Romans 12:1

Romans 12:1-8. Christian practice as the result of Christian truth: self-dedication to the service of God in the Christian Church

1. I beseech you therefore The Doctrinal Part of the Epistle, strictly so to be called, is now closed. Not that Doctrine, in the special sense of dogmatic revelation, is absent from the remaining Chapter s; for morality is always in Scripture traced to dogmatic truth, and constantly occasions statements of it. But the main object, by far, in the remainder of the Epistle is instruction in the application of truth to life Christian practice.

therefore i.e. in view of the whole previous argument, in which gratuitous remission of sin, and acceptance of the guilty, for Christ's sake, has been explained; and the consequent gift and influences of the Holy Spirit; and the assurance of glory: in which, too, the closing sections have reminded both Gentile and Jewish believers of the special aspects of sovereign mercyin their respective cases.

the mercies the compassions; His motionsof tenderness and pity. The same word, or cognates, is used Romans 9:15; Luke 5:36; 2 Corinthians 1:3; Philippians 2:1; Colossians 3:12; Hebrews 10:28; James 5:11.

This gracious word is doubly noteworthy here, just after the unqualified assertion of Divine Majesty and Sovereignty in Romans 11:33-36.

present Same word as Romans 6:13; Romans 6:16; Romans 6:19; where E. V. "yield."

your bodies i.e., practically, your energies. The soul, in the present state, worksthrough the body; so that its action for its Master can take effect only through the dedication of the body to Him hands, feet, eyes, tongue, and brain.

a living sacrifice A metaphor used elsewhere of the Christian's tokens of thanksgiving: Philippians 4:18, (of liberal gifts, for Christ's sake, to the Apostle;) Hebrews 13:15, (of praise, the "fruit of the lips;") 16, (of beneficence for Christ's sake;) 1 Peter 2:5, (of tokens of thanksgiving of any kind, offered up by believers, who, as such, are "a holy priesthood.") See below on Romans 15:16 for further sacrificial metaphor.

reasonable rational, of the reason. Same word as 1 Peter 2:2, where render "the rational pure milk;" i.e. the pure milk which has to do with the mind not the body. So here: the "service" which is not of "meats and drinks and washings," but is the dedication of the inmost self with its energies; spiritual service, not mechanical.

service Same word as Romans 9:4. See on Romans 1:9, where the cognate verb occurs. In Hebrews 12:28 the words "service" and "acceptable" reappear, in another but kindred connexion. Meyer renders the Gr. word here by Opfer-cultus.