The Book
Of
Romans
Part 3: Romans 12-16
Bob Harding
Table of Contents
Chapter LESSON TITLE Page
12Faithful Service…………………………………………………………..3
13Responsibility To Government, Neighbor And Self…………………...24
14God’s Plan For Unity In Personal Convictions………………………...38
15Glorifying God In Unity……………………………………………….55
16Concluding Instructions And Farewells……………………………….71
Romans 12
FAITHFUL SERVICE
INTRODUCTION
A.If something is great enough – it should cause a certain reaction.
1.Ex: Finding a lost child – should parents be happy? Next day? Next week?
1)It would be strange if they read the newspaper as if nothing great happened.
B.All the blessings we have in Christ should cause a certain reaction.
1.How should we respond to these blessings? Wake up as if nothing happened?
1)Romans – shows us some blessings and how we should respond to them.
C.Ch 12: Brings the beauty and simplicity of the gospel lived out.
1.This warm, gentle chapter is a window into the kind of life the righteousness of God produces for the Christian who allows God to work in his life.
I.12:1-2: A LIVING SACRIFICE (OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD)
1:“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
“Therefore”
1.Ch 1-11: The way of salvation for all and how great it is.
1)11:33: It is so great that it is beyond our comprehension.
2)11:34: God is in control, therefore nothing else matters.
3)11:35: God doesn’t owe anything to anyone.
4)11:36: Everything came through Him and for Him.
5)He now shows the effect the gospel should have in the lives of all who accept it.
6)On the basis of what God has done, Paul calls for a response from the Christian.
2.This same two-part method of teaching characterizes most of the epistles of the New Testament.
1)First, the gospel is preached (an announcement is made of what God has accomplished through Christ).
2)And secondly, those who accept the gospel are instructed regarding how to live in view of the salvation brought by Christ.
“I urge (beseech) you”
1.It means to plead, beg.
1)Paul pleads with them on the basis of the doctrine taught in Ch 1-11.
2)He appeals to an attitude already existing in the heart.
“brethren”
1.Paul is emphasizing equality from one brother to another.
1)He faces the same kind of temptations.
2)He wants us to respond in the same way he did.
3)If we have the RIGHT ATTITUDE we will have the PROPER RESPONSE.
“by the mercies of God”
1.God has manifested His mercy, and on this basis or because of this, he exhorts.
1)Mercy is a feeling of compassion with a desire to help.
2)God saw the lost condition of mankind and was moved with compassion to help.
2.Rom 1-11 – Revealed God’s abundant mercy.
1)Ch 1: Righteousness of God – way God makes a man righteous was revealed in the gospel.
2)Ch 2: Kindness of God – should to lead to repentance.
3)Ch 3: Grace of God apart from the Law – Justice – Blood – Faith – Gift.
4)Ch 4: Promise of God – Justification by faith – Example of Abraham.
5)Ch 5: Results of justification – peace with God – Love of God.
6)Ch 6: Dead to sin and alive to God – in baptism.
7)Ch 7: Dead to the Law – United in Christ.
8)Ch 8: Freedom in Christ – Submit – Walk in the Spirit – Victory in Christ.
9)Ch 9: Become children of promise by faith – heirs of God.
10)Ch 10: The word is near – produces faith – brings salvation.
11)Ch 11: Mercy, wisdom, knowledge of God.
3.If God has touched your heart, you will have the right attitude, which will produce the proper response!
1)Ex: A light should come on in all of us – but not at the same time.
2)It would be strange to go on as if nothing great has happened.
“to present” – To give up all claim.
“your bodies” (soma)
1.Soma has a variety of applications.
1)It means physical body here.
2)Included in this exhortation is every member of the spiritual body (12:4-5).
3)“Present your bodies” – lest the law of sin reigns therein (6:12, 16-18; 7:23- 25).
2.Note:Various religions consider the body as unimportant.
1)But try to serve God without the cooperation of your body!
“a living and holy sacrifice”
1.Since the first sin, God has required a sacrifice.
1)The Bible describes religion throughout the ages.
2)A prominent theme of each dispensation is sacrifice (altars and blood).
3)Therefore we are not surprised to learn that we must offer sacrifice to God in the Christian age.
