Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God… I. THIS IS A SUMMONS TO A SERVICE OF WORSHIP. 1. The priestly service is required of all Christians without distinction. Every believer is assumed to be anointed, to have passed through the preliminary purification, to have been called and separated (1 Peter 2:9), and to have passed through the consecration ritual (Revelation 1:5, 6). Therefore every one of them has "boldness to enter into the holiest (Hebrews 10:19; Ephesians 3:12). And therefore they are all here summoned to holy service. Clearly the act of worship is to be continuous. The Jewish priests had to minister day by day. Morning and evening sacrifices must be offered: the altar fire must be kept burning; the lamps must be lit, and, generally, worship must be offered up continually. And these all symbolised for the people of God the necessity of constant service (1 Corinthians 10:31; Hebrews 13:12-15). 2. This priestly service of worship is to be one of sacrifice — is not indeed of atonement, for the one offering of our great High Priest needs never more to be repeated. But now, the reconciliation having been effected by that offering, we must draw near to God for holy fellowship, as in the peace-offering; to praise, as in the thank-offering; and for perpetual dedication, as in the burnt-offering. (1) The Christian must present his own body. The Jew had to present the body of an animal: the Christian must offer his own. Under the law the priest sacrificed the animal; the Christian must offer up himself. The free, intelligent soul must be the presenting priest: the body, animated by the soul, and serving as its many-mannered instrument, must be the ever-presented offering (Romans 6:13). (2) The sacrifice must be living. The servant of God is not at liberty, by neglect of the body, to put an end to its life. Rather must it be carefully preserved that its providential term may be available for Divine service. For this life belongs to God (Romans 14:7, 8). (3) This sacrifice must be holy. This holiness includes — (a) Full and perpetual dedication to Divine service. (b) Sanctification by the blood of Jesus, or it will become anathema. (c) "Sanctification of the Spirit," so that all the appetites, instincts, and members of the body, and all the powers and properties of the inspiring soul, shall be brought into true harmony with the will of God. 3. This priestly service of sacrifice shall be acceptable to God. It is at once worthy of the priest, the temple, and God. That could not be said of the ritual service of the Jewish temple, except in so far as it was type of better things (Isaiah 1:11-15). II. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THESE PRIESTS ARE REQUIRED TO PERFORM THEIR SERVICE (ver 21) 1. Negatively — "Be not conformed to this world." The special characteristics of worldliness vary according to the variations in the tendencies of thought and of ethical aim and effort at different periods, in different countries, and amongst different people's. The spirit of the age in which Moses lived was the spirit of gross, sensuous idolatry. Hence the prohibition thereof in the Decalogue. The spirit of the age amongst the Jews, in the time of the apostles, was that of dependence upon external services (Galatians 4:3, 9). The spirit of the age by which the Colossians were in danger of being contaminated was that of "philosophy and vain deceit" (Colossians 2:8-23). There is in almost every age a twofold world-spirit, each being the other's opposite, the most energetic working of which was perhaps most strikingly manifested in the early ages of monasticism, when those who became earnestly religious sought for the perfection of the spiritual life in seclusion and asceticism. Both were injurious to true spiritual religion, and the remedy will be secured by attention to the true Christian requirement. "Present your bodies," and they are as capable of true spiritual service within their sphere as are your spirits. Therefore "marriage is honourable among all" right-minded men. Therefore to "them that believe and know the truth," "every creature of God is good" (1 Timothy 4:3-5). Therefore all the honest occupations of life may be pursued in a truly religious spirit (1 Corinthians 7:29-31). 2. Positively. Observe(1) The result to be produced; a transformation into something the very opposite of that conformation to this world, which is produced by the energy of merely secular powers. The form is that of likeness to the image of the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). (2) This result is to be produced by the renewing of the mind, i.e., the progressive growth and ever-increasing power of Christian life, bringing the mind, and through that the whole person, into ever-increasing approximation to the perfect likeness of the Lord (2 Corinthians 4:16). (3) This renewing of the mind is a work of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5) carried on with our own free and active Concurrence. Therefore the command is laid upon us. III. THE ARGUMENTS BY WHICH THE PRIESTS ARE URGED TO ATTEND DILIGENTLY TO THIS SERVICE. 1. The apostle's personal influence. He himself had consecrated all to the service of God (Philippians 2:17). And therefore with great urgency of moral power could he say, "I beseech you." 2. "The mercies of God," in which there is at once a backward reference to the foregoing arguments and illustrations, an onward reference to the duties about to be inculcated, and a central reference to the consequential link which binds on the one to the other. 3. That ye may personally prove the will of God — (1) The thing to be proved is that which God wills, ordains, and prescribes as the rule and end of our whole activity — "even our sanctification."(2) The method of proving this will is the practical one of rendering to it obedience under the influence of saving grace. "If any man will do His will, he shall know," etc. (3) This will of God prescribes only that which is good, acceptable, and perfect. This is to be the result of the test in the personal experience. (a) He will prove it to be good, and also productive of good. (b) He will prove it to be acceptable both to God and man (Romans 14:18; 2 Corinthians 1:12). (c) He proves that the course prescribed for him by the will of God is perfect. (W. Tyson.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
    |