Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

Paul’s Great Plea for Personal Consecration to God, in View of His Mercies; God’s Perfect Will for Each Believer thus Discovered. Verses 1 and 2.

For We are One Body in Christ, with Varying Gifts. Verses 3-8.

Our Walk toward Others, whether Believers, or Enemies. Verses 9 to 2.

1 I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2 And be not fashioned according to this age: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove [in experience] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Verse 1: I BESEECH YOU—What an astonishing word to come from God! From a God against whom we had sinned, and under whose judgment we were! What a word to us, believers,—a race of sinners so lately at enmity with God,—“I beseech you!” Paul had authority from Christ to command us,—as he said to Philemon: “Though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that which is befitting, yet for love’s sake I rather beseech.” Let us give heart-heed to this our apostle, who often covered with his tears the pages whereon he wrote. As he said of his ministry, “We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech—!”

And what does he cite to move us to hearken to the great appeal for our devotion to God which opens this section of Romans—this part that calls for our response to the great unfoldings of God’s salvation in the pevious chapters? I BESEECH YOU BY THE MERCIES OF GOD!

Let us call to mind these MERCIES of which Paul speaks:

1. JUSTIFICATION,—including pardon, removal of sins from us, trespasses never to be reckoned, a standing in Christ,—being made the righteousness of God in Him!

2. IDENTIFICATION—taken out of Adam by death with Christ,—dead to sin and to law, and now IN CHRIST!

3. UNDER GRACE, NOT LAW—Fruit unto God,—unto sanctification, made possible.

4. THE SPIRIT INDWELLING—“No condemnation,” freedom from law of sin; witness of Sonship and Heirship.

5. HELP IN INFIRMITY, and in any present sufferings, on our way to share Christ’s glory.

6. DIVINE ELECTION: Our final Conformity to Christ’s Image as His
brethren; God’s settled Purpose,—in which, believers already glorified
in God’s sight!

7. COMING GLORY—beyond any comparison with present sufferings!

8. NO SEPARATION POSSIBLE—God loved us in Christ.

9. CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S FAITHFULNESS confirmed by His revealed plans for national Israel.

Present your bodies—This has been used to divide believers harshly into two classes,—those who have “presented their bodies” to God, and those who have not. But this is not the spirit of the passage. For God “beseeches” us to be persuaded by His mercies. He does not condemn us for past neglect, nor drive us in the matter of yielding to Him. We must believe that these Divine mercies have persuasive powers over our wills. It is not that we can move our own wills; but that faith in God’s mercies, personally shown us, has power. It is “the goodness of God” that moves us,—when we really believe ourselves the free recipients of it!

So Paul beseeches us to present our bodies to God. We might have expected, Yield your spirits, to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. But Paul says, bodies. Now if a man should present his body for the service of another, willingly, it would carry all the man with it.238 In the case of a slave, his master owns his body; so he does what his master says: often with inner reluctance. We are besought to present our bodies,—that is, willingly to do so. God, who made and owns us, and Christ, whose we’ are (see chapter 1:6,—“called as Jesus Christ’s”)—God, I say, might have said, Come, serve Me: it is your duty. That would have been law. But instead, grace is reigning, over us, and in us; and Paul says to us, I beseech you, present your bodies. And there and then, in a believing view of God’s mercies, we find our hearts going forth. For there is great drawing power in the knowledge that someone has loved us, and given us such Divine bounties as these mercies!

A living sacrifice—This is in contrast with those slain offerings Israel brought to God. God’s service is freedom, not slavery; life, not death. Holy, acceptable unto God—We remember that God said of Israel’s offerings: “Whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy” (Exodus 29:37). It is very blessed to know that any believer’s yielding his body to God is called a “holy, acceptable sacrifice,”—well-pleasing unto God Himself! That any creature should be able to offer what could “please” the infinite Creator, is wonderful; but that such wretched, fallen ones as the sons of men should do so, is a marvel of which only the gracious God Himself knows the depth!

