The Gracious Giving of Honor

 

“Outdo one another in showing honor.”

(Romans 12:10 ESV)

 

Most of us are, by nature, extremely competitive. Whatever the event, we want to win. And no matter the occasion, we want to come out on top.

 

We want to win the football game we’re playing with our team. We want to win the board game we’re playing with our family. And we want to win the game of frisbee golf we’re playing with our friends.

 

When it comes to school, we want to get better grades than the other students and we want to be at the top of the class. When it comes to our physical performance, we want to run faster or to lift more weight than anyone else. And when it comes to fantasy football, we want bragging rights over everyone in our league.

 

This is what comes to mind as I read the above passage. Paul says that we’re to outdo one another in showing honor. And as I read this, with my competitive nature, I understand it to say that I’m to excel in this, that I’m to do better in this than everyone else.

 

That being said, this isn’t a competition. Nor is it a contest that we can win. But there is a sense in which this is a race.

 

Our natural tendency, when it comes to showing honor, is to reciprocate. What I mean is that we will show honor only when we’ve received honor. We will show honor only to those who have honored us. And we’ll show honor to others only in the same measure we’ve received it from them.

 

We refuse to show honor to those who have refused it to us. We refuse to give to others more honor than we’ve received. To do so, we believe, is degrading and humiliating.

 

But we are being called, in this passage, to give honor graciously. We are to give it not because it's been earned or deserved. And we are not to limit it based on the treatment we, ourselves, have received.

 

This is captured by some of the other translations of this phrase. The NASB says that we’re to give preference to one another in honor. The NIV says that we’re to honor one another above ourselves. The KJV says that we’re to prefer one another in honor. And the CSB says that we’re to take the lead in honoring one another.

 

The idea, then, is that we’re to go first in giving honor to others. The idea is that we’re to give even more honor than we’ve received. And the idea is that we’re not to selfishly look for honor, or expect it from others.