the gift of speaking an edifying word and you have opportunity to do so, do it gladly and with an earnest desire to do as much good as you can. If you are a person of wealth and have the means for giving charitably, do it sincerely and not for any desire of praise or fame. (Matthew 6:1-4) If you are in a position of authority, be diligent and zealous to lead people in the way that our Master taught us. (Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45; John 13:12-17) If God has given you a heart of compassion for hurting people, reach out your loving hands to them, embrace them, and stand by them in their darkest hours to encourage them. (Matthew 9:36; John 11:33-35) The point in all this, brothers and sisters is that where God has given us a gift, we are responsible to use it to build up and bless the body of Christ. God will judge those who have a gift but fail to use it. (Matthew 25:24-30)
Comments:
Romans 12:9
Ἡ ἀγάπη ἀνυπόκριτος. ἀποστυγοῦντες τὸ πονηρόν, κολλώμενοι τῷ ἀγαθῷ·
Love sincere; abhorring the evil; clinging to the good.
Paraphrase: Remember that our Lord taught us to love one another. (John 13:35) Be intentional about obeying this command and let your love be sincere without any hypocrisy. Remember what the psalmist said of his enemies, His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. (Psalm 55:21) Let it never be so among you.
When you see something that is evil and that will bring harm to you and to others in the body of Christ, hate it with all your heart. Reject it and put it far from you; brook no compromise with it. On the other hand, when you see something good, something that will build up and edify the body of Christ, lay hold of it. Hold fast to it; don’t let it go. Use it for the good of the body.
Comments:
Shedd writes (p366) on this verse that Paul passes, now, from the duties of church officers, to those of church members generally. Many other commentators make similar statements. I have no idea on what grounds they make this claim. There is nothing in the text to support it.
In Hebrew, the copula is often left out; see here. Robertson writes (p395):
Naturally this copula is not always considered necessary. It can be readily dispensed with when both subject and the real predicate are present. This indeed is the most frequent ellipsis of all in all stages of the language, especially the form ἐστί. But strictly speaking, the absence of the copula is not ellipsis, but a remnant of a primitive idiom, since some primitive tongues could do without the copula.
The word hypocrisy comes from the stage where actors would wear masks in their stage plays; see persona (p475) or p15 in Fowler.
Romans 12:10
τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ εἰς ἀλλήλους φιλόστοργοι, τῇ τιμῇ ἀλλήλους προηγούμενοι,
Romans 12:11
τῇ σπουδῇ μὴ ὀκνηροί, τῷ πνεύματι ζέοντες, τῷ κυρίῳ δουλεύοντες,
Romans 12:12
τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίροντες, τῇ θλίψει ὑπομένοντες, τῇ προσευχῇ προσκαρτεροῦντες,
Romans 12:13 ταῖς χρείαις τῶν ἁγίων κοινωνοῦντες, τὴν φιλοξενίαν διώκοντες.
Romans 12:14 εὐλογεῖτε τοὺς διώκοντας, εὐλογεῖτε καὶ μὴ καταρᾶσθε.
Romans 12:15 χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων, κλαίειν μετὰ κλαιόντων.
Romans 12:16 τὸ αὐτὸ εἰς ἀλλήλους φρονοῦντες, μὴ τὰ ὑψηλὰ φρονοῦντες ἀλλὰ τοῖς ταπεινοῖς συναπαγόμενοι. μὴ γίνεσθε φρόνιμοι παρ’ ἑαυτοῖς.
Romans 12:17 μηδενὶ κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ ἀποδιδόντες· προνοούμενοι καλὰ ἐνώπιον πάντων ἀνθρώπων·
Romans 12:18 εἰ δυνατόν, τὸ ἐξ ὑμῶν μετὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων εἰρηνεύοντες·
Romans 12:19 μὴ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδικοῦντες, ἀγαπητοί, ἀλλὰ δότε τόπον τῇ ὀργῇ, γέγραπται γάρ· Ἐμοὶ ἐκδίκησις, ἐγὼ ἀνταποδώσω, λέγει κύριος.
Romans 12:20 ἀλλὰ ἐὰν πεινᾷ ὁ ἐχθρός σου, ψώμιζε αὐτόν· ἐὰν διψᾷ, πότιζε αὐτόν· τοῦτο γὰρ ποιῶν ἄνθρακας πυρὸς σωρεύσεις ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ.
Romans 12:21 μὴ νικῶ ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ, ἀλλὰ νίκα ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ κακόν.