Thomas Aquinas Commentary Romans 12:1-3

"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. And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith." — Romans 12:1-3 (ASV)

1. After showing the need for virtues and the origin of grace, the Apostle here teaches how grace should be used, a subject that pertains to moral instruction. He does two things in this regard:

   • First, he sets out a general moral teaching.
   • Second, he addresses more particular questions related to the recipients of his letter, beginning with and I myself also (Romans 15:14).

   Regarding the first point, he does two things:

   • First, he teaches how one should use grace to be a perfect person.
   • Second, he teaches how the perfect person should sustain the imperfect, beginning with now him that is weak (Romans 14:1).

   Concerning the first of these, he does three things:

   • First, he offers instruction about the perfection of life relating to the sanctity by which a person serves God.
   • Second, he discusses just dealings with one’s neighbor, beginning with let every soul (Romans 13:1).
   • Third, he addresses the purity a person must preserve within themselves, beginning with and that, knowing the season (Romans 13:11).

   Regarding the first of these, he does two things:

   • First, he admonishes that a person should present themselves as holy to God.
   • Second, he teaches how one should use the gifts of God’s grace that make one holy, beginning with for I say, by the grace.

   Regarding the first of these, he does two things:

   • First, he teaches how one should present oneself to God with respect to the body.
   • Second, he teaches how one should present oneself with respect to the soul, beginning with and be not conformed.

2. Regarding the first point, he does two things. First, he urges them to pay attention to what he has taught, and he does this in two ways. He begins on his own behalf when he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, as if to say: God’s judgments were described as beyond all comprehension and His ways as beyond all investigation, and so I beseech you, brethren, that you pay attention to what you have been taught.

3. He resorts to beseeching them for three reasons:

   1. To show his humility: with supplication speaks the poor man (Proverbs 28:23), that is, one who puts no trust in his own wealth. For this reason, he attempts to compel people to good deeds not by what belongs to him but by what belongs to God. For to beseech is to call on sacred things as witnesses.
   2. To move his readers more by asking than by inspiring fear through commanding as one in authority: accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you (Philemon 1:8 and following); you who are spiritual, instruct such a one in a spirit of gentleness (Galatians 6:1).
   3. Out of respect for the Romans, to whom he wrote: do not rebuke an older man but exhort him as you would a father (1 Timothy 5:1).

4. Next, he urges them to pay attention on God’s behalf when he says, by the mercy of God—that mercy by which you are saved: according to his mercy he saved us (Titus 3:5). And so, when we consider God’s mercy, we should do what we have been taught: should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? (Matthew 18:33).

   Alternatively, by the mercy of God could mean, “by virtue of the apostolic authority mercifully entrusted to me”: I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy (1 Corinthians 7:25).

5. Second, he gives the admonition when he says: that you present your bodies.

   Here it should be noted that, as Augustine says in the tenth book of The City of God, a visible sacrifice offered outwardly to God is a sign of an invisible sacrifice, by which one offers oneself and all one possesses for God’s service.

6. A person possesses three goods:

   1. A person has the soul, which is presented to God by humble devotion and contrition: the sacrifice acceptable to God is a contrite spirit (Psalms 51:17).
   2. A person has external goods, which they present to God by giving alms: do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God (Hebrews 13:16).
   3. A person has the good of their own body. Regarding this he says: present—that is, to God—your bodies, as a spiritual sacrifice. An animal offered to God was called a sacrifice, either because it was offered for victory over enemies, for protection from enemies, or because it was offered in the entrance of the Tabernacle.

7. A person can present their body to God as a sacrifice in three ways:

   1. When a person exposes their body to suffering and death for God’s sake, as it is said of Christ: he gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2); and as the Apostle says of himself: even if I am to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I rejoice (Philippians 2:17).
   2. When a person weakens their body by fasts and vigils in the service of God: I pummel my body and subdue it (1 Corinthians 9:27).
   3. When a person uses their body to perform acts of justice and of divine worship: yield your members to serve justice unto sanctification (Romans 6:19).