Which is your spiritual service—Here “spiritual” or “intelligent” eligious service (logikē latreia) is contrasted with that outward religious service Israel had in former days. They had the temple, with its prescribed rites, its “days, and months, and seasons and years,” its ordinances and ceremonial observances. Indeed, it was right that they should carry out these ordinances as God directed. But, while it was “religious service” (which is what latreia means), it was not intelligent service. It was not logikē latreia; but consisted of “shadows of the good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1-14). There was a ceaseless round of “services”; but God dwelt in the darkness of the Holy of Holies; and sin was not yet put away. But now Christ has come, propitiation has been made; Christ has been raised; the Holy Spirit has come; and “intelligent service” is now possible. And giving over our bodies to God is the path into it.239

Verse 2: And be not fashioned according to this world (literally, age, aiōn). This present age, Paul calls “evil,” declaring in Galatians 1:4 that our Lord Jesus Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age (aiōn) according to the will of our God and Father.” Believers, before they were saved, “walked according to the course of this world [literally, “according to the age (aiōn) of this world-order”—cosmos) according to the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). Here you have the cosmos, or world-order, since Adam sinned; and since then each particular phase of the Satanically arranged and controlled world-order now on, called the aiōn. In I Corinthians 7:31, this is called the “fashion,”—literally, scheme, of this world-order. “We know,” writes John, “that we are of God, and the whole world [lit., world-order], lieth in the evil one.” It is necessary to grasp intelligently this fearful state of things, in order to obey the apostle’s exhortation not to be conformed to it: a world-order without God!

We read that Cain “went out from the presence of Jehovah and builded a city” (Genesis 4), which became filled with inventions—“progress”: music, arts; its whole end being to forget God,—to get along without Him. And ever since, Satan has developed this fatal world-order, with its philosophy, (man’s account of all things,—but changing from time to time); it’s science (ever seeking to eliminate the supernatural); its government (with man exalting himself); its amusements (adapted to blot out realities from the mind); and its religion (to soothe man’s conscience and allay fears of judgment).

The Spirit by Paul asks the saints not to be fashioned240 after this [Satanic] order of things, but on the contrary to be transformed by the renewing of their mind. The word for “transformed” is remarkable: our word “metamorphosis” is the same word, letter for letter! In Matthew 17:2 it is used of Christ: “He was transfigured,” which Luke 9:29 explains: “The fashion of His countenance was altered.” That is, from the lowly, despised One in whom was “no beauty” to attract the eye of man, He was transformed to appear as He will appear at His return to this earth (for of His coming and kingdom the transfiguration was a figure, II Pet. 1:16-18). Thus Psalm 45 depicts Him at His second advent:

“Thou art fairer than the children of men:

Grace is poured into Thy lips!”

Infinite, endless grace, beauty, and glory, will then be publicly displayed in Christ.

Now, to be “transformed” or “transfigured” into the image of Christ is the blessed path and portion of the surrendered believer in the midst of this present evil world. “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit” (II Corinthians 3:18). Note that neither in world-conformity, nor in Christian transformation, are we the actors: the verbs are passive, in both cases. It is, “Be not fashioned,” and “Be transformed.” In the first case, Satan and the world have abundant power, they know to fashion anyone found willing; But how are we to be transformed? The answer is, By the renewing of your mind; and here we come again upon that wonderful part of our salvation which is carried on by the Holy Spirit; and we must look at it attentively.

Paul sweepingly describes this salvation as follows (Titus 3:5): “God according to His mercy saved us, through the washing of regeneration (1) and (2) renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Here the first action signifies the whole application to us of the redemptive work of Christ,—the “loosing from our sins in His blood” (Revelation 1:5), and the imparting to us of Christ’s risen life so that we were made partakers of what is called here “regeneration.”241 Then the second action is called a “renewing,” and is carried on by the Holy Spirit. Now what does this signify? It cannot refer to our spirits, for our spirits were born, created anew, under the first action here described; so that we were put into Christ, as says II Corinthians 5:17: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.” And, “That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit” (John 3:6). Nor can this “renewing” refer to our bodies; for, although they are indeed quickened and sustained by the indwelling Spirit, according to Romans 8:11; yet there is never a hint (but quite the contrary), that the believer’s body will be “renewed” during this present life.

There remains then to be the object of this “renewing,” the soul, which includes the mind, with its thoughts; the imagination,—so untamed naturally, the sensibilities or “feelings”; the “tastes,” or natural preferences,—all which, since the fall of Adam, are naturally under the influence and power of the sinful flesh, and must be operated upon by the Holy Spirit, after one’s regeneration. The memory, also, must be cleansed of all unclean, sinful recollections. And that it is the soul that is renewed,242 is abundantly confirmed both from Scripture and from human experience.

