Romans 12: a living sacrifice, one body and love in action

Romans was written by Paul, most likely from Corinth in the mid-to-late 50s, to Christians in Rome, a mixed community of Jewish and Gentile believers (see the class on Romans 3). The first eleven chapters set out the gospel: all are under sin, God justifies by faith in Christ, believers are united to him and given the Spirit, and God's purposes for Israel and the nations are being worked out. At 12:1 the letter turns. The words 'I urge you, therefore' look back across all that has been said and ask what response the gospel calls for. Chapters 12 to 15 apply it to worship, to the life of the church, to the state (chapter 13) and to disputes between the strong and the weak (14:1-15:13).

The church in Rome was divided in ways that these chapters address. Jewish and Gentile believers disagreed about food and days (chapter 14). The Roman believers met in house gatherings, in a city of imperial power, and faced the temptation to answer hostility with hatred. Nero came to the throne in AD 54, and the commands not to repay evil for evil and not to take vengeance are written with a world of tension in view. Chapter 13 goes on to speak of the governing authorities.

The language of the opening comes from the temple and the sacrificial system. The readers, Gentile and Jewish, knew animal sacrifice in the temples of their cities and the offerings of Israel's worship. Paul uses that world to say something new: the offering God wants now is the person's whole life.

Romans 12 begins the ethical section of a letter, and the first rule is to read its commands in the light of what comes before. The imperatives of the chapter rest on the indicatives of chapters 1 to 11. Paul does not say, be good in order to be saved; he says, because of God's mercies, offer yourselves. The mercies (oiktirmoi, plural) are what Paul has described: justification, reconciliation, the gift of the Spirit and the certainty of final glory. The commands have no other ground.

The form of the chapter is exhortation, or paraenesis, a series of short commands often loosely linked, in a style found in both Jewish and Greek moral teaching. From 12:9 the commands come quickly, in short phrases, and are not arranged in a strict order. The reader should not look for a hidden system. Parts of the list overlap with the teaching of Jesus (the Sermon on the Mount and Luke 6) and with Proverbs. The gifts of verses 6-8 are samples, not a complete catalogue; compare 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 and 28 and Ephesians 4:11, each different.

Two phrases need care. 'Spiritual service of worship' (logiken latreian) translates a phrase whose first word can mean 'reasonable', 'rational' or 'spiritual'; the sense is worship fitting for those who belong to God, as opposed to ritual alone. And 'in proportion to his faith' in verse 6 (kata ten analogian tes pisteos) is read in two main ways: in proportion to the faith each has, or in agreement with the body of what is believed. Verse 3's mention of a measure of faith favours the first.

Verse 1

Paul urges (parakalo) the believers, by the mercies of God, to present (paristemi) their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. To present is the verb for placing an offering at the altar. A living sacrifice is the opposite of an animal that dies: the person is offered whole and goes on living. The offering is of bodies, the whole person as he lives and works in the world, not only the inner life.

Verse 2

The negative command is not to be conformed (syschematizo) to this age, not to take its shape from the world. The positive command is to be transformed (metamorphoo), the same verb that describes the transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2), by the renewing of the mind. The mind is the centre of judgment and moral perception, darkened by sin (1:28) and renewed by God's Spirit. The purpose is that they may test and approve what the will of God is, what is good, acceptable and perfect. The renewed mind learns to discern God's will in practice.

Verse 3

Paul speaks on the strength of the grace given him, an apostle's authority that is itself a gift. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think with sober judgment (sophronein). The wordplay on the root phron, 'to think', is deliberate. Each person has a measure of faith given by God, so pride has no basis.

Verses 4–5

The church is one body with many members, each with its own function. We are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. The image of the body appears also in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and Ephesians 4:15-16. Here it is applied to a church in which Jews and Gentiles were inclined to think themselves better than others.

Verses 6–8

Gifts (charismata) differ according to the grace given to us. Seven are named: prophecy, serving (diakonia), teaching, exhorting or encouraging (paraklesis), giving, leading and showing mercy. Each is joined to an attitude: giving with generosity (haplotes, simplicity or singleness of heart), leading with diligence, mercy with cheerfulness. The point is that each gift is to be used, not neglected or inflated.

Verses 9–13

Love (agape) must be genuine, literally without hypocrisy. It hates evil and clings to good. It shows itself in family affection (philadelphia), in outdoing one another in honour, in zeal that does not flag, in fervour of spirit serving the Lord, in joy in hope, patience in tribulation and constancy in prayer. It contributes to the needs of the saints and pursues hospitality (philoxenia, literally love of strangers).

Verses 14–16

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. This is close to the words of Jesus in Luke 6:28 and Matthew 5:44. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony, do not be haughty but associate with the lowly, and do not be wise in your own sight.

Verses 17–21

Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is honourable in the sight of all. As far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written: 'Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord' (Deuteronomy 32:35). The next quotation is from Proverbs 25:21-22: feed the hungry enemy and give him a drink, for by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head. The burning coals have been read as the pain of shame that leads to repentance (the most common view), as a sign of coming judgment, or, by some scholars, against an Egyptian background of repentance. In context the first fits best, since the aim is to overcome evil with good.

Romans 12 teaches that worship is the offering of the whole life, a theme that runs through the New Testament. The sacrifices of the temple pointed forward, and Christians are now to offer their bodies (Romans 12:1), their praise and good works (Hebrews 13:15-16), and their gifts (Philippians 4:18). Peter calls believers a holy priesthood who offer spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5). In the Old Testament the prophets had already said that God wanted obedience, mercy and a changed heart more than sacrifice (Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; Psalm 51:16-17).

The chapter teaches the new life as renewal. The pattern of this age, shaped by sin, is replaced by the mind made new, as Ephesians 4:22-24 says. It teaches the church as one body in which gifts are given by grace for the good of all, so that no member can boast and none is unneeded. And it teaches that love is the form of the Christian life toward friends and enemies, since 13:8-10 says that love fulfils the law.

The teaching on vengeance rests on the justice of God. Because God will judge, believers do not need to avenge, and chapter 13 will say that governing authorities are God's servants for punishing wrongdoing. The ethic is not passivity, since it calls for doing good to enemies actively. It is the Bible's consistent teaching that vengeance belongs to God (Deuteronomy 32:35; Proverbs 20:22).

The chapter grounds its appeal in what Christ has done. The sacrifice that makes believers' sacrifice possible is his: the atoning sacrifice of Romans 3:25 and the sin offering of 8:3. Because his one offering has dealt with sin (Hebrews 10:10-14), believers present themselves in response. Paul says elsewhere that Christ gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering (Ephesians 5:2); the believer's offering answers that and follows his pattern.

Verse 5 states the connection in the plainest words: we, though many, are one body in Christ. The church's unity and the use of gifts come from being joined to him, and Christ is the head of the body (Ephesians 4:15-16). The attitude of love is also his. The command to bless persecutors echoes the teaching of Jesus (Luke 6:28; Matthew 5:44), and he lived it, praying for those who crucified him (Luke 23:34) and entrusting himself to the one who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). The call to feed an enemy has its deepest ground in the gospel itself, for Romans 5:10 says that God reconciled us to himself while we were enemies, through the death of his Son.

The closing command, to overcome evil with good, is lived out finally in the cross, where the evil done to Christ was met with forgiveness and the victory of God. Paul does not say this in the chapter; it is an echo that the New Testament invites.