or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;
Parallel Translations
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or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;
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Let him that hath an office wayte on his office. Let him that teacheth take hede to his doctrine.
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Or an office, let vs waite on the office: or he that teacheth, on teaching:
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Romans 12:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 13:1 Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
- Ephesians 4:11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
- 1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.
- 2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching.
- Psalms 34:11 Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
- Psalms 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners will be converted to you.
- Ezekiel 3:17-21 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me. When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; that wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.”
- Matthew 24:45-47 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.
- Matthew 28:19 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
- Luke 12:42-44 The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times? Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes. Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has.
- Acts 20:28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
- Galatians 6:6 But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches.
- Colossians 1:28-29 We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
- Colossians 4:17 Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”
- 1 Timothy 2:7 to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am telling the truth in Christ, not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
- 1 Timothy 3:2 The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;
- 1 Timothy 4:16 Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
- 2 Timothy 2:2 The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
- 2 Timothy 2:24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient,
- Deuteronomy 33:10 They shall teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you, and whole burnt offering on your altar.
- 1 Samuel 12:23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
- Ecclesiastes 12:9 Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
- Isaiah 21:8 He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.
- Ezekiel 33:7-9 “So you, son of man: I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me. When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.
- John 3:2 The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”
- Acts 6:1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.
- Acts 20:20 how I didn’t shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,
- 1 Corinthians 12:28 God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.
- 1 Peter 5:1-4 Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly; not as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock. When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Whose office only is to expound the Scriptures.
Whose office only is to expound the Scriptures.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering:…
7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Ver. 7. Or ministry] Take it either largely for the whole ministry, as 1Co 12:5; Act 1:24-26; or more strictly for the office of a deacon, as Act 6:1-6.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Ministry; under this word are comprehended all ordinary ecclesiastical…
Ministry; under this word are comprehended all ordinary ecclesiastical functions, which afterwards divideth into two sorts; the first relating to the word; the second, to other pious works.
Let us wait on our ministering: the words, let us wait, are not in the text, but fitly supplied: q.d. Let all that be called to the office of the ministry be diligent in it, and attend to it: see Act 20:28; 1Pe 5:2.
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Teaching, in the latter end of this verse, and exhortation, in the beginning of the next, are mentioned as the two great works of those that minister and labour in the word and doctrine. Some think they are distinct offices; see Eph 4:11; and that in the primitive church, where they had variety of ministers, some had the office of teachers, and chiefly exercised themselves in instructing their hearers in the principles of religion, in laying down sound doctrine and confuting of errors: others had the office of pastors, and attended chiefly to exhortation and admonition; pressing points of practice, and making application thereof. Others think that they are distinct gifts, but not diverse offices; some have a gift to teach that have none to exhort, and e contra. The apostle, Rom 12:6, calls them differing gifts: sometimes these two are found in the same persons, and they are excellently gifted both for teaching and exhorting.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Or ministry, let us wait on our ministry,.... The…
Or ministry, let us wait on our ministry,.... The word sometimes signifies the whole ecclesiastical ministry, even the office of apostleship, as well as the ordinary ministration of the Gospel; see Act 1:17; but here "deaconship", or the office of ministering to the poor saints, as in Act 6:1, being a distinct office from prophesying: or preaching the word, and should be used, exercised, and attended to with diligence, care, and constancy; for such who are appointed to this office, are chosen not only to a place of honour, but of service and business, in which they should behave with prudence, sobriety, and humility:
or he that teacheth, on teaching. The gift of prophesying or preaching is subdivided into "teaching" and "exhorting"; the one belongs to "teachers" or doctors, the other to "pastors"; as the distinction is in Eph 4:11, not that different officers and offices are intended, but different branches of the same office; and one man's talent may lie more in the one, and another man's in the other; and accordingly each should in his preaching attend to the gift which is most peculiar to him: if his gift lies in teaching, let him constantly employ himself in that with all sobriety and "teaching" does not design an office in the school, but in the church; it is not teaching divinity as men teach logic, rhetoric, and other arts and sciences, in the schools; but an instructing of churches and the members thereof in the doctrines of the Gospel, in order to establish and build them up in their most holy faith; see Co1 12:28; it chiefly lies in a doctrinal way of preaching, in opening, explaining, and defending the doctrines of Christ, as distinct from the practical part of the ministry of the word, and the administration of ordinances, in which the pastor is employed as well as in this.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Ministering - As deacons. He that teacheth - Catechumens;…
Ministering - As deacons. He that teacheth - Catechumens; for whom particular instructers were appointed. He that exhorteth - Whose peculiar business it was to urge Christians to duty, and to comfort them in trials.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Or ministry] διακονια simply means the office…
Verse 7. Or ministry] διακονια simply means the office of a deacon; and what this office was, see in Clarke's note on "Ac 6:4", where the subject is largely discussed.