Man, we remember, “became a living soul,” after his body had been formed, and there had been communicated to him a spirit, by God’s direct in-breathing (Genesis 2:7). Man’s spirit dwelt in his body; but the body itself could not contact understandingly the world into which Adam had been introduced. Nor could his spirit do so directly. The soul-life, however, put him in touch with creation. It had five “senses”: sight, hearing, feeling, smell, and taste. Man’s spirit was thus put into intelligent relationship with the creation about him. He had also another faculty,—reason. The spirit of man perceives things directly,—apart from a “process of thought.” But God placed man in circumstances in which he could use this faculty of observation and discrimination,—of reasoning,—which faculty he was to employ as to the creation about him. There were also the “sensibilities,” and the esthetic faculty,—to see the beautiful and enjoy it. Imagination, too,—what a fertile field for unspiritual, earthly life! Memory, also, we must not overlook, for although memory belongs to the spirit (even to lost spirits,—Luke 16:25), yet since man sinned, the memory of saved people must be “renewed,” so that freedom -from horrid recollections shall be given, and the blessed inclination to retain that which is good, remain.

The whole “mind,” therefore must become the object of the Spirit’s renewing power. The entire soul-life, in human existence, must come under the Spirit’s control.

Paul’s word, “the renewing of the mind,” takes in the whole sphere of conscious life for the child of God. This also appears from the use of the word “renew” by Paul in other places. The “new man” being a new creation in Christ, all the graces and beauties of Christ belong to him; just as, before, the evil he inherited from the first Adam was his, because he was federally connected with him. Now, however, he is to “put on” the new man by simple appropriating faith. But, in order that he may do this, his soul-life must be laid hold of, “renewed,” by the Holy Spirit: “That ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit: and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man,243 that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

Paul further develops this in Colossians 3:9 and 10:

    “Ye have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge, after the image of Him that created him.”

The Colossians are viewed as having put off the old man (when they were created in Christ), and put on the new man (which hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth), and is now ever being renewed unto perfect knowledge (epignōsis), that experimental, spiritual revelation of the Risen Christ which Paul so coveted for the Ephesians, as we see in his great prayer ending thus:

    “That ye may know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge; that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19) These three distinct aspects of sanctification therefore appear:

1. That effected and perfected once for all by our Lord in His death: “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all . . . For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10, 14). This is the effect of the shed blood of Christ: it has satisfied all Divine claims against us, and has redeemed us from sin unto God, separating us unto God forever with an absolute, infinite tie.

2. That which results necessarily from our being in Christ Risen,—“new creatures” in Him. Thus the Corinthians, though in their spiritual condition and experience yet “babes in Christ,” are addressed by the apostle as those “sanctified in Christ Jesus” (I Corinthians 1:2).

3. That wrought in the mind, the soul-life, and its faculties, by the Holy Spirit, who seeks to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5).

The first two aspects are fundamental, and equally true of all believers. The third, Paul longed to have brought about fully in all believers: “Admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ” (Col 1:28).

“Come ye out from among them [unbelievers] and be ye separate, saith the Lord,

And touch no unclean thing,

And I will receive you [in the way of fellowship]

And will be to you a Father [in fellowship, as I am in relationship],

And ye shall be to Me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

“Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Corinthians 6:17, 18; 7:1).

“And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess. 5:23).244

That ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God—This word “prove” means to put to the proof, as in Ephesians 5:8 to 10: “Walk as children of. light, proving [or finding out by experience] what is well-pleasing unto the Lord.” The man in Luke 14:19 used the same word: “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them.” The “will of God” here may be rendered “what is willed by God” (Meyer); or, as Sanday says, “The will of God is here not the Divine attribute of will, but the thing willed by God, the right course of action.” This passage involves two facts: first, that God had a plan for our lives, which He is very willing and desirous we should discover; and, second, that only those who surrender themselves to Him, rejecting conformity to this age, can discover that will. All of us in times of desperate need, or crisis, are anxious to find God’s path for us. And, in answer to the cry of even His unsurrendered saints. He may and often does graciously reveal the path of safety and even of temporary blessing to them. But only those who have surrendered their bodies as a living
sacrifice to Him, enter upon the discovery of His blessed will as their very sphere and mode of life.

That ye may prove—Note that it is not that you are seeking after “victory,” or “blessing,” or even instruction in truth; but you are to enter into the will of Another,—even God.

Note, further, that in order to “prove,” or experimentally enter into, God’s will, there must be “the renewing of the mind” by the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is all-important to understand that only a yielded will can desire, discover, or choose God’s will.

