SPIRITUAL GIFT--1

What Gift Do You Have For Us?
Passage: Romans 12:1-8


God's gifts are not unchanging "possessions" that are ours forever. They are constantly being renewed and transformed.

All parents whose work takes them out on the road inevitably fall victim to the dreaded, genetically linked "traveling parent disease." This rarely discussed disease kicks in just as you finally enter the airport to begin your flight back home. Suddenly, visions of your small offspring, sadly moping around the house, rise to your consciousness, and you are obsessed with the unshakable need to buy these little loved ones an "I'm back now" gift. Though seldom talked about, the widespread nature of this malady is evident by the large number of airport gift shops whose entire inventory is devoted to these poor, gift-searching parents. Why else would our airports be filled with exorbitantly expensive stuffed animals, designer felt-tip marker sets, thousands of tiny-sized T-shirts and replicas of every Disney creature ever imagined. You will also note that all these shops are doing quite well.

The unfortunate side effect of this gift-giving syndrome is not just the huge dent it makes in you wallet at the end of every business trip. There is also the fact that now, whenever you finally drag in the door of your home-sweet-home, the first words your little darlings greet you with are not "Welcome home, Mommy," or "We missed you so much, Daddy" but "What gift do you have for me?"

Often it seems we childishly accost God with the same question and with about the same grace as our kids. We expect that God will present us with some fully developed, nicely wrapped package. We envision God saying, "Yes, I have given you the gift of teaching now take this and go out and teach!" Or "For you, the gift of leadership. From this point on, you shall stand at the head of the church and lead it forward." Yeah, right.

The problem with having such a literal expectation of God's Spiritual Gifts in our lives is that most of us end up standing around waiting for some "special delivery" package that we never receive. We think the gifts God will visit upon our lives must come from somewhere else that they must be flown in to us by some distant deity. But Paul's message points to another location for the "gifts of God for the people of God." Paul urges his Roman Christian brothers and sisters to "be transformed by the renewing of your minds" (v.2). The transformative power of a renewed mind of a mind freed from the old restraining conformities of our past is the power that opens us up to the presence of all God's gifts already at hand in our lives. This is a gift we can take home to our families every day. It is the ability to rise above the behaviors and attitudes that are forced upon us by the demands of the world and to allow ourselves to be transformed by the unpredictable power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

There are a lot of new books out now on Spiritual Gifts, on the whole concept of "giftedness." The problem with most of these is that they are still fixated on finding that specially wrapped, little box hidden somewhere in Daddy's or Mommy's luggage. For too many of these studies, a "spiritual gift" is something we can hang onto, fix our identity to, claim as our own personal possession, but any "spiritual" gift that would conform to those norms would be about as "spiritual" as an MBA. If the divinely ordained presence of a genuinely spiritual gift comes from having a "renewed mind," then these gifts themselves must be a constantly recyclable resource taking on different forms and fulfilling different tasks in every new incarnation. Spiritual Gifts are not unchanging "things," possessions that are ours "forever and ever, amen." Spiritual Gifts like the minds they take shape in are constantly renewed and transformed. God's gifts to us are always surprise packages.

Right now, each one of us is nurturing a profound spiritual gift within ourselves and we don't even know it. Most of us are just plain too scared to try out what we think our "gift" might be. Often we are conscientiously avoiding situations where our gift might inadvertently slip to the surface.

Are you really a leader?...Don't you dare volunteer to help organize that new building committee.

Are you really a speaker?...Don't you dare speak those words that keep leaping up into your brain.

Are you filled with compassion?...Don't you dare offer to help out the homeless and hungry that populate the streets of your town and the pews of your church.

Are you really a teacher?... Don't you dare demonstrate how easily you can communicate ideas and reveal information to others.

Are you really filled with a prophetic word for your church?...Don't you dare suppose that anything you might say could make a difference.