Or he that teacheth] The teacher, διδασκαλος, was a person whose office it was to instruct others, who thereby catechizing, or simply explaining the grand truths of Christianity.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Or ministry - διακονίαν diakonian. This word properly means…
Or ministry - διακονίαν diakonian. This word properly means service of any kind; Luk 10:40. It is used in religion to denote the service which is rendered to Christ as the Master. It is applied to all classes of ministers in the New Testament, as denoting their being the servants of Christ; and it is used particularly to denote that class who from this word were called deacons, that is, those who had the care of the poor, who provided for the sick, and who watched over the external matters of the church. In the following places it is used to denote the ministry, or service, which Paul and the other apostles rendered in their public work; Act 1:17, Act 1:25; Act 6:4; Act 12:25; Act 20:24; Act 21:19; Rom 11:13; Rom 15:31; 2Co 5:18; 2Co 6:3; Eph 4:12; 1Ti 1:12. In a few places this word is used to denote the function which the deacons fulfilled; Act 6:1; Act 11:29; 1Co 16:15; 2Co 11:8. In this sense the word “deacon” διάκονος diakonos is most commonly used, as denoting the function which was performed in providing for the poor and administering the alms of the church. It is not easy to say in what sense it is used here. I am inclined to the opinion that he did not refer to those who were appropriately called deacons, but to those engaged in the function of the ministry of the word; whose business it was to preach, and thus to serve the churches. In this sense the word is often used in the New Testament, and the connection seems to demand the same interpretation here.
On our ministering - Let us be wholly and diligently occupied in this. Let this be our great business, and let us give entire attention to it. Particularly the connection requires us to understand this as directing those who ministered not to aspire to the office and honors of those who prophesied. Let them not think of themselves more highly than they ought, but be engaged entirely in their own appropriate work.
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He that teacheth - This word denotes those who instruct, or communicate knowledge. It is clear that it is used to denote a class of persons different, in some respects, from those who prophesied and from those who exhorted. But in what this difference consisted, is not clear. Teachers are mentioned in the New Testament in the grade next to the prophets; Act 13:1; 1Co 12:28-29; Eph 4:11. Perhaps the difference between the prophets, the ministers, the teachers, and the exhorters was this, that the first spake by inspiration; the second engaged in all the functions of the ministry properly so called, including the administration of the sacraments; the teachers were employed in communicating instruction simply, teaching the doctrines of religion, but without assuming the function of ministers; and the fourth exhorted, or entreated Christians to lead a holy life, without making it a particular subject to teach, and without pretending to administer the ordinances of religion.
The fact that teachers are so often mentioned in the New Testament, shows that they were a class by themselves. It may be worthy of remark that the churches in New England had, at first, a class of people who were called teachers. One was appointed to this office in every church, distinct from the pastor, whose proper business it was to instruct the congregation in the doctrines of religion. The same thing exists substantially now in most churches, in the appointment of Sunday school teachers, whose main business it is to instruct the children in the doctrines of the Christian religion. It is an office of great importance to the church; and the exhortation of the apostle may be applied to them: that they should be assiduous, constant, diligent their teaching; that they should confine themselves to their appropriate place; and should feel that their office is of great importance in the church of God; and remember that this is his arrangement, designed to promote the edification of his people.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Or ministry, let us wait on--"be occupied with."
Or ministry, let us wait on--"be occupied with."
our ministering--The word here used imports any kind of service, from the dispensing of the word of life (Act 6:4) to the administering of the temporal affairs of the Church (Act 6:1-3). The latter seems intended here, being distinguished from "prophesying," "teaching," and "exhorting."
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or he that teacheth--Teachers are expressly distinguished from prophets, and put after them, as exercising a lower function (Act 13:1; Co1 12:28-29). Probably it consisted mainly in opening up the evangelical bearings of Old Testament Scripture; and it was in this department apparently that Apollos showed his power and eloquence (Act 18:24).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Ministry—The Greek term from which deacon and deaconship…
7. Ministry—The Greek term from which deacon and deaconship are derived. (See note on Act_6:1.) The office, though not well defined, seems to include the performance of the secular and manual needs of the Church, though the individual was often endowed for higher functions and performed them.
Teacheth—As a catechist or expositor of Old Testament truths, or of the history and teachings of Jesus. (Luk_1:4.) The Sunday-school teacher of the present day fulfils very much the same duty.