4)Jesus is our sacrifice – but God still demands us to offer some kind of sacrifice.
2.In the Mosaic age there were two basic types of sacrifices.
1)WEEKLY: Blood sacrifice for a sin offering – Christ fulfilled-blood- observe every week in the Lord’s supper.
2)DAILY: Burnt, meal, peace offerings – indicated total dedication, thankfulness and fellowship – Christian fulfills.
3.In the Old Testament after the animal was offered, its purpose was fulfilled.
1)The animal was alive and presented dead.
2)Under the New Covenant, we were dead in sin and are now presented alive to God.
4.In contrast to the OT, the sacrifice that we offer is the complete submission of our body to the will of God, instead of the bodies of animals.
1)“The body cannot present itself and so the body, as the believer's vehicle of life in this world, represents the whole believer. All of this is in opposition to presenting one's body as a slave to sin (6:16ff)...Paul is urging believers to ‘live as a sacrifice.’” (McGuiggan p. 347)
5.Our bodies are to be active instruments in God’s hands.
1)Offering our bodies as living sacrifices involves putting our bodies at God’s disposal, devoted completely to His service.
6.A living sacrifice is one that is renewable each day, unlike those animals whose bodies were burned.
1)It is more glorious to God in that it learns perseverance through trial and proves God’s way overand over.
7.Under the Old Testament, animal sacrifice was an important part of worship, but as that law endedand the New Testament economy was established, animal sacrifice was abolishedand yet sacrifice was not.
1)Musical worship is described as sacrificing the fruit of our lips
(Heb 13:15).
2)The liberal act of benevolence by the Macedonian churches also epitomized the sacrificial nature of the weekly offering (2 Cor 8:1-5; 9:6-7).
3)The Philippians’ benevolence toward Paul was called a “fragrant (sweet-smelling) aroma, an acceptablesacrifice, well-pleasing to God”(Phil 4:18).
4)When Paul’s life was expiring, he called his demise a “drink offering”(2 Tim 4:6), signifying thathe had been a living sacrifice, now called to make the ultimate sacrifice.
5)Perhaps this has some reference to Christ’s command to take up one’s cross to follow him (Matt 10:38).
“holy”
1. The word means “to set apart” implying for a special purpose.
1)We are to take our bodies out of common use to serve God’s purpose.
2)Ex: Mt Sinai.
“acceptable (well-pleasing) to God”
1.How do we know what is well-pleasing to God?
1)God tells us (Rom 10:17; Heb 11:6).
2)We know God is pleased when we do only what He authorizes us to do (Gal 1:6-9; 2 John 9; Rev 22:18-19;
2.The sacrifice the apostle has in mind in Romans 12 is a comprehensive one, presenting one’s entirelife as an offering to God.
1)Without offering an animal sacrifice under Moses, a Hebrew could not be well-pleasing to God and in His favor.
2)Without presenting yourself a living sacrifice to God now, neither can you be approved (2 Tim 1:12).
“which is your spiritual (reasonable; rational) service (of worship)”
1.“reasonable service” – The KJV and NKJV is probably better here than the ASV and NASV which renders it “spiritual service.”
1)Vine – “...Pertaining to the reasoning facilities; the sacrifice is to be intelligent in contrast to those offered by ritual and compulsion.”
2)The offering is an intelligent offering, not one that's forced, or as a ritual.
2.It is the spiritual part of man that offers the service – the part that reasons.
1)The spiritual part of man offers the service because it is reasonable to do so in view of the mercies of God.
2)Nothing could be more reasonable for one who has been redeemed at the high cost of the very blood of God’s Son.
3.Is giving up all claim to our physical bodies reasonable?
1)Is serving God for 100 years reasonable in order to receive an eternal reward?
2)Is that a good deal?
3)There is no argument that can be offered; no hesitancy present; no resentment over the requirement to offer our bodies as living sacrifices unto God who has been so gracious to us!
4)Salvation is so great that it is worth sacrificing every WORD and ACTION!
4.Although the original word translated “spiritual service of worship”(latreia) can refer to worship (Rom 9:4; Heb 9:1, 6), it more generally refers to service (John 16:2; Luke 1:74).
