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The will of God
12
1 Now then, brothers, I exhort you, in view of God's compassions, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,* Any animal in the Old Testament had to die in order to become a sacrifice, so what does Paul mean by a ‘living’ one? In 1 Corinthians 15:31 he said that he died every day. Paul could not have been referring to actual physical death, obviously, since Hebrews 9:27 affirms that it is appointed to men to die only once (no reincarnation). He may well have faced possible death often enough, but I suppose he is referring to dying to himself. I suppose this is also the meaning of our Lord's words in Luke 9:23-24—“If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” In that day a cross was an instrument of death. We must die to our own will in order to embrace God's. To present the body is presumably a metonym for presenting one's whole self. holy, satisfying to God—your intelligent duty. 2 Yes, stop conforming to the pattern of this world; rather, be transformed by the renewing of your mind so as to be able to experience the good and satisfying and perfect will of God.† ‘The pattern of this world’ belongs to Satan, so it must be rejected in order to do God's will. Many ‘Christians’ appear to be afraid of God's will, as well they might, unless they meet the conditions—only then is it ‘good’, ‘satisfying’ and ‘perfect’.
Be sensible
3 Based on the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to set your sights higher than you should, but set them sensibly, as God has apportioned a measure of faith to each.‡ We need to understand what God wants us to be and do, and set our sights on that. Any attitude of competition, wanting to be bigger and better than others, will produce bad results. 4 Because just as in one body we have many parts, but all the parts do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. 6 Since we have different spiritual gifts according to the grace that was given us, let us use them: if prophecy, according to the analogy of the Faith;§ Any prophesying needs to be in accordance with Scripture. 7 if serving, in the serving; if teaching, in the teaching; 8 if exhorting, in the exhortation;* One might feel that Paul is being repetitious, but we all know people who try to operate in someone else's area of gifting, and the results are not good. If an ear tries to be an eye, both hearing and sight suffer. the sharer, with simplicity; the leader, with diligence; the mercy-shower, with cheerfulness.† Nothing like cheerfulness when helping someone who is hurting.
Behave!
9 Love is to be genuine: abhorring the malignant; clinging to the good; 10 showing family affection to one another in brotherly love; in honor preferring one another; 11 not lagging in diligence; serving the Lord with an enthusiastic spirit; 12 rejoicing in the hope; enduring the affliction; continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints; practicing hospitality.‡ I take it that the whole paragraph is explaining just how love is to be genuine—very practical!
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.§ If a boss is mistreating you and you curse him, will he get better or worse? That said, however, I believe we must distinguish between things done against us personally and things done against the Kingdom. Something done against the Kingdom is an act of war, and needs to be repelled. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. 16 Regard each other as being on the same level—do not distinguish the upper classes, but associate with the lower classes; do not exalt yourself.* I take it that this text is dealing with social position, not personal abilities. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Have regard for things that everyone considers to be good. 18 If possible, what depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19 Dear ones, do not avenge yourselves; rather give place to the wrath;† Wrath is normally expressed through physical violence, and perhaps in our day through legal action. These are the sort of reaction that an ‘enemy’ will expect, not acts of kindness, which may even make him feel ashamed of himself. In any case, we are not to descend to his level, but let God do any avenging. for it is written: “Vengeance is up to me; I will repay,”‡ See Deuteronomy 32:35. says the Lord. 20 Therefore, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will heap coals of fire on his head.”§ See Proverbs 25:21-22. Presumably the ‘coals of fire’ are not literal. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome the evil with the good.* Sounds great, but how does it work? Well, in Luke 10:19 Sovereign Jesus said: “Take note, I am giving you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing at all may harm you.” And in Ephesians 3:20 we read: “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is working is us…” Please see my footnotes at those passages for an extended discussion.

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*12:1 Any animal in the Old Testament had to die in order to become a sacrifice, so what does Paul mean by a ‘living’ one? In 1 Corinthians 15:31 he said that he died every day. Paul could not have been referring to actual physical death, obviously, since Hebrews 9:27 affirms that it is appointed to men to die only once (no reincarnation). He may well have faced possible death often enough, but I suppose he is referring to dying to himself. I suppose this is also the meaning of our Lord's words in Luke 9:23-24—“If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” In that day a cross was an instrument of death. We must die to our own will in order to embrace God's. To present the body is presumably a metonym for presenting one's whole self.

†12:2 ‘The pattern of this world’ belongs to Satan, so it must be rejected in order to do God's will. Many ‘Christians’ appear to be afraid of God's will, as well they might, unless they meet the conditions—only then is it ‘good’, ‘satisfying’ and ‘perfect’.

‡12:3 We need to understand what God wants us to be and do, and set our sights on that. Any attitude of competition, wanting to be bigger and better than others, will produce bad results.

§12:6 Any prophesying needs to be in accordance with Scripture.

*12:8 One might feel that Paul is being repetitious, but we all know people who try to operate in someone else's area of gifting, and the results are not good. If an ear tries to be an eye, both hearing and sight suffer.

†12:8 Nothing like cheerfulness when helping someone who is hurting.

‡12:13 I take it that the whole paragraph is explaining just how love is to be genuine—very practical!

§12:14 If a boss is mistreating you and you curse him, will he get better or worse? That said, however, I believe we must distinguish between things done against us personally and things done against the Kingdom. Something done against the Kingdom is an act of war, and needs to be repelled.

*12:16 I take it that this text is dealing with social position, not personal abilities.

†12:19 Wrath is normally expressed through physical violence, and perhaps in our day through legal action. These are the sort of reaction that an ‘enemy’ will expect, not acts of kindness, which may even make him feel ashamed of himself. In any case, we are not to descend to his level, but let God do any avenging.

‡12:19 See Deuteronomy 32:35.

§12:20 See Proverbs 25:21-22. Presumably the ‘coals of fire’ are not literal.

*12:21 Sounds great, but how does it work? Well, in Luke 10:19 Sovereign Jesus said: “Take note, I am giving you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing at all may harm you.” And in Ephesians 3:20 we read: “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is working is us…” Please see my footnotes at those passages for an extended discussion.

© 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD