Romans 12:1 - Meaning and Application

We may see here, as the outline suggests, the apostle’s counsel about our duty to God. This shows what true godliness is. First, we must give ourselves to God, and so lay a good foundation. We must give ourselves to the Lord first (2 Corinthians 8:5). Paul presses this as the root of all duty and obedience in Romans 12:1-2.

Human beings consist of body and soul (Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7). So the body also must be offered to God (Romans 12:1). The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body (1 Corinthians 6:13-14). Paul introduces this appeal in a very warm way: “I beg you, brothers.” Though he was a great apostle, he still calls even the lowest Christians brothers, showing affection and care. He uses a request rather than a command, which is the gospel way. “As though God were making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). He could speak with authority, but for love’s sake he pleads instead (Philemon 1:8-9). The poor use entreaty (Proverbs 18:23). Paul speaks this way to win hearts gently, because many people are more willing to be led than forced.

The duty he urges is to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. This points back to the sacrifices under the law, which were brought and set before God at the altar, ready to be offered to him. He says “your bodies,” meaning your whole selves, since under the law the bodies of animals were offered in sacrifice (1 Corinthians 6:20). Both body and spirit are included. The priest offered the sacrifice, but the worshiper presented it, giving up every claim to it by laying a hand on its head. Here “sacrifice” means anything God himself appoints and sets apart for his service (1 Peter 2:5). We are, in a sense, temple, priest, and sacrifice, though Christ has his own unique role in sacrifice.

There were sacrifices for making peace with God, and sacrifices of thanks. Christ, who was once offered to bear the sins of many, is the only sacrifice that atones for sin. But our persons and our works, brought to God through Christ our priest, are sacrifices of thanks and praise. To “present” them means a willing act, done by the will’s authority over the body and its members. It must be a free offering. “Your bodies” means your own selves, not animals. Those old covenant offerings pointed to Christ and ended in him.

Giving the body to God means more than avoiding sins done with the body or against it. It means using the body as a servant of the soul in God’s service. We glorify God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:20). We use our bodies in worship, in faithful work, and in suffering for God when he calls us to it. We also yield the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness (Romans 6:13). Bodily training helps little by itself, but in its place it shows that the whole person has been given to God.

Paul calls it, first, a living sacrifice, not a slain one like the sacrifices under the law. A Christian gives his body to God, though not to be burned. A body sincerely devoted to God is a living sacrifice. It is “living” by contrast with the dead animals that could not be eaten, much less offered, if they died of themselves (Deuteronomy 14:21). It is also living in contrast with the old sacrifices that were slain, while believers are consecrated to God and still live. The heathen even sacrificed their children to idols as slain sacrifices, but God desires mercy, not such sacrifice, even when life itself is owed to him. This sacrifice is living because it is energized by the spiritual life of the soul. It is Christ living in the soul by faith that makes the body a living sacrifice (Galatians 2:20). Holy love kindles these offerings and gives life to duty (Romans 6:13). It is alive to God (Romans 6:11).

Second, this sacrifice must be holy. Every sacrifice has a kind of holiness because it is dedicated to God. But there must also be real holiness, which means a sincere rightness in heart and life, shaped by God’s own nature and will. Even our bodies must not be used as tools for sin and impurity. They must be set apart for God and put to holy use, just as the vessels of the tabernacle were holy because they were devoted to his service. The soul is the proper seat of holiness, but a holy soul gives holiness to the body it directs and fills. That is holy which matches God’s will. When bodily actions are right, the body is holy. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are to live in holiness and honor with our bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5).

Paul gives three reasons for this duty. First, we should think about the mercies of God: “I beg you by the mercies of God.” This is a tender appeal, and it should move us to yield. It includes the mercy in God and the mercy that comes from God, both the fountain and the streams. It especially points to gospel mercies described in the previous chapter, including the blessings that passed from the unbelieving Jews to us Gentiles (Ephesians 3:4-6), and the sure mercies promised to David (Isaiah 55:3). Since God is merciful, we should present our bodies to him. He will use them kindly, and he knows how to deal gently with our weakness, for he is full of compassion. Each day we receive the fruits of his mercy, especially mercy to our bodies. He made them, sustains them, bought them, and has given them great honor. It is because of the Lord’s mercies that we are not destroyed, and that our souls still live. The greatest mercy is that Christ offered not only his body, but also his soul, for sin. He gave himself for us and gives himself to us. So we should surely ask what we can return to the Lord for all this. Let us give ourselves back to him, all we are, all we have, and all we can do. Even then, it is a small return for such great gifts.

