Romans 12:3, Romans 12:16
Inquiring into God’s will about our bodily life in this time presupposes a humble and modest attitude to life—the very opposite of being overconfident in your own abilities. During the course of the centuries Israel often fell into complacency. The prophets often speak about this and Paul here warns the converted Gentiles about this danger in advance. It is not their social status that should take priority, but rather how they live in faith. In the Gentile culture individual pride also plays a decisive role, and this could manifest itself among new Christians as complacency in the knowledge that they possess the Holy Spirit. By thinking highly of himself, the believer completely loses touch with the community. However, the gospel in fact creates a new community through the renewal of humanity. It proceeds from faith to faith,
for faith is infectious, and intentionally so (Romans 1:17).
In Romans 12:3 Paul then writes: 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.
God revealed his grace to Paul, who had previously persecuted the Christian church. The purpose of this was not so that he could thereafter walk about pridefully like a converted rabbi, but in order to get to work as apostle of the nations. His calling kept him humble, and as such Paul knows exactly what he is speaking of when he says that we ought not to think highly of ourselves, but rather place ourselves in the service of the faith for the sake of others. Faith leads to the washing of feet, as Jesus demonstrated. Already on that night his humble service stood in stark contrast to the exalted attitude of the disciples at the time.
When Paul writes in Romans 12:16 that we ought to [l]ive in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight
he is returning to the theme of modesty already addressed in Romans 12:3. Taking care of the poor, praying for your persecutors, and empathizing with others all of course presuppose a particular attitude—one that is not characterized by enmity to one another nor by self-promotion, but rather one by which you subject your own views to the judgment of others. Constant threats to the Christian church include the desire of many to be teachers (James 3:1), people who prophecy or speak in tongues push each other out of the way (1 Corinthians 14:29–31), and people putting others down (3 John 1:9–10). A haughty attitude has done more harm in the history of the church than all differences of opinion combined.
The phrase tois tapeinois apagomenoi is often understood as an abstract characterization of a virtue (tapeina in its neuter form) which is then translated as practice being humble.
An alternative interpretation is that Paul is here providing specific advice regarding our associations (tapeinoi in the masculine form) which implies that it should rather be translated as associate with the lowly.
Cranfield1 and the American New Testament scholar Thomas R. Schreiner2opt for the latter translation, because associating with people of low social standing signifies a humble attitude. Fortunately, the two interpretations do not really conflict and the difference in meaning is insignificant.3
3 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.