The Romance of Romans-Part 73

Romans Chapter 12

In the light of these magnificent mercies of God, I appeal to you dear friends to offer your entire being, including your body itself, to God as a living sacrifice. This is holy and acceptable to him and actually, living a life of worship is the only reasonable response to who he is and what he has done. Don't let the value system of fallen humanity mold or dictate your life or lifestyle. Rather, cooperate with God's agenda to transform you through the spiritual renewal of your thinking, so that you may be able to discern the will of God which is truly good, always acceptable and entirely perfect.

Comments:

Paul has completed laying out his inspired overview of the life, teaching, ministry, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus as Lord and Christ and put all this into the divinely re-contextualized kingdom construct based upon the now fulfilled Messianic Hebrew prophecies of scripture. It was no small task and its implications are revolutionary for human life on this planet. In the remaining chapters Paul begins to tease apart some of these important practical implications of "Jesus is Lord" for our lives, lifestyles and relationships.

With the coming of Christ there has been a fundamental shift in what the "temple of God" is all about. This "new temple" imagery is a major theme of the NT apostles that is woven into the fabric their writings. Through Christ, a new way of worship that is "in spirit and truth" and not focused upon ritual or confined to geography was inaugurated for the people of God. Jesus did more than hint at this in his interchange with the woman at the well in John 4.

The "tabernacle/temple" matters related to the manifest presence of God in this world and the proper way for the people of God to truly connect/commune with him in acceptable worship. On a practical level, it always revolved around divinely ordained priesthood and sacrifice. Jesus was himself the embodiment of the presence of God like no other "tabernacle" in the history of Israel. "The Word became flesh and "tabernacled" (lit.) among us (Jn 1:14)." Christ himself is...along with his body, the church, the new Temple of God. Also, he is the "high priest after the order of Melchizedek" prophesied in Ps 110 that signaled a massive shift in the nature and dynamics of the divinely ordained priesthood. Moreover, he himself became the "once and for all" substitutionary sacrifice...the Lamb of God...who took away the sins of the world in his death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection and ascension.

Here in the beginning of Romans 12, Paul dials up the image of "temple worship" and draws us into our proper role in the acceptable worship of the Living God through Jesus Christ. And...it begins on an intimately personal level.

More to come....