Second, this offering is acceptable to God. Our chief goal should be to be pleasing to the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:9), to have him approve both our persons and our actions. These living sacrifices are acceptable to God, while the sacrifices of the wicked, though rich and costly, are hateful to him. It is a great act of kindness that God will accept anything from us. Nothing could make us happier than his approval. If giving ourselves pleases him, then surely we cannot give ourselves to better use.

Third, this is our reasonable service. Reason has a part in it, because the soul is the one that presents the body.

Blind devotion, born from ignorance and fed by it, is fit only for those lifeless idols that have eyes but cannot see. Our God must be served with the spirit and with understanding. There is every good reason for this, and no sound reason against it. “Come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). God does not ask anything hard or unfair of us, only what fits with right reason.

The phrase can also be read as “your service according to the word.” That is, worship must agree with God’s written word. Scripture does not leave out the body in holy worship, but the service God accepts must be according to the gospel. It must be spiritual worship. A reasonable service is one we can understand and explain, one we are willing and able to give to God with full awareness. God deals with us as rational creatures, and he expects us to deal with him that way.

The mind must also be renewed for God. Paul presses this in Romans 12:2: “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We should seek a saving change within us, and keep growing in it. Conversion and sanctification, which is growth in holiness, mean the renewing of the mind. This is not a change in the soul’s substance, but in its qualities.

It is the same as having a new heart and a new spirit. New desires replace old ones, the understanding is enlightened, the conscience is softened, the thoughts are set right, the will is bent toward God’s will, and the affections become spiritual and heavenly. Then a person is no longer what he was. Old things pass away, and all things become new. He acts from new principles, by new rules, and with new goals. The mind is the ruling part of us, so when the mind is renewed, the whole person is renewed. “Out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

The growth of sanctification, dying to sin more and more and living for righteousness more and more, keeps carrying on this renewing work until it is made perfect in glory. Paul calls this a transformation, like putting on a new form. The Greek word means “be metamorphosed.” It is the same word used for Christ’s transfiguration, when he shone with heavenly glory (Matthew 17:2), and for our being changed into the same image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This transformation is commanded as a duty, though we cannot produce it by our own power. We could no more make a new heart than make a new world. It is God’s work (Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26, 27). Yet we are told to be transformed, which means we must use the means God has appointed. God turns us, and then we are turned, but we must shape our lives toward turning (Hosea 5:4). We should place ourselves under the changing work of the blessed Spirit and seek grace through all the means of grace. The new self is created by God, yet we must put it on (Ephesians 4:24), and keep pressing on toward perfection.

Here we also see the great enemy of this renewing, which we must avoid, conformity to this world. “Do not be conformed to this world.” All followers of the Lord Jesus must be nonconformists to this world. The Greek wording means, “Do not shape yourselves according to the world.” We must not copy the things of the world, because they are changing, and their fashion is passing away. We must not give ourselves to the lusts of the flesh or the lusts of the eye. We must also not copy the people of the world, who live in wickedness. We must not walk according to the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2), and we must not follow a crowd into evil (Exodus 23:2). If sinners try to draw us in, we must not agree with them, but rather stand in our place against them.

Even in things that are not sinful in themselves, we must not let the world’s customs rule us or make the world’s approval our highest goal. True Christianity often includes a sober sense of being different. At the same time, we must avoid the opposite extreme, a showy rudeness and sourness that some fall into. In civil matters, the light of nature and the customs of nations are meant to guide us, and the gospel gives direction there, not a command to oppose everything.

The great result of this renewing is that you may test and approve “what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Here the will of God means his revealed will about our duty, what the Lord our God requires of us. In general, it is God’s will that we be sanctified, and that this will be done in us as it is by the angels. Especially, it is his will as revealed in the New Testament, where he has spoken to us by his Son in these last days.

God’s will is good, acceptable, and perfect, three beautiful marks of a law. It is good because it is fully in line with eternal reason about good and evil. It is good in itself, and good for us. Some think the gospel law is called good here in contrast to the ceremonial law, which had commands that were not good (Ezekiel 20:25). It is acceptable, meaning pleasing to God, because only what he commands is pleasing to him. The only way to gain his favor as our goal is to follow his will as our rule. It is perfect, with nothing left out or needing to be added. God’s revealed will is a full enough rule for faith and life. It contains everything needed to make the man of God complete and ready for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).

