Page 83 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

gives clear, unmistakable direction as to what the proper course of action that pleases God is. This
foundational command demands a faith response on the part of those who obey. It commands a willing,
free giving of oneself to God for God to use in whatever way will bring glory to His name.

Connected to this appeal are commands as to how that gift of oneself for service to God should be seen in
one’s life. The first two commands given set the tone for the rest of the commands that will follow them
in this letter. The two of them taken together can be summarized in one command, “Conform your
thinking to God’s thinking.” When Paul wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect,” 101 that is what he was commanding the Roman believers to do. He was telling
them to willingly cooperate with the ministry of the Holy Spirit as He applied the Word of God to their
hearts to change their wrong-headed, erroneous thinking about how to live life. He is promising that such
cooperation will enable them to begin to think God’s thoughts after Him and would be the first step
toward doing deeds that please God. To do so would take submission to God that is expressed as the
trusting presentation of all of ones being to God for God to use in His service whatever way He so desires.

Specific Applications of the Foundational Command

The next two paragraphs began the specific applications of the foundational command. They began with
commands that addressed what happens inside of a person’s heart and then proceeded to the ways that
the attitudes of the heart are to be expressed in actions toward others. This dovetails with the principle
that Jesus taught his disciples, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” 102

Be humble in your thoughts about yourself and remember that God uses different people in differing
ways to show His glory in the accomplishment of His purposes. (12:3-8)

Paul now turned his discourse away from thinking in general to the specifics of how one ought to think
about themselves in relationship to God and other people. The very way that Paul went about structuring
what he had to say here showed that he is profoundly aware of the tendency for God’s image bearers to
become proud and self-satisfied — to see the world revolving around themselves and the satisfaction of
their desires. I believe that is the reason he began this section with a negative command prohibiting that
type of thinking. Stated positively Paul told the Roman believers to begin to conform their thinking to
God’s way of thinking by developing a humble attitude that displays itself in submissive trust of God and
deliberate respect for other image bearers. He put the cultivation of such attitudes in the context of their
faith relationship with God when he added the phrase “each according to the measure of faith that God
has assigned.” 103 In other words, without God’s help one will never be able to see either God or people
from the proper perspective. We must trust God to shape and form our hearts through His truth so that
we show His character in our words and deeds.

In the last half of the paragraph Paul explained the proper perspective for regarding and responding to
fellow believers in the local body of Christ called the church. We are all equally part of one body. We are
different parts, but we are all equal in value; we all belong to one another; we are all essential to the
proper functioning of God’s church. In light of that we must remember that God has given gifts and
abilities according to His grace to each individual member for the purpose of using them for the benefit of
everyone in the body. His graces are not given for private pleasure or satisfaction of individual members
of the body. They are to be used in trusting submission of those gifts and abilities to the service of God in
the building up of the body. They are to be a source of joy both to the one who is using their gifts and to
those who benefit from the gifts.

101 Romans 12:2, ESV.
102 Matthew 12:34, ESV.
103 Romans 12:3, ESV.
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