Romans 12 - How Then Shall We Live?

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A Living Sacrifice

In chapters 9 - 11, Paul taught about the future of Israel in terms of salvation. He shared his deep love for his fellow Israelites, and his desire for them to be saved. Though the majority of Jews rejected the Messiah, God had kept a remnant of Jewish people who would be saved. Last chapter Paul said, "All Israel would be saved". I concluded based on some excellent commentaries that this did not mean that every single Jewish person would be saved, but the true Israel was made up of those who believed in the fulfilled covenant promises in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. 

The Israelites' rejection of Jesus led to Good News being preached to the Gentiles, who came to faith in Jesus. Paul concluded that though Gentiles had not been born into the Jewish nation, they were children of Abraham because they believed in the promises God made through Abraham that all nations would be blessed. Though many Jews had rejected this covenant and instead trusted in their personal zeal to obtain righteousness, God still kept the covenant promises for any Israelites who would come back and believe. God's call and covenant were irrevocable in that sense. 

Chapter 12 represents a transition from teaching doctrine to application for daily life for the Roman Christians. Verses 1-2 represent an excellent summary as to how all who are saved by grace live in response to receiving God's mercy. Importantly it is in view of and in response to God's mercy and grace.  Specifically:

1. Offer their bodies as a living sacrifice. The Jews would certainly know about animals being sacrificed, and especially the innocent lamb who was sacrificed at Passover time for atonement for this sins. The blood of the innocent lamb looked forward to the innocent lamb of God, Jesus who poured out his blood for the sins of the world. 

 2. Do not conform to the world. The world is characterized as people living by their fleshly impulses and caring only for themselves. The values of the world are to get as much as you can no matter how you do it. Christian are to be counter cultural. We are not to be conformed to the values of the world but conformed to Christ. 

But how do we do this? 

3. Paul suggests the transformation of our character is fueled by the renewing of our mind. The primary way we renew our mind is by reading, meditating, and memorizing God's Word. God's Word is true and has the power to help us overcome worldly desires through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we obey God's Word, which is Jesus, the truth sets us free. We realize that living by the values of the world is really bondage. Yet, when we surrender our bodies and minds to God, we are renewed in the image of our Creator.

This is a great verse to memorize and is one of my life verses that I memorized as I offered my life back to God in 1987.  This verse has served me well! 

Part of living a life worthy of our calling is to understand our role in the body of Christ, the church. As a disciple of Christ, we live a life of humility and ask the question how can I serve others rather than how can the church serve me. Paul refers to all believers as one body. In this case it is the body of believers in Rome. Within this body each person has a different contribution to make. 

Our gifts differ by the grace given to us. Not only do we not all have the same gift, we don't have the same measure of gifting. We will not be judged on someone else's gifts, but the gifts we have been given. Some of the gifts Paul mentions are: prophesy, servanthood, teaching, encouragement, generosity, leadership. Although this is not an exhaustive listing of the spiritual gifts, all of these mentioned are very important to the effectiveness of a local church.  

Love in Action

Next, Paul describes the culture of love which should be evident in the church. Love is expressed as an action and manifested through the following ways:

1. Hating what is evil, clinging to what is good.

2. Being devoted to and honoring one another.

3. Serving the Lord with passion and being an example of zeal expressed in a positive way. 

4. Being joyful, faithful, and hopeful. Even when we are being afflicted by trials, we need to fervently pray and focus on the hope we have in Christ. 

5. Humility, which is being willing to serve the least and the lost. No one is above anyone else. We are all equal in God's eyes.

6. If we are treated in evil ways, we should not retaliate for vengeance belongs to the Lord. We should bless those who persecute us. Jesus said this in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. 

7. Do not become overcome by evil but overcome evil for good.

These are certainly great words for the church today. So Paul focused on three major areas today.

1. Offering your body as a living sacrifice and not conforming to the world based on the renewing of your mind. This is the personal, daily commitment we make as disciples who have received God's mercy. We don't do these things to be saved, but BECAUSE we ARE saved. 

2. Using the spiritual gifts we have been given in faithfulness to the measure of our specific gifting. 

3. Our character is formed by the way we treat each other in love and should be as transforming force in a world which is being conformed to evil not good! 

But we can overcome evil with good! God's grace is always greater that the forces of darkness in the world!