16 Be in harmony with one another. Do not have a high opinion of yourselves, but be in agreement with common people. Do not give yourselves an air of wisdom.
Who has wisdom and good sense among you? let him make his works clear by a life of gentle wisdom. But if you have bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others, have no pride in this, talking falsely against what is true. This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One. For where envy is, and the desire to get the better of others, there is no order, but every sort of evil-doing. But the wisdom which is from heaven is first holy, then gentle, readily giving way in argument, full of peace and mercy and good works, not doubting, not seeming other than it is.
But true faith, with peace of mind, is of great profit: For we came into the world with nothing, and we are not able to take anything out; But if we have food and a roof over us, let that be enough. But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction.
But I will not say anything about my needs, for I am able, wherever I am, to be dependent on myself. It is the same to me if I am looked down on or honoured; everywhere and in all things I have the secret of how to be full and how to go without food; how to have wealth and how to be in need. I am able to do all things through him who gives me strength.
Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in harmony and of one mind; Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself;
<A Song of the going up. Of David.> Lord, there is no pride in my heart and my eyes are not lifted up; and I have not taken part in great undertakings, or in things over-hard for me. See, I have made my soul calm and quiet, like a child on its mother's breast; my soul is like a child on its mother's breast.
So I say to you, Take no thought for your life, about food or drink, or about clothing for your body. Is not life more than food, and the body more than its clothing? See the birds of heaven; they do not put seeds in the earth, they do not get in grain, or put it in store-houses; and your Father in heaven gives them food. Are you not of much more value than they?
In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he took a little child, and put him in the middle of them, And said, Truly, I say to you, If you do not have a change of heart and become like little children, you will not go into the kingdom of heaven. Whoever, then, will make himself as low as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And he said to her, What is your desire? She says to him, Let my two sons be seated, the one at your right hand, and the other at your left, in your kingdom. But Jesus made answer and said, You have no idea what you are requesting. Are you able to take of the cup which I am about to take? They say to him, We are able. He says to them, Truly, you will take of my cup: but to be seated at my right hand and at my left is not for me to give, but it is for those for whom my Father has made it ready. And when it came to the ears of the ten, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus said to them, You see that the rulers of the Gentiles are lords over them, and their great ones have authority over them. Let it not be so among you: but if anyone has a desire to become great among you, let him be your servant; And whoever has a desire to be first among you, let him take the lowest place: Even as the Son of man did not come to have servants, but to be a servant, and to give his life for the salvation of men.
And the Evil One said, I will give you authority over all these, and the glory of them, for it has been given to me, and I give it to anyone at my pleasure. If then you will give worship to me, it will all be yours. And Jesus in answer said to him, It has been said in the Writings, Give worship to the Lord your God, and be his servant only. And he took him to Jerusalem and put him on the highest point of the Temple and said to him, If you are the Son of God, let yourself go down from here; for it is said in the Writings, He will give his angels orders to take care of you: And, In their hands they will keep you up, so that your foot may not be crushed against a stone.
And there was an argument among them about which of them was the greatest. And he said, The kings of the Gentiles are lords over them, and those who have authority are given names of honour. But let it not be so with you; but he who is greater, let him become like the younger; and he who is chief, like a servant. For which is greater, the guest who is seated at a meal or the servant who is waiting on him? is it not the guest? but I am among you as a servant.
If I did wrong in the cause of my man-servant, or my woman-servant, when they went to law with me; What then will I do when God comes as my judge? and what answer may I give to his questions? Did not God make him as well as me? did he not give us life in our mothers' bodies? If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose;
And it was given to him to make war on the saints and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all who are on the earth will give him worship, everyone whose name has not been from the first in the book of life of the Lamb who was put to death.
Give ear, my dear brothers; are not those who are poor in the things of this world marked out by God to have faith as their wealth, and for their heritage the kingdom which he has said he will give to those who have love for him? But you have put the poor man to shame. Are not the men of wealth rulers over you? do they not take you by force before their judges?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 12
Commentary on Romans 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
The apostle, having at large cleared and confirmed the prime fundamental doctrines of Christianity, comes in the next place to press the principal duties. We mistake our religion if we look upon it only as a system of notions and a guide to speculation. No, it is a practical religion, that tends to the right ordering of the conversation. It is designed not only to inform our judgments, but to reform our hearts and lives. From the method of the apostle's writing in this, as in some other of the epistles (as from the management of the principal ministers of state in Christ's kingdom) the stewards of the mysteries of God may take direction how to divide the word of truth: not to press duty abstracted from privilege, nor privilege abstracted from duty; but let both go together, with a complicated design, they will greatly promote and befriend each other. The duties are drawn from the privileges, by way of inference. The foundation of Christian practice must be laid in Christian knowledge and faith. We must first understand how we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, and then we shall know the better how to walk in him. There is a great deal of duty prescribed in this chapter. The exhortations are short and pithy, briefly summing up what is good, and what the Lord our God in Christ requires of us. It is an abridgment of the Christian directory, an excellent collection of rules for the right ordering of the conversation, as becomes the gospel. It is joined to the foregoing discourse by the word "therefore.' It is the practical application of doctrinal truths that is the life of preaching. He had been discoursing at large of justification by faith, and of the riches of free grace, and the pledges and assurances we have of the glory that is to be revealed. Hence carnal libertines would be apt to infer."Therefore we may live as we list, and walk in the way of our hearts and the sight of our eyes.' Now this does not follow; the faith that justifies is a faith that "works by love.' And there is no other way to heaven but the way of holiness and obedience. Therefore what God hath joined together let no man put asunder. The particular exhortations of this chapter are reducible to the three principal heads of Christian duty: our duty to God t ourselves, and to our brother. The grace of God teaches us, in general, to live "godly, soberly, and righteously;' and to deny all that which is contrary hereunto. Now this chapter will give us to understand what godliness, sobriety, and righteousness, are though somewhat intermixed.
Rom 12:1-21
We may observe here, according to the scheme mentioned in the contents, the apostle's exhortations,