Commentary on Romans 12:1-2

“1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

These Verses are commonly memorized but many people. However, when we memorize verses do we really take into consideration what they say? These verses are quite profound when one looks into what they say.

The first part is “I beseech you therefore brethren.” This clearly means that this verse is intended for those Christians which are born again. Paul is begging us Christians to listen to what he has to says. It is a command from God and we as people must listen to it. The next part is “by the mercies of God.” This is the reason why we should listen to what he has to say. The amplified Bible says “in view of [all] the mercies of God.” We should listen to God because He has been merciful and gracious giving us the Bible and salvation and also just because He is an omnipotent and Omniscient God.

The main part emphasized by people who memorize this verse is the part which says “That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” This part says that we should be a sacrifice. A sacrifice is something that is given up freely, without condition. The unique part about this is that Paul, a Jew, knew of the Jewish law and how that people were to sacrifice dead animals. Still, he wishes for us to be a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice can be potentially more useful than a dead sacrifice and yet it also carries the immense risk of just “jumping off the alter.” As a sacrifice we should make what we have available to the Lord. Always remember that Christians are servants of God no matter if we want to be or not. The word actually means slave and the NASB translates the word as bond-slave. If we are to truly be respectful to our lord we should listen to what he has to say. We must also be holy, a word meaning to be separated. God is a being that will only accept our best. Thus we must be separated from the things of the world. This is something hard to do since it influences each and every Christian. However The Bible also says that we can do all things through Christ. It is in that manner that we can be sanctified and thus we become more and more like Christ.

The last part says “our reasonable service.” We are to present our bodies as a sacrifice, not only because we want to but because we wish to serve our Lord. Thus it is our duty to become a sacrifice because God saved us and became our Lord. People tend to think that becoming a sacrifice is a option. However, this one part of the verse says that it shouldn’t be because it is our duty and service to our Lord to become a sacrifice.

In verse two “Be not conformed to this world” refers back to the point I made in verse one about people not falling under the influence of the world. All too often Christians succumb to pressure and become like the world showing little of their Christianity. It isn’t right that Christians should do this and more people should Stand up for the word of God. (I will admit I have to improve on this too) The Bible says that Christians will be ridiculed because they are Christian. I believe it was john who wrote about the early church and said that they should not be surprised at persecution. It is because we are Christian that we should stand out from the world and show what it is like to live a life according to the bible.

The Next part says “by the renewing of your mind. God lets us renew our minds becoming more and more like him and having the new man overwrite the old man in our actions. We must renew our minds through reading God’s word and prayer . it is by this that we can continue to grow closer to God. However, I must admit that I am not entirely sure on this phrase and the furthering of this paragraph requires more time and mindpower.

The last part I want to talk about says: “that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” This is clearly referring to the reason behind why we are all here. We were all created for a reason. We each have our own unique talents and abilities. God’s will is perfect, God’s will is his plan for all mankind. In the end it is not god that has miscreated something, It is us humans just rejecting the perfect plan he created. Paul says here to show the world what god’s plan is.

In conclusion, these verses are telling us to continue to grow closer to Christ, and through that be more like him. When we want to become more like him we become better people and show more and more of what God intended for people to act like. When we discover his will for Us we can show this to other people and in the end we will become witnesses to the world of how Christ intended people to live and act.