8. Moreover, one should recall that the offering sacrificed to God had four features:

   1. The offering had to be sound and unimpaired; hence, Malachi says: cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished (Malachi 1:14). This is why he says living, meaning that the offering of our body that we make to God should be living by a faith formed by love: the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God (Galatians 2:20).

   Note here that a natural sacrificial offering, previously alive, was killed and immolated to show that death still ruled the human race as long as sin reigned, as was said above (Romans 5:12 and following). But this spiritual sacrificial offering is always alive and increasing in vigor, in accordance with John: I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10), because sin has now been removed through Christ. This is true unless we say that the sacrificial offering of our body is something alive to God through the justice of faith but is dead to the desires of the flesh: mortify therefore your members which are on the earth (Colossians 3:5).

9. Second, the sacrificial offering presented to God was sanctified in the very act of its sacrifice. Hence, it is written: every man of your race who, having an uncleanness, approaches these things that are consecrated, and that the children of Israel offer to the Lord, shall perish before the Lord (Leviticus 22:3). Therefore, he adds holy, made so by the devotion with which we bind our bodies to the service of God: consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I the Lord your God am holy (Leviticus 20:7). Holiness in the proper sense signifies a relationship with God, insofar as a person does what is just before God.

10. Third, when the sacrifice was completed, it was described as a sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God: the priest shall burn the whole on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord (Leviticus 1:9). Hence, he says: pleasing to God, because of a right intention: that I may be pleasing to God in the light of the living (Psalms 56:13).

11. Fourth, in the preparation of the sacrifice, salt was added: you shall season all your offerings with salt (Leviticus 2:13); every victim shall be salted with salt (Mark 9:49). Salt signifies wise discretion; hence, he says: conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:5).

    Therefore, he continues: your reasonable service. This means to be discreet in presenting your bodies to God as a sacrifice—whether by martyrdom, abstinence, or any other just work—because all things should be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40); the king’s honor loves judgment (Psalms 99:4).

12. The just person relates to internal acts, by which they serve God, in one way, and to external acts in another. A person’s good and their justice consist mainly in the internal acts, by which they believe, hope, and love. Hence it says in Luke, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). For it does not consist principally of external works, as is said below, the kingdom of God is not food and drink (Romans 14:17). Therefore, internal acts are an end sought for their own sake, whereas external acts, in which our bodies are presented to God, are a means to the end.

    No limit is set on something sought as an end; rather, the greater it is, the better it is. But for what is sought as a means to an end, a limit is set according to its proportion to that end. Thus, a doctor seeks as much health as possible but does not give as much medicine as he can; rather, he limits it to the amount required for restoring health. Similarly, a person should set no limit on their faith, hope, and love; rather, the more they believe, hope, and love, the better they are. Hence it is stated in Deuteronomy: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart (Deuteronomy 6:4).

    But in external acts, a discreet limit is imposed by the demands of love. Hence Jerome says: Does a rational person not lose their dignity if they choose to fast and keep watch at the expense of their bodily health, or incur the marks of madness or sadness from singing the Psalms and office?

13. Then when he says, be not conformed and so on, he explains how one should present oneself to God with respect to the soul.

    First, he forbids conformity to this age when he says be not conformed to this age, that is, to things that pass away with time.

    For the present age is the measure of things that pass away in time. A person is conformed to temporal things when they cling to them with love: they became detestable, like the things they loved (Hosea 9:10); religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this . . . to keep oneself unspotted from this world (James 1:27). The one who imitates worldly lifestyles is also conformed to this age: I testify in the Lord, that from now on you should not walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind (Ephesians 4:17).

14. Second, he tells them to reform their minds from within when he says: but be reformed in the newness of your sense.

    Here, a person's "sense" is called their reason, because with the senses a person forms judgments about what is to be done. When humanity was created, this sense was sound and strong: he filled their hearts with sense, and showed them good and evil ; but by sin it was corrupted and, as it were, grown old: you have grown old in a foreign land . As a result, it lost its beauty and charm: from the daughter of Zion has departed all her charm (Lamentations 1:6).

