John Calvin 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)

After addressing those things necessary for the establishment of God's kingdom—namely, that righteousness is to be sought from God alone, that salvation comes to us solely from His mercy, and that all blessings are stored up and daily offered to us in Christ alone—Paul now proceeds, in a logical manner, to show how life is to be shaped. If it is true that through the saving knowledge of God and of Christ the soul is, so to speak, regenerated into a heavenly life, and that this life is, in a way, formed and regulated by holy exhortations and precepts, then it is futile for you to show a desire to live rightly unless you first demonstrate that the origin of all righteousness in human beings is in God and Christ; for this is to raise them from the dead.

And this is the main difference between the gospel and philosophy. Although philosophers speak excellently and with great judgment on the subject of morals, whatever excellence is evident in their precepts is, so to speak, a beautiful superstructure without a foundation. By omitting foundational principles, they offer a distorted doctrine, like a body without a head. The method of teaching under the Papacy is not very different from this. For though they mention, in passing, faith in Christ and the grace of the Holy Spirit, it is still quite evident that they are much closer to pagan philosophers than to Christ and His Apostles.

But just as philosophers, before they establish laws concerning morals, first discuss the ultimate good and investigate the sources of virtues, from which they then draw and derive all duties, so Paul here establishes the principle from which all the duties of holiness flow. This principle is that we are redeemed by the Lord for this purpose: that we may consecrate ourselves and all our members to Him. But it may be useful to examine each part.

I therefore beseech you by the mercies of God (the Latin miserationes, meaning compassions). We know that ungodly people, to gratify the flesh, eagerly seize upon whatever is presented in Scripture concerning God's infinite goodness. Hypocrites also, as much as they can, maliciously obscure the knowledge of it, as if God's grace extinguished the desire for a godly life and opened the door for audacious sinning.

But this exhortation teaches us that until people truly grasp how much they owe to God's mercy, they will never worship Him with a proper disposition, nor be effectively motivated to fear and obey Him. For the Papists, it is enough if they can extract by terror some sort of forced obedience—what kind, I do not know. But Paul, so that he might bind us to God not by slavish fear but by the voluntary and joyful love of righteousness, entices us with the sweetness of that favor by which our salvation is accomplished. At the same time, he reproaches us with ingratitude if, after finding such a kind and bountiful Father, we do not in turn strive to dedicate ourselves wholly to Him.

And what Paul says in exhorting us this way ought to have more power over us, especially since he excels all others in presenting God's grace. Indeed, the heart must be made of iron if it is not ignited by the doctrine that has been presented, leading to love for God, whose kindness towards it, it finds to have been so abundant. Where then are those who think that all exhortations to a holy life are invalidated if human salvation depends on God's grace alone? For by no precepts, by no sanctions, is a pious mind so formed to render obedience to God as by a serious meditation on His divine goodness towards it.

We may also observe here the Apostle's benevolent spirit: he preferred to deal with the faithful through admonitions and friendly exhortations rather than by strict commands. For he knew that he could achieve more with teachable people this way than in any other.

That you present your bodies. It is, then, the beginning of a right course in good works when we understand that we are consecrated to the Lord. For from this it follows that we must cease to live for ourselves, so that we may devote all the actions of our lives to His service.

There are then two things to be considered here: first, that we belong to the Lord; and secondly, that on this account we ought to be holy, for it is an offense to God's holiness for anything not first consecrated to be offered to Him. Once these two things are accepted, it then follows that holiness is to be practiced throughout life, and that we are guilty of a kind of sacrilege when we fall back into impurity, as it is nothing less than profaning what is consecrated.

But throughout, there is a great appropriateness in the expressions. He first says that our body ought to be offered as a sacrifice to God. By this, he implies that we are not our own but have entirely passed over to become God's property, which cannot happen unless we renounce ourselves and thus deny ourselves.

Then, secondly, by adding two adjectives, he shows what kind of sacrifice this ought to be. By calling it living, he suggests that we are sacrificed to the Lord for this purpose: that our former life being destroyed in us, we may be raised up to a new life.

By the term holy, he points out what necessarily belongs to a sacrifice, as already noted; for a victim is approved only when it has first been made holy. By the third word, acceptable, he reminds us that our life is rightly ordered when this sacrifice is made in such a way as to be pleasing to God. He also brings us no small comfort, for he teaches us that our work is pleasing and acceptable to God when we devote ourselves to purity and holiness.

By bodies he means not only our bones and skin, but the entire substance of which we are composed; and he adopted this word so that he might more fully designate all that we are, for the members of the body are the instruments by which we carry out our purposes. He indeed requires holiness from us, not only of the body, but also of the soul and spirit, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. In instructing us to present our bodies, he alludes to the Mosaic sacrifices, which were presented at the altar, as if in God's presence. But he also shows, in a striking manner, how ready we ought to be to receive God's commands, so that we may obey them without delay.

From this we learn that all mortals whose aim is not to worship God do nothing but miserably wander and go astray. We now also find what sacrifices Paul recommends to the Christian Church. For, being reconciled to God through the one, only true sacrifice of Christ, we are all through His grace made priests, so that we may dedicate ourselves and all we have to God's glory. No sacrifice of atonement is needed, and none can be established without casting obvious discredit on the cross of Christ.

Your reasonable service. This sentence, I think, was added so that he might more clearly apply and confirm the preceding exhortation, as if he had said, 'Offer yourselves as a sacrifice to God, if you truly desire to serve God; for this is the right way of serving God, and any who depart from it are false worshippers.'

If, then, God is rightly worshipped only when we observe all things according to what He has prescribed, then away with all those contrived modes of worship, which He justly detests, since He values obedience more than sacrifice.

People are indeed pleased with their own inventions, which have an empty appearance of wisdom, as Paul says elsewhere. But we learn here what the heavenly Judge declares in opposition to this through Paul. For by calling what He commands a reasonable service, He repudiates as foolish, bland, and presumptuous, whatever we attempt beyond the rule of His word.