Romans 12
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The following material is adopted from John MacArthur’s commentary on Romans and his Study guide. Additional material taken from sources listed at the end
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— Prayers ( Blue )
— Promises ( Green )
— Warnings ( Red )
— Commands ( Purple )
The Believer’s Supreme Act of Spiritual Worship ( 12:1-2 )
( Rom 12:1-2 ) 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.
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.
— The key to spiritual victory and true happiness is not in trying to get all we can from God but in giving all that we are and have to Him
— Countless thousands of people flock to conferences in search of personal benefits that they hope to receive
— That is just the opposite of what Paul is emphasizing here in Romans 12:1-2
— Jesus said, “True worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers ( Jn 4:23 )
— All of us are to be like Melchizedek, “a priest of God Most High” ( Gen 14:18 )
— The church is a holy priesthood whose calling is to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ ( 1 Pet 2:5, 9 )
— In the deepest, eternal sense, we cannot have more of God or from God than we now possess
— But it is more than obvious that most of us do not have the fulness of joy that fulness of blessing should bring
— The joy and satisfaction for which so many Christians are vainly striving can be found only by surrendering back to the Lord what He has already given us, including our inmost being ( Matt 22:37; cf Deut 6:5)
The Soul has been Given to God ( 12:1a )
( Rom 12:1a ) Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God,
— Earlier Paul made it clear that “those who are in the flesh cannot please God” ( Rom 8:8 )
— No matter what his personal feelings might be, the unredeemed person cannot worship God, cannot make an acceptable offering to God, cannot please God in any way with any offering
— That is analogous to what Paul meant when he said, “And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” ( 1 Cor 13:3 )
— If a person doe snot possess the love of God, all of his offerings, no matter how costly, are worthless to Him
— Therefore takes us back to Paul’s incredible doxology just given in the previous four verses ( 11:33-36 )
— It is because “from Him and through Him and to Him all things,” that to Him belongs “the glory forever”
— We can only glorify the Lord - we can only want to glorify the Lord — if we have been saved by the mercies of God
Perhaps the two most precious mercies of God are His love and His grace. In Christ, we are the “beloved of God” ( Rom 1:7; cf. 5.5; 8:35, 39), and, like the apostle, we all have received grace” through Jesus Christ our Lord ( 1:6-7; 3:24; 5:2, 20-21; 6:15). The mercies of God are reflected in His power of salvation (1:16) and in His great kindness toward those He saves (2:4; 11:22). His mercies in Christ bring us the forgiveness and propitiation of our sins (3:25; 4:7-8) and also freedom from them (6:18; 7:6). We have received reconciliation from Him (5:10), justification (2:13; 3:4; etc.) before Him, conformation to His Son (8:29), glorification (8:30) in His very likeness, eternal life (5:21; 6:22-23) in His very presence, and the resurrection of our bodies (8:11) to server Him in his everlasting kingdom. We have received the mercies of divine sonship (8:14-17) and of the Holy Spirit - who personally in dwells us (8:9, 11), who intercedes for us (8:26), and through whom “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts” (5:5). In Christ we have also received the mercies of faith (mentioned thirty time in Romans 1-11), peace (1:7; 2:10; 5:1; 8:6), hope (5:2; 20, 24). God’s mercies include His shared righteousness (3:21-22; 4:6; 11, 13; 5:17, 19,21; etc.) and even His shared glory (2:10; 5:2; 8:18; 9:23) and honor (2:10; cf. 9:21). And, of course, the mercies of God include His sovereign mercy (9:15-16, 18; 11:30-32).
The Body must be Given to God ( 12:1b )
( Rom 12:1b ) to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
— The second and consequent element of presenting ourselves to God is that of offering Him our bodies.
