Introduction: Paul’s letter to the Romans is a classic piece of Scripture. Alva J, McClain and perhaps others noted how Paul made four basic divisions: condemnation, salvation, vindication, and exhortation. Chapter 12 begins the final section and indeed begins with a word of exhortation to these believers—and us, too, by extension.
First, he’ll tell us to present our bodies as living sacrifices. Let’s take a look at the first two verses of this chapter:
1 Present bodies
Text, Romans 12:1-2, NASV: 1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Sometimes we forget that Paul was, and had been, a thoroughly orthodox Jew and most likely had contributed his share of offerings, sacrifices and so forth. At the least, he knew the Old Testament and the demands of the Law.
He knew also, secondly, that every animal sacrifice was to be killed. Sometimes, the LORD had even given instructions as to what parts of the animal were to be offered in fire, or if the entire animal (such as a bull, goat, ram, turtledove, etc.) was to be totally consumed. The Book of Leviticus has the LORD’s clear directives on this and other matters.
Paul also knew that these sacrifices were not enough for anyone to receive salvation. There were a good number of saints in the Old Testament (Moses, David, Elijah, and Jeremiah come quickly to mind) but the stories of how these men and others ever became believers. Abram/Abraham is one of the few whose story is written for us: he believed God, and it was counted for him as righteousness (Genesis 15:5, paraphrased and Romans 4:2).
More ominously, Paul probably knew about human sacrifices also. There are a number of times in the Old Testament where people literally burned a child or more than one child as an offering (!) to Moloch/Molech/Milcom (all names for the same pagan deity). How that sacrifice or offering took place is really too gruesome to describe in detail (some commentators have additional information if anyone wants to search this out).
The common thread in all of this is that the offerer or worshiper chose something and presented it as a sacrifice. This offering was not in itself a means to receive salvation—salvation has always been by grace through faith. Nothing we do will ever be enough to “earn” salvation and Paul even said as much in Ephesians 2:8-10.
So, then, what are we really supposed to do? Paul gave a strong exhortation, if not a command, for each believer (he seldom calls unbelievers “brethren”) to present his or her body as a living sacrifice. There are several aspects or angles about this, but the two that a good number of commentators agree on is that first, this offering is a “once and for all” offering. The Old Testament sacrifices had to be repeated with even the High Priest making an offering on the Day of Atonement every year (Exodus 30:10, Leviticus 16:2-34, 23:27-32; Numbers 29:7-11, e.g.) But when Jesus died on the cross, all sins were (and are) forgiven for those who accept the gift of salvation (Colossians 2:14)! There isn’t any need, then, for additional sacrifices!
How could anyone or anything improve on what Jesus did?
But secondly, this is an ongoing, living, sacrifice. I think this means that I give up my choices, my desires, my everything so that I might be doing what our Lord wants me to do.
This is, of course, impossible to do all the time. I sin, and when that happens, my fellowship with the Lord is broken and it’s up to me to make things right with Him. That also means I need to confess my sins and face whatever discipline and/or punishment the Lord feels I deserve.
Even more so, then, I need to find and be aware of the Lord’s will and plan is for my life. If He wants me to be a preacher, I’d be wrong to seek a career as a plumber—even though there is a tremendous need for tradesmen of all kinds! No, if I willingly reject God’s will and plan for my life, there’s no way I’ll ever complete of fulfill any of that for my life.
Sobering. I need to keep this in mind every day. God’s way is the best way, period.
And there’s another thing I need to keep in mind. That is prevention. Let’s take a look at that:
2 Prevent corruption, verse 2
When Paul talked about “prevention” here in verse 2, he’s using an idea that this process, so to speak, is already going on! We shouldn’t be surprised at this; after all, this was Rome and these were Romans who read this letter. Have you heard the saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans”? What seemed to be going on was, “When in Rome, do as the pagans!”
