4, Office (apafw). Lit., mode of acting.
156 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. XII.
5. Being many (o0/ zrondAol). Lit., the many. Rev., better, who are many.
Every one (70 dé xa¥ eis). The literal phrase can only be rendered awkwardly: and as to what is true according to one ; ie. indwidually, severally. Compare, for a similar phrase, Mark xiv. 19; John viii. 9.
6. Prophecy. See on prophet, Luke vii. 26. In the New Testament, as in the Old, the prominent idea is not prediction, but the inspired delivery of warning, exhortation, instruction, judging, and making manifest the secrets of the heart. See 1 Cor. xiv. 8, 24, 25. The New-Testament prophets are distin- guished from teachers, by speaking under direct divine inspira- tion.
Let us prophesy. Not in the Greek.
According to the proportion of faith (cara tiv dvadoylav THS TiaTews). “Avadroyla proportion, occurs only here in the New Testament. In classical Greek it is used as a mathemat- ical term. Thus Plato: “The fairest bond is that which most completely fuses and is fused into the things which are bound; and proportion (avadoyla) is best adapted to effect such a fusion” (“ Timaeus,” 31). “Out of such elements, which are in number four, the body of the world was created in harmony and proportion” (“'Timaeus,” 32). Compare “ Politicus,” 257 The phrase here is related to the measure of faith (ver. Se elt signifies, according to the proportion defined by fath. The meaning is not the technical meaning expressed by the theo- logical phrase analogy of faith, sometimes called analogy of scripture, i.e., the correspondence of the several parts of divine revelation in one consistent whole. This would require 7 wloTts the faith, to be taken as the objective rule of faith, or system of doctrine (see on Acts vi. 7), and is not in harmony with ver. 3, nor with according to the grace given. Those who prophesy are to interpret the divine revelation “according to the strength, clearness, fervor, and other qualities of the faith bestowed upon them ; so that the character and mode of their speaking is con- formed to the rules and limits which are implied in the propor- tion of their individual degree of faith ” (Meyer),
Cu. XII] THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 15
7. Ministering (S:axovia). Let us wait on is supplied. Lit., or ministry in our ministry. The word appears in the New Testament always in connection with the service of the Christ- ian Church, except Luke x. 40, of Martha’s serving; Heb. i. 14, of the ministry of angels, and 2 Cor. iii. 7, of the ministry of Moses. Within this limit it is used, 1. Of service in general, including all forms of christian ministration tending to the good of the christian body (1 Cor. xii. 5; Eph. iv. 18; 2 Tim. iv. 11). Hence, 2. Of the apostolic office and its administra- tion; (a) generally (Acts xx. 24; 2 Cor. iv. 1; 1 Tim. i. 12); or (6) defined as a ministry of reconciliation, of the word, of the Spirit, of righteousness (2 Cor. v. 18; Acts vi. 4; 2 Cor. iii. 8, 9). It is not used of the specific office of a deacon; but the kindred word Sud«ovos occurs in that sense (Philip.i.1; 1 Tim. iii. 8, 12). As the word is employed in connection with both the higher and lower ministrations in the Church (see Acts vi. 1, 4), it is difficult to fix its precise meaning here ; yet as it is distinguished here from prophecy, exhortation, and teaching, it may refer to some more practical, and, possibly, minor form of ministry. Moule says: “ Almost any work other than that of inspired utterance or miracle-working may be included in it here.” So Godet: “An activity of a practical nature exerted in action, not in word.” Some limit it to the office of deacon.