Moses tried to avoid the reality of his Spiritual Gifts once his mind was filled with the transformative Spirit of God. But God had other plans. Despite his disreputable status, and even though evidence suggests he may have had a speech impediment of some sort, Moses was given the gift of leadership and called to speak out to Pharaoh on behalf of all the Hebrew people.

Psychologists joke that the two most stress-inducing experiences of human life are approaching death and public speaking. When God offers up the gift of speaking, how many of us would be inclined to run forward begging, "Me, me, oh please let me be the public speaker!" But sometimes the Spiritual Gifts God gives us may not be what we think we are any good at or what we find particularly pleasing or enjoyable to do. Sometimes God has need of us. Our spiritual "gift" may be something we have to work at long and hard before we feel any modicum of expertise. But a transformed mind cannot be conformed, either by the expectations of the outside world or by the limitations of our own self-concepts.

Every time that absentee parent comes home, he or she is expected to bring a new gift. No parent wants to see that lower lip quiver and hear that pathetic little voice whisper, "You mean you didn't bring me anything?" As Christians, we can rest assured that we are constantly receiving God's gifts in our lives. Even during spiritual "dry spells," our potential for "giftedness" is still there. Especially during these desert-moments, we should be bold enough to go looking for our Spiritual Gifts. When we try on new possible roles that might enable us to find and claim new Spiritual Gifts for ourselves, we are renewed. God never approaches us empty-handed.

The reason God offers us these gifts of the Spirit is not to glorify our abilities or highlight our weaknesses. As members of the living Body of Christ, we are responsible for the health and maintenance of that Body. The gifts of love and leadership, compassion and counsel, prophesying and portfolio-building are all exercises we perform for the sake of the Body's health.

Fitness experts preach, "If you don't use it, you lose it." Each of us must flex our Spiritual Gifts in order to keep the Body of Christ fit and strong.

Abingdon Commentary
Romans 12:1-8 Daybreak Ethos (12:1-15:13)

In Rom 12:1--5:13 Paul focuses attention on certain hallmarks of the emergent Christian ethos that is to take shape now that "the night is far gone, the day is near" (13:12). Some interpreters regard the whole section as Paul's general counsels, appropriate for Christians in various places, while others try to relate it to the specific problems that divide the believers in Rome. The latter effort has been more successful in interpreting 14:1-15:6(7) than in tying chapters 12-13 to the Roman scene. More important, 12:1-15:13 are to be related to chapters 1-11, though the coherence is largely implicit-perhaps because Paul assumes that the recipients will hear the letter read through and so will not have forgotten what he has already said. In any case, this part of the letter consists of three sections of unequal length, each with its own characteristics. (a) 12:1-13:14 calls attention to important features that should characterize the community's ethos. (b) 14:1-15:6 deals with intramural disputes over Christian freedom and obligation. (c) Verses 15:7-13 not only concludes the section but also ties it to the grand horizon of the whole letter; these verses function as the peroration of the whole discourse.The Community's Transformed Ethos (12:1-13:14)

After the opening paragraph sets the stage (12:1-2), Paul launches into a series of exhortations that pertain to the internal life of the Christian community and to its overall relation to the surrounding world (12:3-21). Then 13:1-7 suddenly counsels the appropriate stance toward "governing authorities," including the payment of taxes. Next, 13:8 resumes addressing the intramural life of the community. Though Christ is mentioned only near the beginning (12:6) and end (13:14), these references actually frame substantively what lies between them, as do the eschatological notes sounded in 12:2 and 13:11-14. Apart from the discussion of civil authorities in 13:1-7 and the eschatological horizon in 13:11-14, the exhortations are not argued but clustered around general topics.Worship and Transformation (12:1-2)

