Romans 12:7

Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; OR MINISTRY [LET US WAIT] ON (OR 'BE OCCUPIED WITH') OUR MINISTERING [ diakonia (G1248)] The familiar OR MINISTRY [LET US WAIT] ON (OR 'BE OCCUPIED WITH') OUR MINISTERING, [ diakonia (G1248)]. The familiar word here used imports any kind of service from the dispensing of the word of life (Acts 6:4) to the administering of the temporal affairs of the Church (Acts 6:1). The latter seems intended here, being distinguished from 'prophesying,' 'teaching,' and 'exhorting.' HE THAT TEACHETH. Teachers are expressly d...

3-8 Pride is a sin in us by nature; we need to be cautioned and armed against it. All the saints make up one body in Christ, who is the Head of the body, and the common Centre of their unity. In the spiritual body, some are fitted for and called to one sort of work; others for another sort of work. We are to do all the good we can, one to another, and for the common benefit. If we duly thought about the powers we have, and how far we fail properly to improve them, it would humble us. But as we must not be proud of our talents, so we must take heed lest, under a pretence of humility and self-denial, we are slothful in laying out ourselves for the good of others. We must not say, I am nothing, therefore I will sit still, and do nothing; but, I am nothing in myself, and therefore I will lay out myself to the utmost, in the strength of the grace of Christ. Whatever our gifts or situations m...

Verse Romans 12:7. _OR MINISTRY_] διακονια simply means the _office_ of a _deacon_; and what this office was, _see in Clarke's note on "_Acts 6:4_"_, where the subject is largely discussed. _OR HE THAT TEACHETH_] The teacher, διδασκαλος, was a person whose office it was to instruct others, who thereby catechizing, or simply explaining the grand truths of Christianity....

OR MINISTRY - διακονίαν diakonian. This word properly means service of any kind; Luke 10:40. It is used in religion to denote the service which is rendered to Christ as the Master. It is applied to all classes of ministers in the New Testament, as denoting their being the servants of Christ; and it is used particularly to denote that class who from this word were called deacons, that is, those who had the care of the poor, who provided for the sick, and who watched over the external matters of the church. In the following places it is used to denote the ministry, or service, which Paul and the other apostles rendered in their public work; Acts 1:17, Acts 1:25

EXPOSITION VER. 1–CH. 14:23 III. HORTATORY. It is St. Paul's way to supplement his doctrinal treatises with detailed practical directions as to the conduct that should of necessity ensue on belief in the doctrines propounded. So also in Ephesians 4:1, etc., where, as here, he connects his exhortations with what has gone before by the initiatory παρακαλῶ οὖν_. _Beyond his exposition of the truth for its own sake, he has always a further practical aim. Saving faith is ever with him a living faith, to be shown by its fruits. Nor, according to him, will these fruits follow, unless the believer himself does his part in cultivating them: else were these earnest and particular exhortations needless. If, on the one hand, he is the great assertor of our salvation being through faith and all of grace, he is no less dist

OR MINISTRY, [LET US WAIT] ON OUR MINISTRY,.... The word διακονια sometimes signifies the whole ecclesiastical ministry, even the office of apostleship, as well as the ordinary ministration of the Gospel; see Acts 1:17; but here "deaconship", or the office of ministering to the poor saints, as in Acts 6:1, being a distinct office from prophesying: or preaching the word, and should be used, exercised, and attended to with diligence, care, and constancy; for such who are appointed to this office, are chosen not only to a place of honour, but of service and business, in which they should behave with prudence, sobriety, and humility: OR HE THAT TEACHETH, ON TEACHING. The gift of prophesying or preaching is subdivided into "teaching" and "exhorting"; the one belongs to "teachers" or doctors, the

Romans 12:1. _I beseech you therefore, brethren,_ Paul is a calm reasoner. He is a bold starer of truth, but here he comes to pleading with us. I think that I see him lift the pen from the paper and look round upon us, as. with the accent of entreaty, he says, «I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, by God's great mercy to you, his many mercies, his continued mercies.» What stronger plea could the Apostle have? «I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.» Romans 12:1. _By the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service._ Though he beseeches you to do it, he claims a right to it. It is but your reasonable service. Do we need to be entreated to be reasonable? I

III. EXHORTATIONS AND THE CONCLUSION. Chapter s 12-16. CHAPTER 12 _ 1. The Body as a Willing Sacrifice. (Romans 12:1 .)_ 2. Service. (Romans 12:3 .) 3. The Daily Walk in Holiness. (Romans 12:9 .) Romans 12:1 . Grace calls for obedience. After God has made known the riches of His grace, the fulness of the Gospel, His Spirit shows how believers should walk in a world of sin and tribulation. The first thing is to present the body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. This connects with the truth of Romans 6:19

IN THE CHRISTIAN TEMPER, _modesty_ is the first desideratum. Romans 12:3. I tell everyone that is among you not _to_ be high-minded above a right mind, but to be of a mind to be sober-minded (Sp.). This is the mind as _temper, disposition_ (so in Romans 8:5), not as _intellect_ (Romans 12:2). A modest temper comes from appreciating other men's gifts. Measure of faith, as the sequel shows, means faith in the variety of its apportioned manifestations. Romans 12:4 f. For Christians form in Christ a single body with many members, of widely diverse functions (pp. 646, 812);...

THE TRUE WORSHIP AND THE ESSENTIAL CHANGE (Romans 12:1-2)...