Why did Paul write chapters 12-16 of Romans?<\/p>\n
Why not stop after chapter 11\u2019s marvelous conclusion:<\/p>\n
O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! … From Him, through Him, and to Him are all things! To Him be the glory forever! (From Romans 11:33, 36)<\/p>\n
Or why doesn\u2019t he proceed directly to his plans to visit them, discussed in chapter 15?<\/p>\n
Because in Scripture truth always leads to change. <\/em><\/p>\n God breaths out Scriptural Truth that is profitable \u201cfor teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness\u201d \u2013 Why? \u2013 so \u201cthat the man of God may be\u201d competent, perfected, fully \u201cequipped for every good work\u201d (2 Timothy 3:16-17).<\/p>\n The structure of Romans reflects this. Paul applies the truths of chapters 1-11 in chapters 12-15.<\/p>\n Romans 12:1 is thus the hinge in the letter:<\/p>\n I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s focus on four phrases from this verse:<\/p>\n 1) Therefore, By the Mercies of God<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTherefore\u201d indicates the application of the subsequent chapters is closely linked to the theology that Paul discusses earlier. We are to live our lives differently because <\/em>we understand what God has done, because we have taken to heart Who He is. How we think is to affect how we act \u2013 every minute of every day.<\/p>\n Realize: This is not the case in many religions. There is theology on the one hand, and a moral code on the other. There is little or no link between them.<\/p>\n Note that of all the truth Paul has brought out so far in Romans, he emphasizes here God\u2019s mercy. <\/em>Romans has made clear: No one is righteous. All have sinned. The wages of sin is death. But God put forward Jesus as the atoning sacrifice by His death on the cross. So God declares His people righteous, He redeems His people as a gift – a gift that comes to us through faith in Jesus as our Savior.<\/p>\n Furthermore, Paul has said in chapter 11 that this is true for peoples <\/em>as well as for individuals. God consigns all types of people to disobedience so that He might have mercy on all types of people (Romans 11:32).<\/p>\n So because<\/em> of that great mercy, because <\/em>of who God is and who you are, because<\/em> He offers you salvation, indeed, Himself<\/em> in Jesus, because <\/em>nothing can separate you from the love He has for you in Christ Jesus, therefore <\/em>respond, therefore <\/em>live out Romans 12 through 15.<\/p>\n 2) I Appeal to You, Brothers<\/strong><\/p>\n Notice what Paul does at this point. He is an apostle. He has authority. He could say, \u201cI command you.\u201d<\/p>\n But instead he appeals to them to respond from the heart.<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n Because what he is going to tell them to do cannot be done in a perfunctory manner. <\/em>It cannot be checked off as completed once you obey a rule or two.<\/p>\n He is going to tell them to do something that will characterize the rest of their lives – until they die.<\/p>\n So he says: \u201cI exhort you. I encourage you. I appeal to you: Think of God\u2019s mercy. Think of Who He is, who you are. Think of who Jesus is, what He has done on your behalf. Think of the promises of God \u2013 and respond<\/em>! Act and, indeed, feel <\/em>in a way consistent with these truths. Take these truths to heart and be changed by them.\u201d<\/p>\n 3) Present Your Bodies as a Sacrifice<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s unpack this appeal in four ways:<\/p>\n a) God Doesn\u2019t Need Us<\/u><\/p>\n You may have heard people say: \u201cWe are God\u2019s hands and feet to accomplish His work.\u201d<\/p>\n What do you think of that?<\/p>\n God does indeed equip <\/em>and use <\/em>us to accomplish His purposes. He tells us to go and disciple all nations (Matthew 28:18-20); He tells us to let our light shine before men so they may see our good works and give Him glory (Matthew 5:16).<\/p>\n But you could infer from that statement that God needs <\/em>us. We are to offer Him our bodies because He doesn\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n No. God is not needy. He created us. He can create others. All our abilities, all our intelligence, every cell in our bodies is from Him. When we offer ourselves to Him, He gains nothing. We are the ones who gain.<\/p>\n b) Present as a Sacrifice<\/u><\/p>\n God instituted the sacrificial system to picture His work and our relationship to Him. That system includes several different types of offerings, including whole burnt offerings, grain or present offerings, sin offerings, and fellowship offerings (see Leviticus 1-7).<\/p>\n Christians are most familiar with the sin offering, rightly seeing Jesus as the fulfillment of that offering. An ancient Israelite would lay his hands on the living animal, identifying with it, and then kill it. Similarly, God transfers the sins of His people to Jesus on the cross. He became a sin offering for us.<\/p>\n But in Romans 12, Paul is not <\/em>telling us to offer ourselves as a sin offering. The image instead is of other offerings \u2013 two of which we will consider here: the whole burnt offering and the grain or present offering.<\/p>\n The primary distinction of the whole burnt offering is that the entire animal is burned in the fire. The offeror or the priests eat at least part of every other offering.<\/p>\n The grain or present offering consists of their staple food, what the people effectively are made of.<\/p>\n Thus, considering the two together: I am to offer all I am to God – even all the details of my daily life.<\/p>\n Furthermore, note that both offerings are celebrations! The idea is not, \u201cOh, I\u2019m giving up this expensive animal, or this food that we could use!