Further, we should, along with this, be impressed continually with the blessed fact that God’s will for us is infinitely loving, infinitely wise, and gloriously possible of fulfilment; while our own wills are selfish and foolish and weak: for often we are impotent of accomplishing even our own poor objects!

Good, acceptable, perfect—Good for us, acceptable to God; and that which, being itself perfect, leads to our perfecting, as Epaphras prayed for the Colossians: “That ye may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God” (4:12).

Some would render it, “The will of God, even the thing that is good, acceptable and perfect”: as if we entered upon it all, once we yielded our bodies to God. Also, it has been suggested that we enter first into God’s “good” will: for, although we are ignorant and clumsy at first, God in His goodness gladly calls our work “good.” Then, when we learn further, our work becomes in a higher sense “acceptable.” Finally, we stand “perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.”

Both these views are true. God’s will is always good, acceptable and perfect; and, when we begin to surrender to it, it is all that, at once, for us. On the other hand, we do progress in it! It takes faith to surrender our wills. We must be brought to believe in our very heart that God’s will is better for us than our own will. And, as we once heard a man earnestly testify, “If you can’t trust One who died for you, whom can you trust?”

We beg you to seek out some saints (for there are some!) who have yielded themselves to God, and study their faces: you’ll discover a light of joy found on no other countenances. Cling to suchapter Converse with them. Learn their secret. Be much with them. And follow such as follow Christ. Blessing lies that way!

3 For, I say, through the [apostolic] grace that was given to me, to every one that. is among you, not to be estimating himself beyond what he ought to estimate; but to be so estimating himself as to have a sober estimate, according as God to each one of us divided a measure of faith.

We have used here Rotherham’s rendering, “estimate,” instead of the common rendering, “think.” It is remarkable that God crowds (in the original) this one word, “have an opinion,” or “estimate,” four times into this one sentence! It is also striking that this command, not to have a higher opinion of ourselves than we ought to have, is the first, the opening one of all the exhortations which follow. Let us lay this to heart!

Note what this proves: (1) That over-estimation of one’s importance among the saints is a fundamental temptation. (2) That God has granted to each one of His saints a certain allotment, or “measure,” of faith,—that is, of the ability to lay hold on the mighty operations of the Spirit of grace. And note carefully that God does not say, according to the measure of knowledge, but “of faith.” (3) That only the one who comes into a personal discernment of God’s special will through surrender to Him, will come to have a “sober estimate” of his own place. (4) That it is a distinct command of the apostle (emphasized by allusion to the mighty apostolic charge and grace given by God to him direct to us), that being surrendered to God, we come into a sober estimate of our place,—of our “measure of faith.” This great verse is now to be followed by its explanation:

4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office: 5 so we, who are many, are one Body in Christ; and as to each one, members of all the rest! 6 And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;

7 or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry: or he that teacheth, to his teaching; 8 or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting: he that giveth, let him do it with liberality; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.

Verses 4 and 5: For even as we have many members in. one body, and all the members have not the same office: so we, who are many, are one Body in Christ; and as to each one, members of all the rest!

Here is Paul’s first mention of this great doctrine of the Body of Christ, a doctrine which he alone, among the apostles, sets forth, he being the one chosen “minister of the Church” (Colossians 1:24, 25),—as to its real, heavenly, corporate character. Note now the comparison: (1) Our human bodies have many members. (2) These members, however, constitute a unity: they are one body. (3) Each member is a member of all the others. (4) All our members have not the same work to do.

Even so with us in Christ: (1) We are many, but (2) we are one Body in Christ. “Body” is not here an illustration, but an actuality. “He that loveth his own wife, loveth himself, . . . even as Christ also the Church; because we are members of His Body. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the Church” (Ephesians 5:28-32): “The Church which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:22, 23). This union is so absolute that Paul writes: “As the body245 is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; SO ALSO IS CHRIST” (I Corinthians 12:12). We deceive ourselves and delude others when we use the word “body” as connected with the Church of God, of any but the true, elect members of Christ, indwelt by the Spirit. And that consciousness (that is, the consciousness of the One Body of Christ of which Christ Risen in glory is the Head and they, the living, Spirit-indwelt members, are the fulness), should be held by us continually to the exclusion of anything earthly or merely local or
sectarian. Thus we should find ourselves at once in fellowship with true believers everywhere, for they with us are members of Christ, and they and we are members one of another.

