Book of Romans: A Bible study series in 17 parts
The general theme of Romans: How to be right with God
[To watch this on YouTube as it was given live on Zoom, click https://youtu.be/UT-HhVghADk ]. [The whole biblical text and the bibliography Bob used are at the end of this blog]
Introduction
Last week we ended with a praise to the Lord from Paul and maybe from you as well. Chapter 11 answered the big question about Jewish people and the Church. If you didn’t get to join us then, please have a look at the blog or YouTube to catch up. It’s a worthwhile summary of God’s plan for the people of Israel. And that summary leads the apostle into a moment of praise to the Lord and a bit of Hallelujah! [the link to the manuscript is here. The link to the video is here.]
Today we will speak about Romans chapter 12, and if you haven’t yet read it, for those watching on YouTube, please pause your playback and read it. It will only take about 3 minutes, then press play and rejoin us as we explain the text. Thanks. Welcome back. For those in the zoom call, please have your Bibles open to follow along.
Today’s talk’s outline is
1. A living sacrifice (12.1): Surrender to the Lord
2. A new mind (12.2-3): Conforming to Yeshua
3. A new mishpochah (4-8): Sharing together in giftedness
4. A new morality (9-21): Getting relationships right
Now let’s unpack this chapter and see what it has to say to us who are reading this letter written nearly 2000 years ago. The title of the message is “Redeemed: Now what?”
First then,
A living sacrifice (12.1): Surrender to the Lord
Paul introduces the last portion of the letter with a ‘therefore’. We will have seen this word 24 times in the letter when we are done. He’s a master of logic and sequencing. He lets us know about Jewish people and the mercies of God to them and to you, and as a result, or in his term, ‘therefore’ you should do something. In the same way an Older Testament saint would have brought an offering to God, Paul calls the believers in Rome, and dare I say, saints in New Zealand, here in Australia, those of you watching in the USA and everywhere else, we are called to bring our own bodies as a sacrifice. Not to bring a dead one, but a living one. The offering is perpetual; it’s continual; it’s lifelong.
This is not an ideal; this is not a philosophy. This is a mandate from heaven that allows the rest of our lives to be ordered well.
Knowing that we have been made right with God (remember that’s the theme of this letter) causes us to want to live right. The first thing to do in our living right is to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice.
Stuart Briscoe highlights the verb “present” saying it “is the technical expression for presenting a victim for sacrifice” and again, “There were two kinds of offerings: first those which led to reconciliation and second, those which were an expression of celebration after reconciliation had been accomplished.” (page 215)
Paul has made it abundantly clear that our reconciliation with God took place at the death of Yeshua on Calvary and in the resurrection from the tomb. As a result, we put our faith in that, we believe that, and we are made right with God. That’s amazing. Nothing else could make us so connected. But then as a result of that reality, or as Paul says here, “by the mercies of God”, we owe him everything. I think of the genie in the bottle who is finally freed after eons of time and devotes himself to the new master.
The believer is now free to honor the new master, free to serve him, free to offer himself without reservation to the Almighty. All other religions are still trying to get to God or the deity to notice them, to perform for them. Only in our faith is the word ‘done’ already applied. Others are filled with ‘do’; we are going forward because of what Yeshua has ‘done’ for us.
This from an online encyclopedia in my research on spiritual disciplines,
“The practice of spiritual discipline marks the notion that one who is in search of the guide is not only a human being but also a human "becoming," one on his or her way toward an ideal. Images of such discipline, therefore, often include themes of movement or passage. Mahāyāna Buddhists describe the spiritual endeavor as bodhicaryāvatāra, "entering the path to enlightenment"; Jewish traditions speak of religious norms as halakhah, "the way to go"; and traditional Hindu literatures outline the three sacred "paths," marga, of proper action, proper meditation, and proper devotion. Not infrequently, religious systems refer to the sacred cosmos as a whole with terms meaning "the Way," like the Chinese dao.” (https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/spiritual-discipline )
These all come so close. Religion comes so close. To an outsider, these and our faith sound so alike, but they are diametrically opposed. It’s not us who makes ourselves right with God; it’s God who has done it all for us.
We are not going to the altar for self-sacrifice. In the Tabernacle and then the Temple, the altar was for the ending of a life, the sacrifice ended in death. But here, we are to live after this sacrifice.
In other words we offer ourselves on the altar as a living sacrifice. And that offer, that continual surrender to the God who has made us right with him, yielding to the Lord, daily, sometimes hourly, often at the point of desperation or desire, in temptation’s lurings or trial’s pain, that surrender is the key to the victory that God wants for each of us. He won everything for us on the cross. We enter into that victory by faith and by our declaration (Romans 10.9-10) that Yeshua is Lord. And every time we make that declaration, we remind ourselves, our tempters, and the Lord himself that we belong to him. That’s the confessional altar. That’s the altar of victory.
