Oneness in the community of faith is achieved, not by conforming everyone to the lowest common denominator in Christ, but by recognizing that each person, as a result of God’s grace and the gifting of the Holy Spirit, receives an ability to supply what is needed for the common good of the whole body of Christ. “How unity, the mark of the community, comes about in the diversity of their faith and action, Paul shows them via the unity of the body in which the many members are joined, each of which carries out its own function. This prevents the believer from withdrawing from the fellowship in order to cultivate his own life; by the same token the community is forbidden to enforce unity by insisting upon sameness. The many are joined to the community by being in Christ. This provides them with their commonality of conviction and obligation and enables each one to be effective for the others. In the community each one is a member in relation to the other; each one’s function derives from the life given to the community and is carried out for the growth of the community” (Adolf Schlatter, Romans: The Righteousness of God, p. 232).
Jesus is the perfect model for living in Christian community. While he does not abdicate his role as the organizing leader of the Twelve, or as their teacher, or as the savior of their souls, he remains a servant leader. Though he is the sovereign Lord of the universe, he is the perfect example of it means to be a leader and a servant. Though he requires loving obedience (John 14.23), he does not forcefully constrain others to do his will (Ephesians 2.4-10). It is the compelling indwelling of the Holy Spirit that though the obedience of faith obliges believers to be conformed in thought and action to the pattern of Christ (Romans 1.5). Even a passing reflection on the humiliation of Christ’s incarnation must give a Christian pause when tempted by self-advancement. “He [Jesus] humbled himself more in lying in the virgin’s womb than in hanging upon the cross. It was not so much for man to die, but for God to become man was the wonder of humility (Thomas Watson, The Body of Divinity, p. 196). Of course, Jesus’ own comment on servant leadership is the standard by which all Christians must measure their service: You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them (John 13.13-17).
THE COMMAND (12.3)
How one thinks about himself is important. The ability accurately to assess one’s giftedness is, in part, a matter of achieving a proper balance between gratefully accepting what the Holy Spirit has done in his life and maintaining a spirit of humility so as not immodestly to think too much of himself (Galatians 5.26; James 4.6-10). God’s grace is always active in the life of the believer. When properly received God’s grace leads to unity among the brethren and obedience to Christ. Paul’s appeal to the Romans is that the grace which brings salvation would evidence itself in them to give witness to transforming work of God’s grace: For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil (Romans 16.19). Paul’s exposition of Habakkuk 2.4, The righteous by their faith will live, in the first 8 chapters of his letter now finds its application in the outworking of grace in the body of Christ. The Christian’s new mind in Christ (12.2; cp. 1 Corinthians 2.16) places particular importance on the needs of others. While there is an obvious need for each believer to think biblically and to make every effort not to be conformed to the patterns of the world, it is also important that he realize that his conformity to Christ involves him in an interdependent community of faith.
I give each of you this warning: don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has give us (NLT). Paul’s play on words stresses the importance of thinking properly about oneself. The need for a humble self-assessment is accompanied by a healthy respect for the giftedness of others. The heart is naturally inclined toward self-deception; it easily thinks more of itself than it ought. Thus, Paul’s warning may not be aimed at particular individuals but is a general note of caution for all to be mindful of the pride of self-sufficiency. Being conscious of one’s dependency on the Spirit for all things ought to produce heartfelt humility and gratitude. There are a multitude of things that are indispensable to life in the Christian community and no one person has everything that is needful. So there is no place for the pride of self-sufficiency.
