For, as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office;
This verse draws its picture from something everyone knows: one body with many parts, each doing its own work. It sits inside an appeal about how a Christian should measure himself. Two questions follow. What does it mean that the members do not all have the same "office" (ESV: "function")? And which body does Paul mean?
The verse begins with "For" — it is the reason for something already said. What precedes is a warning against thinking too highly of oneself, and one writer points out how telling it is that such a warning was needed at all.
The Christian is not yet free from the sin that still lives in him, though chapter 6 teaches him how to deal with it, since he himself is in Christ. He needs the warning given here, "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." What creatures God's saints must be, if they need such a warning — a warning that even comes with a reason showing how fitting it is!
One writer traces the phrase back to our own arms, fingers and feet, then asks who the one body takes in.
"All members have not the same office." There is a great lesson in that. Each has its own function. The many members in one body are our arms, fingers and feet, and that is the picture Paul uses. This is the first teaching in the New Testament about the Body of Christ. "So we, though many, are one body in Christ." Who are the "we"? All Christians. You must not think of it as a society, a club, or a mere organisation, as men would say. Think of the members of the human body, and then ask who makes up the one body. "Many" — in fact all Christians on earth today are of it. "And individually members one of another" — I think that means, I cannot get on without you, and you cannot get on without me.
If gifts differ, no one person can carry them all.
What counted was God's dealing with each person, not a human commission given to one man or a few. So faith came in, and each is urged to think soberly of himself, and to use what God has given him instead of pretending to more. We do not see one member taking all the gifts to himself, or holding others back. We see many members, and yet only one body, with differing gifts, and each one urged to use them.
Why did the Spirit choose a body, and not some other image?
Romans 12:4 gives the illustration; Romans 12:5 applies that illustration. Forgive me for saying it, but if the Spirit had meant a regiment or a corporation, the picture He actually gave might seem unfortunate and misleading. We have many members in one body, but these are all organically united. The many organs and members are wonderfully suited to their different uses, yet in their very nature they are one, and together they form one living whole. They are not separate units, each with a life of its own, even if such units were all placed under one commander or director.
So who counts as a member — a person, or a group?
The Epistle to the Romans views the believer in his individual character rather than his corporate one. So it uses the same picture, not to explain the nature of the Church as doctrine, but to press the duty of every Christian to act according to the gift given to him… In these passages, note carefully: the members are individual believers. They are not different local assemblies, and still less are they voluntary associations, self-styled "Churches," divided from each other on points of doctrine, discipline, and order.
One detail marks the angle here: Romans says nothing about the Head.
In Romans 12 we have the same general idea as in 1 Corinthians. It assumes all of them are true saints. It looks at the members, not in union with the Head, but in their relationship to one another and in their service as individuals. "So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another."
- Cause — The verse gives a reason, not just a picture. It explains why no Christian should rate himself too highly.
- Gift — Different offices mean different gifts. Use what God has given you, and never pretend to more.
- Union — The tie is a living one, like a body. It is not a federation or an organisation under a director.
- Members — The members are individual believers, never denominations or societies. You belong to the one body, not to a group.
- Reach — Romans reaches this far and stops. It looks at the members in relation to one another, not at their union with the Head.
thus we, [being] many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other.
Paul has just warned every believer not to think too highly of himself. Here he gives the reason: many as we are, we form one body, and each of us belongs to all the others. So who is the "we"? What makes this oneness real? And what does it change in everyday service?
Romans deals mostly with the individual before God. That makes this mention of the body both rare and pointed:
Here the apostle looks at the Christian life in a narrower circle... It is the only place in this letter that mentions the body, the Church, and it does so in relation to the duties of the members as individuals. The main subject is man in his own responsibility before God. But since there is one body, the members should serve in the common interest. We cannot act on our own, as if we had no tie with anyone on earth.
Verse 4 draws the picture of the human body. Verse 5 applies it to us, and it rules out any thought of the church as a crowd of separate people:
Romans 12:5 is the application of the figure. Christians differ widely, and each has his own exercises and activities. Yet in Christ they are one living body. That is, we are not thinking of a mere gathering of separate people, but of organs and members in a body... So this verse adds that we are all "members of one another." Each one is incomplete without all the rest. You could never say that of any group of people, however united they are.
Paul never narrows the word "we." Every Christian is inside it, and the last phrase spells out a plain mutual need:
"So we, though many, are one body in Christ." Who are the "we"? All Christians. You must not think of it as a society, a club, or an organisation, as people would say. Think of the members of the human body, then ask who makes up the one body. "Many" — in fact all Christians on earth today belong to it... "Individually members one of another" — I think that means I cannot get on without you, and you cannot get on without me.