Christians must prove, or test, what this good, acceptable, and perfect will of God is. That means knowing it with judgment and approval, and knowing it by experience. We learn the excellence of God’s will by walking in it. It is to “approve things that are excellent” (Philippians 1:10). It is to try what differs, and in uncertain cases quickly see what God wants and choose it. It is to have quick understanding in the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:3).

Those best able to test the will of God are those whose minds have been renewed. A living work of grace in the soul, as far as it rules, gives an unbiased judgment about the things of God. It opens the soul to receive God’s revealed will. The promise is, “If anyone wants to do his will, he will know about the teaching” (John 7:17). A clever mind can argue and sort out the will of God, but an honest, humble heart, with spiritual senses trained by use and shaped by the word, loves God’s will, practices it, and tastes its goodness. In this way, to be godly is to give ourselves over to God.

2. When this is done, we are to serve him in every kind of gospel obedience. We see some hints of that here, in being “not slothful in business,” “fervent in spirit,” “rejoicing in hope,” “patient in tribulation,” and “continuing instant in prayer” (Romans 12:11-12). We present ourselves to God so that we may serve him. As Paul said, “Whose I am, and whom I serve” (Acts 27:23).

To be religious is to serve God. But how should we do that? We must make it our work, and not be lazy about it. There is the business of daily life, and we must not be careless there (1 Thessalonians 4:11). But here Paul seems to mean the work of serving the Lord, our Father’s business (Luke 2:49). Anyone who wants to be a real Christian must make religion their main work. They must choose it, learn it, give themselves to it, love it, use themselves in it, and stay with it. And once we have made it our work, we must not be slow in it. We must not put our own comfort first when it conflicts with duty. Sluggish servants will be counted as wicked servants.

We must also be fervent in spirit while serving the Lord. God must be served with the spirit (Romans 1:9; John 4:24), under the working of the Holy Spirit. Nothing in religion pleases God unless it is done with hearts changed by God’s Spirit. There must also be warmth and holy zeal in all we do, as people who love God with all our heart and soul. This is the holy fire that lights the sacrifice and carries it up to heaven, as an offering with a sweet smell.

Some copies read here, “serving the time,” that is, using your opportunities well and making the best use of the present season of grace. But the main sense is still clear, serving the Lord.

We are also told to rejoice in hope. God is honored by our trust in him, especially when we rejoice in that hope and take delight in it. That shows both strong confidence in the promise and a high view of the good things we hope for. We are also to be patient in trouble. God is served not only when he calls us to work, but also when he calls us to suffer quietly. Patience for God’s sake, with his will and glory in view, is true godliness. Those who rejoice in hope are likely to be patient in trouble, because the joy set before them helps them bear present burdens.

We must also continue steadfastly in prayer. Prayer serves the Lord, and it helps both hope and patience. The word Paul uses carries the ideas of earnestness and persistence. We should not be cold in prayer, and we should not soon give it up (Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 6:18; Colossians 4:2).

II. Here Paul turns to the duty that concerns ourselves, and that duty is sobriety. We must have a sober opinion of ourselves (Romans 12:3). He introduces this with a solemn statement: “through the grace given unto me.” He means the grace of wisdom, by which he knew how necessary and excellent this duty is, and the grace of apostleship, by which he had authority to press and command it. He speaks as one sent by God to say it, and no one should resist it.

This command is for every one of us, without exception. Pride is deep in our nature, so each of us needs warning and protection against it. We must not think of ourselves more highly than we should. We must be careful not to value our own judgments, abilities, persons, or work too highly. We must not be self-important or think too much of our own wisdom and other gifts. We must not think we are something great (Galatians 6:3). There is a kind of high view of ourselves that we should have, namely, the view that we are too good to be slaves to sin and drudges for this world. But on the other hand, we should think soberly, that is, with a humble and modest view of ourselves and our abilities, our gifts and graces, measured only by what we have received from God.

We must not be overconfident in doubtful matters. We must not go beyond our proper place. We must not judge and condemn those who differ from us. We must not want to make an outward show in the flesh. These are the fruit of a sober view of ourselves. The words can also be read in another fitting way: “that no man be wise above what he ought to be wise, but be wise unto sobriety.” We must not busy ourselves with things too high for us (Psalm 131:1-2), not force our way into things we have not seen (Colossians 2:18), or into secret things that belong to God alone (Deuteronomy 29:29). We must not long to be wiser than what Scripture allows.