I mean, it was not always easy for anyone from a (thoroughly) pagan background to live a Christian lifestyle! It never has been easy, as the Devil had control of all of us until we crossed the line and said “Yes!” to Jesus Christ and His gift of salvation.
Of course, Paul knew all about this, as he had been a thoroughly anti-Christian Jew before he met Jesus on the Damascus Road (see Acts 9). He then needed time to adjust his thinking and lifestyle too. Now just think about the difficulty of being a resident of the world’s largest city, and one of the most powerful men in the world was in charge—and he could do just about anything he wanted, being Caesar. And that, I think, is one reason why he wanted these believers in Rome (and us, too, by the way) to stop being conformed to this world, especially as he knew this was going on already.
Now, some of us may not quite understand what all that means. Here are a couple of ideas that may help—they sure did for me. One is to look at, maybe, another translation and get an idea of how other scholars render the verse. For me, I like to glance at the Phillips’ translation every once in a while just to get a fresh perspective. Verse 2 in Phillips has the phrase “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mould (sic)” and, again, Paul would know about this. I mean, how many times had Paul seen idol-makers pouring metal into molds so they could make shrines or images of pagan deities (as in Ephesus, Acts 19).
Another way is to think of stuff we might have made using, say, plaster of Paris or something similar. In junior high school, I remember bringing a paper milk carton so our art teacher could pour in some plaster. This would (and did) give a block of solid plaster once it hardened (and it did!). I used some of the tools available—don’t ask me what they were called—to, well, carve something that would up looking like Frankenstein’s monster. Okay, this was in October so maybe I was in the mood or something. Oh yeah, the block also had the spot where the bottom had been folded together. I had to somehow smooth out that bottom section so that the plaster block wouldn’t rock or swing like a pendulum or whatever.
Years later, I tried something similar with a Christmas nativity set. The set had a number of red rubber molds and some other stuff so that the purchaser (me) could whip up a batch of plaster and pour it into the molds. Once dried and hardened, the purchaser (again, guess who) could paint the items (statues? Models?) as desired.
That was the theory. Results, however, didn’t work as desired! One of the molds was supposed to be a camel. Yeah, that didn’t work, and neither did the project (!) for the Wise Men. The poor Virgin Mary—I felt so sorry for that lump, as that’s what happened!
Worst of all were the angels or singers or choir members (this was nearly 40 years ago so some details are fuzzy). The plaster hardened just fine; too well, in fact, as I snapped one’s neck trying to get him or her out of the mold! Of course, there’s nothing like 20-20 hindsight and would you believe that at a later time I read that a toothpick did a great job in providing strength. Ah.
With these examples in mind, I’m sure we get an idea of what Paul was trying to get across to these believers. Then as now, the world system won’t tolerate much that doesn’t match their program, narrative, whatever you want to call it. In a word, they want so squeeze you and me into their mold so that we look, act, speak, and live just like them. They won’t allow for much that doesn’t march right along with them.
BUT WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN! Our Lord wants us to follow Him and be conformed to Him, not the world or the world system. Oh, sure, there are some—even believers—who will jump ship and be convinced this world has a better offer or rewards or whatever and will give up on their faith. Paul, later, wrote of Demas who forsook him (2 Timothy 4:10) and Demas wasn’t the only one, sad to say. I won’t go into too much detail but just think of how many singers got their starts at church. And look where they are, and what they’re singing. Is the Lord pleased?
Let me wind this one down. For those of us who are believers, two of the most important things any of us could do are spelled out in these two verses. First, present—once and for all—your body as a living sacrifice. No need to find or build an altar or anything like that, just say “Lord, I am yours to do with as You see fit”, and mean it.
Then, stop allowing yourself (and that goes for me, too) to be squeezed into this world’s mold or concept of what they think we should be. Prevent this from happening, I beg each one of you. We have the Word of God to tell us how to live. There is no need for any of us—you or me—to walk away from the Word.
I hope all of us will present, and prevent, exactly as the Lord leads. God bless!
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version of the Bible (NASV)