This brief introductory paragraph combines two remarkable exhortations that together express the mandate that the subsequent exhortations spell out more fully. The first says what the readers are to do ("present your bodies as a living sacrifice"); the second, using two contrasting passive imperatives, says what is to happen to them: "Do not be conformed . . . but be transformed." (The injunctions in vv. 1 and 2 are linked with "and"; they are not just juxtaposed, as in NRSV, NIV, and REB.) The initial word parakalo conveys more than a request; it expresses strongly an appeal that is important and urgent (used again in 15:30; 16:17; see also 1 Cor 1:10 4:16; 2 Cor 2:8 10:1; Phil 4:2 Phlm 10); "implore" (REB) too readily suggests supplication, but Paul is not begging the readers to do as he says. Rather, he is exercising his apostolic vocation to bring about "the obedience of faith" (1:5), evident from the way he continues in verse 3: "For by the grace given to me I say . . ." (repeated in 15:15). Paul has emphasized God's mercy repeatedly, though using a different word (see 9:16 and especially 11:30-32); now it is the basis on which he makes his appeal.

What does Paul imply by beginning the passage with "therefore"? The word usually signals that what follows is the right inference from what has just been said. But how are the exhortations that follow the consequence of celebrating God's awesome ways in 11:33-36? Actually, the reference is to God's showing mercy to all in 11:30-32. Although some interpreters take "therefore" loosely, simply as a way of continuing the discourse, it should be taken seriously, indicating that the exhortations are his response to God's mercy, which the whole argument thus far has delineated. In effect, these chapters call the readers to a mode of life that is the opposite of that described at the beginning of the letter (so Furnish 1968, 101-6).

Paul's "Therefore" is significant also because it discloses that, for him, appropriate conduct is precisely not an afterthought, loosely attached to what "really matters" (theology), but the obverse of the same coin. That Paul can write chapters 12-13 without using the "righteousness" terminology, especially important in chapters 1-5 and 9-11, must not eclipse the fact that chapters 12-13 make concrete the righteousness/rectitude that results from God's rectifying the ungodly (4:5). In fact, these chapters are Paul's own commentary on 6:13: "No longer present your members to sin as instruments [lit., "weapons"] of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness." Although the verb "present" appears in both passages, in 12:1 it is part of cultic imagery, for parastesai thysian (present/offer sacrifice) is a well-documented nonbiblical expression that Paul's largely Gentile readers would have recognized as soon as they heard it read (see references in Cranfield 1979, 598 n. 4).

What may well have jarred them, however, is being enjoined to offer their "bodies as a living sacrifice." By using "bodies" Paul urges them to offer their actual, physical, phenomenal selves, as REB recognizes: "offer your very selves," for here "body" means self, the whole person, as in "somebody." The entire self is to be offered to God, "who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all" (8:32, REB). In other words, this self-offering is the beneficiaries' response to God's own self-giving. Understandably, then, Paul makes his appeal "in view of God's mercy" (NIV).

Three words characterize the sacrifice: living, holy, and accceptable. A "living" sacrifice is ongoing, steadily manifest in daily life (thereby eliminating the chasm between the sacred and the profane); the import of "living" will be made concrete in the exhortations that follow. A sacrifice is "holy" because it is dedicated to God and blemish-free; "holy" compresses into one word what Paul had said in 6:19, "For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity [akatharsia, the opposite of holiness] and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification [being made holy]" (see also 6: 22). A sacrifice that is "acceptable" does not simply meet minimum requirements (getting a C-), but is literally "well-pleasing" (euareston) to God; it is worthy of divine approbation. A life well-pleasing to God is not subject to God's wrath against all human wickedness (1:18), though not beyond God's judgment (see 14:10).

