CONTENTS.
This chapter consists of two parts. The first, vs. 1—8, treats of piety towards God, and the proper estimation and use of the various gifts and offices employed or exercised in the church. The second, vs. 9—21, relates to love and its various manifestations towards different classes of men.
ROMANS XII. 1—8.
ANALYSIS.
As the apostle had concluded the doctrinal portion of the epistle with the preceding chapter, in accordance with his almost uniform practice, he deduces from his doctrines important practical lessons. The first deduction from the exhibition which he had made of the mercy of God in the redemption of men, is that they should devote themselves to him as a living sacrifice, and be conformed to his will and not to the manners of the world, vs. 1, 2. The second is, that they should be humble, and not allow the diversity of their gifts to destroy the sense of their unity as one body in Christ, vs. 3—5. These various gifts were to be exercised, not for selfish purposes, but in a manner consistent with their nature and design; diligently, disinterestedly, and kindly, vs. 6—8.
COMMENTARY.
VERSE 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, &c. As the sum of all that Paul had said of the justification, sanctification, and salvation of men is, that these results are to be attributed not to human merit nor to human efforts, but to the mercy of God, he brings the whole discussion to bear as a motive for devotion to God. Whatever gratitude the soul feels for pardon, purity, and the sure prospect of eternal life, is called forth to secure its consecration to that God who is the author of all these mercies.
That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. All the expressions of this clause seem to have an obvious reference to the services of the Old Testament economy. Under that dispensation, animals free from blemish were presented and devoted to God; under the new dispensation a nobler and more spiritual service is to be rendered; not the oblation of animals, but the consecration of ourselves. The expression, your bodies, is perhaps nearly equivalent to yourselves; yet Paul probably used it with design, not only because it was appropriate to the figure, but because he wished to render the idea prominent, that the whole man, body as well as soul, was to be devoted to the service of God. “Ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s,” 1 Cor. vi. 20. The apostle carries the figure out; the sacrifice is to be living, holy and acceptable. The first of these epithets is generally considered as intended to express the contrast between the sacrifice here intended, and the victims which were placed lifeless upon the altar; thus believers, in 1 Peter ii. 5, are called “living stones,” in opposition to the senseless materials employed in a literal building. We are to present θυσίαν ζῶσαν, a sacrifice that lives. “Abominabile est, cadaver offere.”—Bengel. The word living, however, may mean perpetual, lasting, never neglected; as in the phrases, “living bread,” John vi. 51, ‘bread which never looses its power;’ “living hope,” 1 Peter i. 3, ‘hope which never fails;’ “living waters,” “a living way,” &c.; (see Wahl’s Lexicon, under the word ζάω.) The sacrifice then which we are to make is not a transient service, like the oblation of a victim, which was in a few moments consumed upon the altar, but it is a living or perpetual sacrifice never to be neglected or recalled. The epithet holy has probably direct reference to the frequent use of a nearly corresponding word ([?]) in the Hebrew scriptures, which, when applied to sacrifices, is commonly rendered without blemish. The word holy is then in this case equivalent to immaculate, i. e., free from those defects which would cause an offering to be rejected. The term acceptable is here used in the same sense as the phrase “for a sweet smelling savour,” Eph. v. 2, Phil. iv. 18, Lev. i. 9, i. e., grateful, well-pleasing; a sacrifice in which God delights. Τῷ Θεῷ is to be connected with εὐάρεστον and not with παραστῆσαι.