The Living Sacrifice to God in Romans 12:1

The Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1 beseeched or begged the church of Rome to present their bodies a living sacrifice. This is a perpetual sacrifice. Everything we do, we do in our bodies, so if it says your bodies, it does mean everything, and that’s seen in verses one and two. It is a reasonable service (v. 1) and a renewing of the mind (v. 2), so it is also an offering of the mind. The he calls it the perfect will of God, so this involves the will. The body, the mind, and the will would cover everything—thinking, incentive, and strength. Jesus had said to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might. The first eleven of chapters establish that God gives everything to a believer, so complete and sufficient provision from God through Jesus Christ. The “service” is worship. The believer perpetually offers himself to God, holy and acceptable to Him. Worship acknowledges who God is and gives Him what He wants.

Clearly through the New Testament this worship is also corporate and through the church. An individual believer fits into the body. He doesn’t move around and act on his own. He fits into the church. That is seen then in Romans 12:3 and following. Someone who operates on his own outside of the corporate working of the body of Christ, which is local, Paul says, thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think. No one can get this done on his own. God divides severally and with diversity to the entire body. The oneness of the body depends on the body parts working together that God provides.

Functioning together as a body requires being of one mind, a common expression in the New Testament (Romans 15:6, 2 Corinthians 13:11, etc.). This oneness comes, according to Ephesians through the perfecting of the saints by the office of the pastor-teacher.