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Old but Not a Chestnut: Romans 12:1-2

 How many sermons did my generation hear on this passage, especially as young people? (and since I taught at a Christian college for 12 years, I stayed a young person in that category for a long time.)

Yet I feel the need to camp on it because now I have so much more life experience, good and not so good, to understand what Paul was saying about 1970 years ago. Here, with my contemplation words bolded.

I beseech (urge, implore, greatly desire) you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable (rational) service. 

I will stop there for now because the next verse (all versification being a matter of tradition not inspiration) seems to move on to another theme, into a step deeper or further into spiritual growth or "development" as I read today. 

Paul wants this for them in light of what he has just written. And that is the end of chapter 11, after a difficult discussion of Israel's status that I do not feel competent to address. I do believe NT Wright has written on this a lot, as in several 700-page books, one of which I read or tried to. But those verses are about--they extol--the power, mystery, inscrutability, unsearchability, sovereignty, true creativity (could be capitalized, perhaps), and glory of God. 

Therefore:  knowing we are pretty puny and not nearly as important as we think we are--something it doesn't hurt to remind myself of, well, every few minutes; knowing we really understand very little of this world--we all need a Job experience; knowing we won't understand it ever, even in eternity where we will be like God but not Him and so part of His mysteries but not the controller of them; knowing we not only know little but we control even less of our lives except immediate choices.....

The command he is moving toward is "present your bodies," an individual and corporate choice, an act both once and daily, but I'm not ready for that. 

Before he gets there, he calls them "brethren," not to exclude women but because, well, that's the way things were and are linguistically and culturally, I fear. The women would suffer with the men as far as persecution went at that time; Paul should know that because Acts 8 is clear that he put men and women in jail and perhaps advocated to their sentence of death (he confesses to that in a later epistle). The "brethren" is unfortunate for us because other languages with gender built into them, unlike English, include both in the male words. Anyway, he's talking to both, especially since later he says hello to as many women as men. 

But "brethren" is not about the gender but the relationship. We sort of take it for granted now, but to call someone "brother" or "sister" raised their status immeasurably. It is theological, relational, practical, and it also re-aligns what the natural family relations might be. In other words, "my blood brother may or may not be as close to me as my spiritual brother." That is tough, but Jesus predicted it. And let's not overlook the fact that is one reason for persecution in the rest of the world. Blood family is to be everything in most cultures; to let non-kin be in the same position is a destruction of the natural and necessary order and therefore punishable. 

(There are many reasons why believers are persecuted by imprisonment, torture, and death in other countries, Satanic oppression being one of them, but another is that the ethos of Christianity is seen as destructive to their societies. It is not, but that is the reason or "excuse.")

Again, before the essence of the command, there is another key, perhaps central, phrase: 

by the mercies of God.

We tend to talk more about grace than mercy, and they are different. But the Bible does not make this prioritization of grace as much as we do.  

Mercy is for sinners to be released from punishment. Grace is the additional gift of status in Christ. Mercy reminds us how deep our sin is. 

A few other references to mercy:

Psalm 52:8: But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.

Psalm 6:4: 

Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!

Psalm 25:6: 

Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are from of old.

Psalm 40:11:

Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.

Note the connection of chesed with "mercy" or "mercies."

There are many others, but I will end with one that is sustaining me a lot right now. 

Lamentation 3:22-24
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

More to come.....


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