After all the theology, after all the reasoning, Paul lets fly with the consequences of this theology and reasoning … “present your bodies as a living sacrifice — alive, holy, and pleasing to God.” The rest of this chapter describes what that looks like in all kinds of detail. This is a chapter to read again and again.
What does it look like, to be made righteous by Christ’s sacrifice, accepted in faith? Romans 12!
I especially like Paul’s contrast between our sacrifice and the old sacrifices. “Alive, holy, and pleasing to God.” Not dead.
Last week was super busy and I didn’t get a chance to leave a comment then. But something cool happened – When I read this chapter, very 9 and following stood out to me. A day or so later, Jeff came to me all excited and said that he found the theme passage for our new ministry focus. Then he said listen! and read to me Romans 12:9-21. It was neat how the Lord highlighted this passage to both of us within a few days.
Very cool.