Romans 12:1-21
Romans 12:1 and 2:
12:1Therefore I encourage you, brothers, by means of the pities of God, to present your bodies (as) a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God (which is) your logical rendering-of-service, .2and you must not outwardly-figure-yourselves-together with this age but you must transform-yourselves by the newing-up of the mind with-a-view-for you to prove what the intention of God (is) – the good and well-pleasing and complete (intention of God).
Following-on from what is already written (in this letter)…
- I encourage you (I exhort, call you beside me, as a concerned father or mother would call/invite their children close to them under their arms so as to help them to do what is right in the walk/behavior category)
- brothers (again reminding you that you are my brothers; all holy-people are brothers in the holy spirit category because all of us have received the same gift of holy spirit and we are therefore all children of God our Father; refer to Romans 1:13, 7:1 and 4, 8:12, 10:1, 11:25, and chapter 8),
- by means of the pities of God (not through my own feelings but through God's tender feeling of unhappiness or distress on seeing the ills being experienced by any of us; the word “pities” is in the plural form to give emphasis to God's great pity towards His children),
…to present your bodies (to cause your bodies to stand beside, near-by God) as…
- a living sacrifice (presently and actively alive, not dead or about to be killed, but as one united sacrifice in service, now living because you have received the same spirit within you as Christ received when God raised him up alive from death accepting his sacrifice of himself),
- holy (sanctified, separated, set-apart from the state of being common, defiled or unclean against God, corresponding to the essence of God),
- well-pleasing (goodly agreeable, acceptable and gratifying)
- which is your logical rendering-of-service (your performance of service to/for God that pertains to reason, the correct calculation of service; the word “logical” has the same root as the Greek word logos which is usually translated “word”),
…and you must not outwardly figure yourselves (causing your external-figure, outward-shape, scheme, schema, outline, including your demeanor, deportment, expressed-personality in the walk/behavior category to be) in conjunction with this age (the present duration of life, lifetime, the time during which you currently live your everyday lives) – but on the contrary…
- you must transform yourselves (continue changing your form, all of your being, metamorphosis, your whole form, not only your outward-appearance)
- by/with the newing-up of the mind (the word "newing-up" is a noun referring to a newness, as in that-which is made new with an upward motion, including the action and process of newing upwards; here it is the newing-upwards of the mind, the mind-set, the organ of mental perception, the mentality)
- [You already had a mind before you received the gift of holy spirit, but now you have available the mind of your holy spirit-life – the spirit of Christ in you – this is newly-made and different from what you had before you received holy spirit. In this context, it is the input or communication from your holy spirit to your mind which is the newing-up of your mind, the information is new compared to what was previously in effect, to what was available to/in your mind-set formerly; this communication is the action and process that replaces your old flesh-oriented mentality.]
- for the purpose of you proving what the intention of God is (putting to the test, proving by examination, and thus approving God’s will, His active volition and desire, during the everyday living of your lives) –
- emphatically and specifically…
- the good (good from God’s viewpoint; God is the One Who issues His goodness and He sets the standard of/for what is good to be conformed to by others)
- and well-pleasing (as verse 1 above)
- and complete (perfect by the ultimate arrival of the state of completeness, reaching God’s fulfilling ending-issue)
[Reference: Matthew 17:2; Romans 6:1-14, 8:12-17, 14:18; I Corinthians 1:20, 2:6, 8 and 16, 3:18, 6:19 and 20; II Corinthians 1:3, 3:18, 4:4 and 16, 5:9, 10 and 17; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 1:21, 2:2, 4:22-24, 5:1, 2 and 7-10; Colossians 3:1-4 and 10; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 6:6, 9:14, 10:19-22, 13:15, 16 and 21; I Peter 1:14, 2:1-5.]
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Serve
God in spirit
Living
sacrifice
Different practices or functions
Different gracious gifts
