At this January’s Midwinter gathering of the Evangelical Covenant Church, the focus was on the “one another” theme in the Bible. What a timely topic for our polarized times! I was especially proud of two North Park Theological Seminary faculty who presented on consecutive days. Dr. Sophia Magallanes-Tsang took us on a journey through parts of the Old Testament and Dr. Max Lee focused on Philippians. Both of my colleagues challenged and encouraged us, incorporating practical admonition and personal stories with their careful exegesis and senses of humor. After Midwinter I found myself continuing to reflect on that “one another” theme and went back to some things I wrote in my book, Humility Illuminated. One of the passages I treat is Romans 12:16. I can’t copy the entire section from the book, but I offer here a reflection prompted by the “one another” notion from Midwinter and also our seminary value of Rigorous Humility.
The apostle Paul’s argument in Rom 12:16 is similar to what he writes in Philippians 2:3. In both passages the emphasis is on the interpersonal harmony that can be found when we take humility seriously. Paul’s countercultural argument is to push aside self-centeredness and haughtiness, taking the path of humility instead. The Romans passage commands associating with people who are lowly in society. While the old American Standard Version (ASV) takes Paul’s imperative to refer to menial work, or taking on lowly tasks, most translations suggest Paul is urging his readers to reject the barriers of social status and connect with people who are on the margins. Roman society, just like here in the USA, put a premium on associating with people who could bring you honor by improving your social standing. Hobnobbing with powerful, wealthy, influential people is the way of the world. Associating with seemingly powerful people is the obvious way to advance your career, make life more comfortable for yourself, and find allies in your disdain of certain other people. Yet, as alluring as it may be to act like the typical self-centered person, the way of Jesus is very different. The way of Jesus is to reject pretense and befriend the people considered lowly in the world. Indeed, the Savior of the world came to be known as a friend of sinners.
It takes humility—a rigorous humility—to buck the ways of the world and adopt the way of Jesus in our interpersonal relationships. From a worldly perspective, humility is often understood to be passivity. Or it is taken to be meekness that is interpreted as weakness. I attempt to refute those notions in my book because it takes much more strength and courage to practice humility than to be combative. That is partly why we at NPTS describe humility as “rigorous.” Humility must be strong to tackle ignorance and misunderstanding about how we are to treat people and strive for genuine harmony. Humility must be rigorous if we are to take seriously what it means to associate with the lowly. Humility must be rigorous to handle the vitriol that comes from religious and irreligious people even when we’re striving to live the Jesus way.
Interestingly, the Rom 12:16 verse appears in a context where the apostle Paul gives instructions regarding how to associate with people outside of the Christian community. This suggests that the lowly in v. 16 are not exclusively people in the church but includes people we encounter in various walks of life. Over the course of my life as a pastor, teacher, and administrator, I have had many meals in restaurants with other Christians. It has been appalling at times to see how disrespectfully fellow Christians can treat service people. I’ve witnessed everything from impolite disregard to downright rudeness directed at people who do not make much money but engage in challenging work. And of course, disrespect of the vulnerable is evident in how Christians partake in the mistreatment of immigrants and ethnic minorities, while many more Christians support and tolerate it. It is surprising how hateful many Christians can be, especially when Jesus was not that way. Furthermore, if you explore the Scriptures, you’d find so much about how God’s people are to treat fellow believers along with those outside of the household of faith. Spoiler alert: the not-so-secret ingredient for dealing with people is love. Indeed love—not hatred, snark, arrogance, or ambivalence—is the critical, non-negotiable way that Christians are to treat friends and enemies. Jesus said it straightforwardly (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27, 35). And I assert that humility is love’s collaborator.
My encouragement is for us to take a firm stand against any version of Christianity that sanctions evil, hatred, and pride. Indeed, a theme that runs through the Scriptures is that God opposes prideful people but offers grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5. That firm stand that I mention can be described as “rigorous” and is the way that our humility engages the world.
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