This offering of oneself to God Paul calls your logiken latreian, for which there is no exact English equivalent. Latreia is usually translated "worship," but the word refers to cultic activity or duty in the service of God (Moffatt: "that is your cult, a spiritual rite"); its Latin equivalent was religio (so Betz 1991, 337). In 9:4 Paul had used the word to refer to cultic worship in the Jerusalem temple; in 1:9 he used the verb latreuo to speak of his own mission. More important here, however, is the use of the verb in 1:25 to characterize idolatry: "they have exchanged the truth of God for a lie [spelled out in v. 23] and have offered reverence and worship [elatreusan] to created things instead of to the Creator" (REB; NRSV: "worshiped and served"); as a result, "God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity [akatharsian, the opposite of holiness], to the degrading of their bodies" (v. 26, AT). In other words, what Paul calls for is the reversal of the situation portrayed in chapter 1; the offering of the body selves to God the Creator is the mandatory sign that salvation has indeed come to Gentile believers (11:11). This salvation-manifesting worship is more oriented to the future (as 15:7-13 will show) than the past; it does not envision a restoration of the primordial situation that was destroyed by the lapse into perverted religiosity characterized in 1:21-23 (so also Betz 1991, 338).

But what does Paul mean by characterizing the readers' latreia as logike, and what makes it so? NRSV's alternative translation "reasonable" is better than its preferred rendering, "spiritual," which implies a worship that is inward; the word implies also more than "mind and heart" (REB). Since logikos is the adjectival form of logos, reason, the point here is not the inward contrasted with the external aspects of religious activity, but the contrast with irrational, foolish worship-precisely the sort of worship that emerged when humans did not honor God as God or give thanks but "became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened" and so began worshiping sundry visible images instead of the invisible Creator (1:20-23). What makes the mandated worship "reasonable" is not so much the inbuilt rationality of the actor (as Byrne [1996, 363] translates it: "the worship you owe as rational beings") as its being the expression of the proper, understandable, restored correlation between creature and Creator. In short, this latreia is honoring God as God. The alternative implied is not Jewish worship in the temple but what Paul saw as the unreasonable, foolish religions of the Greco-Roman world. CEV appears to intuit Paul's point: "That's the most sensible way to serve God." Paul's implied critique of surrounding religiosity is based not on philosophical reflection on the origin and nature of religious practices, but on "the mercies of God"-the merciful acts that have already rescued the Gentile readers from the folly of their former cultic worship (see 1 Thess 1:9. Clearly, Paul's "reasonable worship" has nothing to do with "rational religion" as the Enlightenment understood it. Nor is he tacitly dismissing various acts in corporate worship, like hearing scripture, praying, singing, or participating in the rites of baptism and Eucharist.

The second exhortation in verse 2 has both negative and positive aspects: "Do not be conformed . . . but be transformed." It has a stated goal as well: discerning God's will. What Paul here proscribes and prescribes together explicate the self-giving in verse 1, on the one hand, and provide the basis for developing the new ethos according to God's will, on the other. Whereas verse 1 clearly has in mind Christian Gentiles, verse 2 pertains especially to Christian Jews, who-like the interlocutor in 2:17-18-may be inclined to continue their pre-Christian confidence that they already "know his will and determine what is best" because they have learned the law. (Esler [2003, 310], however, thinks verse 1 pertains to Jews, verse 2 to Gentiles.) In addition, this complex introductory exhortation tacitly prepares the way for Paul's counsels aimed at the arguments in Rome over observing dietary laws and special days (chaps. 14-15). The present tense of both imperative verbs suggests that not being conformed but being transformed is to be as ongoing as being a "living sacrifice."

Paul evidently assumes that he need not explain "this age" (aion, NRSV: "world"), used only here in Romans, but found also in 1 Cor 1:20 2:6, 8; 3:18; 2 Cor 4:4 and characterized as "the present evil age" in Gal 1:4 The expression is derived from Jewish apocalyptic thought, where it is paired and contrasted with "the age to come," the wholly new state of affairs that will be the God-given solution to what the whole of history has become. Paul, however, never speaks of "the age to come," probably because for him it has already dawned; instead he speaks of "new creation" (2 Cor (5:17 Gal 6:15, by which he does not mean that "a new heaven and a new earth" have displaced the old, as in Rev 21:1 but a newness that is already beginning to restore creation to its right relation to the Creator. In proscribing ongoing conformity with "this age" Paul acknowledges that it continues; but since its time is running out (13:11) conformity to it is no longer unavoidable; already one can, and so must, live out of the future that is dawning. Making this nonconformity actual entails a transformation, one that is not achieved by one's willpower but, as the passive "be transformed" implies, is the work of God in renewing the mind, creating a new mentality. For Christian Gentiles, the renewed mind replaces the "debased mind" to which "God gave them over" (1:28, AT). In effect, 12:1-2 restates 6:2: "How can we who died to sin go on living in it?" (see also 6:11-12; 8:5-8).

