Romans Commentary

Ver. 3. — For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

For appears to indicate the reason why those who were addressed should in all things ascertain the will of God. By introducing a particular instance of the importance of this duty, Paul enjoins the necessity of giving heed to his exhortation. It is the will of God that His people should make a just estimate of their own gifts, and not from ignorance overvalue themselves and despise others. I say, by the grace given unto me. — Although Paul sometimes addresses believers, as in the beginning of this chapter, in the humblest and most affectionate style, yet at other times, as in these words, he employs that tone of authority which was the prerogative of an Apostle. He calls on them to attend to his words, as remembering that he did not speak of himself; but, as he elsewhere expresses it, ‘as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.’ The grace given unto me. — This grace or favor bestowed upon Paul, is the of force of an Apostle. But it is not correct to say that grace in this place signifies apostleship. The apostleship was a grace or favor; but favor or grace is not apostleship.

Grace or favor includes, but by no means signifies, that office, although it is one of the innumerable gifts conferred by grace. To explain grace as signifying office, as is often done, is an instance of that unsound criticism that makes a word specifically designate whatever its general meaning includes, which, though in this instance it may be harmless is productive of much false interpretation. To every man that is among you. — The Epistle was addressed to all in the church at Rome, and consequently they were all included in the exhortation that follows. When, therefore, the Apostle addresses them here individually, it shows that the dissuasive refers to a thing to which all of them were naturally much inclined. With this, fact corresponds. All men are prone to overvalue themselves; and therefore to each of them Paul thus pointedly brings home the exhortation. Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. — In the two foregoing verses the Apostle had been enjoining the duty of entire devotedness to God, both in body and soul. Nothing could tend more powerfully to render his exhortation ineffectual, or stand more in the way of the performance of those duties on which, in the following part of the Epistle, he was about to expatiate, than high-mindedness in those whom he addressed. According, therefore, to the example of our Lord, both in His Sermon on the Mount, and when inviting sinners to come to Him, Paul begins here by inculcating humility. He warns each of them not to form a higher opinion of himself than his faith in God warranted. To this all are naturally prone; but there is an opposite error, assuming the semblance of obedience to this exhortation, which ought equally to be avoided. This is an affectation of humility by speaking of one’s self contemptuously. This species of hypocrisy ought to be avoided. When an author speaks of his poor abilities, and tells us he is the most unfit man for the work he has undertaken, he is generally insincere; but if not insincere, he must be unwise; for God never requires us to exercise a talent which He has not bestowed on us. Think soberly. — Christians are here directed to make a sound and moderate estimate of their own gifts, which will preserve them from both extremes, — on the one hand, from overrating, and, on the other, from unduly depreciating, their attainments or talents. According as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. — God hath given us here, by the Apostle, a standard by which we may measure ourselves. Of the term ‘faith’ in this place, various explanations are given; but that it simply means faith in its usual acceptation throughout the Scriptures, as this is the most obvious, so it appears to be its true import.

By faith we are united to the Savior, and by faith is received out of His fullness all that is imparted to us by God. The measure, then, of faith, with which each believer is blessed, whether strong faith or weak, great faith or little, indicates with certainty both his real character before God, and his relative standing among other believers. According, therefore, to his faith, as evidenced by his works, every Christian ought to estimate himself: The man who has the greatest faith is the highest in the school of Christ. We here also learn that not only faith, but every degree of it, is the gift of God; for men believe according as God hath dealt to each of them the measure of faith; and ‘unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ.’ By the consideration of the manner in which the Apostle thus enforces his admonition, the believer will both be moderated in his own esteem, and also in his desire for the esteem of others. He will consequently be much less exposed to encounter what may inflame his pride, or tend to his discouragement.

Ver. 4. — For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; The Apostle here illustrates the union and connection of believers, by the figure of the wonderful structure of the human body. Every member has its proper place in the body, and its proper function to perform, and every member is valuable according as it is useful in the body. But no member is useless. For the smallest and least honorable is useful. But this does not imply, as Mr. Stuart understands it, that there is no superiority of value among the members. This is contrary to obvious fact, and contrary to the nature of the figure here employed. One member of the human body is more useful, and, as Paul says to the Corinthians, more honorable than another; but the least honorable is useful, and to be treated with respect. ‘To show,’ says Mr. Stuart, ‘that no one has any reason to set up himself as superior to others, the Apostle now introduces the admirable comparison of the body of Christ, i.e., the Church, with the human body.’

