KELSIE PETERSEN | Contributor and a Boy-Mom |
The book of Romans is widely considered to be one of the deepest, most theologically profound books of the Bible. It was written by Paul, likely around 57AD, a few years prior to his arrival in Rome, where he would later be arrested more than once, and ultimately martyred. It can be an intimidating book to wade into. Over the last couple of decades since I left Adventism, I’ve encountered more than one pastor who didn’t quite feel ready, or qualified, to tackle it as a sermon series and do it justice.
This past Sunday, one of the key passages in the sermon was one of my favorite couple of verses from Romans 12. Part of its significance, I suppose, is it is one of the first small sections I keenly remember learning about in any depth after becoming a Christian. I was in ninth grade, and my Christian (not Adventist) school in Canada had planned a mission trip to Mexico, just over the border in Mexicali. After a very long bus ride, we had arrived and pitched our tents with several other school groups in a large and dusty field. Every evening, after returning from our ministry in various areas of the city, we would gather all together for evening devotions. The speaker spent the week focusing on these 2 verses, helping us memorize and internalize them, and their impact has lasted all of these years.
Romans 12:1,2 are just 2 short verses in the vast 16 chapters of the book, but they encapsulate many ideas that Paul has already woven through his letter. I will only be addressing the first verse in this piece, but because they are somewhat fused in my mind over the years, here are both verses from the ESV:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.—Romans 12:1, 2 ESV
“I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God…”
As with so much of Paul’s writing, we see his passion and zeal for his audience coming through in his word choice. The word for “appeal” is translated in other versions as “beseech”, “urge,” and “plead”. It is the same word the demons used when asking Jesus to cast them into the swine. There is a true sense of urgency here. Before he tells them what his appeal is, he adds the word “therefore….”, and a few wise teachers have told me that when you see the word “therefore”, you should always ask yourself what it’s…there for. Paul gives us a clue as to why he’s added the word, by adding the phrase “by the mercies of God,” which is also translated “in view of,” or “because of….”
To discover what the “therefore” is there for, we could easily discuss the entirety of the previous eleven chapters, where Paul has laid bare the gospel and the plan of salvation. He’s taken deep dives into the meanings of righteousness and faith and law. He’s given the reader a picture of life in the Spirit and assurance of hope. Learned teachers have spent months of sermons exegeting these verses and I don’t have the space here, nor likely the ability to do it all justice, but as I was reading in preparation to write, I noticed something that I hadn’t before, at least not in this way.
Throughout the first ten chapters, Paul has made reference to Jews and Gentiles and to those under the law and not under the law (an interesting distinction to consider given Adventism’s view on this topic), and scholars believe that this is because there were issues in the church in Rome, dividing Jewish believers from Gentile believers. At the end of this section of his letter, at the end of chapter eleven, Paul ties it all together, pointing out that both Jew and Gentile alike are guilty of being disobedient to God “at one time,” and how both groups have been shown the mercy Paul has spent the previous 10 chapters expounding upon. In the final 6 verses of this chapter, Paul refers to “mercy” four times, and makes plain that out of the mercy of the God from whom are all things, through and to, we ALL have received the same salvation.
Paul ends this section of his letter with a resounding “AMEN,” and immediately moves into the “Therefore….” By these same mercies he has just plainly explained, he will move into the “what’s next” for a new church of believers who are facing struggles and disagreements. By backing up and reading the chapter(s) preceding this well-known passage, the reader enters into these verses full of gratitude and amazement for all that has been done on their behalf, for the mercy that the Lord has shown, not only to them, but to their Jewish or Gentile brother sitting next to them.
“…present your bodies as a living sacrifice…”
As Paul moves into the “what’s next,” once again, he uses quite vivid language and description to paint a picture of what is required of the believer. “…present your bodies as a living sacrifice…”
Think about what this would have meant to each audience, to the Jewish believer, as well as to the Gentile believer living in Rome. For thousands of years, since Abraham, sacrifices had been a central and essential part of worship for the people of Israel. When I read through the Old Testament, particularly Leviticus, the descriptions of the sacrifices required have always hit me hard. Once, I tried to figure out what it would actually look like for an Israelite to carry out all the required sacrifices. It was an onerous and bloody ordeal. So many animals required to be—well—sacrificed, given up to God as offerings and signs of repentance.