    Therefore, the Apostle tells us to be reformed, that is, to take up again that beauty and elegance which the mind once had. This is accomplished by the grace of the Holy Spirit. If a person does not share in this grace, they should desire to do so, and if they do share in it, they should desire to progress in it: be renewed in the spirit of your minds (Ephesians 4:23); your youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s (Psalms 103:5).

    Alternatively, one could interpret be renewed in your outward actions in the newness of your sense to mean, “in the newness of grace, which you have received in your mind.”

15. Third, he gives a reason for this admonition when he says: that you may perceive.

    Here it should be noted that just as a person with a diseased palate misjudges the taste of food and sometimes shrinks from what is tasty but approves of what is disgusting, a person with a healthy palate judges tastes correctly. So too, a person whose affections are corrupted by conformity to worldly things misjudges what is good, whereas a person whose affections are upright and sound, their sense having been renewed by grace, judges what is good correctly.

    That is why he said: be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your sense, that you may perceive—that is, know by experience: taste and see that the Lord is sweet (Psalms 34:8)—what is the will of God, by which He wills that you be saved: this is the will of God, your sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). That will is good, meaning He wills that we should will the honorable good and by His precepts leads us to it: I will show you, O man, what is good, and what God requires of you (Micah 6:8). And acceptable, insofar as what God wills for us to will is pleasant to a well-disposed person: the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart (Psalms 19:8). Indeed, what God wills is not only useful for attaining our end but also perfect, uniting us, so to speak, with the end: you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48); walk before me and be perfect (Genesis 17:1).

    God’s will is experienced as good, acceptable, and perfect by those who are not conformed to this age but are reformed in the newness of their sense. On the other hand, those who continue in their old ways, being conformed to this age, judge that God’s will is not good but burdensome and unprofitable: wisdom seems very harsh to the uninstructed .

16. Then when he says, for I say, by the grace that is given me, he teaches how God’s gifts should be used.

    • First, he teaches this in regard to gifts that are not common to all, such as the freely given graces.
    • Second, he teaches this in regard to the gift of charity, which is common to all, at let love be without dissimulation (Romans 12:9).

    In regard to the first, he does two things:

    • First, he teaches in general how one ought to use freely given graces.
    • Second, he elaborates on this in detail, at having gifts (Romans 12:6).

    Concerning the first, he does two things:

    • First, he sets out the instruction.
    • Second, he gives the reason for it, with the words for as in one body (Romans 12:4).

17. Regarding the first point, he does three things. First, he warns against excess, saying: I have encouraged you to be renewed by the newness of your sense, but you should do this in moderation, for I say—that is, I command—by the grace of the apostleship and the apostolic authority given to me: when they perceived the grace that was given to me among the gentiles (Galatians 2:9); to me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given (Ephesians 3:8). To all that are among you, because it is profitable for everyone: I wish that all were as I myself am (1 Corinthians 7:7).

    This, I say, I command: not to be more wise than is fitting to be wise. This means no one should presume, relying on their own sense or wisdom beyond their limitations: be not wiser than is necessary (Ecclesiastes 7:16); I have not walked among great things, nor among marvels above me (Psalms 131:1).

18. Second, he exhorts them to a middle course, saying but be wise unto sobriety. That is, I direct you to be wise in proportion to the grace given to you. For sobriety implies a measure. And although the word in its proper sense relates to drinking wine, it can be used in regard to any matter in which a person should observe a due measure: training us to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world (Titus 2:12).

19. Third, he teaches how this middle course should be measured when he says: and this, I say, is as God has divided—that is, distributed—to each one the measure of faith. This refers to the measure of His gifts, which are given for building up the faith: to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7).

    For God does not give such gifts to all in the same way, but distributes different ones to different people: there are varieties of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4). Nor does He give them equally to all, but to each according to a definite measure: grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4:7). That is why the Apostle, thinking with sober judgment according to this measure, said: we will not boast beyond measure, but will keep to the measure of the rule by which God has measured out to us (2 Corinthians 10:13). To Christ alone has the Spirit been given without measure (John 3:34).

    God gives not only the freely given graces according to a measure, but even that faith which works through love. Hence the apostles said to Christ: Lord, increase our faith (Luke 17:15).