Romans 12: Part 9

Romans 12: Part 9

After Paul commanded us to "be devoted to one another in love", he takes it a step further by adding that his audience should "honor one another above yourselves" in verse 10b. We will break this down into 4 parts below. 

Honor.

What does "honor" mean? In short, it means to respect or to revere someone. We do this by treating a person with honor. When we honor someone, we are treating them as someone worthwhile and valuable. We are not annoyed with them or belittling them with our words or actions. 

Honor Who? 

Who should we honor? One another. Paul didn't say "honor yourselves above others", but he said the opposite. We should honor others above ourselves. Like last week's post mentioned, ANOTHER is AN OTHER. We should honor those who are different than us. It is easy to like those who look like us, act like us, and vote like us, but we aren't called to just love those who are like us. Throughout His ministry, Jesus kept widening the definition of who our neighbors are, as well as who we are supposed to love and pray for. At the end of Matthew 5, Jesus commands us to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors, because even non-believers love those who love them. Likewise, let us honor AN OTHER. Someone who looks, acts, dresses, votes, or worships differently than we do. 

Above.

Above is a fairly similar word. It is the opposite of below. So we should honor others as higher than ourselves. This is more than just "treat people how we want to be treated". This is stepping it up a notch. Paul didn't say "honor others as much as we honor ourselves". They should be honored ABOVE us. Like John the Baptist saying in John 3:30 "He must become greater, I must become less" (in reference to Jesus), we are taking a step back from worldly praise. Instead of promoting ourselves, we are honoring someone else. Instead of sharing our opinions, we are listening to someone else's perspective. We are seeking to learn about them, instead of teaching about ourselves. This is difficult to do, but this is what is commanded here. We are accepting a role as the supporting cast, instead of the star of the show. We are mentioning their achievements instead of our own. We are letting go of our need to be heard, to be the main agent of progress, to be in the spotlight. Because we are putting someone else above ourselves.

Yourselves. 

The last word we are looking at here is "yourselves". We humans are vain creatures, so it is important that we are told to honor others above ourselves. Paul didn't choose a marginalized, disliked, or oppressed group to be the mark of "honor others above this level". He didn't say "honor others more than you do tax collectors". He choose us to be the threshold. We should honor others more than ourselves. However well we want to be treated, revered, or respected, we should treat others with more respect and reverence. However gently and lovingly we want to be corrected, we should treat others even better. Many times, we want other people to make the first step. We say "If they want me to respect them, they ought to respect me first". Except that is not what God commands here. We are to honor others above ourselves. Period. End of sentence. God didn't add "IF they begin by treating you with honor". We are to treat people this way, EVEN IF they do not respond in kind. Even if they are rude, demeaning, or arrogant. Once again, other people's obedience or disobedience to this command does not change whether we get to disregard it ourselves. If we disregard it, we are disobeying God and therefore sinning. 

So let us honor one another above ourselves. 

Questions to Wrestle With

Take time this week to consider: 

-What does it look like to honor someone? 

-How often do you honor someone who is different than you? 

-How do you show them honor? 

-How can you broaden the audience this applies to? 

-What is the difference between "honor someone AS MUCH AS yourself" and "honor someone ABOVE yourself"? 

-Who are the groups that you dislike, look down upon, or fear? How can you honor them? 

-How do you want to be treated? 

-How can you extend that same treatment first? 

New International Version (NIV)

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