Learn your Greek

I get a verse everyday on Facebook and this is today's.

Romans 12:3 And because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you. (GNT)

Now this struck me as odd because it seemed to say that we should judge ourselves (which is the first sin committed in the Garden) in the Faith based on the amount of Faith we have. That is if someone has more faith than me then he/she is higher in the Faith than I am and visa versa. Apart from this being an odd thing to see in any Bible verse it would be especially odd given that Paul wrote Romans and he repeatedly called all religious achievements dung. So I looked it up.

The English Standard Version (the one I use most often) renders it like this...

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

It seemed to say the same thing, but it still struck me as incongruous with the rest of Paul's writings so I went to the Greek.

Λέγω γὰρ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς δοθείσης μοι παντὶ τῷ ὄντι ἐν ὑμῖν μὴ ὑπερφρονεῖν παρ᾽ ὃ δεῖ φρονεῖν ἀλλὰ φρονεῖν εἰς τὸ σωφρονεῖν ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἐμέρισεν μέτρον πίστεως.

Does that help?

Actually the Greek says, "I say for through that grace that is given unto me to every man that is among you not highly to think more of himself but thinking into the thought to every man according as the God has dealt the measure of faith."

Did that help?

OK I'll stop messing around now. I think it is better rendered...

"For I say through the grace that is given to me to every man among you do not think more highly of yourselves than you ought but think clearly according to the thought that God has dealt the measure of faith to every man."

In other words do not compete with each other about the amount of faith that you have but rather remember that all faith comes from God and therefore should never be the subject of boasting.

Which oddly enough is exactly the opposite of what the Good News Translation and the ESV rendered this verse to be saying.

Food for thought.