Rom 12:1-21
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around.
The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body,
let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else;
if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching;
if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good.
Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master,
cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder.
Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath.
Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down.
Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.
Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone.
If you've got it in you, get along with everybody.
Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."
Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness.
Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
Romans 12:1
CONTENTS
In this Chapter, the Apostle shows some of the blessed Effects, which, through Grace, arise out of a Justified, and Sanctified State, before God. And he very sweetly proves thereby, the Work of Grace upon the Soul.
Romans 12:1-5
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
(2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
(3) For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
(4) For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
(5) So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.
In order to a right apprehension of the Apostle’s meaning, we must carefully keep in remembrance, all that went before. Paul begins at this Chapter to shew, what gracious consequences must follow, in the life of a child of God, brought into the blessed enjoyment, of being justified freely before God, in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. He had in the foregoing Chapters, very fully displayed the electing love of God the Father, the redeeming grace of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the regenerating work of God the Spirit, upon the souls of God’s people. Having therefore shown, both the ground-work, and superstructure of the Church’s mercies, and traced them up to their fountain-head, in the Covenant-love and faithfulness of Jehovah, in his three-fold character of Persons; he now calls upon the Church, with all the earnestness and affection of a brother, to live by faith, in the daily, hourly enjoyment of those glorious privileges. I beseech you therefore brethren, (says he,) by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
It becomes a point of infinite importance to the peace and comfort of every child of God, to have a right apprehension of what is here meant. My views, I confess, differ from all that I have heard or read upon the subject. I therefore, very affectionately, entreat the Reader to look up to the Almighty Author of his holy word, who guided his servant the Apostle’s pen, that the Lord the Spirit may be his teacher in the perusal of it. And my soul is looking also to the same matchless Instructor, that both the Writer and Reader of this Poor Man’s Commentary may together be taught of God.
I will first beg to observe, what appears to me cannot be the sense and meaning of the passage, according to true scriptural grounds of faith, before I venture to offer, what appears to me to be, the real meaning of it. And when I have presented both before the Reader, I shall very humbly leave him to form, under the Lord, his own conclusions.
And here I begin with observing, that the living sacrifice, which the Apostle calls upon justified believers in Christ to present unto God, cannot possibly mean anything of their own; for Christ is the One only sacrifice before God, and by that one offering of himself once offered, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, Heb_10:10; Heb_10:14. Neither can the holiness the Apostle speaks of, in which they are to present their bodies, mean any holiness of their own; for there is none holy but the Lord; and the Church hath no holiness but in Christ and from Christ, 1Sa_2:2; Isa_54:17. And Paul could not be supposed to mean the holiness of the creature; for he had told the Church but just before, in this Epistle, that his body was a body of sin and death, Rom_7:14-24. He could not mean, therefore, that the Church was to present their bodies a living sacrifice, and holy, unto the Lord. And equally foreign to the Apostle’s meaning must it have been, to suppose, that the Church was to look for acceptance in themselves before God, in any righteousness of their own; for Paul himself taught, under the Holy Ghost, that it is to the praise of the glory of God’s grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, Eph_1:6. So that upon none of those grounds, could Paul be supposed to recommend the Church to present their bodies before God.
Having shown, and I hope upon true scriptural authority, what cannot be supposed to be the sense of the Apostle’s words, I will now venture, and upon the same authority, to bring before the Reader what appears to me to be his meaning.
Let it be again remembered, that the Apostle had before fully established the doctrine of the Church being elected, called, justified, and sanctified by God in Christ. He begins an exhortation from these premises. And that little word, therefore, as an relative particle, he used, as deducing all he had to say, and all he entreated from them, in consequence thereof. / beseech you therefore brethren, brethren in Christ, and as he elsewhere calls them, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, partakers of Christ, interested from an union with Christ, in all Christ’s communicable holiness, grace, and glory. See Heb_3:14; Joh_15:22.
Next, I pray the Reader to observe the Apostle’s expression, when be saith, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, What mercies did the Apostle mean? All are mercies we have from God. But I humbly conceive Paul alluded to what the Prophet taught the Church, and which Paul himself afterwards explained, the sure mercies of David. If the Reader before he prosecutes the subject further, would consult the scriptures on this point, I venture to believe, that he will be inclined to conclude with me, that such God the Holy Ghost referred to in this passage. (Compare Isa_55:3 with Act_13:32-39.) And, if this be supposed, Paul’s exhortation will amount to this, that he desired the Church by the mercies of God in Christ, to come to God in Christ, and make this the one, and the only foundation in coming.