THE MANY BUT STILL ONE (12.4-5)
The depiction of the church as the body of Christ is a common metaphor in Paul’s letters (1 Corinthians 10.17; 12.12-30; Ephesians 1.23; 4.4-16; 5.23-30; Colossians 1.18, 24; 2.19; 3.15). It is vital for the life of a healthy church that each member acknowledge his dependence on the other members of the body. In 1 Corinthians 12.12-31 Paul warns believers about the false pride that may arise when a believer thinks one gift is more important than another. The church cannot function without diversity in the body of Christ. Paul’s comment on unity in his epistle to the Ephesians may be helpful: I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was give to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4.1-7). It would be difficult to overstress the importance the New Testament places on Christian unity. Paul’s admonition to consider others more important than oneself (Philippians 2.3) is in keeping with Jesus’ instruction to the disciples to love one another (John 13.34-35). In practice this means that Christians belong to each other: Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another (Ephesians 4.25 [emphasis mine]).
GRACE AND THE MEASURE OF FAITH (12.6)
The gifts (charismata) mentioned in Romans 12 vary from believer to believer, but the grace (charis) from which they are derived is common to all believers. Paul does not provide an exhaustive list of the gifts. The emphasis is not on the diversity within the body of Christ, but on the necessity for unity. Though Paul’s list of spiritual gifts is more comprehensive in 1 Corinthians 12 it is still not exhaustive. His main point is simply: the grace of God is sufficient to meet the needs of the body of Christ. The mention of gifts in Ephesians 4 stresses this point: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love (Ephesians 4.11-16).
Paul places the seven gifts he mentions [in Romans 12.6-8] into two groups of four and three each. It may be significant that the first example is that of the gift of prophecy, since it occurs in second position in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11 (where “apostles,” not found here, come first). As 1 Corinthians 14 especially reveals, Paul prized this gift very highly. New Testament prophecy could include predictions of the future (cf. Acts 11:28; 21:10-12), but this was not its essence. More broadly, rather, New Testament prophecy involved proclaiming to the community information that God had revealed to the prophet for the church’s edification (see esp. 1 Corinthians 14:3, 24-25, 30). The truth revealed by the prophet did not come with the authority of the truth taught by the apostles, for prophetic speech was to be scrutinized by other prophets (1 Corinthians 14:29-32). (Douglas Moo, Romans, p. 765)
James Dunn rightly notes that Paul speaks of prophecy in Romans 12.6 and of prophets in 1 Corinthians 12.28 (Dunn, p. 727). The person with a prophetic gift speaks out of the context of his faith in Christ and nothing says conflicts with the truth of the propositional revelation of Scripture. Moreover, the prophetic ministry may be thought of in a broader context to include exhortation and comfort.
THE MANNER OF SERVICE (12.7-8)
Christians do not all possess the same gifts, so to illustrate how the members of the church are to interact with one another Paul mentions several additional gifts and how they are to be exercised. Interestingly, he highlights “serving” or “ministering” after prophecy. “Words from the root diak- were originally used to denote ‘waiting at table,’ a connotation that was preserved into the New Testament period (see Luke 17:8). The words refer to service to others of a personal nature and often carried in both the Greek and Jewish worlds, nuances of subservience and lack of status” (Moo, p. 766). Of course, Jesus redefined the significance of servanthood: For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10.45). when speaking of the servant, it is possible that Paul had in mind those who fulfill an office in the church. If such was the case, then he is cautioning the servant to execute the duties of his office as a true servant without the pride of office. The teacher, gifted by the Holy Spirit, grounds the church in its doctrine and history. Both teaching and prophecy are speaking gifts; the one seeks the purity of the gospel, the other is interested in the life and vitality of the church. “The line between teaching and prophecy becomes very thin—the latter characterized more as new insight into God’s will, the former more as new insight into old revelation” (James Dunn, Romans, p. 729). Paul finishes his brief list of giftedness with the gifts of exhorting (that is, encouraging and challenging believers to live out the truth of the gospel), contributing to the needs of others, exercising leadership and cheerfully showing mercy toward those in need.
God does not hold the church responsible for what he does not give it. But he does hold the believer responsible for the gifts given to him. These gifts cannot be rightly exercised in the body of Christ unless the believer is humbly cognitive of the Spirit’s work in his life and through him to the greater needs of the church. After all, it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2.13).
