Romans 12:1-2 ESV
[1] I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. [2] Do not be conformed to this world, 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.
In the book of Romans, Paul spends the first eleven chapters providing the most detailed look at the human condition of depravity and how God’s grace and sovereignty is displayed through His act of redeeming and restoring His people and creation through the cross of Christ.
Paul’s next words after this explanation is an appeal to us “by the mercies of God” or “in light of all God has done for us”. It is an exhortation to consider all that God has done for us as explained in the previous chapters and then he tells us that our response should be that of worship which is to be implemented by making ourselves into “living sacrifices”. This is very different from what society and culture tells us. Culture would say that we are to make much of ourselves and to strive to obtain as much as we can before we die. This is contrary to what Scripture teaches. Paul realizes this, and then writes that the only way we can truly become living sacrifices is when we “do not conform” to what culture says, but when we become “transformed by the renewal of our minds” through studying Scripture.
The purpose of this site is to explain, explore, and examine the grace, mercy, and sovereignty of God through salvation, and then how we should bring God glory by behaving counter-culturally to become living sacrifices for the sake of the gospel.