Now then we arrive at the main subject of enquires, concerning this presentation of their bodies, which is to be, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, and (says Paul) your reasonable service. Holy scripture reveals no sacrifice but one. And this indeed is, a living sacrifice; for Jesus ever lives to make it effectual, as a life-giving principle to his people. Having opened a new and living way by his blood, he ever lives to keep it open by his intercession. And God the Holy Ghost by putting forth the efficacy of it, unto the persons of the redeemed, makes it truly living in their hearts and consciences. In this new and living way we are commanded to come, and very blessed are the consequences promised to our coming; when our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Compare Heb_10:19-22 with Eze_36:25. (I need not tell the Reader, that the waters here spoken of by the Prophet, means the blood of Christ; for the blood of Christ is called the blood of sprinkling, Heb_12:24. And the Holy Ghost is never said to be water sprinkled, or put upon us, but a well of water in us, Joh_4:14.)
If, therefore, the Apostle had in view, (as it should seem from all that he had said before in this Epistle he had,) Christ the living sacrifice, in whom, and by whom, the Church alone is justified; then in that living sacrifice and Person of her Lord, she was to present her whole body. And this, indeed, is a living and life-giving sacrifice, truly holy, acceptable unto God, and our reasonable service; for it is most reasonable that the services of spiritual worshiper, acting under the Spirit’s constant influences, should thus present themselves continually before the Lord. But unless the words of the Apostle be considered in this sense, it is impossible to conceive, that Paul should direct the Church to do, what he himself could never perform, to present his body a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto God, when he groaned daily under a body of sin and death. Yea, he had before said to the Church, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness, Rom_8:10. And how shall a body dead because of sin, present itself a living sacrifice?
Reader! The Lord give you a right understanding in all things, 2 Ti_2:7. And, if under divine teaching, your views and mine correspond, we shall both see and through grace be enabled to follow, what the Apostle so affectionately recommends, when justified in the Person and work of Christ, by those mercies of God, to present our bodies indeed as well as our souls, daily, and hourly, upon the Altar of that living sacrifice, which is holy, acceptable unto God, and our reasonable service. For Christ is our New Testament Altar, (neither is there any other,) our sacrifice, and the sacrificer. And, as the whole person of every child of God, both soul and body, is united to Christ, both are included in this presentation. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit, 1Co_6:17. And the Lord Jesus himself saith, speaking of the persons of his people. That they all may he one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, Joh_17:21. And, while we know that he abides in us by the spirit which he hath given us, we know also, that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in us, 1Jn_3:24; 1Co_6:19. And, as it is by consequence of this union in our souls with Christ as regeneration, we are made partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; and at the separation by death of soul and body, the soul joins the society of the spirits of just mm made perfect, until the morning of the resurrection; so, from the same union with Christ, the body at death sleeps in Jesus, until the last day, and equally one with Christ in body as well as soul; the body will be raised by virtue of it, to live with Christ both body and soul forever. The Holy Ghost bears sweet testimony to this most blessed truth in his word. For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you, Rom_8:11. See 2 Pe_1:4.
I do not think it necessary, after having so largely stated what appears to me to be the Apostle’s meaning of the daily presentation of the child of God in the first verse of this chapter, to offer anything more on what follows, in relation to the effects which arise out of it. No one who is a child of God, and who daily lives in acts of faith and grace upon the Person of Christ and his living sacrifice, will be conformed to this world. A conformity to this world, and its vanities and customs, is wholly the reverse of a life of grace. For it is expressly said, that God in his foreknowledge of his children the Church, did predestine them to be conformed to the image of his Son, Rom_8:20. So that the very predestination of the children is to this conformity to Christ, that Christ may be both the head to his body, and the first-born and brother among many brethren. And where this is the case, all such will be transformed, by the daily renewing of God the Holy Ghost. And, as each regenerated soul is a member of Christ’s mystical body; so, through grace, each will be led into the suited office of that membership, being manifestly a part of the one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.
Devoting Self and Using Gifts
Rom_12:1-8
Therefore links this practical appeal to the whole of the sublime argument, which reaches its climax in the previous chapter. It is easier to die once for God than to live always the surrendered life. But nothing so pleases God as daily surrender, the sacrificed and yielded will tied by cords to His altar. Such an attitude is the only reasonable one we can assume. If God be all we profess to believe, He is worthy of all we are. But we are reminded that the world is ever seeking to mold us to its will, and we need the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may withstand its baleful influence. We need to be transformed-that is, transfigured-by the renewing of our mind. Please God, and you will be pleased with the will of God.
Notice in Rom_12:3 that God deals out according to the measure of our faith. Let us ask that it may be “pressed down and running over.” In proportion as we are united to the head, we are members of one another. We may not recognize each other, or be recognized by the world as one, but in His sight there is only one body, Rom_12:5. Let each learn what he can do best, and devote his best to it. To give or rule aright is equally a gift with teaching.