— After it is implied that believers have given their souls to God through faith in Jesus Christ, they are specifically called to present their bodies to Him as as living and holy sacrifice
— As with our souls, the Lord created our bodies for Himself, and, in this life, He cannot work through us without in some way working through our bodies
— If we speak for Him, it must be with our mouths
— If we read His Word, it must be with our eyes (or hands fro those who are blind)
— If we hear His Word, it must be with our ears
— If we go to do His work, it must be with our feet (cf. Rom 10:15 )
— We cannot prevent the remnants of sin from persisting in our mortal bodies
— But we are able, with the Lord’s power, to keep that sin from ruling our bodies
— Sin cannot reign in our souls; sin should not reign in our bodies “if by the spirit [we] are putting to death the deeds of the body” (Rom 8:13; cf. 6:16)
— From the very beginning, God’s first and most important requirement fore acceptable worship has been a faithful and obedient heart
— It was because of his faith, not because of his material offering, that “Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain” (Heb 11:4 )
— Logikos (spiritual) is the term from which we get logic and logical
— Our offerings to God are certainly to be spiritual, but that is not what Paul is speaking about at this point
— Logikos can be translated reasonable, as in the KJV
— Paul is saying that, in light of “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God” and of His “unsearchable…judgments and unfathomable…ways”; and because “from Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom 11:33, 36), including His immeasurable “mercies” that we already received (12:1a), our only reasonable — and by implication, spiritual - service of worship is to present to God all that we are and all that we have.
William Hendriksen
What the apostle is saying is that in view of God’s mercy, a voluntary and enthusiastic response of gratitude is required. Accordingly, when in this connection he mentions “God’s great mercy,” he must be referring to the marvelous goodness of God described in the first eleven chapters of this letter: his kindness (2:4), patience (9:22; 11:22), love (5:5; 8:35, 39), and grace (1:7; 3:24; 4:16; 5:2, 15, 20, 21; 6:1, 14, 15, 17; 11:5, 6). Particularly, he must be reflecting on his great theme, namely, Justification by Faith, a justification based solely on the substitutionary self-sacrifice of Christ (3:24, 25 ). What he is saying, then, is that this sovereign divine mercy calls for a life of complete dedication and wholehearted commitment. Animal sacrifices not do! Nothing less than thorough self-surrender out of gratitude is required.
The Mind must be Given to Go d( 12:2a )
( Rom 12:2a ) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
— We are not to masquerade as a worldly person, for whatever reason
— J.B. Philips translates this phrase as “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould”
— What does this say about seeker friendly churches?
The transformed and renewed mind is the mind saturated with and controlled by the Word of God. It is the mind that spends as little time as possible even with the necessary things of earthly living and as much time as possible with the things of God. It is the mind that is set “on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col 3:2). Whether good or bad, when anything happens in our lives, our immediate, almost reflexive response should be biblical. During His incarnation, Jesus responded to Satan’s temptations by hurling Scripture back into His adversary’s face ( Matt 4:4, 7, 10). Only the mind that is constantly being renewed by God’s Spirit working through God’s Word is pleasing to God. Only such a mind is able to make our lives “a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual service of worship.”
The Will must be Given to God ( 12:2b )
( Rom 12:2b ) so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
— Perfect carries the idea of being complete
— Our wills should only desire what God desires and lead us to do only what He wants us to do in the way he wants us to do it — according to His will and by His power
The Ministry of Spiritual Gifts — Part 1 ( 12:3-5 )
( Romans 12:3–5 ) 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. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
— The primary purpose of these verses is to make clear that, although we must enter the place of usefulness for Christ with the same total self-sacrifice, we are equipped to fulfill that usefulness in uniquely distinct ways
— This passage utterly destroys the notion that a Christian be can be committed to Christ but be inactive in His service, that he can love the Lord but not obey the Lord, that he can be surrendered to the Lord but not minister for the Lord
— True worship cannot be divorced from service
— Because every believer is perfectly gifted, no gift that God has not given should be sought and no gift He has given should be neglected
— The thrust of Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 (and Paul wrote both), the two central passages on spiritual gifts, is not on a believer’s precisely identifying his gifts but on his faithfully using them
— It is also significant that each of these passages mentions gifts that the other does not
— Spiritual gifts do not always correspond to what we commonly refer to as church offices — such as apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or deacon
— The KJV rendering suggests “all members have not the same office,” emphasis added
The Proper Attitude: True Humility ( 12:3 )
( Romans 12:3 ) 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.
