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.