Romans 12:1 – A living, holy sacrifice

I am entreating you, then, brethren, by the pities of God, to present your bodies a sacrifice, living, holy, well pleasing to God, your logical divine service.

Our logical divine service, Paul said, is to present our bodies to God. To present is to make available. ‘Here I am. Let Your Word (Gr. logos) do its work in my body.’ For example, an Israelite made a lamb available to the priest. After which he sacrificed the animal to God, according to the precept.

Please note that when we think of ‘sacrifice’ we do not think of the slaughter of the animal. The slaughter precedes the sacrifice. The actual sacrifice is that the slaughtered animal ascended on the altar in smoke for a sweet savor to God. That is important, because a sacrifice does not speak of death, but of life beyond death. The slaughtered animal was lifted up and ascended to God.

In chapters 6 to 8 Paul already taught how we as believers died together with Christ and were raised in newness of life. That’s how God sees us. And thus we would reckon ourselves (Gr. logizomai; Rom. 6:11). And so, by this logic, our mortal bodies still become a “living, holy sacrifice, well pleasing to God”!

Delen: