Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Be ... - better, 'In brotherly love be affectionate one to another; in [giving or showing] honour outdoing each other.' The word rendered 'prefer' х proeegoumenoi (G4285)] means, rather, 'to go before,' 'take the lead' -
i.e., 'show an example.' How opposite is this to the reigning morality of the pagan world; and though Christianity has so changed the spirit of society that a certain beautiful disinterestedness and self-sacrifice shines in the character of not a few who are but partially, if at all, under the transforming power of the Gospel, it is only those whom "the love of Christ constrains to live not unto themselves," who are capable of habitually acting in the spirit of this precept.
Personal Duties (Romans 12:11-12)
As all the duties inculcated in this chapter, from Romans 12:3 to the end, are relative, one can hardly suppose that the six personal duties (as they are usually termed) were intended as a formal statement of all belonging to that class. They seem, therefore, to have been suggested to the apostle's mind rather as a necessary balance to the relative duties which he had just been inculcating, They are laid down in the form of two triplets-one in each of the two verses.