1)In fact, the verb form (latreuo) is contrasted with the usual word for“worship”(proskuneo)(Matt 4:10; Luke 4:8; Rom 1:25), suggesting a difference between the two.
2)This evidence indicates that while all of life is service, not all of life is worship.
5.God is the object of our worship (Matt 4:10; Acts 10:25-26).
1)Worship must be in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
2)“God is Spirit” – therefore our worship is spiritual, not physical.
3)Worship demands some purpose on the part of the one worshiping God.
4)How could exercising be worship, when I am thinking about losing weight or getting in shape and not directing such toward God?
5)God is not nearly as interested in my bodily exercise as He is with my godliness, “For bodily exercise profits little…” (1 Tim 4:8).
6.Just a few examples in the Bible clearly illustrate that all of life is not worship. 1) Abraham told his servants that he and Isaac would “go over there and we will worship; and return to you”(Gen 22:5).
2)God told Moses to “come up to the Lord ... and you shall worship at a distance”(Ex 24:1).
3)After the death of his son, “David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate”(2 Sam 12:20).
4)The wise men came to Bethlehem to worship Jesus (Matt 2:2) and when they found Him, they “fell to the ground and worshiped Him”(Matt 2:11). 5) John “fell at his feet to worship” the angel (Rev 19:10; 22:8).
*The Bible clearly teaches that worship has a beginning point (Matt 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 28:9,17; Mark 5:6; John 9:38; Heb 11:21) and an ending point (Luke 24:52) and that worship does involve a “when” and a “where” (John 12:20; Acts 8:27; 24:11).
2:“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
“conformed” – suschematizo (soos-khay-mat-id'-zo)
1.W. E. Vine says of this word: “to fashion or shape one thing like another.”
1)Christians are constantly surrounded by the corrupt ways of the world and some want to copy those ways.
2.There are many different shaped cake pans – round, square, star, etc.
1)The cake batter conforms to the mold, and when baked it resembles the mold.
2)The Christian is not to be shaped or molded to this world, but to the Lord.
3)He belongs to the Lord, and the Lord shapes his life – conduct, speech, etc.
4)Our lives conform to Him as a mold (Col 3:9-10; 2 Cor 3:18).
3.Being conformed to this world means to outwardly appear to be a certain way.
1)Conformity to this world means tending the flesh and neglecting the spirit, justifying sinful behavior on the basis that a happy life would be threatened by godliness.
2)The demands of the world require no more than an outward, superficial conformity to its ways and customs.
3)These ways and customs are the natural actions of the unregenerate life, the sacrifice-resenting, fleshly nature.
4)Conformity to this world is the path of least resistance.
5)Conformedto this world is what the Christian will be if he does nothing.
4.A true Christian can “drift” into practices of other “religious people.”
1)When the Jewish people came in contact with the heathen nations, they began to imitate them.
*Conformity to the world hurts the church.
2)Some Christians imagine that they will have more influence on the world by becoming more like it.
3)The world was never made better by low ideals.
4)The deities of paganism did not elevate humanity.
*Conformity to the world hurts the world!
“but be transformed” – metamorphoo (met-am-or-fo'-o)
1.It means “to transform (literally or figuratively, ‘metamorphose’): - change, transfigure, transform;” “A transformation of one form into another.”
1)This word is rendered “transfigured” in Matt 17:2; Mark 9:2 and “transformed” (“changed”, KJV) in 2 Cor 3:18.
2)Metamorphosis comes from this Greek word, which describes such transformations as the change of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
3)God does not change – it is man that must change!
2.While the word “conformed” suggested “external conformity”, this word suggests “inward change”, “radical change”.
1)“The former denotes outward fashion, which may be fleeting...the latter is used to express essential form, in virtue of what a thing is....to undergo a change of essential form..” (P.P. Comm. p. 343)
2)“Which demands complete and fundamental inner change” (McGarvey p. 489).
3.There is no such thing as a true individual.
1)There is no such thing as a non-conformist.
2)Everyone is imitating or copying another's behavior.
3)In the final analysis everyone is a follower of someone or something. 4) Everyone “conforms” to some standard (6:16).