The purpose of this transformation is the new ethos, one that now conforms to God's will, which can, and therefore must, be "discerned"-NRSV's and REB's rough rendering of dokimazein, better translated by NIV as "test and approve." This nonconformity to "this age" is not an end in itself nor simply a manifestation of "alienation" rooted elsewhere, but the requisite prelude to the real end, doing God's will, which is not self-evident so long as "this age" has not yet run its course. Nor does Paul say that by renewing the mind one becomes a more astute interpreter of the law. While God's will must be detected and tested, it can be characterized as "what is good and acceptable [euareston, see above] and perfect." Paul does not require perfection; he does, however, make his readers responsible for the pursuit of God's perfect will. He also does more: He goes on to spell out what he understands that will entail.

Paul does not launch his exhortations by referring to Jesus, but what the apostle says here is consistent theologically with the theology at the core of Jesus' message as Mark formulates it: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is drawn near. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mark (1:15 AT). What Jesus calls for is repentance (metanoia) in response (more explicit in Matt 4:17 to God's reign, which "is drawn near" (perfect tense!) because of God's action. Repentance does not bring the Kingdom closer; rather, by a changed life it acknowledges what God has already done. Paul strikes the same note when he warrants his appeal by pointing to "the mercies of God." He does not, of course, mention metanoia (only at 2:4 does he use the word in Romans). But when the Hebrew word sh�/SPAN> (turn) was translated as metanoia (lit., "change of mind"), the accent implicitly shifted to a transformed outlook, a changed mentality that governs the way one lives. Substantively, then, Paul's call for a transformation by the renovation of the mind is his equivalent of Jesus' call for metanoia. Likewise, even though Paul mentions the kingdom of God rarely (in Romans only at 14:17), the injunctions that follow 12:1-2 sketch the kind of life that should flow from responding to God's mercies, definitively expressed in the Christ-event (5:6-11). The whole of Romans, then, is essentially a statement of what God has done, and its consequences-some of which are instantiated in 12:3-15:13.Mandates for the New Ethos
Introduction to 12:3-21

Although the believers in Rome assembled in various house churches (see chap. 16), the exhortations are addressed to the entire community. Paul first emphasizes the mindset that is appropriate for the community in which there are diverse gifts (vv. 3-8) before turning to various matters, especially nonretaliation (vv. 9-21). While the passage seems like a string of commands and prohibitions, close attention to details suggests that each unit has its own rationale.Many members One body (12:3-8)

Verses 3-8 begin by restating the basis on which the exhortations rest. English translations obscure, probably for stylistic reasons, what the letter's recipients would have heard: that verse 3 begins similarly to verse 1 (in both, the verb comes first):

v. 1 "I appeal . . . through the mercies of God"
v. 3 "I say through the grace given to me" (AT)

Verse 3 clearly recalls Paul's apostolic authorization expressed at the beginning of the letter: "We [viz., "I"] have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles . . . including yourselves" (1:5-6). Now Paul sees himself fulfilling this task by identifying the hallmarks of this obedience. By referring to his authorization as "the grace given to me" he says much more than CEV: "I realize how kind God has been to me" (as if that would have authorized his exhortations), and somewhat less than REB's "By the authority that the grace of God has given me," and even less than Moffatt's translation: "In virtue of my office." Moreover, in verse 6 he does not exalt his own authority but instead speaks "according to the grace given to us." Exhorter and exhorted alike are recipients of God's "begracements" (charismata), just as in 1:1 he is a "called" apostle writing to those who are "called" (1:6). The whole paragraph concerns proper differentiation in practice of what is given to all.

