ating himself
from the Roman Christians by it, he unites himself with them. He
speaks of 'the grace given to _me_,' and in verse 6 of 'the grace
given to _us_.' He was made an Apostle by the same giving God who has
bestowed varying gifts on each of _them_. He knows what is the grace
which he possesses as he would have them know; and in these counsels
he is assuming no superiority, but is simply using the special gift
bestowed on him for the good of all. With this delicate turn of what
might else have sounded harshly authoritative, putting prominently
forward the divine gift and letting the man Paul to whom it was given
fall into the background, he counsels as the first of the social
duties which Christian men owe to one another, a sober and just
estimate of themselves. This sober estimate is here regarded as being
important chiefly as an aid to right service. It is immediately
followed by counsels to the patient and faithful exercise of
differing gifts. For thus we may know what our gifts are; and the
acquisition of such knowledge is the aim of our text.

I. What determines our gifts.

Paul here gives a precise standard, or 'measure' as he calls it,
according to which we are to estimate ourselves. 'Faith' is the
measure of our gifts, and is itself a gift from God. The strength of
a Christian man's faith determines his whole Christian character.
Faith is trust, the attitude of receptivity. There are in it a
consciousness of need, a yearning desire and a confidence of
expectation. It is the open empty hand held up with the assurance
that it will be filled; it is the empty pitcher let down into the
well with the assurance that it will be drawn up filled. It is the
precise opposite of the self-dependent isolation which shuts us out
from God. The law of the Christian life is ever, 'according to your
faith be it unto you'; 'believe that ye receive and ye have them.' So
then the more faith a man exercises the more of God and Christ he
has. It is the measure of our capacity, hence there may be indefinite
increase in the gifts which God bestows on faithful souls. Each of us
will have as much as he desires and is capable of containing. The
walls of the heart are elastic, and desire expands them.

The grace given by faith works in the line of its possessor's natural
faculties; but these are supernaturally reinforced and strengthened
while, at the same time, they are curbed and controlled, by the
divine gift, and the natural gi