12:1 What does Paul mean that we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God?
12:1 What does Paul mean that we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God?
This is arguably the most outstanding passage of scripture in the New Testament exhorting believers to set themselves apart wholly unto God, and to be totally consecrated to His service.
The word therefore reaches back to the previous chapters in which the mercies of God were explained - the justification, sanctification, and future glorification of believers. Paul uses these mercies as the basis for exhorting believers to henceforth live holy and righteous lives unto God.
To "present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God," means that our physical bodies, put at the disposal of God, are to be holy, both in the sense of being set apart for God's use, and of being free from sinful practices (CP Ro 6:8-13, 19, 22; 2Cor 5:14-16; 6:16-17:1; Ga 2:20; 5:16; Eph 4:20-24; Php 3:13-14).
"This is our reasonable service" means that in light of God's mercies, it logically follows - reasonable is derived from the Greek word for logic, Logikos - that we owe God our highest form of service. We are no longer to be conformed to a world system without God, but transformed by a renewed mind committed to the ideals of the kingdom of God.
Our thoughts, affections, purposes, and desires must be centred on heavenly and eternal things, not the things of this evil, temporal, and transient age. (CP Ro 12:2 with Mt 6:19-21, 24; Ro 13:14; Ga 1:3-5; Col 3:1-6; Jas 1:27; 4:4; 1Jn 2:15-17).
See comments on all Ro 6 questions, also Ro 3:9, 5:12-14, 7:4, 7:7-23, 8:1-2, 8:3-4; Ga 5:17; Jas 4:5 and 1 Jn 3:6-9 and author's studies Romans 6 - a Study on God's Empowering of Believers through Jesus Christ to Overcome Sin in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1),
The Power of God in Christians to Overcome the Devil, The Doctrine of Grace and Regeneration and Sanctification Defined in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2), and What being Born Again Means in his book Foundational Truths of the Christian Faith.