if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;
We may observe here, according to the scheme mentioned in the contents, the apostle's exhortations, I. Concerning our duty to God, We see what is godliness. 1. It is to surrender ourselves to God, and so to lay a good foundation. We must first give our own selves unto the Lord, Co2 8:5. This is here pressed as the spring of all duty and obedience, Rom 12:1, Rom 12:2.
Commenting on Romans 12:1-21
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...
Verse 7. Or ministry, (διακονιαν). This word properly means service of any kind, . 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, i.e.