(3) We are individually “members one of another.” Compare I Corinthians 12:27: “Now ye are the Body of Christ, and individually members thereof.” Being members of the Body of Christ, we necessarily are members of one another; as my right hand, being a member of my body, is a member of my left hand. Mark that Paul makes this “membership one of another,” an additional (though necessary) truth to the fact of the one Body in Christ. Note carefully that Scripture never speaks of “church members,” as men today do; nor of “membership” in or of a local assembly; but only of membership in the Body of Christ, and of membership one of another. We are members of the heavenly Head, Christ, and therefore members one of another by an operation of the Spirit of God, not by action of man. In local assemblies, according to Scripture, we have fellowship, as already members of Christ and of one another. The importance of seeing this is immeasurable. For the great fact that we are one, actually members of other believers, is made by the Spirit of God the basis of our love toward one another! As Paul says in Ephesians 4:25: “Putting away falsehood, talk truth each one with his neighbor; for we are members one of another.” Your right hand has never yet had a fight with the left: on the contrary, each constantly helps the other! And, as to suffering, “Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.”

Verse 6: And having gifts, different according to the grace that was given unto us—For each believer there is some particular “gift,” to be bestowed by the already indwelling Spirit, (as those yielding themselves to God find) to make each believer a direct benefit to the Body of Christ: “To each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit (the whole Body) withal, . . . the Spirit dividing to each one severally even as He will.” The various gifts are bestowed by the Spirit for “ministration” to the Lord Jesus, and the “working” in each case is by God Himself. Read I Corinthians 12:4 to 11.

Now, these differing gifts are “according to the grace that was given unto us.” In Romans 12:3 Paul speaks by the apostolic grace given unto him, and to each believer there is also an individual differing “grace,” given to each for the particular service to which God calls him. In accordance with this “grace,” there is, therefore, a “gift,” by the indwelling Spirit. (This is not the gift of the person of the Spirit, but is a gift communicated by the already given Spirit.)246 For the receiving and using of these gifts, there is necessary the element of faith, which is bestowed by God in exact accordance with the gift given each one. The bestowal is called, “the grace that was given to us.”247 It will not do to say, if we find ourselves not in possession of certain gifts, “They are not for us: they belonged only to the “Early Church.” This is a three-fold presumption! (1) It is excusing our own low state; and worse: (2) It is blaming the result of the failure of the Church upon God,—an awful thing! (3) It is setting up the present man-dependent, man-sufficient state of things as superior to the days when the Holy Spirit of God was known in power.

It is true that God, in His infinite grace, accepted, at the hands of the Jews, at the end of the 70 years’ captivity, the temple of Zerubbabel, saying: “Build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified.” It is true that our Lord called that temple (though built in its grandeur by Herod, the Edomite—descendant of Esau, not Jacob!) “My Father’s house,” and “My house,” for He had not yet finally deserted it, (as He did at last in Matthew 23.38). But the Jews of our Lord’s day gloried in that temple: though there was in it neither the Ark of the Covenant nor the Shechinah Presence of Jehovah. The glory had departed; but the Jews forgot all this, just as many Christians today, though often quite “Bible students,”—practically forget or ignore the immediate Presence of the Holy Ghost, with His all-necessary gifts: saying, “These belonged to the ‘early days’; but we have the written Word now, and do not need the gifts, as did the Early Church.”

And this self-sufficiency is leading, has led, to the same form of truth-without-power, that the Jews had in Christ’s day.

We are not hereby saying, Let us bring back these gifts. But we are pleading for the self-judgment and abasement before God that recognizes our real state. The outward church today is Laodicean, “wretched, poor, miserable, blind, naked”—and knows it not! And the Philadelphian remnant have only “a little strength.” Let us be honest! We have substituted for the mighty operations amongst us of the Holy Ghost, the pitiful “soulical” training of men. We look to men to train, to “prepare” preachers, and teachers, and “leaders,” for a heavenly company, the Church, among whom the Holy Ghost Himself dwells as Administrator. Let us not dare to claim that the Holy Ghost is no
longer willing to work in power amongst us. Because, for Him to do so is God’s plan! Indeed, He is so working where not hindered. Let us confess the truth. Our powerlessness is because of unbelief,—the inheritance of the sins of our fathers, the inheritance of a grieved Spirit. It may be true that He does not work as He once did; but let us admit two things: we dare not say, He is not willing so to work; and, we dare not say. It is God’s plan that He does not! We can only say, We have sinned! So did Daniel (Dan 9). So did Ezra (Ezra 9). So did they of Nehemiah’s day (Nehemiah 9). Our days are days of failure, just like those. Nor will it do, (as with so many enlightened saints), merely to “see and judge the failure of the professed Church” and gather in the name of the Lord, and remember His death in the breaking of bread every Lord’s day. All this is good. But we must judge ourselves if we do not have real power amongst us. And the power of the Spirit, in a day of apostasy like this, will bring us into a deep burden over the state of things, and into prayer, such as the great men of God made in the three great chapters to which we have just referred!

