Romans 12:1-2 - Present Your Body

CHAPTER 12
12:1-2 - Present your body
12:3-5 - Delusions of Grandeur
12:6-8 - Gifts
12:9-15 - Playing Well With Others
12:16-21 - No Revenge

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1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
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Living and Holy Sacrifice

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V. 1 - “Therefore” - It naturally follows: Based on the vast riches that are ours in Christ... (Rom. 11:33) Based on that all things are from Him, and through Him, and to Him... (Rom. 11:36)

And,

“by the mercies of God” - Everything you are now, everything you will be, are yours because God is merciful. His mercy does not cancel out His judgement, nor His wrath. The penalty of sin is still death (and always will be death). God in His mercy and wisdom has taken that penalty on Himself for you and me. He died for all. We do not have to die the second death. The judgement was executed on Christ Jesus. By His mercy, His righteous judgement is satisfied. He has done for us what we could not.

“Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice” - Most sacrifices required an animal, that had to be killed and placed on the altar. There was no ‘partial commitment’ on the part of the animal sacrificed. Plus the animal had to be pure and unblemished. The animal did not volunteer.

We are called to volunteer ourselves to Jesus. We are ‘bond-slaves’. Just as the animal sacrificed was to be pure and unblemished, we too are to come to Jesus in the same way. Do not offer your service to Jesus if you have unconfessed sin in your life. John says in his letter, “If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10)  

FORGIVING all our sins, and CLEANSING us of all unrighteousness means we can be holy offerings to Jesus.

“Which is your spiritual service of worship” - Worshipping Jesus is to be in spirit and in truth (See: John 4:23). Presenting yourself is the worship; it is the service. We tend to think of physical activity, Meals on Wheels, mission trips, etc, as service.
Indeed they are. They are manifestations of your faith. The works are meaningless (with respect to salvation and eternity) if you have not believed and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

We are stubborn and stiff-necked people, and seek to be in control of all things in our lives. Our spiritual service of worship is to daily surrender to Jesus.

V. 2 - “do not be conformed to this world” - The opposite of presenting your bodies as living and holy sacrifices. The world is opposed to the ways of the Lord. “because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.” (1 John 2:16) Jesus came to save the world, but the world has rejected Him. The natural state of people, often led and deceived by Satan, is to reject God’s call. “He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him.” (John 1:10) “Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

One of the reasons God instructed the Israelites to get rid of all the Canaanites was He knew the Jews would be corrupted, polluted, conformed to the evil ways of those nations. In 2nd Corinthians Paul says, “Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness? And what agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. 6:14-15) See Note 1 and 2 (below)

“be transformed by the renewing of your mind” - This is not done by dint of effort, your personal effort. The Holy Spirit is in you when you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The renewing comes by surrendering your will to Him. (See: Titus 3:5,6; John 3:3-8; Ezek. 11:19, 36:26) You cannot cling to the old ways of doing things and expect to experience spiritual renewal. Supposedly, Albert Einstein said, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” (See note 3 below) We do not find God by living according to the world, but living according to His mercy and Holy Spirit.

“so that you may prove what the will of God is” - We usually think of the word “prove” as testing and verifying the truth of a piece of information or theory. We run tests to see if a theory is valid. We lay out facts and reasons to determine is they are true. The ‘prove’ here is closer to discerning what God’s will is for us. God’s will is true and correct - we are often ignorant of what He has planned for us. We need to find out what He wants for us, and then do it. (See: Phil. 2:12)

The Holy Spirit will teach us and lead us so we can “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” (Col. 1:10) Just as you cannot renew your mind by clinging to your sinful ways, you cannot discern God’s will for your life by practicing worldly ways.

“that which is good and acceptable and perfect” - If God is good, His ways is good for you. If God is perfect, HIs will is perfect for you. Our ‘job’ is to find out what God has planned for us. Talk with Him. Read the Bible. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you.

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Note 1: some think this is warning Christians against marrying non-believers. I am not sure about that.
Note 2: Paul recommends that a believer is not to divorce a non-believer - assuming married before accepting Christ - so the believer might win the spouse to Christ through godly behavior. 
Note 3: several sources attributed this to ‘anonymous’

Romans 11:33-36 - Wisdom, Knowledge, All Things

33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
34 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?
35 Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN?
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

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Who Knows God’s Mind?

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This reads like a hymn of praise, and could have been used in the early church.

V. 33 - “depths of the riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God!” - Overwhelmed with amazement! God’s way of forgiving our sins, and establishing a relationship with us is beyond imagination. God knows we need to be saved - we cannot work our way to perfection. God knows that if the means of salvation is not provided, there will be people who claim unfairness. They will claim ‘privilege’ or ‘lack of privilege’ as the reason they are not saved - “It’s unfair”! The absolute fairness of God displays His wisdom. Sacrificing Himself in order to save all is amazing! We have all heard of a person sacrificing himself in order to save another person - The United States’ Medal of Honor is often awarded posthumously to such a person. We know of stories - e.g., “Tale of Two Cities” - where a person gives his life for another. None of these save everyone. None of these saves anyone for eternity.

“How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” - How do you argue with God on this? What holes can you punch in HIs wisdom and method of saving us? You don’t like the sacrificial system in the Old Testament? How would you demonstrate mercy? How would you show that forgiveness is not earned, but accepted as a gift? How would you show a build up of pride in people will be inevitable if they work their way into God’s mercy? (You know that people will brag about how they worked and were saved. They shun you because you worked and failed.)

