Romans 12:16

Be of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind on high things, but condescend to things that are lowly. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Godet observed that this verse is commonly understood as a reference to good feeling among members of the church, a meaning which he rejected as being contrary to all sound exegesis, saying:

The only possible meaning is: "aiming at the same object for one another as for yourselves"; that is to say, having each the same solicitude for the temporal and spiritual well-being of his brethren as for his own.[15]

This verse is a prohibition of partiality and respect of persons within communities of Christians. The development within congregations of small coteries of the allegedly elite, the formation of inner circles of preference, the stratification of churches along social, economic, or other lines of demarcation these and all similar separations are evil. Regardless of how naturally and conveniently such divisions (yes, that is what they are) tend to appear, that magnanimous and outreaching love of the true Christian will resist and countermand them. Every member of the body of Christ is a sacred person, every Christian the brother of every other Christian; and God knows no aristocracy in his holy church except that of loving service.

Set not your mind on high things ... does not contradict the Scripture which says,

Set your mind on the things which are above (Colossians 3:2).

The high things mentioned here are the so-called high things which constitute the difference between the preferred and neglected Christians, things like wealth, privilege, education, social grace, power, office, and position in the world. Not setting the mind on such things means not being influenced by them and not allowing them to be the basis of one's attitude toward his brothers in Christ. The certainty of this meaning derives from the second clause in which Paul commanded the Christian to associate with the lowly. Instead of being carried away with admiration of the rich and powerful, Paul said, "Be carried away (this the exact meaning in Greek, see margin) with the lowly."

This writer is personally indebted to the late philanthropist and devout student of the word of God, Andrew Mizell Burton, Nashville, Tennessee, for a focus upon the meaning of this verse. He often spoke of it as his favorite verse and attributed many of the greatest blessings of his remarkable life to an observance of its teaching.

Be not wise in your own conceit ... This admonition was implied in Romans 11:25, being there a reflection of the sternest warnings against this vice earlier in that chapter, and here it is stated imperatively, having its immediate application to that form of conceit which allows petty little human arrangements of a "pecking order" among the sacred fellowship of the redeemed as the basis upon which some associations are cultivated, and others neglected.