There is a kind of knowledge that only makes people proud, because it reaches for forbidden fruit. We must guard against that. Instead, we should seek the kind of knowledge that leads to sobriety, which straightens the heart and reforms the life. Some take this to mean a sobriety that keeps us in our own place and station, without intruding into the gifts and duties of others. We see such modest care even in the use of the greatest spiritual gifts (2 Corinthians 10:13-15). Paul gives the same warning again in Romans 12:16: “Be not wise in your own conceits.” It is good to be wise, but bad to think ourselves wise. There is more hope for a fool than for a person who is wise in his own eyes. It was a noble thing for Moses to have his face shine and not know it.

The reasons for this sober view of ourselves are clear. First, whatever good we have has been given to us by God. Every good and perfect gift comes from above (James 1:17). What do we have that we did not receive? And if we received it, why should we boast? (1 Corinthians 4:7). The best and most useful person in the world is only what God’s free grace makes him each day. When we think about ourselves, we should not think as if our own strength or skill got us these gifts. We should remember how kind God has been to us. He is the one who gives us power to do anything good, and in him all our sufficiency is found.

Second, God distributes his gifts in a certain measure, “according to the measure of faith.” Paul calls the measure of spiritual gifts the measure of faith, because faith is the root grace. Whatever we have and do that is good is right and pleasing only as it rests on faith and comes from faith. God gives faith, and the other spiritual gifts with it, in different measures, according to his wise choice. Christ was given the Spirit without limit (John 3:34). But believers receive it by measure (Ephesians 4:7). Christ, who had gifts without measure, was meek and humble. Should we, who have only limited gifts, be proud and self-important?

God has also given gifts to others, not just to us. He has given to every person in the church. If we alone had the Spirit, or if we alone owned all spiritual gifts, then there might be some excuse for pride. But others have their share too. God is the common Father of all believers, and Christ is the common root from which all the saints draw life and strength. So it is wrong for us to lift ourselves up and look down on others, as if we alone had heaven’s favor and wisdom would die with us.

Paul explains this with a picture from the human body, as in (1 Corinthians 12:12) and (Ephesians 4:16). All believers together make one body in Christ, and Christ is the head of that body and the center of their unity. Believers are not scattered like a confused pile of people. They are joined together in order, united to one head, and animated by one Spirit. Each believer is a member of that body, a part of the whole, and each receives life and strength from the head.

The members of the body are not all the same size or use. Some are larger and more important than others, and each gets nourishment according to its need. If a little finger received as much nourishment as a leg, the body would be badly formed and harmed. In the same way, we must remember that we are not the whole body. If we think we are the whole, we think too highly of ourselves. We are only parts and members.

Not all the members have the same task, either (Romans 12:4). Each has its own place and work. The eye sees, the hand works, and so on. It is the same in Christ’s body. Some are fitted and called to one kind of work, and others to another. In a Christian commonwealth, magistrates, ministers, and ordinary believers each have their own duty. They must not step into one another’s place or create conflict by ignoring their proper work.

Each member has its own place and task for the good of the whole body and for the good of every other member. We are not only members of Christ, but members of one another (Romans 12:5). So we are bound to do all the good we can for one another and to work together for the common good. This is shown more fully in (1 Corinthians 12:14) and following. Therefore, we must not become proud because of what we have received. Whatever gifts we have, we received them for the good of others, not for ourselves alone.

We must also use God’s gifts wisely. We should not be proud, but we also must not hide our gifts. We must be careful that, under a show of humility and self-denial, we do not become lazy in serving others. We must not say, “I am nothing, so I will sit still and do nothing.” Rather, we should say, “I am nothing in myself, so I will work with all the strength Christ’s grace gives me.”

Paul then speaks about the church offices set up in local churches, where each person should do his own duty to keep order and help the church grow. Having gifts, then, means this: let us use the gifts God has given us. Authority and ability for ministry are God’s gift. Different gifts have different immediate purposes, though all lead to the same final good. According to the grace means that God’s free favor is the source and beginning of all these gifts. Grace appoints the office, fits the person for it, inclines the person to it, and works both the desire and the action.

In the early church there were special gifts such as tongues, discernment, and healing. But here Paul is speaking of ordinary gifts. Compare (1 Corinthians 12:4), (1 Timothy 4:14), and (1 Peter 4:10). He names seven particular gifts in (Romans 12:6-8), which seem to refer to different offices used in the wise arrangement of many early churches, especially larger ones. Here there are two broad offices, prophesying and ministering. Prophesying was the work of bishops, and ministering was the work of deacons, the only two continuing officers mentioned in (Philippians 1:1). But the work under each office could be divided by common agreement so that it would be done more effectively, since work that belongs to everyone often gets neglected. A person does his task best when he has one clear duty. David did this with the Levites in (1 Chronicles 23:4-5), and wisdom helps guide such order.

