Romans 12.3a-Paul Prohibits His Readers From Thinking More Highly Of Themselves Than They Are Obligated To Think
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday September 29, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:3a-Paul Prohibits His Readers From Thinking More Highly Of Themselves Than They Are Obligated To Think
Lesson # 401
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:1.
This evening we will study Romans 12:3 and in this passage, Paul exercises his apostolic authority by issuing a prohibition and a command.
He prohibits them from thinking more highly of themselves than they are obligated to think and commands them to think properly about themselves.
The objective standard by which they are to measure themselves or in other words form an accurate, objective opinion of themselves is that they were all declared justified on the basis of the merits of the object of their faith, Jesus Christ.
This will lead to a humble attitude and prevent them from being arrogant.
Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:3, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
The statement by Paul in Romans 12:3 advances upon his statement in Romans 12:2 and intensifies it by bringing out this statement’s implications.
This statement advances upon his statement in Romans 12:2 and intensifies it by bringing out its implications in that it describes for the reader what it means to not be conformed to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system, which is based upon arrogance.
When the believer does not think more highly of himself than he ought to think but instead is humble, then he is not conforming to the standards of Satan’s cosmic system, which is based upon arrogance.
Paul’s statement in Romans 12:3 advances upon his statement in Romans 12:2 and intensifies it by bringing out its implications in that it describes for the reader what it means to have their character transformed into the image of Christ and the result of having their mind renewed by the Spirit and the Word.
When the believer does not think more highly of himself than he ought to think but rather exercises humility, then his character is being transformed into the image of Christ and his mind is being renewed by the Spirit and the Word.
“Through the grace” is composed of the preposition dia (diaV) (dee-ah), “through” and the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun charis (xavri$) (khar-ece), “the grace.”
The noun charis refers to the unmerited blessing, gift, commission and office that Paul received the moment he was declared justified through faith in Christ, which he identifies as his office as an apostle, which is indicated in that he says that he is using this grace when he issues this prohibition.
The noun charis not only refers to the spiritual gift of apostleship in Romans 12:3 but also it is used this way in Romans 1:5; 15:15, 1 Corinthians 3:10, Galatians 2:8 and Ephesians 3:2, 7-8.
The noun charis in Romans 12:3 functions as the object of the preposition dia, which functions as a marker of the instrument by which something is accomplished indicating that Paul is communicating this prohibition “by means of” or “through” his spiritual gift of apostleship.
This indicates that Paul is exercising his apostolic authority in Romans 12:3 when issuing this prohibition unlike Romans 12:1 when he appealed to his readers by virtue of what the Father had done for them.
However, even though he is exercising his apostolic authority when issuing this prohibition he is also informing them that this authority was given to him as a gift by God indicating that he did not earn or deserve the gift and thus he did not earn or deserve this authority as an apostle.
Thus, he is not being arrogant but humble in that he recognizes that this authority was a gift from God.
He wants his readers to adopt his humble attitude with regards to their spiritual gifts.
In this same way that he views his authority as a gift from God to serve others so also he wants his readers to view their positions in the body of Christ as a gift from God designed to serve others.
Romans 12:3, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
“Not to think more highly of himself than” is composed of the negative particle me (mhv) (may), “not” and the present active infinitive form of the verb huperphroneo (u(perfronevw) (hoop-er-fron-eh-o), “to think highly of himself” and the preposition para (paraV), “more than.”
The verb huperphroneo means “to think more highly of oneself” and is a reference of course to the sin of arrogance.
In Romans 12:3, the verb huperphroneo is used with two other verbs (phroneo, sophroneo) in the passage to form a play on words and means “to think highly of oneself.”
The verb’s meaning is negated by the negative particle me, “not” and together, they form a prohibition.
Paul employs me and not ouk since the latter is much stronger than the former and would indicate that Paul’s readers were already involved in arrogance.
Thus, by employing me instead of ouk, he does not believe that they are arrogant, which ouk would indicate.
Therefore, the particle me indicates that this has not taken place but is used with the verb huperphroneo to prohibit Paul’s readers in the future from getting involved in arrogance.
Also, further indicating that the prohibition here does not imply that the Roman believers were involved in arrogance is that the present imperative of the verb huperphroneo with the negative particle me has the force of a general precept.
Also, in Romans 15:14-15, Paul writes to the believers in Rome that he was convinced that they were full of goodness and filled with knowledge and able to admonish each other, thus, his teachings in this epistle would serve as a reminder to them.
Therefore, in Romans 12:3, Paul is simply performing preventive maintenance by employing this prohibition.
He is in effect warning the believers in Rome to not become involved with arrogance or having an exaggerated opinion of themselves.
Thus, he is simply stating a general precept for his readers to follow in the future that would protect their fellowship with God and each other.
The preposition para “more than” functions as a marker of comparative advantage indicating that Paul is prohibiting his Christian readers in Rome from thinking “more” highly of themselves “than” they ought to think.
It indicates that Paul does not want his readers to think that they have a comparative advantage over each other.
Romans 12:3, “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
“He ought” is the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb dei (dei) (die), which means “to oblige” and denotes the obligation, necessity, responsibility, or duty of the Roman believers to think properly about themselves.
“To think” and the present active infinitive form of the verb phroneo (fronevw) (fron-eh-o), which means, “to think in a particular manner” referring to the manner in which the Christian must think or what must be their “attitude.”
The manner in which the Christian must think or the “attitude” they must possess, is not explicitly mentioned but implied from Romans 12:2, namely, renovating their minds.
Renovating their minds is accomplished by learning and obeying the Father’s will, which is revealed by the Spirit through the teaching of the Word of God.
Specifically, it involves not only prayer but appropriating by faith one’s new position in Christ and considering oneself crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
This Paul says will result in their thinking properly about themselves as indicated by the prepositional phrase that follows phroneo, namely, eis to sophronein, “so that you think properly about yourselves.”
This manner of thinking is consistent with the objective standard by which they are to accurately and objectively form an opinion about themselves that the Father distributed to each of them without exception namely justifying faith.
This is indicated by the statement hekastos hos ho theos emerisen metron pisteos, which we will translate “consistent with the objective standard God the Father distributed to each and every person for their benefit, namely justifying faith.”
Therefore, we have noted up to this point in our study of verse 3 that Paul prohibits his readers from thinking more highly of themselves than they are obligated to think so as to protect them from arrogance, which would hinder their Christian service and their use of their spiritual gifts.