Surely it is not to teach us that all the members of the body of Christ are equally valuable, that the Apostle introduces the comparison. Such a comparison would be very ill chosen; for among the members of the body there is a great variety in their relative scale of importance. Who would not rather lose a joint of his finger than his eye? But while one member is more important than another in the human body, as well as in the body of Christ, every member is important; every member has its peculiar function, which contributes to the good of the whole, and which the most honorable members are not adapted to perform. The eye is a more important member than the foot, but the eye could not perform for the good of the body that function which the foot performs. The eye, therefore, as well as every other member of the body, ought to honor the foot, according to the value of the services it is adapted to perform. Office. — This does not mean office in a restricted sense, because every member of the body has such an office. It means office in its general sense of function.

Ver. 5. — So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one remembers one of another.

So we, being many, are one body. — This is not to be restricted to one church, as to the church at Rome, to which it was written, but refers to the Church of Christ, which embraces His people of all ages, and of all countries. The feeblest disciple, even he who of the whole number is least instructed in his Master’s will, has still his place in the body, and his use in that place. Whatever church, then, refuses to receive any Christian for want of knowledge of any part of the will of Christ, acts against the spirit of this passage. It is wrong either to refuse admission to Christ’s known people, or to admit His known enemies. In Christ. — Not, as Dr.

Macknight understands it, ‘under Christ.’ It is not by our being under Christ that our union is effected with one another, but by being in Christ. Members one of another. — By being united in Christ, believers become members of one another, that is, they are united to each other, as all the members of the body are united. The most remote members are united by their union with the body. The hands and the feet have fellowship through the intervening members. Hence Christians ought to love one another as parts of themselves. As the Apostle says, no man ever hated his own body; and he that loveth his wife loveth himself. For a like reason, a Christian, when loving his fellow-Christians, is loving himself. It is thus that Christians, in the Church of Christ, taken individually, are many, and are together one body in Christ, having the Spirit of Christ, and all of them are members one of another. This consideration ought to operate powerfully to unite them. There is a sectarian partiality, ‘distinct from this, too often found among the professors of Christianity. But as the union of Christians, here represented by that of the members of the human body, respects none but real Christians, and as it respects all such, whether they be eternally united in Christian fellowship with us or not, we ought to cultivate love to them as to the disciples of Christ, of whatever name, and cherish this love to them, on the ground of their union with Christ. We ought to unite with the Apostle in praying ‘Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.’

Ver. 6. — Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. — Upon this Dr. Macknight observes: — ’As the grace of apostleship signifies the office of an apostle graciously conferred, so the grace here said to be given to the Romans may mean the particular station and office in the Church assigned to individuals by Christ.’ But the word grace has neither the one signification nor the other. It is that favor by which Christ confers His gifts on the members of His body. Office in the Church belongs to few of them, but they all possess gifts or talents by which they may be useful to the body. Many of the gifts possessed when the Apostle wrote, were gifts miraculously bestowed; but even at that time they were not all such.

And the word gifts includes those gifts that are given in providence, or conferred by constitution, talent, birth, education, and other circumstances, as well as the extraordinary gifts immediately conferred by the Holy Spirit. Riches and natural eloquence are gifts, as well as the miraculous ability to speak in languages not previously learned. Christians, then, should consider everything they possess as a gift bestowed by God, which they should cultivate and use to His glory, and for which they are accountable. If a Christian misspends his money, his time, his abilities, his influence, or any talent which God has conferred on him, he is not misspending his own, but, is misspending what is entrusted to him by God. He is unfaithful in his trust. Whether prophecy. — Prophecy strictly signifies the foretelling of future events. But it seems also to be extended to denote any message from God, whether relating to things present or to come, and, in the New Testament, to refer to the exposition of Scripture. Calvin, after remarking that ‘some mean by prophecy the power of prediction which flourished in the Church at its commencement,’ afterwards observes, ‘I prefer the opinion of those commentators who take the word in a more extended sense, and apply it to the peculiar gift of explaining revelation, according as any one executes with skill and dexterity the office of an interpreter in declaring the will of God. Prophecy, therefore, at this period, is nothing else in the Christian Church than the proper understanding of Scripture, and a peculiar faculty of explaining the same; since all the ancient prophecies, and all the oracles of God, were contained in Christ and His Gospel. For Paul understood it in this sense, 1 Corinthians 14:5, when he said, ‘I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that you prophesied’ ‘We know in part, and we prophesy in part,’ 1 Corinthians 13:9. For it does not appear that Paul was only desirous in this passage to recount those admirable graces by which Christ ennobled His Gospel at the beginning, but rather gives a statement of ordinary gifts, which certainly remain in the church. Proportion of faith. — They were to speak according to the extent of their information or measure of faith. This passage does not appear to relate to that principle of interpretation which is called the analogy of faith. This is a canon of Scripture interpretation which has no doubt been abused; but when rightly applied, as the word of God must be consistent with itself, it seems both reasonable and useful. Since the time of Dr. Campbell of Aberdeen, who keenly opposed this principle, it has been generally renounced by expositors of Scripture; yet, when viewed in a proper light, it is by no means liable to the exceptions made to it. The objections which Dr. Campbell brings against it are fully obviated in Dr. Carson’s late work, entitled, Examination of the Principles of Biblical Interpretation of Ernesti; Ammon, Stuart, and other Philologists, pp. 103-108. f58 Ver. 7. — Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching.