V. 34 - “Who has known the mind of the Lord...” - Quoted from Isa. 40:13ff. We can not understand God and how He thinks, anymore than we can know how the universe began (KNOW absolutely, not theorize based on partial ex post facto observation.) We can see what He has done. We can believe He has done it. We have no rational basis for challenging His plans or His methods. His ways are higher than our ways (Isa. 55:9). We can not understand all He does anymore than a kindergartner understands quantum physics.

V. 35 - “Who has first given to Him...” - Quoted from Job 35:7, 41:11. What have you taught God, for Him to recite back to you, that you might grade and correct His progress in learning? Have you taught Him how to build a planet from nothing? Have you showed Him how to create gravity to hold the moon or satellites in their orbits? Did you teach Him how to work sunlight and chlorophyll in plants? Did you design the reproductive process, and then share it with Him so the world could be populated?

V. 36 - “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” - All things. Enough said.

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Rom 11:25-32 - Israel - for our sake

25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;
26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB."
27 "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS."
28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;
29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,
31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.
32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.
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The Calling of God

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V. 25 - “I do not want you... to be uninformed of this mystery” - What mystery? There are a couple of answers that fit. First, that salvation is by God’s grace and mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Second, the Gentiles were added to the family tree of God, even as some Jews were being lopped off because of their rebellion.

The mystery is revealed in the last half of this verse - “a partial hardening has happened to Israel...” Because Israel hardened themselves to the message of salvation from God, the way was opened up for us, the Gentiles. Not all of Israel rejected Jesus. Does this mean if the Jews had not rejected Jesus as Messiah, the Gentiles would have been ‘shut out”? No. The Gospel came to the Gentiles in spite of the Jews, rather than directly through them. The promise is the whole world would be blessed - that is, both Jews AND Gentiles.

“so that you will not be wise in your own estimation” - Don’t think that you are better than others - any others - because salvation has come to you.

V. 26-27 - “so all Israel will be saved” - The salvation of the Gentiles through faith - which has come to them because of the recalcitrance of Israel - will also come to the Jews. This does not mean after all of the Gentiles are saved, then all of the Israelites will be saved. In verse 25, above, we see the phrase “until the fullness”, which is also used in Gal. 4:4. The idea is that when God determined the time was right, He sent His Son to save the world. Jesus came to the Jews, being a descendant of David, and now the time is right for the Gentiles to be offered salvation directly. Before Christ came, the salvation path appeared to be through the Jewish faith and practices. Now it is offered to all. Paul is a evangelist called to preach to the Gentiles. (See: Acts 9:15-16, et. al.)

I am not sure that “all Israel” means that every Israelite will be saved. In several places in the NT, it is noted that salvation is offered to all, but only many will actually be saved - a remnant, so to speak. All Israel has the gospel message. The offer of salvation is made clearly to all Jews. All could accept Christ and be saved. In reality, most will not; neither will most Gentiles

The quotation is from Isa. 59:20-21; 29:7. God has promised holiness to His people. He has promised to take away their sins, take away their guilt, take away their shame. All of this is through Jesus Christ our Lord.

V. 28 - “from the standpoint of the gospel” - It all depends how you want to look at it... Because they rebelled against God - in essence became enemies of God - the gospel has come directly to you.

“From the standpoint of God’s choice” - However, God chose Abraham and his descendants for the promise. Their rebellion notwithstanding, God did not, nor does not rescind His promise. (See: Num. 23:19; Deut. 7:5; Josh. 23:14; 2 Sam. 7:25; Acts 7:17; Gal. 3:17, 18)

V. 29 - “for the gifts and the calling” - There is no substantive difference between “gifts” and “calling”. Both are given by the Lord to us, not because we have earned them, but by His grace. Once given, they are not recalled by God. We did not choose God to bless us. (Deut. 30:19; Josh. 24:15) We can choose to accept and give thanks for His gift. (Psa. 65:4; Isa 14:1; John 15:16; Jam. 2:5) God does not withdraw His offer to us, because we reject it. He waits patiently for us to repent and turn to Him.

V. 30 - “you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy” - (See: Col. 1:21-22; Eph. 2:3-4, 12) “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us... For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:8, 10)

V. 31 - “they also may now be shown mercy.” - Not that Jews were not previously shown mercy. Paul’s hopes the Jews will see Gentiles are receiving mercy and eternal life, and want the same for themselves. The mercy and grace is already there, but is not efficacious because the Jews are stubborn. God does not force us to be blessed.

V. 32 - “God has shut up all in disobedience” - No one can say, “I am not, nor have been, disobedient!” All of us, everyone, fall far short of the glory of God (See: Rom. 3:23). God is sinless perfection, holy and righteous. We most definitely are not. It is a gap we cannot span, cannot cross.

“so that He may show mercy to all.” - Logically, if all are failures then all need mercy. If there was some way for us to earn our way into God’s presence, then there would be some who would do it. Others would not. How would you know if your efforts were sufficient? There is no way to know, until it is too late. When standing in front of God our Father in the final judgement, some would claim, “It’s not fair! I tried really hard! They got lucky breaks I didn’t get! If I had known, I would have tried harder.” There are as many excuses as there are people.

All need God’s mercy and grace - no exceptions. No one can claim they deserve salvation because of their own efforts. Everyone is dead in sin. God’s mercy is offered freely to all - no exceptions. Everyone has the same “lucky break” - Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior has paid the price.

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