Gifts of Grace
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Rom 12:3
given unto me... This refers to Paul’s apostleship by the grace of God (Rom. 1:5; Eph. 3:8).
not to think... Not to be conceited and self-important, but to take a sane view of himself.
The righteousness of God will cause the believer to conduct himself in humility in the local church. Paul meets two dangers that the individual faced in the exercise of his spiritual gifts. He might overestimate himself and try to exercise a gift God never gave him. Or he might underestimate himself and fail to exercise the gift God has given to him. Paul shows that God has given each believer specific gifts to enable him to do what God wants him to do. No one is excluded.
The grace and the divine, undeserved favor that called Paul to be an apostle and gave him spiritual authority, also gave him sincere humility.
To think soberly is the exercise of sound judgment, which will lead believers to recognize that in themselves they are nothing and will yield the fruit of humility.
the measure of... Faith is the correct proportion of the spiritual gift or supernatural endowment and ability the Holy Spirit gives each believer so he may fulfill his role in the body of Christ. “Faith” is not saving faith, but rather faithful stewardship, the kind and quantity required to use one’s own particular gift. Every believer receives the exact gift and resources he needs to fulfill his role in the body of Christ.
It seems so strange to some people how one person seems to have more faith than the other, if we have all received our measure of faith. The truth is that our faith grows as we use it and as we read the word of God.
1Cor. 12:7-9 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;” “To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;”
We can see from these Scriptures that there is a gift of faith that we can pray and receive. This is not a normal amount of faith, but a supernatural faith; which is a gift of the Spirit.
In Christian ministry
A believer’s consecration to God and his transformed lifestyle is demonstrated in his exercising his spiritual gifts in the body of Christ. As an apostle of Christ (by the grace given me; cf. Rom. 1:5; 15:15-16) he warned his readers individually (every one of you), Do not think of yourself more highly (hyperphronein, “think higher”) than you ought. An inflated view of oneself is out of place in the Christian life. Then Paul encouraged them, But rather think (phronein) of yourself with sober judgment (sōphronein, “sound thinking”), in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. God has given each believer some faith by which to serve Him. By his involved word play on various forms of the verb phroneō, “to think,” Paul emphasized that human pride is wrong (cf. Rom. 3:27; 11:18, 11:20) partly because all natural abilities and spiritual gifts are from God.
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