— The Christian’s proper attitude is humility, not to think more highly of himself than the ought to think
— Lack of that foundational virtue causes many believers to stumble
The Proper Relationship: Unity in Diversity ( 12:4-5 )
( Romans 12:4–5 ) For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
— Here Paul is using body to refer to the church
The Proper Service: Exercising our Gifts ( 12:6-8 )
( Romans 12:6–8 ) Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
— It is tragic that many Christians keep their spiritual gifts stored, rather than using them to serve the Lord who gave them the gifts
The spiritual gifts mentioned in the NT, primarily in Romans 12 and in 1 Corinthians 12, fall into three categories: sign, speaking, and serving. Before the NT was written, men had no standard for judging the truthfulness of someone who preached, taught or witnessed in the name of Christ. The sign gifts authenticated the teaching of the apostles — which was the measure of all other teaching— and therefore ceased after the apostles died, probably even earlier. “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance,” Paul explained to the Corinthian church, “by signs and wonders and miracles” (2 Cor 12:12). The writer of Hebrews gives further revelation about the purpose of these special gifts: “After [the gospel] was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (Heb 2:3-4). Even during Jesus’ earthly ministry, the apostles “went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the words by the signs that followed” (Mark 16:20)
First Corinthians was written about A.D. 54 and Romans some four years later. It is important to note that none of the sign gifts mentioned in 1 Cor 12:9-10 — namely, the gifts of healing, miracles, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues — is found in Romans 12. The other two NT passages that mention spiritual gifts (Eph 4:7, 11; 1 Pet 4:10-11) were written several years after Romans and, like the epistle, make no mention of sign gifts. Peter specifically mentions the categories of speaking and serving gifts (“whoever speaks” and “whoever serves,” v 11) but neither category nor an example of the sign gifts.
It seems evident, therefore, that Paul did not mention the sign gifts in Romans because their place in the church was already coming to an end. They belonged to a unique era in the church’s life and would have no permanent place in its ongoing ministry. It is significant, therefore, that the seven gifts mentioned in Romans 12:6-8 are all within the categories of speaking and serving
Prophecy ( 12:6b )
( Rom 12:6b ) if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
— The first spiritual gift is prophecy
— Some interpreters believe that this was a special revelatory gift that only belonged to the apostles and like the other sign gifts ceased after those men died
— In the OT and NT it was exercised when there was a proclamation of divine truth, which was either old or new
— The gift of prophecy does not pertain to the content but rather the means of proclamation
— Paul gives no distinction to this gift among the other six, which are clearly ongoing gifts in the church, thus not limiting it to revelation
Whether it relates to revelation, prediction, declaration, instruction, encouragement, or anything else, all prophecy was always to proclaim the Word of God and exalt the Son of God, because “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev 19:10). Paul’s specific charge to Timothy applies to all proclaimers of God’s Word, including prophets: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim 4:2)
Service ( 12:7a )
( Rom 12:7a ) if service, in his serving
— This is a simple, straightforward gift that is broad in its application
— It seems to carry a meaning similar to that of the gift of helps mentioned in 1 Cor 2:28
— The gift of service is manifested in every sort of practical help that Christians can give one another in Jesus’ name
Teaching ( 12:7b )
( Rom 12:7b) or he who teaches, in his teaching
— The Christian who teaches is divinely gifted with special ability to interpret and present God’s truth understandably
— The gift of teaching could apply to a teacher in seminary, Christian college, Sunday school, or any other place where God’s truth is taught
— The Great Commission includes the statement, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,… teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20)
Exhortation ( 12:8a )
( Rom 12:8a ) or he who exhorts, in his exhortation;
— This is also a broad gift
— The word literally means calling someone to one’s side
— The gift of exhortation encompasses the ideas of advising, pleading, encouraging, warning, strengthening, and comforting
— At one time it might be used to persuade a believer to turn from a particular sin and at another time to encourage that same person to stay the course
Q: What if you don’t have this gift? Are we to be generous?
