Romans 12:1-2: An Exegesis Study

An Exegesis Study

By Pastor Bobby

The Bible is so amazing! Think about it. The Bible is one of the oldest books that are still sold. While also took thousands of years to be created and put into on full book. That is also amazing because the whole Bible is God inspired. Which means God had a hand at creating and inspiring the whole Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "[16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good" (ESV). This tells us everything in the Bible is from God and meant to transform us so we can do God's good work. I also think the Bible is amazing because the Holy Spirit will use the Bible to connect with you no matter where your at or what you are going through. There are Bible verses on heart break, on anxiety, fear, love, relationships, and among other things there are Bible verses on addiction and defeating addiction. Now they are sometimes more open ended then that. Like a lot of times addicted and sin is enter changeable for each other. I bring this up because there are times when you see a verse that is talking about sin, but you can include addictions as well. But like I said, there are verses in the Bible that talks about sin and addiction.

One of those verses that I use all the time when I am teaching in recovery meetings and in addiction groups is Romans 12:1-2. I have always liked this verse because it gives us a tangible way of how to get rid of our sin and addiction, while also how to truly worship God. Because of this and how important Romans 12:1-2 is, I want to do exegesis study on this verse. In the hopes that we can have a deeper understanding in Romans 12:1-2. Again this is a verse that I have used many times in ministry. But it is amazing how the Holy Spirit is still opening my eyes to new things about this passage. So let's pray that while we dig into this passage, the Holy Spirit will show us all something new.

Before we dig into Romans 12:1-2, let's do a quick review on what exegesis is.

simply put exegesis is one the main ways to interpret scripture. And most would argue the correct way to interpret scripture. The reason why most people believe this is that using exegesis causes one not to allow personal beliefs and biases to dictate the meeting of the passage. But through looking at different types of context. We can find what God truly wanted to say in that passage of scripture. This is how you can get what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 out of a scripture. If you do not do this, this is how you get wrong interpretations and ultimately false teachings. So, as i said it is important to look at the different contests of a passage. The main contexts to look at is Biblical context, Literary context, Cultural Context, Historical context, and while not a context we look at how we can apply the scripture to our life. This is why exegesis is so affective.

Now that we looked at what a exegesis study is, lets begin by taking rough first impression look at Romans 12:1-2. For this first look we are going to act like this is the first time we have ever looked at this verse. This gives us a good launch off place so we can then start our exegesis study. In this step there is no right or wrong, this is simply just a rough first look. For this step you can even leave in your own personal beliefs. So Romans 12:1-2 says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[b] 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c] 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." (ESV). When first thing I see in this passage is that he is talking to other believers. That is why the author is calling them brothers. This seems like a very small detail. However, this will be very important later on when we talk about the audience that the author is talking to. The second thing I notice taking a rough first look, because of God's mercies and blessings. We then should be a living sacrifice to God. The author then goes on to say that living as a sacrifice is a form of worship. The third thing I notice about Romans 12:1-2, is that we called not to be of the world. But we as followers of Christ are called to be of Christ. What I mean by that is we are not to go along with what the world thinks is right. But we are to go along with what God thinks is right. The fourth thing from this passage that I noticed is that according to the author of Romans, that once we become a believer in Christ our minds must be transformed so that it does not continue to think in according to the world. We must act like we truly have been reborn according to our new life with Christ Jesus. Now that we have done a rough first look, let's start looking at this verse in context.

The first context we are going to look at is the literary context. This is looking at how it was written and stuff like that. Romans 12:1-2 is of course apart of the Epistle to the Romans, or you can say it is a letter written to the church in Rome. The letter was written from Paul to the church of Rome. It was meant to be a letter of encouragement and instruction. While also giving the Roman church a full picture of the faith story. But we will talk more about that later on. But as I said since this is a letter, it is written to a specific audience with a specific message to them. Now that we have looked at the literary context, we can move on to the next context

