Romans 12:1–2 answers the question, ''How should we respond to God's great mercy to us? '' The answer is to become living, breathing sacrifices, using our lives up in service to God as an ongoing act of worship. That's what makes sense.
In verse 1 Paul exhorts his audience to present their bodies as living sacrifices, “which is your spiritual worship.” In verse 2 he further defines what this means: be transformed by renewing your mind to approve, or discern, God's perfect will.
Romans 12 encourages us to be living sacrifices in view of the mercy we have received in Christ Jesus. We do this through renewing our minds to the truth of God's word, serving and blessing the body of Christ through our gifts and above all by loving and being devoted to one another.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The “Mercies of God” are soul saving and transformative! And when given careful consideration are the catalyst for the acceptable response to God's mercy. The next words Paul uses are “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God”.
Paul's “living sacrifices” don't die – they live, they act, they are empowered to witness to God's grace. Again, YOU are living sacrifices. Paul exhorts each of you and all of us to BE a living sacrifice – offer our best selves to the holy work of just and meaningful living.
Romans 12:1-8 is a summary and reminder of Romans 1-11, in which the Apostle Paul is writing an apologetic of the presence, work, and callings of God on the entire human family. Readers are called to live a countercultural lifestyle, moving from the life of flesh to a life formed by the Holy Spirit.
Dear Father, all worthy God, I present my body to you, O Lord, as a living sacrifice. May it be holy and pleasing to you.
Then Romans 12:1–2. Therefore, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual worship in light of the gospel, in light of the mercies of God, lay your life down. Lay your life down before Him in worship.
Romans 12:2 shows that we live out God's will when we change our thoughts to God's thoughts, rather than living like the world dictates. The world will always pressure us to live sinfully and selfishly, but to live the good life God wants from us requires changing how we behave—by changing our thoughts.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Paul presents God's mercies as his strongest argument for giving ourselves to God. “I urge you,” Paul said, “by the mercies of God . . . to present your bodies” (Rom. 12:1). When we recognize what God has done for us through his son Jesus Christ, the only response is to give ourselves completely to him.
Romans 12 highlights the social and community aspects of salvation. Paul was not writing to an individual but to the community of Christians in Rome, and his constant concern is their life together—with a special emphasis on their work.
Romans 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle, while he was in Corinth in the mid-50s AD, with the help of an amanuensis (secretary), Tertius, who adds his own greeting in Romans 16:22.
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” The above verse shows us how we are to respond in various situations we face in life. Our hearts should be full of joy because we have hope in Christ. When facing troubles, patience will prevent us from giving up before seeing our victory.
God is asking for all of us. We must present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead. We have been brought to life and we are no longer dead in our sins. This is the point that Paul is making in Romans 12. Paul explains how we are to present our bodies as a sacrifice.
The believer is constantly dying unto sin and entering into a new life of righteousness unto God as he makes the living sacrifice referred to by Paul in Romans 12:1.
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. – Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Romans 12:1–2 answers the question, ''How should we respond to God's great mercy to us? '' The answer is to become living, breathing sacrifices, using our lives up in service to God as an ongoing act of worship.
Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
[1] 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.
Romans 12:1-5 In-Context
1 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.
We can practice casting our anxieties on the Lord by stepping away from attempts to control our worries and leaning into the reassuring words of God. Once we do this, we can see that our anxiety is not a thing on which we should focus. Instead, we are called to give it up to God.
We choose with our mind; we decide to love Him. To “love the Lord thy God with all thy mind” is done when our thoughts dwell on Him; and His holiness, and goodness, and love, and mercy, and beauty… Then we reply to His perfection with prayer, praise, perhaps a song, and worship “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).