Romans
12English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
A
Living Sacrifice
12 I appeal to you
therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual
worship.[b] 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c] but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.[d]
Gifts of Grace
3
For by the grace given to me I say to every one among you not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement,
each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one
body we have many members,[e] and the members do not all have the same function,
5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of
another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us
use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our
serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his
exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,[f] with
zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Marks
of the True Christian
9
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one
another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour. 11 Do
not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[g] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in
hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the
needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with
those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one
another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.[h] Never be wise in
your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is
honourable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you,
live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[i]
to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says
the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is
thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals
on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
NIV Application
Commentary
Romans
12:1–2 is one of the best-known passages in the Bible—and deservedly so, for we
find here a succinct description of the essence of the believer’s response to
God’s grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It functions as the heading for all
the specifics Paul will unpack in the subsequent chapters. Our response is
rooted in God’s grace. The niv’s “God’s mercy” conceals the fact that the Greek
word for “mercy” is in the plural (“mercies”). Paul is reminding us of the many
displays of God’s mercy he has touched on in chapters 1–11. “In view of”
probably modifies “urge”; Paul exhorts us in light of the manifold mercy of
God. Our obedience is the product of what God has done in our lives, not
something we can manufacture on our own.
The
command to “offer” ourselves to God reminds us of Romans 6, where Paul used
this same verb (paristemi) to express the basic response of believers to God’s
grace to us in Christ (see 6:13, 16, 19). Indeed, all of Romans 12:1–15:13 is
an explication of this basic demand in chapter 6. As new covenant Christians,
we no longer offer animal sacrifices; we now offer ourselves as “living
sacrifices.” “Living” perhaps has a theological meaning: We offer ourselves as
people who have been brought from death to life (see 6:13). This may, however,
be reading more into the word than we should. Paul probably wants us simply to
contrast ourselves with the dead animal sacrifices of the Old Testament (see
also John 6:51). But God demands sacrifices that are “holy,” that is, apart
from profane matters and dedicated to his service.
This
offering of ourselves to God constitutes, Paul concludes, our “spiritual act of
worship.” “Spiritual” translates a word (logikos) over which there is much
debate, as the varied renderings in English translations suggest: “spiritual”
(niv; nrsv; nasb); “reasonable” (kjv); “true” (tev); “offered by mind and
heart” (reb); “intelligent” (Phillips). But when the background is considered
(see Bridging Contexts), we think “informed” or “understanding” is the best
single equivalent in English. We give ourselves to God as his sacrifices when
we understand his grace and its place in our lives. We offer ourselves not
ignorantly, like animals brought to slaughter, but intelligently and willingly.
This is the worship that pleases God.
Verse
2 tells us how we can carry out the sweeping demand to give ourselves as
sacrifices to the Lord. Building on his “two-era” concept of salvation history
(see Bridging Contexts), Paul demands that we “not conform” to “this age” (lit.
trans.). The niv’s rendition as “the pattern of this world” captures the
general sense well enough. The old age to which we belonged in our
pre-Christian past still exerts influence on us, enticing us to follow its
“pattern” of sinful and ungodly behavior. Rather than “conforming” our conduct
to that age, we must be “transformed” in our behavior. The neat contrast of
these two words in English is not found in the Greek, which uses two different
verb roots (syschematizo and metamorphoo). But the English rendering is true to
the sense of the Greek and certainly makes the verse easy to remember.
The
means by which we accomplish this transformation in conduct is the “renewing of
your mind” (for a close parallel see Eph. 4:23; cf. also 2 Cor. 4:16; Col.