The next two context we will look at is the culture and historical context. I like to put these together, because they go hand and hand with one another. This letter was of course as I have said before written to the church of Rome. Or the Christians in Rome. The letter to the church of Rome was written around 55 A.D to 58 A.D. Paul most likely in Corinth during this time during his second missionary trip. During this time, the church of Rome was still relatively new to the faith. Since most scholars believe the church of Rome start around 50 A.D. With Peter being believed as the one who started it. However, he did not stay there for long. So, there would still be some growing pains in their faith since they would still be fairly young in their faith. For example, there were most likely still some customs that would have come from the Roman's traditions and the gods. While also being a melting pot of a lot of different beliefs and philosophies coming from the Greek, Egyption, and other cultures. This was because at this time Rome was considered to be the center of the world. Because of the multiple cultures that were in Rome at that time. Rome was a very impure and immoral at this time. prostitution, adultery, and various forms of same-sex relationships accepted or even celebrated among certain social classes. Many Romans followed the philosophy of Epicureanism, which prioritized pleasure as the primary goal of life. The people in Rome were more focus on seeking out pleasure above anything else. You can see this in the things Paul said in the book of Romans. For example, in Romans 6:19 Paul says,"[19] I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. " (ESV). We also need to remember that at this time Roman had an emperor at this time. So, he had a lot of influence in the culture at that time as well. So, because of all of these influences that the church of Roman had. Paul was trying to give the Romans believers a strong foundation for their faith. This causes us to make sure we keep these in mind when we are studying the book of Romans.

The next context we need to look at is the biblical context. This is where we look at how Romans 12:1-2 fits into the scriptures around it. First, let see how this verse fits in with the passages surrounding it. This is very important to figure out the Biblical context. Because when the Bible was originally written, it was not broken down in verses and sections. Romans 11:33-36, "[33] Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! [34] “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” [35] “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” [36] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (ESV) These are the verses before Romans 12:1-2. In which the verses are talking about the salvation of Israel. But what is really important to us for this verse. Is that Romans 11:36 ends the chapter by saying Amen. This shows us a hard stop. As well as, telling us that there is nothing to add to God's glory. It's all about God's glory. This means Romans 12:1-2 is a complete new idea that Paul is presenting to the church of Rome. And what this section and the rest of the book of Romans is, is Paul's application to what he was talking about in the rest of Romans. So this is applications and actions we can add to our Christian walk. Which is that we are to live a life worthy of being called a Christian, because every day we get up we must be a living sacrifice to Jesus Christ. Which means we cannot conform to this world. Which Paul is telling us how we personally must interact with Christ. Then after Romans 12: 1-2, Paul starts talking about how we as Christians should interact with fellow Christians. As I said this is all to show us how to apply what he had said before, and how we should actively bring glory to God through our actions. This is how Romans 12:1-2 also fits in with the rest of Romans. As I said this is the application portion of Paul's letter to the Romans. Paul started with what the problem is, which is sin. What the solution is which is Christ. And then Romans 12 starts the application or what we must do in result to Jesus saving us. There's also fits in with the rest of the Bible because it is pointing us to Christ. None of this is possible without Jesus, and it's Jesus who died on the cross that saves us. It is not our works which you could think that Romans 12:1-2 is telling us that it's based on the works. But it's not. What it is telling us is that as a result of us giving our life to Christ we should wake up everyday offering our lives as a sacrifice to Jesus. For this verse, this is really important to understand. And you wouldn't have understand this completely if you didn't know the biblical context of this passage or the passages around Romans 12:1-2.

Since we looked at the different contexts that is from Romans 12:1-2, let's take a look at what God is saying in this passage and the application. So let's start putting this verse together. Some of this will be a repeat of what I have said before. However, it is still important to go over it all together. Romans 12:1-2 is telling us that because of the grace of Jesus Christ and the act upon the cross. Our works is not what saves us, but only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. However, if we have truly given our life to Christ and accepted what Jesus has done on the cross. This would move us into a place of obedience. And with that obedience would move us into a place where we would want to worship Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior and everything we do. This isn't by singing songs or stuff like that. But as Paul says in Romans 12:1-2, the by offering our lives as a living sacrifice. What that means is obedient living according to how Jesus tells us to. So we must do things like making disciples, denying ourselves and picking up your cross daily, and other things in those natures. As well as, transforming Our minds to line up with the teachings of Jesus Christ rather than what the world says we should. Paul is challenging us to be Christians in everything we do not just by name only. So how can we apply this to our lives? Well first as Paul says we need to make a choice daily. Are we going to offer our lives as a holy sacrifice? Which means are we going to live our lives according to Christ. The second thing we need to do is start denying ourselves and focusing on the cross. This is how we can start transforming Our minds. But we also need to pray that God will spiritually and miraculously change our minds and our wills. Which leads us to the third thing we need to start doing which is prey constantly. This is just getting closer in our relationship with God and Jesus as well as spending time with Jesus. The fourth way we can apply this is by making sure we are opening our Bibles. The Bible is the word of God! And the Holy Spirit will use it to miraculously change our life.

In closing, Romans 12:1-2 is asking us or telling us to make a choice. Are we going to live the life Jesus wants us to do which will bring us spiritual gratification. Or are we going to live the life the world tells us to which will lead us to destruction.