Romans 12.8b-The Permanent Spiritual Gift Of Giving
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday October 22, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:8b-The Permanent Spiritual Gift Of Giving
Lesson # 411
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:1.
Last evening we continued with our study of Romans 12:6-8, in which Paul presents seven spiritual gifts.
In Romans 12:6b, Paul lists the temporary or discontinued communication gift of prophecy, which involved not only communicating with regards to the future but also messages from God to the church that were consistent with the completed canon of Scripture, which was not yet complete when this gift was extant.
Then, in Romans 12:7, Paul lists two more gifts, namely, the permanent gifts of service and teaching.
Then, last evening, in Romans 12:8, Paul presents the permanent spiritual gift of encouragement, whose function manifests its in encouraging members of the body of Christ to live in a manner worthy of their calling, to grow up to become like Christ.
Now, this evening we will note the next spiritual gift listed in Romans 12:8, namely, the gift of giving, which is also a permanent gift meaning it continued to manifest itself in the body of Christ after the canon of Scripture was closed.
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.”
Romans 12:4-5, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
Romans 12:6, “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith.”
Romans 12:7, “If service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching.”
Romans 12:8, “Or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
“He who gives” is the articular nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb metadidomi (metadivdwmi) (met-ad-id-o-my), which is a compound word composed of the verb didomi, “to give,” whose meaning is intensified by the preposition meta, “with.”
In Romans 12:8, the verb metadidomi refers to the function of the permanent spiritual gift of giving, which involves distributing one’s own money to others and is to be done with simplicity, i.e., with no thought of return or gain for self in any way.
Though all believers are commanded to give to one another (Matthew 5:42; 10:8) the spiritual gift of giving functions or manifests itself in manner that goes beyond what is normally exercised by Christians who obey the command to give to one another.
This gift is not given to wealthy believers only but rather it is given to believers regardless of their social or economic status.
The believer who exercises this gift properly will enjoy giving of himself and his possessions and will do so without a desire for thanks or recognition.
The one who exercises this gift properly will not give because of a sense of duty or obligation or for approbation but simply because they enjoy giving, it brings them great joy and happiness to give either material or financial aid to members of the body of Christ.
All believers, including the one who has the gift of giving, are to give to the local church: “And let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches” (Gal. 6:6; cf. also 1 Tim. 5:17-18).
If the local church is to form a solid home base for other ministries of outreach, it is only logical that it should become a first priority for our giving.
Believers are to give to other organizations and individuals: This would include missions, para-church groups and individuals who are involved in these ministries (3 John 5-8).
They are to give to fellow believers in need, namely, those unable to support themselves or who have faced serious problems are to be helped as we are able.
Those who refuse to work are not to be supported (1 John 3:17; Jam. 2:15-16; Gal. 6:10; Heb. 10:33-34; 13:1-3 with 2 Thess. 3:6-10).
Believers are to give to unbelievers in need as well.
Their first priority is to those who are of the household of faith, but we are also to reach out to others in need as we are able (Gal. 6:10).
Properly motivated giving on the part of the believer will result in rewards for them at the Bema Seat Evaluation (Mt. 5:11-2; Lk. 6:22-23; Rm. 12:9-13; 15:13).
Romans 12:8, “Or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
“With liberality” is composed of the preposition en (e)n), “with” and the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun haplotes (a(plovth$) (hap-lot-ace), “liberality.”
In Romans 12:8, the noun haplotes does not denote “simplicity” here but rather “sincerity.”
The word deals with the issue of “pure motives” since Paul is not concerned so much with how much is given through the function of this gift but rather the manner in which this gift functions.
The person who possesses this gift is to exercise it with pure motives or in other words with sincerity.
In Romans 12:8, the preposition en functions as a marker of manner and the noun haplotes as a dative instrumental of manner indicating that the function of the spiritual gift of giving is to function “with sincerity” or purity of motives.
Now, an example from Scripture of two believers who did not give with pure or sincere motives and lied to the Holy Spirit is Ananias and Sapphira.
Acts 4:32-5:2, “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need. Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet.”
The name “Ananias” means “God is gracious.”
The name “Sapphira” means “beautiful.”
The phrase “kept back” is the third person singular aorist middle indicative form of the verb nosphizomai, “to misappropriate funds for one’s own benefit.”
This is an intensive middle emphasizing the part taking here by Ananias meaning that he kept back some of the money for himself.
Ananias with his wife’s full knowledge misappropriated the money from the land they sold for their own benefit.
Ananias and Sapphira could have retained the proceeds from the sale of the property, of course, but in collusion with each other they had lied, saying they had given all the money when actually they had given only a portion of the money.
They deliberately attempted to deceive the apostles and the rest of the church into thinking that they were giving all the money.
You see, they were wanted the approbation of the entire church since as we read in Acts 4:36-37 that Barnabas had sold some of his property and gave all the money to the aid of the church.
The terrible nature of the sin is not that of refusing to give, not that of only giving part, but that of attempting to make men believe that they had given it all, when they had only given part, and so that of lying to God.
Acts 5:3-11, “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back {some} of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.’ And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, ‘Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?’ And she said, ‘Yes, that was the price.’ Then Peter said to her, ‘Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.’ And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.”