In chapter 12, Paul begins a series of chapters (12-14) dealing now with what a life of grace and mercy should look like between the Jews and the Gentiles. The two social groups are in conflict with one another. Paul’s awareness of this conflict is apparent the plethora of grammatical commands that Paul presents to his readers in these chapters compared to the rest of his letter. Structurally, it is quite clear that next three chapters is Paul’s solution to the conflict in Roman church.
In the first eleven chapters, Paul constructs his letter with only eight commands. However, in chapters 12-14, Pauls communicates with just about no other grammatical structure than a command. 69 times in 60 verses Paul uses the command verbal form to exhort his readers to action; 41 of those commands occur in the chapter 12 alone.
The overall grammatical structure is quite illuminating. The chart below screams out the numbers of commands within the structure of Pauls letter, letting his readers know that chapters 12-14 are important in comparison to the test of the letter.
CHAPTERS COMMANDS
Chapters 1-11 8
Chapters 12-14 69
Chapters 15-16 9
Chapter 12 41
Chapter 13 19
Chapter 14 9
So, it is clear that in the first eleven chapters, Paul is well aware of the conflict between the Jews and the Gentiles and he has spent most of his time explaining to his readers the prevalent social-theological misunderstandings that has caused this conflict. For Paul, what appears to be a de-escalation of the Jewish importance in favor of an apparent escalation of Gentile importance is in reality all part of God’s plan, but neither group is aware of this reality until Paul finally explains it to them in in chapters 1-11.
Now, that Paul has explained their cultural-theological situation to them, he now, especially in chapter 12, encourages them to live together in mutual respect and honor. In each of these three chapters Paul emphasizes the character quality of honor and need to demonstrate that character quality to both man and God.
Paul encourages his contentious readers to, “outdo one another in showing honor.” (12:10). He also encourages them later in the chapter to “give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.” (12:17)
He encourages his readers “offer respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed,” which is a way of saying everyone deserves respect and honor so show it to all. (13:7)
He also encourages his readers to express their honor to God in how they act toward others. (14:6)
It is obvious from Paul’s admonitions that both groups are not living in harmony, not welcoming one another due to the jealousy and conceit on both sides that Paul has already briefly brought to light earlier in his letter. (2:1, 8:31-34, 8:36, 11:25, 13:13)
So, Paul starts the 12th chapter with two commands “present your bodies to God”, and “don’t be conformed to the world.” Among the other 67 commands in the next few chapters, it is these two commands that appear to be of primary importance as he begins this section by placing these two at the top of the list.
“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.”
Perhaps with the placement of these two commands first in the list, and perhaps in addition to Paul's use of the phrase, "presenting your bodies", here in 12:1, perhaps, he is making another attempt to connect this chapter to their behavior in chapter 1, specifically to "being consumed with passion for one another to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves."
Paul may be here again attempting to discourage his readers to not be conformed to the way the world develops relationships with others and practices sexuality with them. Paul is admonishing his readers to "give thought" to their actions and to act with honor towards one another, not "with dishonorable passions that lead to shameless acts." (1:26-27)
Again, as we have stated earlier, Paul may be wanting to connect the next three chapters of commands (chapters 12-14) with the theological content he has already written, attempting to tie them together with the same socio-theological thread that seems to run throughout the letter.
With the remaining 67 commands Paul appeals to his readers to “not think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but instead, to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” It is this faith that God has measured out in history from the faith of the Jews first and then to the faith of the Gentiles, as this is their time, and their time is not yet fulfilled. That is the state of the Roman church to which Paul writes.
And it is these commands designed to bring a sense of peace and harmony as they accept the notion of the true gospel that Paul has delivered to them by letter, as he is unavailable to them to present them to them face to face.
Even as Paul encourages his readers to live appropriately as brothers and sisters in Christ even though they are culturally different and diametrically opposed to one another and have been throughout history, Paul is still cognizant of his work as an apostle to the Gentiles and he wants his readers to understand that the solution to their social issues is a correct theological perspective as it relates to his work among the Gentiles. He wants them to understand that the hardening in part that has come upon Israel is for the sake of the Gentiles and their salvation. And the gospel that Paul brings to the Gentiles is one embedded in the plan of God from the beginning of time, so that what is happening amongst them culturally should not be a surprise. That is Paul’s appeal to his readers.
The appeal to “present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,” Paul says is their “spiritual worship.” This is Paul’s veiled admonition to refrain from presenting their bodies to one another in dishonorable passions of lust. That presentation is not a worshipful act. In fact, conversely to present their holy bodies to God is a very acceptable offering of worship. And Paul says to present their holy bodies to God as a living sacrifice is the logical act of worship. It is logical to be a living sacrifice since Jesus became a living sacrifice when he presented his holy body to God on the cross. And it was a very acceptable offering.
Some translations, as the ESV above, translates 12:1 as, “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God… which is your spiritual worship. The word that Paul uses for “spiritual” is “logikos” (λογικός) which is the root word from which English derives its word “logical.” So, Paul is telling his readers that it makes the most theological sense for them to imitate Jesus in his form of worship. The logical way to worship is the way Jesus worshipped.
Paul’s positive exhortation to his “readers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God is the logical way in which they ought to worship is Paul’s contrary exhortation to his description of them in the first chapter. Since Jesus presented himself as a living sacrifice to God, Paul is encouraging his readers to do that very same thing.”
It is now not surprising at all that this exhortation that Paul uses here in chapter 12, he references once again in chapter 15 to again connect his readers to the complete version of his gospel message, i.e. that the Gentiles are now offered up to God for acceptance and holiness.
As Paul moves to closure in his letter, he is especially aware of bringing his letter to a logical conclusion in not only asking his readers to cease presenting their unholy bodies to one another in the dishonorable passions of their lust, but also to remind them of his Gentile mission throughout his letter.
In 15:15 Paul reminds his readers that he has already written to them about the purpose of his letter and the plan of God, i.e., God’s plan of salvific righteousness that is now offered to the Gentiles. Not only does Paul make clear that salvific righteousness is God’s offering presented to the Gentiles, but he also makes clear that the Gentiles are his own priestly offering presented to God, as the apostle to the Gentiles, now sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and made acceptable to God by the salvific righteousness that he has been preaching through his gospel to the Romans.
Paul is emphatic in his reminder that,
“…on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
In the last two chapters of Paul’s letter, we will again see how Paul continues to tighten the threads of his premise as he has been weaving it throughout the letter, and even now as he is about to secure the knot in the final chapters in 15 &16, imploring his readers to understand that from the very beginning of time it has been God’s plan to crush Satan under their feet (Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20) by providing salvific righteousness to the Gentiles. As the time of the Gentiles comes to fruition, the sooner does God’s plan also come to fruition.
In the last two chapters, Paul will again use repetition of words, phrases and sentences to tie together the final portion of his letter with the previous chapters. To the very end Paul tightens the thread of cohesiveness making sure there is interconnection from beginning to end.
In my next blog, we will see that Romans Ends as Romans Begins.