—Whether prophecy [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of our faith—Paul’s exhortation, as we shall see, is here devoted to the believer’s exercising any gifts “according to the proportion” of his God-given confidence, or “faith,” in the exercise of it: not over-estimating himself, but soberly estimating, and thus proceeding. (It is taken for granted, of course, that all are fully willing to exercise any gift; and will not, through unbelief or false humility, hold back therefrom.248

We can easily see in a Luther or a Calvin, in the sixteenth century, in a Bunyan in the seventeenth century; in a Wesley in the eighteenth, in a Moody in the nineteenth, such apostolic operation. Wesley spoke from God to all England, as did Luther to Germany. Moody, we know, was first an evangelist, loving and reaching the lost. But God, who is sovereign, gave him spiritual authority in the consciences of Christians throughout the whole world. We know what debt under God all those who have the truth today owe to Darby, through whom God recovered more truth belonging to the Church of God, than through any other man since Paul, and whose writings are today the greatest treasure of truth and safeguard against error known to instructed believers. Such men had more than an evangelist’s or teacher’s gift. There was spiritual authority they themselves did not seek, attending their ministry. This fact discerning believers,—those free from tradition’s bias, readily see and gladly admit. Paul defines the prophetic gift in I Corinthians 14:3: “He that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification, and comfort, and consolation.” New Testament prophets and apostles laid the foundation of the Church,—the prophets speaking directly by inspiration from God. But while the early apostles and prophets had their peculiar ministry in a foundational way, yet both gifts remain in the Church (see Ephesians 4:11-13) along with evangelists, pastors and teachers. Now since the prophet speaks under the moving of the Spirit, he is to do so “according to His faith.” Dean Alford makes the evident distinction, “The prophet spoke under immediate inspiration; the teacher (didaskalos), under inspiration working by the secondary instruments of his will and reason and rhetorical power.” We have ourselves sometimes heard those speaking in “testimony” or “praise-meetings” whose words were not, properly speaking, teaching; but yet entered in the power of the Spirit directly into the heart of the hearers, edifying, exhorting, and consoling,—a high ministry indeed, though in the “secondary character” of it, as compared to the words of the early apostles and prophets. Such an one could, of course, speak profitably only when speaking in the Spirit, and thus, “in proportion to his faith.”

The remarkable foot-note above, from J. N. Darby, is a frank and explicitly plain statement of truth. Mr. D. repeats over and over (seven times, at least, in the pages from which our excerpts are taken—Coll. Writ. 1, 350; III. 217-9) that the written Word is complete. No honest heart, however, knowing history, can fail to admit that God has, in mercy, raised up, from time to time, men who have administered His Word in such apostolical and prophetic power. That He will again do so, we do not doubt. For there is an ever-recurring need of these gifts. Probably, a constant need!

Verse 7: Or [personal] ministry, let us occupy ourselves in our ministering [to the needs of the saints]—God graciously places this word “ministering” [diakonia] between prophesying and teaching. In Acts 6 we have the word twice, applied first to physical things: “the daily ministration” (of food to the widows); and second to spiritual things:
“We will continue . . . in the ministry of the Word.” But here in Romans Twelve, its being placed as it is, indicates that those who, like the house of Stephanas, in I Corinthians 16:15, minister to the saints’ material needs, should set themselves to such ministering. It is the whole-hearted exercise of this gift, when it is given, that is urged by the apostle. Perhaps there is no gift so liable to lapse into haphazard exercise, as this Christ-like gift!

