Last year I looked at the Top 10 Most Shared Bible Verses from 2013 in their context. They have recently posted their 2014 list and to my surprise there are ten new most shared verses, so I figured I’d look at these ten popular verses in their context again this year. Today we will look at Romans 12:3, which is the eighth most shared verse of 2014.
The Verse:
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12:3 ESV)
The Context:
In Romans 12 a massive shift takes place. For the first eleven chapters Paul has been laying a solid doctrinal foundation for the church at Rome. Starting in chapter 12 he moves to exhortation. Paul does this in about every letter—he grounds his exhortations in a solid Christ-centered theology. Romans is no different.
The reason why Paul has written this letter to the Romans is somewhat complex. I believe his ultimate reason is for the purpose of setting up Rome as a hub to launch his upcoming ministry to Spain. But Rome isn’t in much of a position to be such a launching pad because they are plagued by disunity between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians.
So, in order to bring unity and to launch his ministry to Spain, Paul writes to the church at Rome. His strategy is brilliant. With a robust theology of salvation Paul succeeds in uniting Jew and Gentile. With this completed, he plants the seeds for his visit and his proposal to make Rome a hub for his next mission trip to Spain.
Disunity can almost always find its source in pride. The church at Rome is no different. Oddly enough their pride has attached itself to the use of spiritual gifts. And so this is the first place where Paul addresses in his application of the gospel. That is what we read in Romans 12:3-8.
Paul’s core point in this section is that because God has given us these gifts of grace we have no room for personal pride. Instead, no matter our gift, we should use them as if they are given to us as gifts from God—not as if they are personal accomplishments, used to promote ourselves against our brothers and sisters.
The Meaning:
It is interesting that this is one of the most shared verses. My guess is that people share it because of the exhortation to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. That’s a popular sentiment these days.
Whether it is in the area of spiritual gifts or even in generic pride, what Paul does here in Romans 12:3 is tremendous. I love Tom Schreiner’s explanation of this:
What prevents pride from cropping up is a sober estimation of one’s faith, and this sober estimation is based on the truth that God apportioned to each one a measure of faith. Pride is eliminated when one recognizes that the faith one has is a gift of God, not the result of one’s own virtue. (Schreiner, 653)
What Paul has been doing from the very beginning is rooting out the pride of both Jew and Gentile by showing how they are both united as helpless sinners under the wrath of God. Furthermore, they are united as believers bought with the precious blood of Christ. They have nothing they can bring into the kingdom. The gospel is the great leveler.
When Paul tells the Christians at Rome to view themselves with sober judgment he isn’t talking about judging according to some man-made standard. He is saying to view themselves rightly in light of the gospel. When we do this there is no room left for pride.
Conclusion:
I’m happy that this verse is one of the most shared verses. I just hope that as we share it with others we aren’t doing it pridefully. I pray that we take this verse to heart and realize that in Christ there is absolutely no room for pride. Whether it be in the area of spiritual gifts or anything else—everything we have is a gift from the Lord.
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