Romans 12:16

A MUCH-NEEDED PRECEPT

‘Set not your mind on high things, but condescend to things that are lowly.’

Romans 12:16 (R.V.)

I. Here, in the text, is one of those precepts which, rightly understood, is one of the most practical we can set ourselves to master (in the formation of Christian character). The wording is taken advisedly from our New Version, which is nearer to the original than that of the Authorised Version, but nevertheless fails to convey its full meaning. ‘Set not your mind on high things, but be carried away with the lowly’ (not ‘condescend to men of low estate’). That word ‘condescend’ had no place in St. Paul’s vocabulary; it is utterly alien from his thought. Condescension to men of low estate is an idea, not only abhorrent to his mind, but it is totally at variance with the spirit of Christianity. No such thing is contemplated in the Gospel as possible or permissible—this patronage of inferiors, a self-conscious stooping on the part of the more fortunate, wealthy, or nobler-born, to the brother of low degree. There was only One Act of condescension which the Apostle knew, and that one act had made any other impossible and inconceivable. He knew of One Who had stooped from an infinite height, and, in the presence of that self-chosen humiliation of the Divine, all human condescension vanished. The Gospel is the great leveller, not indeed of earthly rank, but of proud hearts.

II. But it is more than doubtful whether St. Paul is here thinking about persons at all.—The authors of our New Version have decided that he was not. ‘Set not your minds on high things, but be swept away, or carried along by, things that are lowly.’ The word used signifies an irresistible pressure or fascination. In the mind of the man who used it, we cannot doubt to what it pointed. Surely to His example, Who for our sakes took up with the things that were lowly; Who deliberately declined what the world covets and admires, and cast in His lot with the needy, the nameless, and the homeless. It is this preference that has consecrated the humble side of life. ‘If He, your Lord and Master, made so lowly a choice,’ St. Paul would say, ‘then lowly things must attract you. You cannot despise what He accepted.’

III. But how far does the Apostolic precept carry us?—Is there no limit to the preference for lowly things? Are we to draw from the text a warning against all high aims in the work of life; does the Gospel condemn ambition in every form? Does it discourage that strong desire in the best of men to succeed? Assuredly not. On the contrary, Christianity, the religion of humility, sets our minds on the very highest things that can kindle the ambition of human hearts. Ours is described by St. Paul as a ‘high calling,’ and we are bidden to rise to the full height of it. In the formation of character, in spiritual attainments, we have no leave to take up with the things that are lowly; we are urged to be ever adding grace to grace, to be growing from strength to strength, to leave the past behind, to press onward to the things that are before; to covet earnestly the best gifts (see also Php_4:8-9). He puts before us as objects of thought and endeavour all that is highest and noblest in the world. The Gospel of Christ, rightly understood, sanctions all effort to acquire the best things, and turn them to account by honest endeavour to appreciate the works and to interpret the thought of God.

—Rev. Canon Duckworth.

Illustration

‘The Apostle in this chapter shows in detail what he means by the transformation (of life) referred to in the second verse. He pursues into every region of conduct that renewal of life and character for which he pleads, insisting upon love as its one all-sufficient inspiration. He sees no possibility of vital change save through recognition of the great truth of Christian brotherhood: “We being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” This is the cardinal doctrine of Pauline Christianity, this conviction of unity and variety of the one and the many in the Christian body. He proceeds to develop it, and to point out its manifold applications. He shows how it is to leaven all our views of obligation, to effect our fulfilment of everyday duty, to elevate our motives, to quicken our sense of responsibility for every gift and opportunity we enjoy; how, in a word, it is to inspire every part of the secret and personal life.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

SYMPATHY ONE WITH ANOTHER

Evidently, neither in Church nor State did God intend men to be upon a dead level. There are between those who constitute a Church real, substantial, heaven-ordained differences, of mental calibre, circumstances of birth and education, physical development, vocation, qualification, tastes, pursuits. How, in view of these, not only separating, but even repelling, forces, can the command here addressed to the members of a Christian community, to sympathise with one another, be practised?

I. The injunction is not that Christians agree in the one creed, or be like-minded in relation to some third object.—It is not unanimity that is here enjoined, but agreement in our state of mind towards one another.

II. ‘Mind’ here includes the feelings as well as the thoughts.—The same word is translated ‘set your affections,’ in the familiar exhortation, ‘set your affections on things above.’

III. The same reference teaches us that the word ‘mind’ expresses the prevailing thoughts, and the strongest desires and affections.—To ‘mind the same thing mutually’ is to give our chief attention and take the liveliest interest in, some one thing found in each of us.

IV. It is evident that limits must be set to the meaning of the injunction before us, much narrower than what the grammatical sense would demand if we take the version in our translation.—Otherwise it would teach anger, jealousy, and misapprehension. The Apostle, then, meant us to take the saying in a limited sense. Holiness, we see, is one limit. The law of apprehension is another. My thoughts and feelings towards a man should be according to the truth. Thus, by appreciating one another’s Christian character Christians are made of the same mind one to another, and drawn together by sympathy. Let not ambition make you blind to Christian worth, but recognise it, and honour it, and do homage to it wherever found. Acting thus, Christians will be of the same mind one toward another, and share in each other’s joys and sorrows. They will not trample on all conventionalities, or despise providential and social distinctions, but they will overcome them, so as to know each other, and bless each other as brethren in Christ.