“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us…”
1) Humble yourself.
That doesn’t mean beat yourself up or think bad things of yourself. It means recognize that what you have is a gift of God. It does not make you more important or less important. Think of yourself with sober judgment that what you have is a gift, not something you made up.
You may be beautiful, brilliant, or have a great ability to do something great. But these are all rooted in God that you have developed. So be humble.
2) “In accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (NIV)
ESV says it this way: “each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned”
KJV – “according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith“
What does this mean?
The context is the gifts that God has given to each one of us. These are gifts God has “distributed,” “assigned,” or “dealt to.”
The context is also directly about humility. Thinking of oneself with sober judgment and not with pride.
The “faith” here is not about salvation faith or that some have ability to believe moreso than others. This is not the context. Paul is not contrasting strong faith and weak faith. He is contrasting pride and humility.
The fact that he goes on to encourage people to exercise their gift suggest that what he means by the “measure of faith” is the faith to practice one’s gift in service to God while walking in humility with the greater body of Christ.
The emphasis then is use your gift, step out in faith to use it, but remember you are one part of a greater body. This fits with the other teachings of Paul.
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good…All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” (1 Cor 12:7, 11)
“But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us” (2 Cor 12:13).
So if you are in the faith, God has given you gifts. No one has all the gifts. And your gift is of God. So use it. But do so humbly. You are not more special than those with gifts that appear “less.” It takes the whole body for the body to function.