Verse by Verse

¹³ distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

distributing = to take part with, to share

given to = pursue, earnestly seek. [Be] a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate (Titus 1:8).

Seek the welfare of those who do us injury.

Rejoice/weep — not just the absence of selfishness, but sympathy, sharing in feelings. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it (1 Corinthians 12:26).

Whenever (5 places) Paul encourages generosity, it’s always to saints. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10).

¹² rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;

Hope — Hebrews 6:19 — Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.

Hope = faith in the future

instant in prayer — immediate

Nowhere does Paul instruct us to pray for long periods of time.

Perseverance in prayer produces joy in hope and patience in tribulation. Communion with God is essential as a controlling influence in our joy and in our patience under trial. Otherwise joy may be mere ebullition of feeling and patience mere Stoicism. — Vine, page 181.

¹¹ not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

not flagging in zeal, whatever needs to be done

in spirit — those things that are guided by the Holy Spirit

This verse is speaking of our attitude when serving the Lord. Our diligence and fervency should be in service to the Lord.

¹⁰ Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;

brotherly love = philadelphia — mutual affection. Should be “brother love,” not  love for a brother” but “brother love.”

Philippians 2:3 — Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

⁹ Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

dissimulation (hypocrisy) — A hypocrite was a stage actor who played a part that wasn’t his real character.

abhor/cling — strong, direct opposites, referring to love. Be discerning.

abhor = hate

Verses 3-8 were about Christian service. Verses 9-21 are about Christian conduct.

Hate what God hates and love what God loves.

love — agape, the love between an husband and wife.

2 Corinthians 6:6 — By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned.

1 Peter 1:22 — Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.

⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;

⁷ or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;

⁸ he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

prophecy = forth-telling (including revealing future events). This gift ended when the Bible was complete (1 Corinthians 13). Prophecy was a direct message from God and always in accord with earlier revelations. Teaching, in contrast, is based on the revelation revealed in Scripture.

according to the proportion (see verse 3) — in line with what grace God has given and with what faith it is received

ministry — service of any type — voluntary in contrast to slavery.

exhortation — appeal to the conscience and the heart

liberality — singleness of heart

leads — be over, stand in front

mercy — relieving distress

teaching — the art of making the unchanging divine message understandable to the unlearned.

⁴ For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,

⁵ so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Paul is talking about unity and harmony — and diversity of functions

function (office) — not a position but a function. The same word is translated “deeds” in Romans 8:13.

We are a common body because of our unity in Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:12 — For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

³ For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

through the grace given to me — Paul’s authority to say this doesn’t come from his merit but from God’s grace

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

We should be humble-minded, realizing that anything we do that is pleasing to God comes from God.

to each — points to a diversity of gifts.

A man should not aspire to be something that is not in the will of God for him, because God has made him what he is and has a particular place for him as a Christian. How often we find people who do have some real gift, but who are dissatisfied with the gift they have, a gift which may be lowly but worthy, not spectacular but useful; and so they are desiring to be something else other than what they are and what God has purposed. — McClain, page 210

² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

conformed = fashioned, with the stress on external

mind = center of logical reasoning, ethical judgment and moral awareness

prove = test, for the purpose of approving. This should be a habit.

world = condition of humanity

transformed — inward, with external manifestation

renewing of your mind — adjustment

good — beneficial

acceptable — pleasing to God

perfect — mature

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Spirit accomplishes the transformation with our cooperation.

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:3-5).

Anyone can be a nonconformist for nonconformity’s sake. Again I want to emphasize that this is a cheap piety. What we are ultimately called to is more than nonconformity; we are called to transformation. We notice that the words conform and transform both contain the same root word form. The only difference between the two words is found in the prefixes. The prefix con means “with.” To conform, then, is to be “with the structures of forms.” In our culture a conformist is someone who is “with it.” a nonconformist may be regarded as someone who is “out of it.” If the goal of the Christian is to be “out of it,” then I am afraid we have been all too successful.

The prefix trans means “across” or “beyond.” When we are called to be transformed, it means that we are to rise above the forms and the structures of this world. We are not to follow the world’s lead but to cut across it and rise above it to a higher calling and style. This is a call to transcendent excellence, not a call to sloppy “out-of-it-ness.” Christians who give themselves as living sacrifices and offer their worship in this way are people with a high standard of discipline. They are not satisfied with superficial forms of righteousness. The “saints” are called to a rigorous pursuit of the kingdom of God. They are called to depth in their spiritual understanding.

The key method Paul underscores as the means to the transformed life is by the “renewal of the mind.” This means nothing more and nothing less than education. Serious education. Indepth education. Disciplined education in the things of God. It calls for a mastery of the Word of God. We need to be people whose lives have changed because our minds have changed.

True transformation comes by gaining a new understanding of God, ourselves, and the world. What we are after ultimately is to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are to be like Jesus, though not in the sense that we can ever gain deity. We are not god-men. But our humanity is to mirror and reflect the perfect humanity of Jesus. A tall order!

To be conformed to Jesus, we must first begin to think as Jesus did. We need the “mind of Christ.” We need to value the things He values and despise the things He despises. We need to have the same priorities He has. We need to consider weighty the things that He considers weighty.

That cannot happen without a mastery of His Word. The key to spiritual growth is in-depth Christian education that requires a serious level of sacrifice.

That is the call to excellence we have received. We are not to be like the rest of the world, content to live our lives with a superficial understanding of God. We are to grow dissatisfied with spiritual milk and hunger after spiritual meat. — R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, page 163-164