3:10; Titus 3:5). A new orientation in our thinking leads to a new orientation
in behaviour. Here Paul touches on the heart of New Testament ethics (see
Contemporary Significance section), for the result of this transformation is
that we will be able to please God by doing his will.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Chapter 12
The
apostle, having at large cleared and confirmed the prime fundamental doctrines
of Christianity, comes in the next place to press the principal duties. We
mistake our religion if we look upon it only as a system of notions and a guide
to speculation. No, it is a practical religion, that tends to the right
ordering of the conversation. It is designed not only to inform our judgments,
but to reform our hearts and lives. From the method of the apostle’s writing in
this, as in some other of the epistles (as from the management of the principal
ministers of state in Christ’s kingdom) the stewards of the mysteries of God
may take direction how to divide the word of truth: not to press duty
abstracted from privilege, nor privilege abstracted from duty; but let both go
together, with a complicated design, they will greatly promote and befriend
each other. The duties are drawn from the privileges, by way of inference. The
foundation of Christian practice must be laid in Christian knowledge and faith.
We must first understand how we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, and then we
shall know the better how to walk in him. There is a great deal of duty
prescribed in this chapter. The exhortations are short and pithy, briefly
summing up what is good, and what the Lord our God in Christ requires of us. It
is an abridgment of the Christian directory, an excellent collection of rules
for the right ordering of the conversation, as becomes the gospel. It is joined
to the foregoing discourse by the word “therefore.” It is the practical
application of doctrinal truths that is the life of preaching. He had been
discoursing at large of justification by faith, and of the riches of free
grace, and the pledges and assurances we have of the glory that is to be
revealed. Hence carnal libertines would be apt to infer. ”Therefore we may live
as we list, and walk in the way of our hearts and the sight of our eyes.” Now
this does not follow; the faith that justifies is a faith that “works by love.”
And there is no other way to heaven but the way of holiness and obedience.
Therefore what God hath joined together let no man put asunder. The particular
exhortations of this chapter are reducible to the three principal heads of
Christian duty: our duty to God t ourselves, and to our brother. The grace of
God teaches us, in general, to live “godly, soberly, and righteously;” and to
deny all that which is contrary hereunto. Now this chapter will give us to
understand what godliness, sobriety, and righteousness, are though somewhat
intermixed.
Warren Wiersbe BE Bible
Study Series
(1)
You give God your body (v. 1). Before we trusted Christ, we used our bodies for
sinful pleasures and purposes, but now that we belong to Him, we want to use
our bodies for His glory. The Christian’s body is God’s temple (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
because the Spirit of God dwells within him (Rom. 8:9). It is our privilege to
glorify Christ in our bodies and magnify Christ in our bodies (Phil. 1:20-21).
Just
as Jesus Christ had to take on Himself a body in order to accomplish God’s will
on earth, so we must yield our bodies to Christ that He might continue God’s
work through us. We must yield the members of the body as “instruments of
righteousness” (Rom. 6:13) for the Holy Spirit to use in the doing of God’s
work. The Old Testament sacrifices were dead sacrifices, but we are to be
living sacrifices.
There
are two “living sacrifices” in the Bible, and they help us understand what this
really means. The first is Isaac (Gen. 22); the second is our Lord Jesus
Christ. Isaac willingly put himself on the altar and would have died in
obedience to God’s will, but the Lord sent a ram to take his place. Isaac
“died” just the same–he died to self and willingly yielded himself to the will
of God. When he got off that altar, Isaac was a living sacrifice to the glory
of God.
Of
course, our Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect illustration of a living
sacrifice, because He actually died as a sacrifice, in obedience to His
Father’s will. But He arose again. And today He is in heaven as a living
sacrifice, bearing in His body the wounds of Calvary. He is our High Priest (Heb.
4:14-16) and our Advocate (1 John 2:1) before the throne of God.
The
verb “present” in this verse means “to present once and for all.” It commands a
definite commitment of the body to the Lord, just as a bride and groom in their
wedding service commit themselves to each other. It is this once-for-all
commitment that determines what they do with their bodies. Paul gives us two
reasons for this commitment: (1) it is the right response to all that God has
done for us–“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God” (italics
mine); and (2) this commitment is our “reasonable service” or our “spiritual
act of worship.” This means that every day is a worship experience when your
body is yielded to the Lord.
Yours by His Grace
Blair Humphreys
Southport, Merseyside, UK
