The Divine Metric
as God has allotted to each a measure of faith Romans 12:3
Measure – I told you Paul was difficult! Now you will see just how difficult he really is. When you read this verse, what do you think it means? Do you think that Paul is saying that God gives you some amount of faith, like a storekeeper who sells you one pound of roast beef? Do you imagine that God pours a certain quantity of faith into you and bottles you up for further use? That’s what this verse looks like it says, but that’s not correct. The translation sends us in the wrong direction. It ignores that whole context of faith by forcing faith into a Greek mold. It violates the first principle of biblical interpretation: the Bible does not contradict itself. And in the Bible, faith is not a thing; it is an active relationship of trust. Try bottling that! Impossible!
If we knew the Greek word here (metron), we would immediately know that Paul is not talking about quantity. He is talking about the measuring tool. Metron is not an amount. It is the thing we use to measure an amount. It is the standard of measurement. That’s what God gives. To every believer, God supplies the perfect standard for measuring our dependence and trust in Him. God gives you the ability to determine how you are doing. He makes it possible for you to judge your relationship with Him so that you know your devotion to Him precisely. Just compare it to the standard. You don’t have to be confused. You don’t have to guess. God makes sure that you are able to know. Praise His name! Some things are for certain.
What is the measuring standard? It is faith. Wait a minute. Didn’t we just say that faith is not a quantity distributed like honey in a bottle? Yes, that’s right. Faith is the Hebrew equivalent of trustworthiness and dependability and truth. God gives us the measuring stick of faith – His trustworthiness, His reliability and His truth. It is not something we can store in a bottle. It is His active benevolence toward us.
So, God has given to every believer (not just the “important” ones) a metron of faith, a measuring stick of what is good, fitted and fulfilled. This is critically important because it means that the gifts given for the edification of the body (the next thing in Paul’s argument) do not and cannot come from you and me. These gifts depend entirely on God’s gracious giving. He allots them to everyone. No one is exempt. No one is excused. God gives. You receive. What you do with the gift God has given is measured by the standard of faith, that is, by the standard of trustworthiness, reliability and truth. The gifts are tied to this measuring stick just as weight is tied to a scale.
“OK, I get it, I think. What you are saying is that faith is demonstrated in how I act, how I exercise the gift God has given. God provides me with a standard and turns me loose to go for it with what He has given me. I see that faith is not something I can keep in my pocket. It only shows up when I am operating the way God intends. I get that much, but how does this change things?”
Here it comes. When I am living within the arena of the gift God has given me, I will discover His standard. I will become the manifestation of His will. I will experience good, fitted and fulfilled. I will know what He wants me to do, and I will find that doing it is exactly what I want. My “faith” will become my reality because I will delight God and bless others. I will manifest who I was born to be.
The next step in Paul’s argument cannot be accomplished until we realize what he has been saying in these last few verses. We need to re-read, supplying the missing elements of the translated text so that we can appreciate what comes next. What comes next is the glorious interdependence of all the gifts orchestrated by God for the completion of the Body. But first we need to understand what Paul is saying right here.
Topical Index: Transformation