A new mind (12.2-3): Conforming to Yeshua
After our surrender, we are called by the apostle to conform to the Master. He will give us a new mind. And even then we have a responsibility,
‘And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’
We make the decision to submit, to surrender to the Lord, and thus we turn away from ‘this world’ What constitutes ‘this world?’ It might be better to title it, ‘this present age.’ In all my Jewish education I was ever informed that this age was in direct contrast to ‘the world to come.’ Paul continues that thought clearly. NT Wright reminds us “many Christians never come to terms with this. They hope they will be able to live up to something like Christian standards while still thinking the way the rest of the world thinks. It can’t be done.” (page 69)
In light of the conquest, the assurance, the victory that is ours because of Yeshua’s death and resurrection, we ought to keep being changed, inside to out. Paul calls this ‘transformation’ or in the Greek, ‘metamorphosis.’ Our mind gets renewed; we can start over in new right thinking. Our spiritual service begins with surrender; our proving what is the good will of God is shown in the mind that is renewed.
John Murray says, “The basis and spring of sanctification are union with Christ.” (page 516)
If we do the godly things Paul prescribes in the verses following without that union, we are merely practicing religion, and doing such good works as to impress another. Paul already titled that failure, folly and futility, and showed the reality of Messiah’s conquest. In light of all Yeshua did, we are united with him and thus we now have a new mind. Stay renewed. Keep being renewed. The world is temporal; keep your mind on the eternal.
And think of yourself rightly, he says. Humility is not thinking yourself great when you are less. Nor is it thinking of yourself as nothing when you are something. Humility is thinking rightly about yourself. That’s what Paul addresses, and it actually sounds personal, doesn’t it?
A new mishpochah (4-8): Sharing together in giftedness
Paul then moves to specifics about this new mind, in light of this renewal, how shall we treat each other in the new family? In verse one we are a single unit dedicating ourselves on the altar of victory. Now from verses 4 and following, we are together a body, with various parts and each of us are contributing to the benefit of the whole. Morris calls this, “diversity in respect of endowment, grace, function, office and faith.” (page 524)
Each of us then has a measure of or part of the whole that the entire body of believers has. By the way compare Yeshua who was ‘full of grace and truth” (John 1.14) and Paul said of him, “in him all the fulness of deity should dwell” (Col. 1.19). We have only a measure; Yeshua had it all!
Paul used the imagery of the Body to describe the community of faith, or what some call ‘the church’ often in his writings. The foot doesn’t say to the hand ‘I have no need of you.’ They perform different functions, with different energies, at different times, for different purposes. But the body needs each part. Paul is saying that if you have a new mind, renewed and renewing, and are a living sacrifice to the Lord and his purposes, then you will be a family that relates well together.
He only lists a few gifts: prophecy, serving, teaching, giving, exhorting, leading, and showing mercy. There are other lists including other items Paul gives in other letters (1 Cor. 12, Eph. 4) so we know no list is exhaustive. These are examples of family business. We prophecy both to forecast what’s ahead, and to remind ourselves of what is behind. We serve each other in meetings and in the neighbourhood. (By the way we are getting another 20 litres of hand sanitizer by Monday, Lord willing, to distribute freely. If you are local and want to help us, come in on Tuesday, will you?) We use our gifts in teaching or exhorting/ encouraging. We can lead or show mercy, which is what every COVID health worker is doing, and certainly every hospice worker does regularly. Giving? That’s a ministry gift! Some seem to have the capacity to give significantly whenever they are asked, like EOFY campaigns, and we all benefit from those givers. (For those online, if you’d like to give just now, we’d really appreciate that. Go to jewsforjesus.org.au/giving and follow the prompts)
A new morality (9-21): Getting relationships right
Paul closes this chapter with pithy, almost Chinese fortune-cookie sayings. He did the same in 1 Thessalonians. And this won’t be the last time he does that.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly.
The sayings go on and on. It’s as if the apostle is showcasing some representative statements of what is right and what is wrong. Almost a ‘good vs evil’ listing.
It also has a bit of an echo of the Master himself who taught us in the sermon on the mount with the beatitudes which have a similarity. Listen to these verbs: bless, rejoice, weep, love, hate evil, prefer one another… You get it; Yeshua taught us, and Paul gets it. And now he’s saying something like, ‘if Yeshua is your master, then you ought to live like him.’ Not so that you can earn anything, because you cannot! But if you are going to wear the tri-colors, you ought to act like a Rooster. If you are going to wear the stars and stripes, or wrap the American flag around your shoulders, you ought to act like an American. If you say you belong to Yeshua, you ought to act like him.
Perhaps the primary excuse unbelievers give to me, when we speak about faith and they decline my invitations to believe…their #1 excuse is the hypocrisy of the ones who allegedly are followers of Jesus. They point to certain credentials of wealthy televangelists or sinners at the footy on Saturday who then look all religious on Sunday. In other words, our words and our actions don’t align. I get that. I’m well aware of my own sins and my own inadequacy to represent.
