Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren - This address is probably intended both for the Jews and the Gentiles; though some suppose that the Jews are addressed in the first verse, the Gentiles in the second.

By the mercies of God! - Δια των οικτιρμων του Θεου· By the tender mercies or compassions of God, such as a tender father shows to his refractory children; who, on their humiliation, is easily persuaded to forgive their offenses. The word οικτιρμος comes from οικτος , compassion; and that from εικω , to yield; because he that has compassionate feelings is easily prevailed on to do a kindness, or remit an injury.

That ye present your bodies - A metaphor taken from bringing sacrifices to the altar of God. The person offering picked out the choicest of his flock, brought it to the altar, and presented it there as an atonement for his sin. They are exhorted to give themselves up in the spirit of sacrifice; to be as wholly the Lord's property as the whole burnt-offering was, no part being devoted to any other use.

A living sacrifice - In opposition to those dead sacrifices which they were in the habit of offering while in their Jewish state; and that they should have the lusts of the flesh mortified, that they might live to God.

Holy - Without spot or blemish; referring still to the sacrifice required by the law.

Acceptable unto God - Ευαρεστον· The sacrifice being perfect in its kind, and the intention of the offerer being such that both can be acceptable and well pleasing to God, who searches the heart. All these phrases are sacrificial, and show that there must be a complete surrender of the person - the body, the whole man, mind and flesh, to be given to God; and that he is to consider himself no more his own, but the entire property of his Maker.

Your reasonable service - Nothing can be more consistent with reason than that the work of God should glorify its Author. We are not our own, we are the property of the Lord, by the right of creation and redemption; and it would be as unreasonable as it would be wicked not to live to his glory, in strict obedience to his will. The reasonable service, λογικην λατρειαν , of the apostle, may refer to the difference between the Jewish and Christian worship. The former religious service consisted chiefly in its sacrifices, which were δι ' αλογων , of irrational creatures, i.e. the lambs, rams, kids, bulls, goats, etc., which were offered under the law. The Christian service or worship is λογικη , rational, because performed according to the true intent and meaning of the law; the heart and soul being engaged in the service. He alone lives the life of a fool and a madman who lives the life of a sinner against God; for, in sinning against his Maker he wrongs his own soul, loves death, and rewards evil unto himself.

Reasonable service, λογικην λατρειαν , "a religious service according to reason," one rationally performed. The Romanists make this distinction between λατρεια , and δουλεια , latreia and douleia , (or dulia , as they corruptly write it), worship and service, which they say signify two kinds of religious worship; the first proper to God, the other communicated to the creatures. But δουλεια , douleia , services, is used by the Septuagint to express the Divine worship. See Deuteronomy 13:4 ; Judges 2:7 ; 1 Samuel 7:3 , and 1 Samuel 12:10 ; : and in the New Testament, Matthew 6:24 ; Luke 6:23 ; Romans 16:18 ; Colossians 3:24 . The angel refused δουλειαν , douleia , Revelation 22:7 , because he was συνδουλος sundoulos , a fellow servant; and the Divine worship is more frequently expressed by this word δουλεια , douleia , service, than by λατρεια , latreia , worship. The first is thirty-nine times in the Old and New Testament ascribed unto God, the other about thirty times; and latreia , worship or service, is given unto the creatures, as in Leviticus 23:7 , Leviticus 23:8 , Leviticus 23:21 ; Numbers 28:18 ; yea, the word signifies cruel and base bondage, Deuteronomy 28:48 ; : once in the New Testament it is taken for the worship of the creatures, Romans 1:25 . The worshipping of idols is forbidden under the word λατρεια , latreia , thirty-four times in the Old Testament, and once in the New, as above; and twenty-three times under the term δουλεια , douleia , in the Old Testament; and St. Paul uses δουλευειν Θεὡ , and λατρευειν Θεὡ indifferently, for the worship we owe to God. See Romans 1:9 , Romans 1:25 ; Romans 12:1 , Galatians 4:8 , Galatians 4:9 ; 1 Thessalonians 1:9 ; Matthew 6:24 . And Ludouicus Vives, a learned Romanist, has proved out of Suidas, Xenophon, and Volla, that these two words are usually taken the one for the other, therefore the popish distinction, that the first signifies "the religious worship due only to God," and the second, "that which is given to angels, saints, and men," is unlearned and false. - See Leigh's Crit. Sacra.