Charles Ellicott Commentary Romans 12:1

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service." — Romans 12:1 (ASV)

At this point, the Apostle turns from the speculative, or doctrinal, portion of his Epistle and begins a series of practical exhortations to his readers regarding their lives as Christians. In the first two verses of the chapter, he speaks of this in general terms, but then goes on to give a number of special precepts in no very distinct arrangement or order.

Therefore. We can well believe that the Apostle, having brought his argument to a climax at the end of the last chapter, would pause in his dictation and perhaps not resume it until another session. The one prevailing impression left on his mind, both by the argument just ended and by the whole previous portion of the Epistle, is a profound sense of the merciful and benevolent purposes of God, who, out of seeming evil, only draws forth the highest good. This sense is still strong with him, and he makes it the link of transition by which the earnest practical exhortations that follow are bound to what precedes. The sequence is as much one of feeling as of reasoning.

Your bodies. This is not merely an indirect expression for “yourselves,” but refers in the strict sense to “your bodies,” that is, the very part of you that is prone to be “an occasion of falling.” The Apostle takes the two main parts of human nature separately. In this verse, he deals with human bodies; in the next verse, with the “mind,” or the intellectual and spiritual faculties.

A living sacrifice. “How is the body to become a sacrifice? Let your eye look upon no evil thing, and it has become a sacrifice; let your tongue speak nothing filthy, and it has become an offering; let your hand do no lawless deed, and it has become a whole burnt offering. But this is not enough; we must also do good works: let the hand do alms, the mouth bless those who despitefully use us, and the ear always find leisure for the hearing of Scripture. For sacrifice can be made only of that which is clean; sacrifice is a firstfruit of other actions. Let us, then, from our hands, and feet, and mouth, and all our other members, yield a firstfruit to God” (St. Chrysostom).

The idea contained in sacrifice is that of dedication. We are to dedicate our bodies to God. But there is this distinction between the old Jewish sacrifices and the Christian sacrifice: the one consisted of dead animals, the other of the living man. The worshipper must offer, or present, before God, himself, with all his living energies and powers consciously directed to God’s service.

Holy, acceptable to God. The qualification required in the Jewish sacrifices was that they were to be unblemished, without spot. Likewise, the Christian’s sacrifice must be holy and pure in God’s sight; otherwise, it cannot be acceptable to Him.

Reasonable service. The English phrase is somewhat ambiguous. It might mean “a service demanded by reason.” Such, however, is not the sense of the Greek, but rather “a service of the reason,” that is, a service rendered by the reason. Just as under the old dispensation the mind expressed its devotion through the ritual of sacrifice, so now under the new dispensation its worship takes the form of a self-dedication; its service consists in holiness of life, temperance, soberness, and chastity.