Or ministry . — The word in the original is that which appropriately designates the office of the deacon. If it refers to office, it must refer to this officer. For though ministry equally applies to Apostles, and all who serve in the Gospel, yet appropriately it refers to one office; and when it is applied to others, it is with circumstances that make the reference obvious. Indeed, what is here said applies to all offices as well as to that of the deacon; but this should not influence us so as to prevent our ascertaining its immediate reference. There is no necessity here to restrict the word to an official meaning, for it will apply to every one who devotes himself to the interests of the body of Christ. As Howard, the philanthropist, was to humanity, so may many Christians be to the Church of Christ, — at least, to that part of it with which they are more immediately connected. He that teacheth on teaching. — Fitness to teach is a gift of the Head of the Church, which all who teach ought to possess, and without which no appointment of any one can make Him a minister of Christ. They who possess the gift of teaching ought to employ it diligently.

Ver. 8. — Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.

He that exhorteth. — This means to excite to duty and dissuade from sin, and requires a peculiar talent. Mr. Stuart supposes that the teacher and exhorter were different officers; but it is quite obvious that the Apostle is not distinguishing offices, but gifts. Every gift does not require a different office. Many of the gifts required no office at all. No opinion can be more groundless, than that the gifts imply each a separate office in the Church. He that giveth. — This is usually supposed to refer to the deacon; but as the Apostle is not speaking of the distinction or number of offices, and as the word used is not so restricted, there is no just ground thus to limit the passage. It includes the deacon, but is not confined to him. Mr. Stuart, however, is not justified in saying that the word ‘properly means to impart among others what belongs to one’s self; to give to others.’ It is not essential to the word whether the gift proceeds from the giver as the owner, or merely as the steward. The gifts conferred by the Apostles were not their own; yet Paul applies the word ( Romans 1:11) to the communication of a spiritual gift through his hands to the Church. But to prove that the word here extends to those who gave of their own substance, it is not required that the word cannot apply to official or vicarious alms. It is enough that the word is one of a general meaning, and applies to the giving of one’s own. Why should it be confined to official giving, when there is nothing restrictive in the word or in the circumstances? Why should it be confined to the deacon, when the Apostle is not at all treating of office, but of gifts possessed by unofficial as well as official persons. With simplicity. — This means singleness of view It guards against ostentation or love of praise, on account of which the Pharisees gave their alms. The word is sometimes used to signify liberality, and is so understood here by Mr. Stuart. This meaning is not unsuitable, but still the other is more appropriate In all cases Christians need the caution to give with simplicity, but it would not be possible for some to give with what is generally understood by liberality. He that ruleth. — Mr. Stuart labors hard, but unsuccessfully, to make it appear that this word does not here apply to presiding or ruling in the Church, but to assisting the poor by hospitality, like Phebe. The word is usually applied to presiding in the church; and when it is used without a regimen, the most obvious meaning must be supplied to fill up the ellipsis.

That this will confine it to ruling in the church admits of no question.

Presiding or ruling in the church is here considered, not with a view to its distinction from other offices, but with respect to the gift that fits for it. ‘Some are of opinion,’ says Dr. Macknight, ‘that the president was one appointed to superintend those who were employed in distributing the church’s alms.’ There can be no doubt that the word would apply to a president of any kind. But to believe that it signifies here such presidents, when it is appropriated to other presidents in the church, and when there is no evidence that there were any presidents of the kind supposed, is building without a foundation. With diligence. — The ruler is to attend to his office with earnestness and diligence It is the duty of all to spend and to be spent in the service of their Lord. Showeth mercy. — This signifies the giving of money, or anything, for the support of poor brethren; or applies to every instance in which mercy was to be shown to the afflicted, whether the affliction arose from poverty, sickness, or any other calamity. With cheerfulness. — Mercy must be shown, not only so as to indicate that it is voluntary, but also with cheerfulness, which shows that is a pleasure. This spares the feelings and soothes the sorrows of the afflicted.