Reckon Yourself with Humility
Rom 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has distributed to you.
Humility is the most essential of all virtues. For all other virtues are dependent upon this one. But humility is not to be confused with unconfidence or having a poor self-image. Rather it's having realistic - sober - view of oneself in the light of what the Bible says.
"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" Php 2:4-8
But what does the last phrase "in accordance with the measure of faith God has distributed to you" mean? He's not talking about saving faith as that's not a matter of measure, and the Greek word for "distributed" is "merizo" which means to divide. What he's talking about is the distribution of spiritual gifts as he will elaborate upon in verses 6-8 For "we have different gifts, according to the grace given us." Rom 12:6a Notice also 1Cor 12:9 in the middle of a list of spiritual gifts it says, "To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit". Once again, "faith" certainly cannot refer to saving faith in such a context seeing as it implies not all those born of God have that gift, and yet to be a child of God and receive the Holy Spirit one must have saving faith to begin with. So there's a difference sense in which "faith" is used with respect to spiritual gifts than with respect to a requirement for salvation.
And therefore also he is saying that we need to value ourselves in accordance with the spiritual gifts God has distributed to us, and likewise we need to value other Christians, who though different from us, have spiritual gifts essential to edifying the body of Christ.
The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources
Rom 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has distributed to you.
Humility is the most essential of all virtues. For all other virtues are dependent upon this one. But humility is not to be confused with unconfidence or having a poor self-image. Rather it's having realistic - sober - view of oneself in the light of what the Bible says.
"Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" Php 2:4-8
But what does the last phrase "in accordance with the measure of faith God has distributed to you" mean? He's not talking about saving faith as that's not a matter of measure, and the Greek word for "distributed" is "merizo" which means to divide. What he's talking about is the distribution of spiritual gifts as he will elaborate upon in verses 6-8 For "we have different gifts, according to the grace given us." Rom 12:6a Notice also 1Cor 12:9 in the middle of a list of spiritual gifts it says, "To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit". Once again, "faith" certainly cannot refer to saving faith in such a context seeing as it implies not all those born of God have that gift, and yet to be a child of God and receive the Holy Spirit one must have saving faith to begin with. So there's a difference sense in which "faith" is used with respect to spiritual gifts than with respect to a requirement for salvation.
And therefore also he is saying that we need to value ourselves in accordance with the spiritual gifts God has distributed to us, and likewise we need to value other Christians, who though different from us, have spiritual gifts essential to edifying the body of Christ.
The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources
