Our Bodies as Living Sacrifices, Holy and Acceptable to God: The People of God and the Relationship between Theology and Ethics in Romans
What is the relationship between theology and ethics? Paul often
follows a theological section in his letters with an ethical section. This division comes in Galatians
5.1: ‘For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not
submit again to a yoke of slavery’ (ESV throughout, unless stated otherwise). In
Romans, the transition is:
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. 2 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
(12.1-2).
Both transitions
show that ethics is not only related to but dependent upon theology. This ‘theology’ is not mere doctrine; it is a
new reality. Christians are ‘set free’;
they have experienced the ‘mercies of God’, a transformation by the renewal of
their minds. In 2 Corinthians 5.17, Paul
forcefully stated: ‘If anyone is in Christ—new creation! The old things have passed away; behold!, the
new things have come’ (my translation).
The little word ‘by’
in ‘by the mercies of God’ in1 Romans 12.1 (ESV and NRSV) could be translated
in a variety of ways: ‘by means of’, ‘through’, ‘because of’. However, translations that suggest the
relationship between the theology of Romans 1-11 and the ethics of Romans
12.1-15.13 is only God’s forgiveness (mercy) and our response of gratitude sorely
miss the mark. The New Living Translation has: ‘… give your bodies to God
because of all he has done for you.’ The
New International Version similarly has, ‘…in view of the mercies of God.’ These do not capture the heart of Romans or
the meaning of Romans 12.1-2.
By this point in
Romans, Paul has argued so much more: God’s mercies
are not merely forgiving mercies but also
transformational. Hence, Paul says
in Romans 12.2: ‘be transformed by the renewal of your mind.’ Recall that the problem Paul sets out to
answer in Romans 1.28 was that God had given humanity in its sins over to a ‘debased
mind’. Now, because of the mercies of God, Christians are no longer slaves under
the power of the world but are free to live for Christ, have renewed minds, and
once again know the moral will of God.
In light of the sacrifice of Christ, in light of the empowering Spirit
of God, in light of God’s forgiving and transforming grace and mercies,
Christians are different and can live differently.
What is the
difference? Romans 12.1 says that we are
to be a ‘living sacrifice’ that is ‘holy and acceptable to God’. First, instead of turning away from God to
live apart from Him and for ourselves—illustrated in terms of idolatry and
homosexuality in Romans 1.18-28—we are now to approach God with our whole
lives, offering ourselves to Him. Second,
we are to offer our transformed selves, holy and acceptable to God because of
the mercies He has wrought within us, as our appropriate worship.
We could never
have offered ourselves to God without His mercies that have transformed us into
a holy and acceptable people. As Paul
says in Ephesians, God ‘chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world
to be holy and blameless before him’ (1.4).
Colossians 1.22 adds, ‘and above reproach’. Ephesians 5.25-27 says that Christ’s love for
the Church means that He gave Himself for her, sanctified her, cleansed her, and
presented her to Himself without spot or wrinkle, holy and without
blemish. This is the language of
sacrifice in the Old Testament.[1] A priest, too, was not to have a blemish when
offering sacrifices as this would profane God’s sanctuaries; but the LORD was
the One who makes the priests holy (Leviticus 21.21-23).
If Paul’s point in
Romans 12.1 was one of forgiveness alone, he might have said that God forgives
us even though we inevitably offer impure sacrifices to Him, given our fallenness
or sin. However, all of Romans 1-11 has
argued something different: God transforms us to be holy and acceptable before
Him. We do not live in Romans 1.24-28
with debased minds. Nor do we live in
Romans 7.7-25 with divided selves and a powerless Law. We live in the reality of Romans 8.1-17 that
makes us holy and acceptable to God—by His
mercy and grace, not our works.
Christian ethics
is not a Christian ethical system that is for the whole world. It is something that Christians alone can
live because of the change that life in Christ has brought. It is an act of
worship, a presenting of an offering to God of our very lives that is holy and
blameless because the LORD has made us holy by His mercies and grace. No longer living in conformity to the
world, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. With such a transformation, we no longer
offer worship to false gods but to the true God (Romans 1.18-23), and we no
longer dishonour our bodies with dishonourable passions contrary to nature (homosexual
relationships) (Romans 1.24-28).
Instead, we are to offer our bodies
as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12.1).
[1] In Leviticus alone, 1.3, 10; 3.1, 6; 4.3, 23, 28, 32; 5.15, 18; 6.6;
9.2-3; 14.10; 22.19-21; 23.12, 18.
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