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And there is, we think, very good reason to suppose that Sunday was the day selected for much of the performance of the duty.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. ministry—ministering] Lit. whether service, in the service. The…
7. ministry—ministering] Lit. whether service, in the service. The word rendered “ministry” is diaconia; (same word as Rom_11:13, where it means the apostolic service). It is a largely inclusive word; the main fixed idea being that of active, “practical,” duty in the Church, of whatever kind or degree. Almost any work other than that of inspired utterance, or miracle-working, may be included in it here.—“In the service:”—i.e. “let us be really in it; devoted to it.” So “in the teaching,” “in the exhortation,” just below. In 1Ti_4:15, the Gr. rendered “Give thyself wholly to them,” is lit. “Be in these things.”
he that teacheth] In 1Co_12:28-29, (see too Eph_4:11,) “teachers” are mentioned as a class of commissioned workers in the Church. Perhaps they were specially the expositors of revealed truth; those who devoted themselves to explaining the application (to belief and practice) of the Scriptures and of the apostolic preaching.
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on teaching] Lit. in the teaching. See last note but one.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) Ministry.—The word used is the technical term for…
(7) Ministry.—The word used is the technical term for the discharge of the office of deacon. The institution of this office is described in Act_6:1-5. Its object was to provide for the practical business as opposed to the spiritual ministrations of the Church. It included more especially the distribution of alms and the care of the poor, the sick, widows, etc. The functions of the diaconate are called “serving tables” (i.e., in the literal sense, “providing food” for those who needed it) in Act_6:2-3, and “helps” in 1Co_12:28.
Let us wait on . . .—These words are supplied in the English, “Let us be absorbed in, devoted to, our ministering.”
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He that teacheth.—Comp. 1Co_12:28; Eph_4:11; 1Ti_5:17. It would seem from the first of these passages (“thirdly teachers”) that teaching was considered as a special office, though not, perhaps, confined to special persons.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 7. Or ministry. If instead of prophecy, our gift…
7. Or ministry. If instead of prophecy, our gift be the more lowly one of ministering, let us give our time and attention to it. The word rendered “ministry” is Diakonia, “Deaconship,” service. Or he that teacheth. The work of an elder, or bishop, who must be “apt to teach.” If this was one's work, his soul must be put into it.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 7. “Whether the deaconate, in the deaconate.” In the…
7. “Whether the deaconate, in the deaconate.” In the constitution of the visible church, the deacon has charge of all the temporal interests, including ministerial support, care of the sanctuary and everything else, while at the same time he preaches and witnesses for God. Those who “stay by the stuff” receive just as much as those who go to the war. “Whether he that teacheth, in teaching.” The church is the school of Christ, where all the members are taught the Word of the Lord. God always raises up competent teachers for His people, that they may not be ignorant, but proficient in His blessed Word. At this point you can always see the line between the true and the fallen church, as you can not teach dead people. The popular churches of the present day have lost every trace of the didactic peculiarity of God’s church, so eminent and conspicuous in the apostolic age. An old ex-missionary from Bishop Taylor’s work in India told me that the heathen Hindus are better posted in the Scripture than the Christians in America, because they attend the Bible schools, which are constantly conducted seven days in the week in heathen lands. What an awful delinquency in the home church now rapidly heathenizing our own people!
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry;…
or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth, to his teaching [Most of the spiritual gifts of Paul's day were either wholly supernatural or shaded into the miraculous, and, as miracles have ceased, it becomes hard for us to-day to accurately define gifts which have passed away. "Ministry" (diakonia) is derived from the Greek word for deacon, and probably described such services as deacons ( Phi_1:1 ; Rom_16:1 ) then rendered. The order, "apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, then gifts of hearings, helps, governments" ( 1Co_12:28 ), compared with the order here--viz., prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, giving--suggests that miracles of healing may have been part of the ministry (comp. 1 Pet 4:11), as well as caring for the poor, serving tables, etc. ( Act_6:1-6 ; 1Ti_3:8-13 ). Teaching was probably much the same as that of to-day, only the teacher had to remember the verbal instruction of the apostles and prophets ( 2Th_2:15 ; 2Ti_1:13 ; 2Ti_2:2 ; 2Ti_3:10 ; 2 Tim 14) until the same was reduced to writing as we now have it in the Scriptures];
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 12:7 teacher: The gift of teaching comes third in…
12:7 teacher: The gift of teaching comes third in the list of gifts in 1 Cor 12:28 and fifth in Eph 4:11. While prophets communicate to the community a message received directly from God, teachers address the church on the basis of studying the word of God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.