Romans 12:3-5: "One Body Under Christ"

After urging believers to give of their bodies as a living sacrifice to God, Paul moves to the spiritual attitude behind this action. As believers we are to give our minds, bodies, souls, and will to Christ so that we may "prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect". Our spiritual service is directly related to the humility and unity of the body under the headship of Christ. Only when we humble ourselves with the understanding of where all spiritual blessings come from, we are to strive to use our spiritual gifts in the body of Christ.

Paul begins this section with a plea for humility. If someone reading this letter from Paul truly understood and grasped all that they were before conversion, it should be easy enough to find yourself humbled before all that Christ has done for you. When learning of your preconversion state, your complete depravity, your contempt for God and love for sin, you incapableness to do anything righteous, it would be hard to find something to boast in. When you learn of all that Christ did for us, in electing us for His grace and mercy based on nothing inherently good within us, and His ultimate sacrifice on the cross for a people that hated Him, again, it would be hard to find something to boast in. However, because of our sinful nature which is temporarily still a part of the believer until death, we can often find ourselves boasting in our status or in our accomplishments, and to this Paul desires to come along-side and remember why we have the gifts and talents that we do.

Paul begins, "For through the grace given to me". This statement can be taken from different views and I think they are all what Paul had in mind. First, Paul is recognizing the grace which he received, despite being a persecutor of the church. He understood that it was through God's grace only that he can even tell you and exhort you in humility. Secondly, I believe Paul is indirectly hinting at his apostleship and his authority to exhort believers in such a way. MacArthur writes, "It is not surprising that Paul appeals only indirectly to his apostolic rank, calling attention rather to the divine authority from which his own authority was derived. He is humble even in relationship to his own apostleship, which was conferred on him solely on the basis of God's grace".

Therefore, by this grace that Paul so frequently thinks upon, he encourages believers "not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think". In context to this verse, Paul most had in mind the idea that it is in this foundational truth that we can only function properly as God intended. MacArthur writes, "Lack of that foundational virtue causes many believers to stumble. No matter how well grounded we may be in God's Word, how theologically sound we may be, or how vigorously we may seek to serve Him, our gifts will not operate so that our lives can be spiritually productive until self is set aside". Paul, in Galatians 6:3 writes, "For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself". It is essential for believers to completely understand all that has happened in order for him to be reconciled to God. With a proper understanding and constant self-examination, the believer will be able (with the help of God) to overcome pride. Basically Paul is saying, 'don't overestimate yourselves, understand that all gifts, abilities and understanding of God has come through Him, and none of you should take credit for those'. Instead, we are called to, "think so as to have sound judgment". MacAthur explains, "To think of yourselves with sound judgment leads us to recognize that, in ourselves, we are nothing at all, but that, in Christ, we can be used to the glory of God through the gift of the Spirit bestowed on us. We must realize that from ourselves, from our fleshly humanness, nothing eternal can be produced, but that in the power of the Spirit we can be used to build the kingdom and honor the King". We must think rightly or soberly, Paul is saying, 'wake up', don't you realize where all spiritual blessings come from. Left to ourselves, we would never choose God and we would be stuck in depraved sin'.

Paul, in v.3, explains why we ought to be humble, it is because "God has allotted to each a measure of faith". It is GOD and God alone that has allotted to you all that is necessary for carrying out your "spiritual service" to God, and we are to give him the credit and not overestimate ourselves. In this context, MacAthur writes, "a measure of faith seems to refer to the correct measure of the spiritual gift and its operating features that God sovereignly bestows on every believer. Every believer receives the exact gift and resources best suited to fulfill his role in the body of Christ". God has given us our spiritual gifts, and He has chosen a specific gift for different individuals as He sees fit. We are not to desire other gifts, we are not to boast about the gift we have been given, instead we are to use this gift for the effectiveness of the body of Christ and do it in humility. Paul explains this further, "For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function". It would be ineffective and foolish to make everyone at a business perform the same function. Think if every person was put in the warehouse to pull and ship orders. There would be no orders to pull because you had no sales rep to go out and tell others about the product, you would have no orders because you have no one taking the calls and entering the orders. We must understand that we have been called to perform specific functions in the body of Christ, which is why God has "allotted to each a measure of faith". It is therefore our job to seek out what that gift is, and rejoice in the fact that God has found us worthy to carry out that specific function. We are not to be jealous for others that may have more visible gifts that may receive more recognition, for just as no orders can be had without sales reps, no orders would ever get to the customer if there weren't warehouse people to package and ship the product. Each is vital in the proper functioning of the organization, just as it is essential for the body of Christ to operate the way it was designed to. Paul, in I Cor. 12:7, "To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good", and later explains in v. 11, "one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills". Paul also exhorting those who may desire another gift more than the one that has been given him, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'; or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you'" (I Cor. 12:21). Therefore, we are to be joyful to be counted worthy to serve Jesus Christ within the body of Christ, and perform our function for the glory of God, not the praise of men.

The proper use of everyone's gifts will lead to a unified body as Paul writes, "so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another". It is amazing to think of the broad range of age, cultures, races, geography, intellectual capabilities, personalities that have all come together under the headship of Christ to serve Him and one another. This should be an encouragement for us and a reminder of the grand responsibility we have been given once we entered the family of God. We are to seek out our gifts and use them wholeheartedly unto the Lord, as our "spiritual service of worship". We are also to love and honor and respect those in the body of Christ that are different as we are all "members one of another".