Another writer rules out a common mistake about who these members are:
Notice in these passages that the members are individual believers. They are not different local assemblies, and still less different voluntary societies that call themselves "Churches" and are split from each other over doctrine, discipline, and order.
The words "in Christ" mark this unity off from anything God had before. Israel had one nation and one law. This body could not exist until Christ had died and risen:
In the past age there was one nation according to natural birth, and a covenant of commandments suited to that age. Now, by contrast, "we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." What a contrast this is to Israel... In the past no one could be in Christ. Christ had to die and be raised from the dead, or He would remain alone. But now we are one body in Christ... Here we have not so much the doctrine of the one body as the practice of all the members of that one body.
No member holds every function. So the verse rules out one person doing everything, and it traces each gift back to God rather than to a human appointment:
What God had dealt to each one was in view, not a human commission given to one man or to a few. So faith came in, and each one is urged to think soberly of himself, and to use what God has given him instead of pretending to more. We do not see one member soaking up all the gifts, or holding others back. We see many members and yet one body, with different gifts, urged to use them — not only out of love, because each of us is a member of all the others, but because of the grace God has given.
The phrase "members one of another" is one strand of a larger truth. Two other strands run beside it:
There are three ways of looking at membership in the Body. Linked with Christ: "we are members of His body" (Ephesians 5:30). Linked with all believers: "individually members one of another" (Romans 12:5). As individuals: "we are members in particular" (1 Corinthians 12:27). So we have three lines of truth here: connection with Christ, connection with one another, and individual responsibility.
- One — all Christians are one living body, not a club and not a group of clubs. The members are people, not churches.
- In Christ — this oneness could not exist until Christ died and rose. No one votes himself into it.
- Of one another — each member is incomplete without the rest. No one carries every function.
- Sober — see yourself as one member, and high thoughts die. You use what God gave you and stop pretending to more.
- Serving — Romans gives the fact, not the full teaching, so that no one serves alone. Each works in the common interest.
But having different gifts, according to the grace which has been given to us, whether [it be] prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of faith;
Paul has just told the believers in Rome that they are many members in one body, and that each is to think soberly about himself. Verse 6 draws the conclusion. Our differences are not accidents of talent. They are gifts of grace. That raises a question: how far does a gift reach, and where does it stop?
The word translated "gifts" is charismata. One writer traces it back to charis, the word for grace. So a gift is not first a display of power. It is grace at work through a member of the body.
Some gifts did have a clearly miraculous character, and we have lost those. I do not deny that. But I deny that this was the necessary character or real meaning of charisma. It is the effect or product of charis, grace, here applied to the action of a member of the body in service.
"Differing" could sound like ranking. One writer turns it round. The same grace that made one unlike another also made each one necessary to the rest.
Let us never forget that, whatever the differences, all are gifts. The grace that gave them has made one person differ from another. But it has also made each one necessary to the others, since all are in the one body. Whatever we have from the Lord, let us use it all in subjection to Him, and for the object He had in view.
This takes in every Christian. Not every gift is prominent.
There is no true Christian who has not something or other given him for service in the body — perhaps merely a little bit of wisdom. Everybody has got something for service to the body, as a hand or foot or eye; but not everybody has a prominent gift as a pastor or evangelist.
Sober self-judgement cuts two ways. A person can push past his assignment. He can also shrink from it.
Each did his own proper work, according to the measure of faith dealt out by God. So each would act with humility, but also with firmness. He knew it was God's will and his own service. Unbelief seeks great things. It overlooks the one thing that matters: the duty God has assigned to us. We are not to go beyond its measure, or outside its nature. Let us remember, however, that there is a false modesty that fails to act, as well as the lack of modesty that goes too far.
Prophecy heads the list. The word means more than predicting the future.
We often limit the idea of a prophet to one who foretells future events. The main idea of the prophet is that of a forth-teller, as well as a foreteller. The prophet brings his hearers into God's presence, to face their state before Him… To be effective, a prophet must aim at the conscience. That was true of Isaiah and others who addressed a sinful nation in their day. It is just as true of those who prophesy now (Rom. 12:6).
Commentators differ over this phrase. One reads it as faith that rests wholly on the word of God (F. W. Grant). The most practical reading is a limit on the speaker: do not go past what God has given you.
There is great need of this: that we attend first to the nature of our gift, and second to its measure… I do not doubt that many a person's gift would be recognised if he did not go beyond his measure in it. "If he prophesies, let him prophesy according to the proportion of faith." Everything beyond that is flesh, and putting himself forward. People feel it, and they reject his whole gift, because he has not known how to keep inside it.