Apparently recognizing that proper differentiation depends on each person's attitude, Paul first addresses the danger of haughtiness in "every one of you" (NIV), whatever your ethnic identity, gender, or social status. To do so, he emphasizes a way of thinking, a mindset, by using a form of phronein four times: "Do not think of yourself more highly [hyperphronein] than you ought to think [phronein] but think [phronein] sensibly [eis to so-phronein]" (AT; the related noun sophrosyne, prudence, moderation, was long recognized as one of the four cardinal virtues). By accenting phronein as a primary result of receiving God's begracement, Paul alludes to what he had written before about the phrone-ma (mindset) of those who belong to Christ and live by the Spirit (8:5-8), though he mentions the Spirit here only at verse 11. Here the accent is on the mentality for which each person is responsible, first of all with regard to oneself, in keeping with the renewed mind's discerning God's will.

But what is the criterion of sensible self-understanding, marked by "sober judgment" (NRSV)? Unfortunately, Paul's answer-the remainder of verse 3-is far from clear: "as God has measured the measure of faith to each" (AT). "Measured" translates emerisen (to divide, distribute, apportion, allot [NRSV: "assign"]), not simply "give" (NIV), and fits the theme of differentiation that governs the whole paragraph. The noun metron can mean either an instrument for measuring (a meter) or the amount measured out, the allotment. If Paul uses it in the latter sense, CEV gets it right: "Measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you." But does Paul think that God distributes faith in various quantities? Probably the genitive ("of faith") is used appositionally, just as "sign of circumcision" in 4:11 means "sign that is circumcision"; in other words, Paul means "measure that is faith." Paul's point is not that God ladles out differing amounts of faith by which each person is to view oneself (that criterion for self-measurement would produce precisely what Paul seeks to avoid: pride!); rather, the criterion of a realistic self-affirmation is faith-knowing that one's relation to God is a matter of trust in the one who "rectifies the ungodly" (4:5).

The "for" at the beginning of verses 4-5 (omitted by NIV) announces the warrant for verse 3: The diverse believers are like one body with many parts. The sentence compares the human many-membered body with the many-membered community; it does not say that the community is the body of Christ, as CEV has it: "We each are part of the body of Christ"; that is what 1 Cor 12:27says: "You are the body of Christ and individually members of it" (see also Col 1:24. The comparison between a community and a human body consisting of diverse organs had become a commonplace by Paul's time and was especially useful for urging unity in civic affairs (see Mitchell 1991, 157-64). So it is not surprising that Paul, writing to a somewhat anarchic church in Corinth, would insist that all the various gifts are from the same Spirit "for the common good," and that diversity is so essential that no one, like no organ, can say, "I have no need of you." He also maintained, in effect, that the church as Christ's body is not a motley aggregate of organs, but a living organism, some of whose organs are more important than others; indeed, he ranked them (see below). Precisely because Paul had addressed 1 Cor 12-14 to a particular situation in a church he had founded, it is important not to conflate what he said in that letter with what he now writes to the Romans (so also Fee 1994, 605); here Paul adapts what he had said before without simply repeating himself.

For one thing, in Romans Paul does not develop the body image as in 1 Cor 12; he simply points out that in the one body "individually we are members one of another." This remarkable mutuality, we may infer, is the result of being baptized into Christ (6:3), which Paul may allude to in saying that "we, who are many, are one body in Christ" (not one body of Christ). In addition, while verses 6-8, like 1 Cor 12:27-30, also conclude the discussion by listing the divine gifts, in Romans Paul neither ranks them nor uses the same list. Indeed, even within 1 Cor 12 the "manifestations of the Spirit" listed in verses 7-10 differ from those listed in verses 28-29 (see below). Evidently Paul is neither identifying the gifts so that the Romans may know what they are, nor ranking them so that the readers know their respective standing in the community, but rather is using the variety of gifts to make concrete what it means to be "members of one another" precisely because, like the body, "not all the members have the same function." "In Christ" this diversity is not something to be overcome but to be treasured and actualized rightly.