Giving ( 12:8b )
( Rom 12:8b ) he who gives, with liberality;
— The fifth category of giftedness is that of giving
— The one who exercises this gift gives sacrificially of himself
— In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus he makes clear that, whether or not a believer has the gift of giving, he is to have the spirit of generosity that characterizes this gift
— Every Christian should “labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need” ( Eph 4:28 )
Leadership ( 12:8c )
( Rom 12:8c ) he who leads, with diligence;
— Leads has the basic idea of “standing before” others and , hence, the idea of leadership
— In the NT it is never used of government rulers but of leadership in the family (1 Tim 3:4, 5, 12) and the church (1 Tim 5:17 )
— In 1 Cor 12:28 Paul refers to the same gift as “administration”
Showing Mercy ( 12:8d )
( Rom 12:8d ) he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
— The seventh and last spiritual category mentioned here is that of showing mercy
— It carries the idea of demonstrating sympathy for someone else and of having the necessary resources to successfully comfort and strengthen the person
— The gift involves much more than sympathetic feeling
— It is putting feeling into action
— He shows his mercy by what he say and what he does (cf. Prov 14:21; 31 )
Supernatural Living — Part 2 (12:9-13 )
( Romans 12:9–13 ) Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
— Supernatural living is not mystical
— It is practical living that results from conscious obedience to Gods standards of righteousness
— It is thinking, speaking, and acting in daily conformity with God’s Word and will (cf. Rom 6:17-18)
— In the present text ( 12:9-21), Paul gives some twenty-five distinct but closely related exhortations
— Any believer who honestly appraises his life by these standards cannot help being convicted of falling far short the of the perfection the inner person desires
— On the other hand, a person walking in the Spirit will see the Spirit working out these precepts in his life to a greater and greater extent
Personal Duties ( 12:9 )
( Romans 12:9 ) Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
— Love is the more important to a Christian than any spiritual gift he may have ( 1 Cor 13:13; cf. 12:31)
— It is therefore not surprising that the first fruit of the Spirit is love (Gal 5:22)
— The second longing of the new nature and personal duty of supernatural living is to abhor what is evil (cf. Ps 101:4)
R.C. Sproul
God expects from us authentic love, that which is not mixed with hypocrisy or false sentiment.
Paul makes immediate application with two strong statements: Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good (v.9b). We are to hate one thing and to love something else. The hatred about which Paul writes is hatred of the highest dimension. He uses one of the strongest words for hatred found anywhere in the Bible. The word implies not mild displeasure or m ere dislike; Paul is commanding in the name of the Lord that we loathe evil. We are to see evil as an unveiled assault on the character of God and on His sovereignty. As we seek to grow in grace, we seek to gain the mind of Christ, which is to think like Jesus, to love what Jesus loves, and to hate what Jesus hates. Hatred is one of the strongest emotions that can inhabit the heart of human beings. Hatred is destructive and demeaning, but not when it is directed against evil.
As we despise what is evil, we are to cling to what is good. Paul uses intense language here. This term translated “cling” is the root of the Greek word glue. We are to hang on tightly to that which is good, allowing it to be cemented in our souls so that we do not drop or lose it with the next wind of cultural fantasy that comes our way.