4.The Christian is to totally change inwardly and outwardly – not an act.
1)One is to put off the old man and put on the new (Eph 4:20-24; Col 3:8-10).
2)Radical change outwardly and inwardly.
*How does God change Christians?
“by the renewing of your mind”
1.This is how the transformation process takes place.
1)We must COOPERATE WITH GOD, if His will is going to change us.
2)We need to set ourselves the goal of transformation to the Lord’s way of thinking (Gal 2:20).
2.The Word of God changes our hearts, which results in an outward change.
1)We are to renew our minds on the Word of God on a daily basis (2 Cor 4:16).
2)It is the Lord’s way of controlling our lives from day to day.
3)It is the Lord’s way of strengthening us day by day.
3.True change demands a change in the way we think.
1)A change in our goals, in what we consider to be important, in what we expect from others and from life, a change in our priorities, a change in what we think will make us happy.
2)Often, “attitude change” is placed before behavioral change in the Scriptures (6:6;Eph 4:17ff; Col 3:1ff).
3)Paul has already pointed out, that such is true also in the opposite direction (Rom 1:21ff).
4.This also reveals why people don't change and grow.
1)There is a problem in their attitude, view, perception, convictions about life (Luke 8:14).
“so that you may prove what the will of God is,”
1.“Prove” (dokimazo) means “to scrutinize or test to see if something is genuine; to approve as genuine upon trial, to judge worthy.”
1)Acts 17:11: The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily – put to the test.
“that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
1.By exercising our minds on the Word of God, we can prove or ascertain what is good and acceptable.
1)The carnal-minded person is a poor judge between right and wrong actions (Eph 5:8-10, 17).
2)This is one of the best verses in the Bible showing the importance of Bible study.
II.12:3-8: FINDING MY PLACE IN THE CHURCH
WORKING FOR CHRIST (OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR BRETHREN IN CHRIST – 12:3-21)
1.When we enter the church we should seek an identity by asking:
1)What am I supposed to do?
2)What abilities do I have?
3)What are my goals in life?
4)What is my role or purpose in the Lord’s church?
2.If we do not find our identity as we answer these questions, we will become confused, discouraged, and we may even DROP OUT!
1)What is my place in the local congregation where I worship?
2)What does a transformed life look like?
3:“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
1.Having understood what God wants, our first responsibility is to understand yourself – know who you are.
1)First, we must properly evaluate ourselves in order to work in accordance with our capabilities.
“through the grace given to me”
1.Paul speaks by the authority of his apostleship.
1)The grace given to Paul had qualified him to be an apostle (1:5; Gal 2:7-9).
2)Paul exhorts us to be humble.
“I say to everyone among you”
1.Everybody needed this lesson.
1)it includes and applies to us as well.
“not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think”
1.Paul is condemning pride.
1)God gives whatever abilities we have or don’t have.
2)We must not overestimate ourselves and take on more than we can handle.
3)He is not to be conceited or have an over-inflated opinion of himself.
4)Do not consider yourself as Mr. BIGSHOT.
5)Don’t get cocky by overestimating your abilities.
6)The word “ought” impliesthere is a standard.
“but to think so as to have sound judgment (soberly)”
1.Nor are we to underestimate ourselves and therefore fail to do what we are capable of doing.
1)Denotes sound mind, level headed, sensible, rational, reasonable.
2)We are to think clearly and honestly – not clouded with conceit.
3)The humble person is the one who has the right view of himself.
4)Pride is one of the avenues which causes one to be conformed to the world.
“as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
1.Each is to think soberly about his abilities and use them to benefit his fellow believers and glorify God.
1)God has given us ability to perform certain functions.
2)God gives and develops faith through the Word.
3)Faith leads us to perform these functions.
4)Therefore the term “faith” in this verse is used to stand for the functions (work) that are performed by faith.
5)In giving us different abilities, God has enabled our faith to operate or work in different ways (4-8).
6)God develops each person into what he is.
2.“Faith” in this verse isn't one's own personal faith, for that comes by hearing (10:17).
1)Rather, “The measure of faith is the specific expression of faith (office or work) delivered to each Christian.” (McGuiggan p. 360)