romans 12, the gifts of the Spirit

Read Romans 12 at Bible Gateway.

First a little background. God uses several literary devices in Torah to get His point across. He wants to be understood, but He does not throw His pearls before swine (Mat 7:6). His gold and silver requires a bit deeper digging, but treasure can be unearthed for those willing to look for it (Pro 2:1-6)! Some of these are:

The plain meaning of the text. God's Word literally means what it literally says. Duh, but often overlooked.

Patterns and repetition. God establishes patterns in the narrative. Then He often breaks the pattern to draw attention to the break. For an important reason!

Paragraph divisions. The Spirit gave Moses paragraph breaks in the original ancient Hebrew. There are two kinds - a weak division and a strong division. A weak division indicates another facet of the same theme. A strong division indicates a new theme. These paragraph divisions have been preserved through generations by the Hebrew scribes who faithfully copied every letter of Torah. They were discarded by the English translators. But the thing is, often God includes things in one of His paragraphs for a reason - He is trying to make a point! He is trying to teach us something! Where the paragraph divisions AREN'T are often just as telling as where they are!

Comparison and contrast. Examples are: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Israel and Canaan. The Word and the Spirit. Grace and Law. Faith and Works. The contrast between two things throws a spotlight on each, which is revealing.

Original Hebrew. The Torah was penned in ancient Hebrew, God's beautiful language. Investigation into the Hebrew root words in a passage reveals so much that out of necessity translation misses! For example, the Hebrew word for “husband” as in, “For your Maker is your husband,” Isa 54:5, is from the root, lub, bet ayin lamed = ba'al. Of course this word has a negative connotation because the Canaanites worshiped an idol they called Baal. But long before there were Canaanites, there were God's Words in Hebrew and husbands. :) The bet is the picture of the house or family. The ayin is the picture of the eye. The lamed is the picture of the shepherd's staff. The husband, then, is the one who watches over or shades his house(hold) like a shepherd watches over or shades his flock. As God designed things from the beginning. Isn't that beautiful?

Chiastic structures. The Torah is FULL of these things. A chiastic structure is a narrative that has a central point that is THE key point of the passage, and the Spirit points to that point by having the narrative around it zero in on it like an arrow. It happens this way. Let's say there are four elements or ideas in a passage, then the central point, then the same four ideas or elements are repeated after the central point, but in reverse order. There can be any number of elements or ideas. But that they repeat in reverse order around a central point is the key characteristic. I have found these structures in Torah that were one paragraph long, then I have found them that were five, ten, or twenty chapters long, with mini chiastic structures within them. The thing that is amazing, once you begin seeing them, is that the central point often isn't what you might expect it to be! But God has a reason for making His central point the way that it is. Often He is revealing something beautiful and amazing about His character or about Messiah! Sometimes He reveals prophetic pictures! At any rate, He is trying to help us understand Him!

And there are other literary devices that I have not learned yet - I am still a baby in these things!

I bring this up, because as I was studying Romans 12 yesterday, lo and behold, there is a chiastic structure embedded in that chapter! Well, Paul was a Hebrew scholar and a Torah scholar, and these are the kinds of things they studied, and maybe it came out of him without thinking. Or maybe the Spirit was guiding him as He did Moses!

Here is what I found:

1A Rom 12:1-2 be a living sacrifice, not conformed to the world but to God's will;
1B Rom 12:3-5 walk in humility;
CENTRAL AXIS: Rom 12:6-15 the gifts;
2B Rom 12:16 walk in humility;
2A Rom 12:17-21 the world's way contrasted with God's way (will).

Now the central axis is interesting. It doesn't seem at first as if Rom 12:6-8 goes with Rom 12:9-15, but they do go together:

Gifts:
1) Prophecy, 12:6; exhortation for that gift: 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy ...”
2) Ministry, 12:7, exhortation for that gift: 12:10 “Be kindly affectionate toward one another ...”
3) Teaching, 12:7, exhortation for teachers: 12:11 “Not lagging in diligence ...”
4) Exhortation, 12:8, exhortation for exhorters: 12:12 “Rejoicing in hope ...”
5) Giving, 12:8, exhortation for givers: 12:13 “Distributing to the needs of the saints ...”
6) Leading, 12:8, exhortation for leaders: 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you ...”
7) Mercy, 12:8, exhortation for that gift: 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice ...”

The instruction about serving in your gift (which is the topic of the chapter, giving our lives in service to God as an acceptable sacrifice), is wrapped around, first, an instruction to not be haughty or think of ourselves more highly than we ought. We can think, because we have this gift, whatever it is, that we are so important. Well, we are important to the Body and to God's plan. But because of Him, not because of us! So never take the cover of humility off of our service in the gifts! Then the package of the gifts, wrapped in humility, is again wrapped in the wrapping of knowing what the will of the Lord is. And not only knowing it with our minds, but living according to it!

So, so many think that because they operate in a certain gift by the Spirit, that if they fudge in their personal holiness here or there, what does it matter? God is using them, isn't He? But the Spirit is here teaching us, that once we have wrapped our service in the gifts in humility, then it needs to be wrapped again in knowing and living the will of God, which can never be discarded!

In so many ways, throughout God's Word, the Lord shows us that His Word and His Spirit are in harmony with each other, and that both are necessary! That they compliment each other and one cannot be properly effective without the other!

I just LOVE God's Word! It is so beautiful in every aspect!