Duty to the Family of God ( 12:10-13 )
( Romans 12:10–13 ) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
—Paul’s list of ten “family” obligations begins with the command Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;
— This is one of the marks by which the world will know that we belong to Christ
— It almost goes without saying that we will give preference to one another in honor
— Give honor to fellow believers by putting them first
— not lagging behind in diligence could be translated “not lazy in zeal and intensity”
— There is no room for sloth and indolence in the Lord’s work
— “Whatever your hand finds to do,” Solomon counseled, “verily, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol [the grave]” ( Eccles 9:10)
— My friend Chris Cordill, before he died said, “Do more for the Lord”
Supernatural Living — Part 2 ( 12:14-16 )
( Romans 12:14–16 ) Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
—Paul tells us to Rejoice with those who rejoice
— At first glance, this principle would seem easy to follow
— But when another person’s blessing is at our expense or notable accomplishments the flesh does not lead us to rejoice but tempts us to resent
— The person “who rejoices at calamity” displeases God and “will not go unpunished” (Prov 17:5)
— But it is distinctively Christian to rejoice in blessings, honor, and welfare of others no matter what may be our personal circumstances
— We are also told to weep with those who weep
— Surely one of the most touchingly profound testimonies to God’s heart of tend sympathy toward His children is found in Ps 56
— The writer implores the Lord, “Put my tears in They bottle” (Ps 56:8)
A lovely illustration of that attitude is seen in a custom practiced in ancient Jerusalem. When the great temple built by Herod stood on the temple mount, it had only one entrance, located at the base of the southern wall, the remains of which are still recognizable today. Farther east on the same wall was the exit. The people woudl enter through the opening that allowed them to go through the wall, ascend the stairs to the temple area, and then exit by the other passage. Huge crowds flowed in and out in steady streams. There was on exception, however, to that pattern. One group of worshipers was to go the opposite way, entering by the way of the exit and leaving through the entrance. As they bumped into and squeezed by each other, the two groups came face to face. The sad faces of those who were experiencing sorrow could be seen going the opposite direction, and, in those brief moments, the grief could be shared
Our Duty toward Personal Enemies ( 12:17-21 )
( Romans 12:17–21 ) Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
—We are never to pay back evil to evil to anyone
— The OT law of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” ( Ex 21:24; cf. Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21) pertained to civil justice, not personal revenge
— If we genuinely respect others, including our enemies, we will have a “built-in” protection against angrily repaying them evil for evil
— We will be predisposed to doing what is right toward them
— The phrase heap burning coals upon his head referred to an ancient Egyptian custom
— When a person wanted to demonstrate public contrition, he would carry on his head a pan of burning coals to represent the burning pain of his shame and guilt
— The admonition Do not be overcome by evil has two meanings and applications
— First, we must not allow the evil done to us to overwhelm us
— Second, we must not allow ourselves to be overcome by our own evil responses
R.C. Sproul
We are warned in the Bible, however, to beware of the peacemakers of the flesh. There are the Neville Chamberlains of this world who think they have achieved peace for our time when they have not. There were the false prophets of Israel about whom Jeremiah complained, “They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.” ( Jer 6:14 ). Martin Luther described a fleshly peace, one based on falsehood rather than truth, a peace born of cowardice rather than courage. There is a wrong kind of peace, and because of that it is impossible to live at peace with all men.
Notice how Paul qualifies his admonition: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” Paul is addressing a problem that strains possibility to its limit. Our burden is to live peaceably with all men as much as doing so depends on us. When somebody offends us, we can have a spirit of retaliation, revenge, or vengeance, but that only exacerbates the tension and deepens the chasm that separates us from the offender. According to Paul, if somebody offends us, we are not strike back. Instead, we are to seek peace. Doing so is hard, but it is what our Lord did throughout His earthly ministry. He did not have the word doormat printed on His forehead. No one could accuse Jesus of being a doormat. The same is true of Paul. Paul is not advocating that we emulate Caspar Milquetoast; rather, he wants us to be people who do not love a fight.
Additional Resources
MacArthur, Romans. Romans 1-8. Moody Press, 1987.
MacArthur, Romans. Romans 9-16. Moody Press, 1991.
MacArthur, John. New Testament Commentary. Moody, 1985.
Hendriksen, William. Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995.
Sproul, R.C. Romans: The Righteous Shall Live by Faith. Romans an expositional commentary. Ligonier Ministries. 2019.