Gift, then, is never its own authority.
The reality of gift did not and does not remove the need for regulation by the word. No one brings the hearer's soul into more direct contact with God than the one who prophesies; yet his prophesying must match the faith.
The list that follows sorts the gifts into two plain streams.
There were gifts, charismata, fitting each one for his service. They all flow from the Holy Spirit, as 1 Cor. 12:4 shows… Looking at the different kinds of service in the assembly, we can divide them into two classes: ministry in the Word, and ministry in other ways.
- Grace gives. A gift is charisma, the product of charis, grace. It is grace at work through a member of the body.
- Grace differs. The same grace made one member unlike another. It also made each one necessary to the rest. Even a little wisdom is something given for the body.
- Grace measures. God deals out to each one a measure of faith. Do not overstep it — and do not hide behind false modesty either.
- Grace is regulated. Even prophecy must stay in proportion to faith, under the word. Whatever goes past the measure is flesh, and people feel it.
- Grace serves. Service runs in two streams: ministry in the Word, and ministry in other ways. Both belong to the one body.
or service, [let us occupy ourselves] in service; or he that teaches, in teaching;
Paul has just said that believers, though many, form one body. Their gifts differ, and this verse names two of them — service and teaching. Both come with the same instruction: stay in it.
The ESV calls this gift "service." Older translations call it "ministry," the word the writers below use. Either way, it does not mean public speaking:
Scripture separates what people call "ministry" from "preaching," as you will find in Romans 12. The apostle speaks of the teacher giving himself to his teaching, and of the one who serves giving himself to his service. Nowadays people use "ministry" to mean only preaching or teaching. But that is not the language of the Holy Spirit. Many people who have no such power do a great deal of serving — serving the saints. It would be no great loss if there was less ministering in that way, and more ministering in a real way.
Commentators differ on how wide the word is. Some take it as any service to the saints; others tie it to the work of a deacon:
The words minister and ministry are sometimes used of the apostles, of teachers, and of all who serve in the gospel. Sometimes they carry a narrower sense, of the office of deacon. That narrower sense seems to be the right meaning of the word "ministry" here. The deacons were officers who cared for the poor and the sick, and for the outward affairs of the church. And if a man's gift lay in ministering to the saints in this way, he was to attend to it. This is a real service of love, and one most acceptable to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His poor saints.
Teaching is more than holding the truth yourself:
The teacher not only knows and enjoys the truth himself. He also has the gift of opening it up so that others see it, enjoy it, and own its weight and importance. At the same time, do not confuse the teacher with the prophet, or teaching with prophesying.
That also settles what a teacher may say:
The teacher is one of the gifts set in the church, and Scripture tells the teacher to keep busy with teaching (Rom. 12:7). "Teaching" is the clear, intelligent setting out of the truth by the Holy Spirit. It leaves no room for the mind and opinion of man.
The repeated instruction — service in serving, teaching in teaching — draws a boundary. Each person does his own work and leaves the rest alone:
There are many members, not heads. Again, no one is to go beyond his measure. Each is to wait on his ministry, whatever it may be; let him stick to that one thing, and not attend to everything else. The one who gives, let him give with simplicity. The one who serves is to wait on his service and do the work he has to do — and let him not try anything else. In the same way, the one who exhorts is to wait on exhortation. God may give one person half a dozen gifts. One may be an evangelist only; one may exhort and move the conscience; and another may teach.
Two gifts can look alike and still not swap places:
The teacher of the gospel differs from the evangelist. The evangelist works out in the world, among the unsaved. He is a fisher of men, while the teacher of the gospel feeds the babes in God's household. The two are closely related, but they are distinct gifts with different fields of work. Often the gospel teacher grieves that no one is converted when he speaks to sinners. And the man who is purely an evangelist loses his usual freedom when most of his hearers are believers. Each "gift" is for one special work, and that is the work he is appointed to do. Let then the teacher wait on his teaching (see Rom. 12:4-8), and the evangelist on his preaching.
This is not just a personal matter. The whole church gains or loses by it:
We cannot press too strongly how important it is to take the place given us to fill, and to use the special gift or function given to us in the body. Every Christian has his own place, which no one else can fill. Each has his own work, which no other can do. The health and wellbeing of the assembly depend on believers seeing this truth and living it out.
- Given — Gifts differ according to the grace God gives. He may give one person several gifts, and another only one.
