Romans 12:1-8 Commentary

The Spirit’s work doesn’t just change Jesus’ followers’ view of God. It also transforms the way God’s dearly beloved people think of our neighbor. The Spirit transforms Christians from those who seek only our own interests into people who the Spirit equips to also seek the well-being of the people around us. Quite simply, the Spirit graciously transforms us from individuals into members of the community.

This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s verse 1’s “therefore” (oun) links it to the preceding verses. But it doesn’t just link this text to verses’ 33-36 glorious doxology. Romans 12:1’s “therefore” also links this Lesson to the wonder of God’s merciful determination to save “all Israel” (11:26).

Because God has shown God’s dearly beloved people, including Israelites, “mercy [oiktirmon],” writes Paul, we have the perfect reason to offer (parestesai) “our bodies as living sacrifices [somata thysian], holy [hagion] and pleasing [euareston] to God.” This, after all, is our “spiritual act of worship” (1).*

There are so many things that preachers might and perhaps should say about this summons. But we might especially note what the biblical scholar David McCabe calls its contrast to Romans 1:18-3:20’s “impious, imploding vision of humanity.” It isn’t just that people are naturally foolish, self-serving and violent. It’s also that humanity is marked by an inward focus. If people naturally think at all of others, it’s about how others can help gratify our sometimes bent desires.

Even Paul’s reference to transformed humanity’s redeemed worship is a kind of mirror image of Romans 1. There, after all, Paul reports how people “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (1:25). In Romans 12:1, by contrast, the apostle calls the offering of Christians’ bodies as living sacrifices to God our “spiritual act of worship.”

The apostle also goes on to draw at least an implicit contrast between fallen and redeemed humanity’s “mind.” In Romans 1:21 he speaks of how people’s thinking naturally became “futile.” In Romans 12:2 Paul invites Jesus’ friends not to be “conformed [syschematizesthe] to the pattern of this world, but be transformed [metamorphousthe] by the renewing of your mind [noos].”

As we noted in an earlier commentary, when Paul speaks of the mind, he thinks not of the seat of human intellect, as we generally do, but of a mindset or perspective on things and people. Christians whose minds the Spirit transforms seek to think about people and things the way God thinks about them.

In Romans 12, that transformation manifests itself in, among other ways, Jesus’ friends’ perspective on those with whom God places us into community. “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought” [hyperphronein par ho dei],” writes Paul in verse 3, “but rather think of yourself with sober judgment [sophreinen].”

This is not a summons to a kind of self-debasement. God, after all, didn’t just create us in God’s image. God also deeply loves people. So Paul’s invites us not to think of ourselves more lowly than we ought, but, instead, think of all people, including ourselves, as those whom God creates in God’s image and deeply loves. This is, after all, an outgrowth of the “measure of faith [metron pisteos] God has given us” (3).

Paul says that the Spirit joins together God’s beloved image bearers to “form one body [polloi hen soma]” (5). It’s basically his invitation to think of the Christian community as one living organism and individuals as “body parts.” Christ’s Church is a body in which, while some of us are like ears, others are like eyes. While some of us are like feet, others are like hands. All of Christ’s “body parts,” however, are indispensable.

In fact, the Spirit so closely links Christians together that Paul can insist that “each member belongs to all the others [kath’ heis allelon mele].” Jesus’ friends don’t just belong to our family members and friends. We belong to all of Jesus’ followers. As a result, as The Message paraphrases verse 5, Christians derive our primary identity from being part of Christ’s “body as a whole.”

Yet Paul doesn’t just invite Jesus’ followers to think of each other as God’s beloved image-bearers whom God graciously incorporates into Christ’s Church. The apostle also summons us to think of each other as uniquely gifted. God has, after all, given us “different gifts [diaphora charismata] (6).”

While Christians sometimes (mistakenly) limit God’s grace to God’s rescue of sinful humanity, Paul also refers to our giftedness as a “grace [charin].” That at least suggests that Christians’ talents are a gift from God that we don’t deserve any more than we deserve our salvation.

Paul summons his readers to join the community in exercising those graces. In verses 7-8 he writes, if the Spirit has gifted Jesus’ friends for “serving” [diakonian], let them “serve; if it is teaching [didaskon]; let him teach; if it is encouraging [parakalon], let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others [metadidous], let him give generously [en hapoleti]; if it is leadership [proistemenos], let him govern diligently [en spoude]; if it is showing mercy [eleon], let him do it cheerfully [en hilaroteti].”

Preachers might explore each of these gifts individually or even highlight just a few of them. Or we might simply note some things about the use of gifts. Paul insists that the Spirit gifts Jesus’ friends in order to advance the well-being of the community. Part of what it means to “think of” ourselves “with sober judgment” is to commit to using our talents to bless our neighbors.

Paul at least implies that God grants us certain abilities to turn us away from ourselves and toward others. Those who, for example, “prophecy” share with our community the gospel of salvation by grace alone. Christians who “teach” help our neighbors to understand the width and depth of God’s unconditional love for the whole world, including its people.

However, preachers might also note how the apostle’s summons to us to use our gifts for our neighbors’ well-being is characterized not by apathy, but by enthusiasm. So, for example, Jesus’ friends don’t just “contribute to the needs of others.” We also do it “generously.” Christians don’t just lead God’s people. We also do so “diligently.”

*Here and elsewhere I bracketed the Greek words on which the English translations are based.

Illustration

Paul’s call not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought brings to David Brooks’ article in the July 3, 2022 edition of The Atlantic. He begins “Truly Humbled to Be the Author of the Article” by quoting what Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, once tweeted: “I was humbled to be awarded an honorary degree by the London School of Economics earlier this week. Thank you so much for this prestigious honor!”

Brooks (who is a great source of great sermon material) then continues, “Whenever I feel particularly humble, I tweet about myself. I have never earned an honorary degree from the London School of Economics, but if I ever did, I’d certainly tweet … it. I’d want to let the world know how humbled the experience had made me. I’d tweet my humility, Instagram my humility, and maybe even TikTok it if I could find dance moves humble enough to make my point.

“In the meantime,” Brooks continues (with tongue firmly implanted in cheek), “I’m humbled by Lagarde’s tweet. I have spent years studying the fine art of humility display, and I am humbled by her masterful show of it. If you’ve spent any time on social media, and especially if you’re around the high-status world of the achievatrons, you are probably familiar with the basic rules of the form.

“The first rule is that you must never tweet about any event that could actually lead to humility. Never tweet: ‘I’m humbled that I went to a party, and nobody noticed me.’ Never tweet: ‘I’m humbled that I got fired for incompetence.’

“The whole point of a humility display is to signal that you are humbled by your own magnificent accomplishments. We can all be humbled by an awesome mountain or the infinitude of the night sky, but to be humbled by being in the presence of yourself — that is a sign of truly great humility.

“The second rule is that you must always use the word humbled when the word proud would actually be more accurate. For example: ‘Humbled to Make the 100 Under 100 list in Arbitrary Lists Magazine,’ ‘Truly Humbled to be keynote speaker at TedXEastHampton,’ ‘Humbled that Cameron Diaz is giving me a ride to Bradley Cooper’s surprise birthday party. Just thought I’d mention it.’ The key to humility display is to use self-effacement as a tool to maximize your self-promotion (italics mine).”