Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
3For I am saying, by the grace given to me, to all the ones being among you, not to think too highly of yourself, from what it is necessary to think, but to think into being sensibly minded, as God has given to each a measure of faith.
4For, just as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function, 5thus we the many are one body in Christ and, as to each, members of one another,
6and having gifts differing according to the grace given to us –
whether prophecy, according to the analogy of the faith;
7whether service, in the serving;
whether the one teaching, among the teachers;
8whether the one exhorting, in the exhortation;
the one sharing, in simplicity;
the one leading, in diligence;
the one showing mercy, in cheerfulness;
9the love, sincere,
ones abhorring the evil,
ones being attached to the good;
10ones tenderly affectionate in the brotherly love into
one another;
ones giving preference to one another in the honor;
11not slow ones in earnestness;
ones being fervent in the spirit;
ones serving the Lord;
12ones being joyful in the hope;
ones bearing up under the affliction;
ones being persistent in the prayer;
13ones sharing in the needs of the saints;
ones pursuing the hospitality.
14Be blessing the ones persecuting you;
be blessing and not cursing;
15be being joyful with ones being joyful;
be crying with ones crying;
16ones thinking the same into one another;
not thinking the high-minded,
but ones associating with the lowly ones.
Do not be being conceited ones.
I have provided my translation above all the way from v.3 to v.16, specifically because I believe the whole section is actually expressing a single thought. Notice how v.3 warns us each “not to think too highly of yourself,” while v.16 repeats the same thought and finally says clearly, “Do not be conceited.” Ancient writers often enclosed a thought with what someone has called “bookends.” I’m suggesting that is what we’re seeing here in Romans 12 – one thought expressed between the two bookends of a warning against our pride.
It is also notable that, with the exception of v.14, v.5 is the last actual verb when it says, “we the many are one body in Christ.” Our English translations generally all supply verbs throughout this section, as in v.6, when the NIV translates it, “If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.” The “is” and the “let him use it” are supplied to make it more understandable, though there are no verbs in Paul’s writing.
What I have tried to do in my own translation is to express only what is actually present in the Greek. I personally find that insightful as I am trying to establish in my own mind exactly what the Lord has said (and what He didn’t say). Of course, my translation then becomes a bit difficult for us modern English speaking readers. Just so it’s said, my hat is off to anyone who would attempt to translate the Bible into about any language. That effort is an almost constant tension between being strictly faithful to the original text while still expressing the meaning so those readers can understand it.
What that all suggests to me is that this thought, “…we the many are one body in Christ,” is the overriding thought in this entire section. In other words, that is the point of it all, and all the rest is simply expanding on what that will really mean for us believers. As I’ve expressed before, that thought has been keeping my head spinning now for several months. Of course I’ve heard it for years, but only now have I been struck by its enormous importance and, in fact, what should be its centrality in the minds of us believers all around the world.
So…having clearly and extensively explained to us the Gospel itself in Romans chapters 1-11, what is the very first subject Paul launches into? Seeing ourselves as the living Body of Christ! Notice in the passage, between the bookends of “Don’t be conceited,” and having countered that with this Body truth, what are we told? “Love [must be] sincere” (v.9).
Love. That should come as no surprise. What was Jesus’ “new” commandment? “Love one another.” What does that tell us about this business of being the Body of Christ? It tells us that love is to be the glue that holds us all together! Real, genuine, heartfelt, deliberate, and conscious love for our other believers. If you look back at this entire section, you’ll see that, in fact, that is the theme of every line – us believers’ love for each other and what that means.
Also, notice, what is the obstacle we each must overcome – the “bookends” of our passage? Pride. Wicked, sinful, self-deceptive, self-destructive pride. And what is its cure? Love. Specifically, love for other believers. See this in Gal. 6:10, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Hmmmmm. For myself, I don’t think I’ve ever really understood all of this. I read it. I knew it was there, but I don’t think it’s ever been a deliberately embraced truth in my life. Just as our passage warns, I think really, really down-deep in my soul, I’ve seen myself as an individual and never really embraced this thought of being a part (and only a part) of the living Body of Christ. That is, of course exactly the error our passage is warning us against. I don’t think our American individualism helps any. I suppose it’s our old frontier heritage that has molded us that way. All over the rest of the world, people naturally see themselves in “community,” Someone reportedly asked some Chinese college students if they were all having sex and they responded, “Oh, no! That would dishonor our parents!” Is that not a “community” thought? And I would suggest such a thought never so much as enters our young American minds!
Well, regardless of whether I’m an American or not, it’s still my responsibility to let God’s Word guide me. He is telling us, “Oh, yes. Start seeing yourselves in the community of God’s people – His Church, the Body of Christ.
Hmmmm. Another thing that hasn’t helped at all: In the various churches we have attended over the years, I suspect there were precious few real believers, real, born-again Jesus people. I feel like I’ve spent my Christian life basically making excuses for what looked like gross immaturity in my fellow church members. “They just need to grow,” I’d tell myself. Rather, Jesus Himself said, “By their fruits you shall know them.” The fruit of the Spirit is “love and joy and peace.” Where there is no love or joy or peace, there is no Spirit.
What I’m realizing from this passage is that the Body of Christ is not my local church. My local church (hopefully) contains the Body of Christ. However, the Body of Christ is made up only of real believers. As Jesus also said, there will always be “tares among the wheat.” In the “organization” of a local church there may (and probably always will be) people who are not genuinely born again. However, in the organism of the Church, the Body of Christ, there are only believers. Just like at work, there are lots of people, usually most of whom are not believers. However, there are almost always a handful of those Jesus-people who stand out because of their kindness and humility. Those people are a treasure to us and, back to our local church, it’s the Jesus-people who we are to particularly recognize and treasure.
Seeing all of this, I have to say, these last few weeks. I have very much enjoyed the services at my church. I’ve never sat in my pew, looked around, and let my heart deliberately love all the real Jesus-people I know there. I’ve never focused in on them and let my heart sincerely treasure them. I think it helps that, in this particular church, there are a LOT of those Jesus-people.
I’ve also particularly enjoyed going to work and seeing the other Jesus-people not just as “other” Christians, but as literally fellow-members of this larger community, the Body of Christ. I’ve also enjoyed the freedom of looking at other churches and realizing many of them do contain the Body of Christ. I may be uncomfortable with a lot of things those churches teach, but their real believers are still real believers and members of this great Body of Christ to which we all belong.
I want to study through this passage and learn all I can. I need to let the Lord teach me what it really means to be a member of this community, the Body of Christ – to actually begin seeing myself (and others) not as an individual Christian but as but one part, one member of this much larger Body of Christ.
Love. What does that mean? Lord, teach me. “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Know the anxious thoughts and cares within me, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