Verses 6-8, however, contain a syntactical difficulty that affects how one understands what Paul says. These verses begin "having differing begracements [charismata, gifts of grace] according to the grace given to us," but they have no active verb. Dunn (1988, 2:725) therefore argues that these verses continue the sentence begun at verse 4 and so describe how the gifts are actually functioning, but the vast majority think that verse 6 begins a new sentence that Paul fails to complete, and that one must supply the implied missing verb, namely, an exhortation, as in NIV: "If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it. . . ." The context makes Dunn's interpretation unlikely. Paul is not describing; he is urging that each gift be actualized in a particular way, in keeping with the nature of the gift.

Paul mentions seven begracements that were "given to us." The first two are abstract nouns (prophecy, service), the next five refer to specific doers (the teacher, etc.). Paul's letters being the earliest Christian writings, the desire to learn from them as precisely as possible the nature of early church leadership is understandable, but the desire is frustrated, in part at least, by the variations in his three rosters of gifts (modifying NRSV): 1 Cor 12:7-10 1 Cor 12:28-29 Rom 12:6-8 utterance of wisdom apostles prophecy utterance of knowledge prophets ministry faith teachers the teacher gifts of healing deeds of power the exhorter miracle working gifts of healing the giver prophecy forms of assistance the leader discernment of spirits forms of leadership the compassionate various tongues various tongues interpretation of tongues

(Whereas all these lists reflect the various functions that begraced persons had, the shorter [and later] list in Eph 4:11names specific offices: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers-all being the gifts of Christ, not of the Spirit.) Although Paul had not yet been to Rome, he assumes that the Romans will know what he is talking about. We, however, should not assume that Paul knows that these "begracements" were as divisive in Rome as in Corinth.

By prophecy Paul does not mean soothsaying or some form of clairvoyance, but articulate, intelligible, inspired speech that benefits the assembled community; in 1 Cor 14 Paul carefully explained why understandable prophetic utterance is superior to glossolalia (speaking in "tongues"): The latter requires an interpreter before it benefits the church. Even so, the prophet's speech does not have automatic authority, for the others are to "weigh what is said" (v. 29); the prophets are not mantics controlled wholly by the Spirit, but rather "the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets" (v. 32). The whole discussion in 1 Cor 12-14 is Paul's response to the problems generated by an over-emphasis on prophecy and tongue-speaking. Even though Rom 12:6-8 also begins with prophecy, Paul neither contrasts it with tongue-speaking (not even mentioned!) nor explains its proper role, but is content to say that it is to be exercised "in proportion to faith" (kata ten analogian tes pisteos), an unusual phrase. The word analogia is not used in the LXX and only here in the New Testament; it means right relationship, and here probably means something like "according to the right relation to God that is [or, is determined by] faith." The gift of prophecy is not a license to innovate but power to explicate the faith given to all. Even though the phrase is used only with regard to prophecy, there is no evident reason to conclude that it does not pertain also to the other gifts of grace.

Next, Paul mentions "ministry" (diakonia), not "the ministry" as a distinctive vocation in the modern sense; his word means "service" (NIV). While the word is associated with waiting tables (as in Acts 6:2 REB: "assist in the distribution"), no evidence suggests that Paul has this function in view here, or that the word means "gift of administration" (REB). Nor is much gained by suggesting that Paul refers to the (unspecifiable) activities of a "deacon" (diakonos) like Phoebe (16:1). Paul's point is that the one who received the begracement of serving should serve. He is not saying that those who serve should be servile servants; he is urging each person to do what the gift of grace gave one to do. Likewise, the one who was given the gift of teaching (compressed into "the one who teaches") should teach. Guessing what is taught to whom, or whom the exhorter is exhorting about what, detracts from hearing what Paul is saying.

