Paul proceeds to name some of the gifts we receive from God in Romans 12:6–8: prophecy, service, teaching, exhorting, contributing, leading, and showing mercy. Interestingly, these are actually all references to actions. When one is allowed and able to develop a particular action, you ought to regard it as a privilege to be carried out for the benefit of all of Christendom. In that way the body becomes a well-functioning whole and activities do not counteract each other.
Let us use the gifts, if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness
(Romans 12:6–8). Some translations translate the Greek word here as give
rather than gift.
In the original Greek, however, neither of these words can be found. This is because Paul is not here speaking about gifts as such, but rather about actions. The issue here is not whether people have special abilities or talents. Paul is not scouting out talents. He is speaking about a situation in which Christians are at work. That work must benefit the community and conform to faith. Therefore, it would be wrong to think in terms of a gift test here. Rather, it is a mirror in which every active Christian can look to see if he or she is working for the community as a whole.
Using only a few words, Paul provides seven examples of members who may serve each other in the body. In the original Greek, Romans 12:5 contains the main clause: We are each other’s members
while Romans 12:6–8 contains a long subordinate clause which develops that point. We are each other’s members because we have been given diverse gifts (Romans 12:6a) with which we can support each other in diverse ways (Romans 12:6–8).
Romans 12:6–8 should not be understood as containing veiled references to various offices in the church. While it is certainly possible that there were a number of defined offices for teachers and helpers in the earliest church at Rome, one cannot really derive this from the passage. The various functions of individual members of the church in Rome are not at issue here, but rather the manner in which everyone can best function for the sake of the whole. It is notable, however, that people function in a concentrated fashion on the teaching and serving each other.1
6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;