- Named — "Ministry" here means real service to the saints, not speaking. Commentators differ: some see the deacon's care of the poor and sick, others service in a wider sense.
- Unfolded — The teacher does not just hold the truth. He opens it up so others see and value it. What he sets out is the Spirit's truth, not his own opinion.
- Bounded — Each one sticks to his own work and leaves the rest alone. The teacher waits on teaching, the evangelist on preaching.
- Fruitful — Every Christian has a place no one else can fill. The health of the whole church depends on each one keeping to it.
or he that exhorts, in exhortation; he that gives, in simplicity; he that leads, with diligence; he that shews mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12 lists gifts that differ, and this verse ends the list with four of them — exhorting, giving, leading, and showing mercy. Each one comes with a manner attached. What you do for God's people matters, and so does the spirit you do it in.
This is not a list of things every Christian should try. Each person is to take up what God has actually given him.
There are many members, not heads. Again, no one is to go beyond his measure. Each is to attend to his own ministry, whatever it is. Let him stick to that one thing and not take up everything else... God may give one person half a dozen gifts.
Teaching and exhorting are named separately on purpose.
So we see that in the days of the apostles God did not always give a man a gift for both teaching and exhorting. Each gift was to have room to be used, and each person was to keep to the service God had entrusted to him. It would have been good if believers had always remembered this and acted on it.
Exhorting is not the same work as teaching. It aims at a different target, and it costs something on both sides.
The teacher deals mainly with the understanding, the exhorter with the conscience. It takes great grace to be an exhorter, and just as much grace to receive a word of exhortation... Exhortation includes warning and comfort. It urges people to practical duties and turns them away from neglecting duty. It points out where they fall short. It applies the promises or the warnings of Scripture, as each case needs.
Another writer explained why this gift is rarer than preaching or explaining Scripture.
The power to do this is a very distinct gift from God. It is much rarer than the gift of the evangelist or of the one who explains Scripture. Those two keep the mind within limits — the first to the good old gospel, the second to the passage of Scripture and what is in it. In exhortation you have to apply the truth of Scripture to the soul. You have to know how to slide it in between flesh and spirit, so that it condemns the flesh and gives liberty to the spirit.
Older versions read "with simplicity" here. The word points first at the giver's motive.
The same word that describes God's own giving is the one Paul urges on the Christian: "He that gives, in simplicity." How often mixed motives try to get into the heart when we give! Liking instead of love in one case, dislike holding us back in another. Self-importance, concern for our reputation, going along with others on one side; on the other, a cautious or unbelieving fear hiding behind excuses... A single eye here, as everywhere, promotes love, because it lets in light. And what it leads to is generosity.
This also explains why "simplicity" and "generosity" end in the same place.
A man who gives simply will give generously. The need speaks to him and stirs the love in him. And true love is wise; there is nothing blind about it. Divine love is never separate from divine wisdom.
Leading is its own kind of service, and it comes with its own demand.
It is striking that leading appears among the services God has given to the saints. The leader is not always gifted to teach or preach, and the teacher and preacher is not always a leader. The leader is the one whose wisdom and experience fit him to guide the people of God. He is to use his gift with the diligence that puts thought and care into his guidance.
Where this gift sits in the list matters too. It blocks any attempt to sort these gifts into an official class and an ordinary one.
God guards us here from drawing so sharp a line that it would favour the ruinous split between clergy and ordinary Christians, into which the early church soon slipped. Some try to find in this list a move from public gifts to private ones. But that is wholly fanciful. The Holy Spirit has made such a scheme impossible by placing the most public gift of all, the ruler or leader, between "the one who contributes" and "the one who does acts of mercy."
The last pairing guards the way kindness feels to the person receiving it.
This is a fine gift, and one that everyone who visits the poor and the suffering should want. We are not only to show mercy. We are to show it so cheerfully that it is plain the help comforts them and is a pleasure to us. The value of any service of love done for people in sorrow depends mainly on the spirit in which it is done.
- Gift — Take up what God actually gave you. No one is to go beyond his measure, and one person may not be gifted for both teaching and exhorting.
- Manner — Each gift comes with its own spirit: simplicity, diligence, cheerfulness. How you do it is part of the doing.
- Conscience — Teaching aims at the understanding. Exhortation aims at the conscience, applying Scripture so that it condemns the flesh and frees the spirit.
- Motive — Simplicity in giving keeps out self-importance, concern for reputation, and unbelieving fear. The single eye still ends in generosity.
- Reach — Leading takes thought and care. Mercy takes a cheerful face, because a kind act done coldly loses its worth to the person who receives it.