Paul's last three exhortations in verse 8 differ, for now he specifies how each gift is to be actualized. Here, too, it is difficult to know just whom he has in mind, as the varying translations show. In verse 8, who is ho parakal on (participle of the same verb used in verse 1)? Is he "the exhorter" (NRSV)? One who "encourages" (NIV, NJB, CEV), or "counsels" (REB)? Who is ho metadidous? "The giver" generally (NRSV), the one who is "contributing to the needs of others" (NIV), the one who gives "to charity" (REB), "the philanthropist" who shares personal wealth (Fitzmyer 1993)? Or does this person give out the pooled resources of the community? Whatever giving by whoever to whomever Paul has in view, the giving is to be done en haplot eti (lit., "with simplicity or sincerity," that is, with no ulterior motives; NRSV: "in generosity"; REB: "without grudging"). Finally, who is ho proistamenos (NRSV: "the leader")? The phrase was used for officials and administrators; Paul used it in 1 Thess 5:12(NRSV: "those who have charge of you"; REB: "your leaders"). Since the related noun prostat es refers to a benefactor or patron (used of Phoebe in 16:1), here Paul may well refer to the person who functions as a patron looking after the well-being of the community, and for this reason is "the leader." This person is to act en spoud e (eagerly, devotedly, conscientiously; NRSV: "in diligence"; REB: "lead with enthusiasm"). Who is ho ele on (lit., "the one who shows mercy")? Is it "the compassionate" who, according to Cranfield (1979), tends the sick and cares for the aged and disabled? Or simply the one who helps "those in distress" (REB)? This person is to do so en hilarot eti, gladly or cheerfully.

Prophecy, service, teaching, and exhortation pertain to the specific activities that build up the community assembled in several house churches, but no less gifts of grace are uncompromised giving, diligence in patronage, and deeds of mercy done cheerfully. Noticeably, verses 6-8 are completely free of the sort of regulations that appear later in 1 Tim 5:1-22; Tit 1:5-9; 2:1-10 (see Bassler 1996, ad loc.). Paul envisions a community in which diverse begracements are not yet routinized into "offices" but are expressed spontaneously, freely, and problem-free. What he envisions in verses 6-8 makes concrete his admonition not to be haughty (vv. 3-5), which in turn is the first consequence of the transformation that is to occur when the mind is renewed (v. 2).

Conclusion to 12:3-8

Whereas verses 3-8 concentrated on the exercise of seven begracements for the well-being of the whole community, verses 9-21 pertain to all readers. Remarkably, verses 17-21 insist on nonretaliation and prohibit vengeance-prompting one to wonder whether this disproportionate emphasis reflects Paul's experience with churches or his knowledge of conditions in the Roman house churches. In any case, Paul's counsels echo what he says elsewhere in Romans, as well as in his other letters. They also appear to draw on a variety of traditions without explicitly quoting any of them (only scripture is quoted, v. 19), including Hellenistic Jewish Wisdom (emphasized by Walter Wilson 1991), Stoic motifs (similarities are emphasized by Troels Engberg-Pedersen 2000, 265-77, 285-91; differences by Esler 2004, 106-23), and perhaps orally circulating Jesus traditions, though Jesus is not mentioned (David Wenham 1995, 250-52). Unconvincing, however, is the idea that Paul is drawing on an "Essene homily" (so David Flusser 1997, 78-82). Seen as a whole, verses 9-21 do not develop an argument; they rather assemble and cluster diverse materials that go beyond verses 3-8 in specifying the kind of ethos that should characterize the community. Romans 12:1-8

---

Romans 12:1-8

Living Sacrifices

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
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 given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.