\u201d Rather, the idea is: \u201cI belong wholly to Him. I am accepted by Him completely. Indeed, I am without blemish before Him. He has covered every stain, every sin in me. So like a spotless lamb, loved by Him, redeemed by Him, I can offer myself to Him – and He rejoices!\u201d<\/p>\n So Paul\u2019s exhortation here is not so much for commitment <\/em>but for surrender, <\/em>complete surrender.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what Jesus did. In addition to becoming a sin offering, He is an example of complete surrender, offering Himself to God (see, for example, John 5:30).<\/p>\n c) Present Your Bodies<\/u><\/p>\n Why does Paul emphasize our bodies?<\/p>\n He clearly is not limiting the command to our bodies. Indeed, he speaks of the \u201crenewal of your mind\u201d in verse 2.<\/p>\n He emphasizes \u201cbody\u201d because of the temptation in his day and ours to separate the body from the mind or soul, to think of our relationship to God as solely interior, and day to day life in the body as separate, even relatively unimportant.<\/p>\n So Paul is saying: \u201cPresent your entire person to God as a sacrifice \u2013 including <\/em>your body\u201d (see also 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).<\/p>\n This has important implications for the way we live. That passage from 1 Corinthians emphasizes how we live sexually. But there are additional implications for how we eat, how we exercise, and, indeed, what we do with our bodies throughout the day.<\/p>\n One preacher summarizes this truth: \u201cI must not regard even my body as my private property.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t we all tend to do that? Doesn\u2019t our culture encourage us to think that way?<\/p>\n We are to offer our bodies to God \u2013 they are not our private property.<\/p>\n d) What Type of Sacrifice <\/u><\/p>\n Paul uses three adjectives to describe the sacrifice:<\/p>\n Living: <\/em><\/p>\n The point here is not that the Old Testament sacrifices were dead \u2013 they were alive when they were offered! Rather the point is that this is not a one-time event, a one-time offering and then we die. We are to offer this sacrifice day after day, continually \u2013 our entire life is an offering to God.<\/p>\n Holy:<\/em><\/p>\n Old Testament sacrifices had to be perfect, without blemish. We are stained, but as we noted we become unblemished because of Jesus\u2019 work. So our offering of our bodies is holy. <\/em><\/p>\n Acceptable <\/em>or Well-Pleasing<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAcceptable\u201d is problematic here. Imagine as a student you work hard on an essay for English class. You\u2019re pleased with the final version and you eagerly await your teacher\u2019s response. When you get it back, the teacher has written across the top, \u201cThis is acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n How do you feel? Not happy! That sounds like your essay is barely good enough. You want the teacher to write, \u201cExcellent!\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m quite pleased with this!\u201d<\/p>\n The Greek word means much more than \u201cacceptable\u201d in that sense. Thus some translations render it \u201cpleasing.\u201d<\/p>\n God is indeed well-pleased <\/em>with our offering ourselves to Him in this way. He is delighted when we see Jesus as our Redeemer, and see ourselves as loved and accepted in Christ, and thus following Him with joy all our lives.<\/p>\n 4) This is Worship, This is Life\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Paul concludes the verse by emphasizing that our continually offering ourselves as a sacrifice to God is our \u201cspiritual worship.\u201d<\/p>\n The phrase is rather difficult to translate. The word translated \u201cspiritual\u201d in the ESV can mean \u201clogical, rational, inner, genuine.\u201d Thus the NET translates it \u201creasonable service.\u201d One commentator suggests rendering the phrase, \u201cwhich is the logical thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n So let\u2019s try to tie together the living sacrifice idea with insights from this phrase. We\u2019ll consider three negatives and then three positives:<\/p>\n First, as we\u2019ve said, our offering ourselves to God is not an occasional or even regular act. We are to offer ourselves continually, every minute of every day.<\/p>\n Second, our offering ourselves to God is not an act of perfunctory obedience, just going through the motions. It must be inner as well as outer.<\/p>\n Third, our offering ourselves is thus not simply obedience to a set of rules, a set of behaviors to avoid.<\/p>\n Instead, fourth, our offering ourselves is rational, logical, reasonable, genuine. That offering is the right response to our understanding of His mercies!<\/p>\n Fifth, this offering is spiritual. Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well: \u201cTrue worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth\u201d (John 4:23).<\/p>\n Finally, this offering of ourselves to Him is indeed worship. <\/em>Worship is acting, thinking, and feeling in a way that reflects the glory of God. And the inner dynamic of worship is valuing Jesus far above all earthly goals, attainments, joys, and accomplishments.<\/p>\n Therefore, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God: Present your bodies to Him as a sacrifice \u2013 living, holy, well-pleasing to God. This is only logical. This is the way you worship Him: Seeing your entire life as His, and then living that out – to your great joy.<\/p>\n Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.\n
\nTake my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
\nTake my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
\nTake my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee\u2026.
\nTake my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine\u2026.
\nTake myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee. (Frances Havergal, 1874)<\/p>\n