Then, I imagined what it was like to be a priest. If these sacrifices were carried out as described, it seems it would have been day after day of slaughter, of blood and of the smell of burning flesh. A heavy burden to bear, indeed. At the time this letter was written, sacrifices were still being carried out at the temple in Jerusalem, so this was still very much a reality in the minds and worldviews of the Jewish believers in Rome. The idea of a living sacrifice would have been a poignant picture for these people.
For the Gentile in Rome, sacrifices were also a central part of religious life, with animal sacrifices being offered in public and private settings, as a means of appeasing and maintaining a reciprocal relationship with the plethora of gods worshiped. The rules surrounding these sacrifices were many, and very specific, down to the time of day a certain sacrifice was to be made.
The idea of offering oneself, alive, as a sacrifice would have been a vivid picture, both familiar and strange at the same time. Jewish and Gentile believer, alike, would have been familiar with sacrifices, but to offer your own body, alive, as an ongoing, perpetual sacrifice would have been an idea that, while foreign, offered a poignant juxtaposition of what was required of worshipers under the New Covenant.
When an animal sacrifice is offered, its life ends, and the worshiper goes on with his or her life until the time that another sacrifice is required. But when one offers Himself or herself as a living sacrifice, the act of “sacrificing” is ongoing, day after day, week after week, month after month. It’s something that becomes woven into the fabric of our existence, forming our words, thoughts and actions. Paul uses the act of sacrifice, familiar to both Jew and Gentile, and then flips it on its head by making the reader the sacrifice, to drive home the reality of what it means to be a Believer, born again and indwelt with the Holy Spirit. To further aid these new believers in their pursuit of life in Christ, he returns later in the chapter to lay out some marks of a true Christian life, and what it looks like to be a living, breathing, walking, talking sacrifice.
“…holy and acceptable….”
After the bit of shock value of informing this new church that they were now the sacrifice,
Paul clarifies further what kind of living sacrifice they are to be, “holy and acceptable to God.” I found it interesting to consider that, perhaps, there might be an alternative to being “holy and acceptable.” Remembering Cain and Abel in the book of Genesis, how Cain offered his sacrifice and it was not acceptable, while Abel offered his, and it was acceptable, I found it interesting that Paul chose to add these words. Paul has spent time in the previous chapters addressing the flesh, and what the life of the believer, what righteousness, looks like, while also emphasizing the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
It is clear from what the original audience would have read, that there is a way to be and a way not to be for the believer, that the work of the Spirit in one’s life will be obvious when one ia living as a sacrifice. In light of the descriptions given in this and others of Paul’s epistles, it is interesting to consider not only what we avoid, but also what we pursue. It’s possible that the believers in Rome would have had access to the letter Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, probably about 10 years earlier. In that letter, Paul lays out the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. The life of the believer is not just about what we avoid, what we do not do, but also what we turn our hearts towards, what we pursue. Submitting ourselves to Christ, becoming a living sacrifice, will result in the fruits of the Spirit becoming evident in our lives.
“…which is your spiritual worship…”
This last phrase is one that always stood out to me, right from the first time I heard this passage taught in depth, 30 years ago in a dusty field in Mexico. The version I memorized used the word “reasonable” in place of “spiritual,” and when I looked up the Greek, both are accurate translations, and both have significance. Becoming a living sacrifice is more than physical. Spiritually, while it means we no longer do our own will; physically, it also means we submit our inner being to the authority of the God who sacrificed His perfect life for our imperfect ones. By using this word that implies both “spiritual” and “reasonable,” Paul draws the reader back to all of the sound arguments he has made thus far in his letter. Based on everything he has said thus far, becoming a living sacrifice to the God of the universe really is the only reasonable response. It makes sense. If everything up to this point in the book of Romans is true, it is simply the “next right thing.”
Time after time in Scripture we are pointed to Jesus, pointed to the cross and the complete atonement made on our behalf. We are invited to repent of our sin, to turn to Jesus and accept the credit of His payment made for our sin. And time after time, we are reminded that when this happens, we are made new. We are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, made spiritually alive and called to live a life of gratitude and service to the One who loved us enough to sacrifice Himself in our place. I pray that as we consider the life after Adventism, we are continually drawn back to the cross, to the reason for everything. †
- A Life of Reasonable Service Includes Sacrifice - July 10, 2025
- Led By a Child - May 9, 2025
- Let’s Give Them the Main Dish - March 6, 2025