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
There are two things
that stand out here. First, there's Paul's comment about the Christian's mind.
It needs to be renewed. And that makes sense. How we think about things is so
very important. So, for example, consider someone who does not think that there
is a god, but that he is on his own in dealing with life. How different from
someone who is convinced that the God of the Bible not only exists but that He
is near to lead him through life. That is a thought, an aspect of the mind,
that makes a huge difference. The same is true about other ideas revealed in
the Bible. And it's a sad fact that we all believe too many lies about how life
works. Our minds need to be renewed to believe the truth of the Gospel. That is
what Paul is calling for.
The other thing to
note is that Paul understands that we are not just minds. Life for us includes
what happens with our bodies. In fact, the things that our minds embrace will
show themselves through our bodies, in how we act. So, we are to present our bodies
as the way that our minds express our believing God's truths.
This bit of
Scripture is connects the two parts of Paul's letter. It leans on the truths
of the Gospel that were explained earlier in the letter. It also leads to the
rest of the letter where Paul explains how the Gospel is to be lived.