Or he that teacheth, to his teaching—Proper Christian teaching is not mere “Bible study”; but, first of all, clear explanation direct to believers’ hearts, of Christ’s work for us, and of the Pauline Epistles that directly concern the Church of God as the Body of Christ, indwelt by the Spirit, one with Him. Proper teaching would see that the saints become familiar with the wonders of the Old Testament, and love it. The prophecies, both of the Old Testament and of the book of The Revelation should also be taught, remembering that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”; and that every true Christian teacher should be able to say: “It was the good pleasure of God to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him” (Galatians 1:16); “that in all things Christ might
have the preëminence”; “that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” This is the kind of work that was done by Priscilla and Aquila, when they had heard Apollos in the Ephesian synagogue: “They took him unto them, and expounded unto him the Way of God more accurately.” It is being done whenever one who knows the truth really brings another into it. Oh, for more such teaching! We leave so much unapplied,—so much that the dear saints never really enter into!249

Verse 8: Or he that exhorteth, to his exhortation—The gift of exhortation is distinct from that of. teaching (though both may be found in the same person). Exhortation is an appeal to the will; teaching, to the mind. Exhortation is a precious gift—invaluable! whereby the Holy Spirit directly persuades the hearing heart into obedience to the truth which it has heard. A true exhorter, also, must be walking the path he calls others to follow!

He that giveth, with singleness [of heart toward God]—The literal meaning of giving here is that of imparting, of sharing our substance with others; and the manner of such giving is to be without secret reluctance, for “God loveth a cheerful giver” (II Corinthians 9:7); also without false pretense, such as Ananias and Sapphira had; finally, with an eye single to God. In fact, in Ephesians 6:5 this same word “singleness” is used in the phrase “in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.”

He that ruleth, with diligence—Ruling is first a gift, then an office, like those of elders and deacons (I Timothy 3:4, 12), who must, of course, first “rule well their own house.” Just as prophesying, teaching, and exhorting were gifts by the Spirit; and as giving is a grace given of God (II Corinthians 8:1, 4, 7); so the work of elders and deacons were offices: “If a man seek the office of a bishop”—or overseer: called also “elder,” as see Ac 20:17, 28;—as being more matured in Christian faith and experience; while the term “bishop” or “overseer” designates the duties of the office—to oversee). Dean Alford objects to interpreting “ruleth” here (Romans 12:8) of rulership in the Church, saying, (as a true churchman would), “It is hardly likely that the rulers of the Church, as such, would be introduced so low down in the list, or by so general a term, as this!” But in the enumeration of the gifts in I Corinthians 12:28, we have this order: “Apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, healings, helps”; and then, “governments,” next to the last term in the list! Of course man, who glories in office, would want this order changed.

Gifts were a direct bestowment (charisma) of the Spirit; moreover, they were general, while the “rulers” were confined to their own assemblies. Prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11) were that wherever they were; but an elder or deacon held his own office in his own assembly only.

The ruler was to attend, with constant diligence, to his work; not, indeed, “lording it over” the Lord’s heritage, but according to Peter’s direction: “The elders among you I exhort . . . tend the flock of God which is among you” (that was their business—to take care of the Lord’s sheep in the assembly where they were), “exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly.” They were to watch; to be ready at any sacrifice of personal comfort to look after needy sheep: “nor yet for filthy lucre.” (They were not to have money in mind, although elders that “ruled well” were to be “counted worthy of double honor,” especially if they were able to instruct in the Word; God would look
after their financial needs): “neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.”

Truth to tell, Christ’s sheep are ill-tended these days! they are “scattered upon the mountains.” Elders that “rule well,” with humble diligence, day and night, are desperately needed. Every believer has a right to the consciousness of being personally shepherded by Divinely raised-up elders; and cared for even in material things by faithful deacons. “And when the Chief Shepherd shall be manifested,” the rulers who have ruled with godly diligence shall receive a crown of glory! (I Peter 5:1-4.) Concerning false shepherds, see the awful words of Jeremiah 23:1-4, Ezekiel 34—the whole chapter! and Isaiah 56:10 to 12. (These chapters make us tremble!)

He that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness—Showing mercy is of course the bounden duty of those to whom God has shown mercy. But mercy toward others may be shown with the long, sombre face of one driven by a duty in which he is not happy. Yet the joyfulness of spirit in which one helps another is often of more real blessing than the help itself. Godet well remarks, with many others, that the words “he that showeth
mercy” denote the believer who feels called to devote himself to the visiting of the sick and afflicted. There is a gift of sympathy which particularly fits for this sort of work, and which is, as it were, the key to open the heart of the sufferer. The phrase “with cheerfulness” literally reads in hilarity!

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another; 11 in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 communicating to the necessities of the saints; pursuing hospitality.