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Living Sacrifices

Romans 12:1–2 Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Paul wrote the book of Romans to a church that consisted of both Jewish and gentile Christians. As he opens chapter twelve, he commands the brothers and sisters to present their bodies as sacrifices. What this means to each group reading the letter is important, and sets up the remainder of Paul’s instruction on godly living.

Having grown up in a church-going family, the first image that comes to my mind is the sacrifice of a lamb on an altar, meant to atone for my sins. It is a humbling image, because it reminds me that the penalty for sin is death, and my punishment was taken by another so that I might live. But that isn’t what Paul has in mind. There is only one sacrifice for sin: “But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:11–12)

Paul obviously doesn’t have sin offering in mind, then, when he tells the Romans to sacrifice themselves on the altar. However, Levitical law prescribes more than one kind of sacrifice, and the one he likely was comparing us to is the peace or fellowship offering. This was an offering one would make for thanksgiving, or, just because one wanted to give something to God. It was given freely when someone was moved with God’s great goodness and wanted to show his appreciation for what the Lord had done. In light of the depths of God’s love that the apostle had just plumbed in the book’s first eleven chapters, this understanding makes perfect sense.

This would also be something that Paul’s gentile readers could relate to. Pagan sacrifice had nothing to do with atonement. It wasn’t like there were many moral demands made by the gods; one’s primary concern was not angering one of the capricious deities in the pantheon, and those didn’t all agree on a common standard of behavior anyway. These gentile sacrifices to the gods they worshiped were about appeasement: either placating an already angry god, or buttering one up before making a big request. While the pagans didn’t really have the concept of fellowship with a god, there is at least some similarity between the pagan offering that helps to get on some god’s good side, and the Jewish offering that demonstrates a desire to please Yahweh.

This idea of sacrificing to get close to God leads us to the remainder of Paul’s instructions. We are to aspire to moral purity, love the church, get along in society, obey the law, love our unsaved neighbors, accept one another’s differences, and build one another up. Paul concludes by reminding us that our Lord, while on this planet, demonstrated the mind and heart of a servant. We, who are sacrificing ourselves, ought to do no less.

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