The later gifts Paul mentions can be reduced to these two main offices. Prophecy means preaching the word, not the special gift of foretelling the future. That is how prophecy is used in (1 Corinthians 14:1-3), (1 Corinthians 11:4), and (1 Thessalonians 5:20). The Old Testament prophets did more than predict future events. They also warned people about sin and duty, and reminded them of things they already knew. Gospel preachers are prophets in that same sense, and as far as God’s word reveals the future, they truly announce what lies ahead. Preaching speaks directly to the eternal condition of human beings and points to a future state.

Those who preach the word must do it according to the proportion of faith, which means the right measure or standard of faith. This can be understood in two ways. First, as to the manner of preaching, it should be according to the measure of the preacher’s own faith. Paul had just spoken in (Romans 12:3) about the measure of faith given to each person. So the preacher should use all the faith he has to press the truth first on his own heart. People cannot hear well without faith, and ministers cannot preach well without faith. First believe, then speak (Psalm 116:10; 2 Corinthians 4:13). We should also remember the proportion of faith in another sense. Others have faith too, not just us. So we must allow that others may have knowledge and skill to teach, even if they differ from us in smaller matters. If you have faith, keep it to yourself and do not make your private judgment a rule for everyone else, remembering that your own measure is only your measure.

Second, prophecy must follow the proportion of the doctrine of faith, meaning the teaching of faith as revealed in the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The Bereans tested Paul’s preaching by this rule in (Acts 17:11). See also (Acts 26:22) and (Galatians 1:9).

There are some basic truths, first principles, clearly and steadily taught in Scripture. These are the test for preaching, and by them we should “prove all things” and then “hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). When some truths are harder to understand, we must judge them by the clearer ones, and accept them when they fit with the whole pattern of faith, because one truth can never really oppose another.

This is why preachers must be careful to teach sound doctrine, using healthy words that match the truth of the gospel (Titus 2:8; 2 Timothy 1:13). It is less important that preaching follow the rules of logic and style, and more important that it follow the “proportion of faith,” because it is the word of faith that we preach. There are two main duties here: teaching and exhorting, and the same person may often do both. If ministers agree to divide the work, either regularly or by turns, so that one teaches and the other exhorts, then each should do his own work according to the measure of faith given to him.

First, “he that teaches,” let him wait on teaching. Teaching is the plain explaining and proving of gospel truth, without the direct practical application, as when Scripture is expounded. Pastors and teachers belong to the same office (Ephesians 4:11), though their particular tasks may differ somewhat. So if a man has a gift for teaching and has taken up that work, let him stick to it. It is a good gift, and he should use it fully. Let him be constant, diligent, and absorbed in it, as in his proper field. Compare this with (1 Timothy 4:15-16), where the same idea is expressed as “be in these things” and “continue in them.”

Second, “he that exhorts,” let him wait on exhortation. Let him give himself to that work. This is the pastor’s task, as teaching is the teacher’s task. He must press gospel truth and gospel rules more closely on people’s hearts and lives, especially in what is practical. Some people are very accurate in teaching, yet weak and cold in exhorting. Others may be the opposite. Teaching calls for a clearer mind, exhorting for a warmer heart. Where these gifts are clearly different, it helps the church when the work is divided accordingly. Whatever work we take on, let us give ourselves to it fully. To “wait on” our work means giving it our best time and thought, taking every chance to do it, and trying not only to do it, but to do it well.

If a man has a ministry, that is, the office of a deacon or helper to the pastor and teacher, let him use that office well. This could include a church officer, an elder, or an overseer of the poor. In the early churches, these roles may have carried more weight and more business than we now realize. This includes every office that deals with the outward affairs of the church, the practical business of God’s house, such as “serving tables” (Acts 6:2). Whoever has this duty should handle it with faithfulness and care.

In particular, “he that gives,” let him do it with simplicity. Those who managed the church’s gifts for the poor collected money and handed it out according to need. They should do this with open honesty and no hidden purpose, giving freely and faithfully, not keeping any part for themselves, not showing favor, and not looking for excuses to turn needy people away. They must not be harsh or unwilling toward the poor. Their only aim should be to honor God and do good.