Paul is saying something like, “Please, surrender to the Lord, get a new mind, and serve each other. Listen again to the words of Yeshua. Believe what he said about love and kindness. And live that way.”
Hey, I’m all in on that one.
I’m not trying to live better so that I can get to heaven.
I’m trying to live better so I can better reflect the real Yeshua to a world which so desperately needs to know him.
Let love be without hypocrisy. (unfeigned, or without disguise, in other words be true)
Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. (in typical biblical clarity, not only get rid of the negative, but also replace it with the positive. And cling may be translated ‘to glue’. That’s an active responsibility of the believer)
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; (philostorgos in Philadelphia… it’s all about love!)
give preference to one another in honor;
11 not lagging behind in diligence, (not sluggish, therefore active. Same as above. Negative the negative, then add the positive)fervent in spirit, (on fire in spirit… hot!)
serving the Lord; (that original word ‘doulos’ from chapter 1, how Paul self-introduced)
12 rejoicing in hope, (the future of faith)
persevering in tribulation, (because we have that hope fixed on Yeshua, we can endure!)
devoted to prayer, (as an active enterprise throughout our days)
13 contributing to the needs of the saints, (he will highlight that more clearly in chapter 15)
practicing hospitality. (philoxenia Love of the stranger)
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (eulogise! Luke 6.28)
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. (This is especially significant during COVID with 9 million cases and over 450,000 deaths. )
16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. (Hear each other, listen more, care for the other)
Do not be wise in your own estimation. (Let another praise you, and not you yourself! Prov 27.2)
Then verse 17 introduces the final summary thought. When mistreated, do not fire back with evil in return.
17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. (Evil happens. Seek for justice in the heavenly court. Turn the other cheek. Go with him two miles.)
Respect what is right in the sight of all men. (Justice, justice shall you pursue (Deut 16.20, Hab. 1.4)
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. (There are reality limits; we won’t get along with everyone. Sometimes, that’s just how it goes)
19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. 20 “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” (Prov. 20.22, Nahum 1.2, Prov. 25.21-22)
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
“All in all, Paul has no thought of the Roman Christians as compartmentalizing their lives (into spiritual and ordinary affairs) or of living their lives cut off from contact with the wider community. He takes it for granted that Christians will live out their daily lives and wider relationships motivated by the same love as in their relationships with fellow believers.” (James Dunn)
And so should we in Australia, in New Zealand, in the USA, and wherever else you are watching this lesson. There are times when we have to let peace fall by the wayside, but our attitude of good vs evil has to always fall on the side of peace.
Would to God that every rioter, every policeman, every politician, every COVID statistician, every FACEBOOK poster, every blogger, and you and I would learn this. Peace. Turn the other cheek. Love without hypocrisy. Why? To earn points? Nope. To get an extra high mansion in heaven? Not a chance. But to represent the Gentle Messiah, the Saviour of the world, who when totally mistreated, totally maligned, totally misrepresented, gave himself for us.
Let us overcome evil with His good!
Dear friends on Facebook and on this zoom call, if you are not yet a believer in Yeshua, I urge you today, call on him while he is near. If you know your Torah, and you know yourself, you know you need help, you need salvation, you need a Saviour. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be rescued, will be saved will be made to be in right relationship with God. It’s worth all the rejection of others who don’t want to know about God’s love in Messiah Yeshua.
If you want, you can pray a prayer with me just now to solidify your choice. Something like this, “Father in Yeshua’s name, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Yeshua to save me from myself, from my selfishness, from my despair and the harm I cause so many. Thank you for making me right with God by your sacrifice. I receive Yeshua (Jesus) as my saviour and the lover of my soul. He frees me to love others. I repent of my sins and ask for God’s forgiveness to be my portion. I receive the free gift of God, eternal life in Messiah Jesus our Lord. Amen.”
If you prayed that prayer, will you let us know via the messages or write me directly. I would appreciate that.
NEXT WEEK we will look at the 13th chapter and see when we should disobey government and how we should live in the midst of an evil and adulterous generation.
I’m delighted to be able to read and help us understand this book each Friday here from my home in Sydney. Shabbat shalom!
The actual text:
Rom. 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Rom. 12:3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Rom. 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Rom. 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. 1bRespect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. 20 “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Bibliography
Briscoe, Stuart. The Communicator’s Commentary (Romans), Word Books, Waco Texas.1982.
Dunn, James D.G., Word Biblical Commentary, Romans, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1988.
Murray, John, The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary on the New Testament, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1965.
Prince, Derek, The Destiny of Israel And the Church, DVD series, Derek Prince Ministries, 1990.
Robinson, Donald. Selected Works (Volume I) edit by Bolt and Thompson, Australian Church Record, Camperdown, 2008.
Wright, Tom, Paul for Everyone, SPCK, Westminster John Knox Press, London, 2004
