Paul starts this chapter out with a concluding "therefore," summing up all that has come before by telling the readers by God's mercies they should present their persons as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is their logical service. Dr. Sproul explains what is expected and then what Paul means by "renewing your mind."

We now come to a watershed moment in our study of Romans. We are beginning a new chapter: chapter 12. I am going to read verses 1 through 2. That is twice as many verses as we read last time. So, we are hurrying up and picking up the pace. for the reading of the Word of God:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

This is the beginning of Paul’s summation of his magnum opus, his great treatise on the gospel that we have been studying throughout the book of Romans. I pray that God would give us ears to hear this petition that the Apostle sets before us today. Please be seated. Let us pray.

Once again, O Lord, we come into Your presence in a spirit of sheer delight that we can gather and hear Your Word. I pray now that as we contemplate these practical applications set forth by the Apostle, we will indeed take them to heart. We ask it in the name of Christ. Amen.

Paul’s Practical Conclusion

In the English language we have many different kinds of word forms. We have nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, and so on. But we also have an abundant use of symbols, such as the plus sign and the minus sign.

There is one written symbol with which you may not be familiar. If you ever see three dots on a page arranged in the form of a triangle—one dot at the top and one on either side—that symbol is for the word ergo or therefore. It is the symbol used in classical logic, after the opening premise and the second premise, to indicate the conclusion that is drawn from them. It indicates the therefore.

I have said many times that any time we see the word therefore in Scripture, our attention ought to perk up, because we are coming to the sum of the matter. We are coming to a very important conclusion. We are coming to the end of an argument. Usually, the term therefore indicates the conclusion to an argument that has previously been set forth.

When we see Paul’s petition to his readers in the beginning of chapter 12 of Romans, “I beseech you, therefore . . .” we have to ask: To what does the “therefore” refer? Does it refer to what immediately preceded the beginning of chapter 12—that is, the conclusion of the doxology that Paul gave in chapter 11? Maybe. But many Pauline scholars argue that the “therefore” Paul uses here in chapter 12 follows the entire unfolding of his argument regarding the gospel, which began in chapter 1 and sets forth the counsel of God throughout the epistle.

Paul makes a clear transition from the doctrinal portion—the theological content of the epistle—and moves to the point of application. What he is saying to his audience in Romans 12 is that, in light of all that has been unfolded about the things of God, therefore, there is a practical conclusion that we ought to reach.

By the Mercies of God

Paul is not simply arguing in a logical way here—though he certainly is doing that—but he appends to his argument an Apostolic plea that is borne out of an earnest desire his audience will come to understand. He begins by saying, “I beseech you therefore, brethren . . .” He is reduced to begging, to giving a plaintive plea to the reader.

In light of our understanding of the gospel, of justification by faith alone, of sanctification, of the doctrines of grace in election and in perseverance, and of the sweetness of God’s providential care, whereby Paul can say that God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His if we understand these things, what are the implications? What are the applications? Paul says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God . . .”

What does that mean, “by the mercies of God”? I think the Apostle is saying that his plea is in light of the tender mercies of God that he has just expounded. The fact that we are justified by faith is because of the mercy of God. The fact that our sins are forgiven through the atonement of Christ is because of the mercy of God. The fact that God works all things together for our good is because of the mercy of God. The fact that God, from the foundation of the world, has called people to Himself is the ultimate expression of the mercy of God.

Everything that Paul has expounded throughout the doctrinal section of this epistle points back to God’s mercy. From the beginning up to this point, it has all been about grace. It has all been about the tender mercies of God, and that is what drives the Apostle to this necessary conclusion. It is the mercies of God that lead us to the “therefore.”

An Offering of Praise

Paul says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” The first thing Paul asks that we do, by practical application, is to bring an offering of thanks to God.

The beginning of chapter 12 hearkens back to the Old Testament system of worship, which was established on the basis of sacrifice. The first sacrifice propagated by God in the Old Testament was the worship that He required of Adam, Eve, and their sons. The sons would come with their produce or livestock and offer a sacrifice on the altar.

The definition of worship in the beginning was the offering of a sacrifice of praise to God. In the Old Testament, the liturgical structure of the tabernacle and the temple expanded on that theme. Bulls, goats, lambs, turtledoves, cereal offerings, and the like were brought into the sanctuary as an integral part of the worship of the people of God. By their sacrifices, they were offering praise and worship to God.

Sometimes, we think of the term sacrifice to mean giving up something that is extremely valuable. It means giving up something that has worth to us and letting it go for the sake of God. This element is included in the concept of sacrifice. However, the primary point is not that we should lose something, but rather that we should express something. The whole principle of giving to God is an expression of worship.

When we come to the place in our church services when the pastor says, “Let us now worship God with the giving of our tithes and offerings,” it is not that we are simply asked to bite the bullet, make a sacrifice, grit our teeth, and give something back to God out of duty. No, the offering is an act of worship. This is one way in which we show our submission to the transcendent majesty of God. He is worthy of our praise, our devotion, our substance, our time, and ourselves.

In the Old Testament, before an animal sacrifice could be offered on the altar, it first had to be killed. The lamb, goat, or bull was slain and its blood poured on the altar. This is in stark contrast to what Paul is saying. In light of the gospel and all that we have just heard about the mercies of God, present yourselves—not your animals, not your vegetables, not your grains—as living sacrifices.

Paul is not asking us for martyrdom. He says that the response we should give to the gospel is an act of worship and praise. The sacrifice of the new covenant is not a sacrifice of bulls and goats but a sacrifice of the people of God, for we are called to give ourselves to the service of God as an act of worship.

Present Your Bodies

Paul says, “Present your bodies.” We might wonder, “Why doesn’t he say, ‘Present your souls’?” When we think about worship, we often think of it as a spiritual thing. It is not something that we identify with our physical bodies.

When the Apostle says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice,” he is saying, “Present your person, present yourselves.” He does not mean just your physical body. We use “bodies” synonymously for persons. If I say: “Is anybody here tonight?” I am not asking, “Are there bodies lying about?” If we say “anybody” or “somebody,” we mean some person, some living being. So, when Paul says, “I beseech you by the mercies of God, brethren, that you present your bodies,” what he is saying is that God wants you to give yourself. Christ, in the ultimate sense, has given Himself for us, and we are to respond to that by giving ourselves to Him.

Of course, we cannot give ourselves to Christ in the same manner in which He has given Himself to us. He gives Himself to us to redeem us; we give ourselves to thank Him and serve Him as His faithful servants, not that we may redeem or save Him. There is obviously a radical difference between His giving to us and our giving to Him. But Paul says that God wants our bodies as living sacrifices.

When do you do that? When do you give yourself to God as a living sacrifice? The minute you come to Christ. That sacrifice is not offered on the Day of Atonement or on Sunday morning. It is an offering of your whole self for your whole life. It is so easy for us to see that, yet so hard for us to do it, because every day of our Christian lives our spiritual growth is so meek and weak that we want to hold back. We want to keep a part of ourselves for ourselves.

Throwaway Life

In the past, I have said to my seminary students: “You may think that, in studying for the ministry, you’re studying for a glamorous enterprise where you’re going to make a difference in people’s lives, and it sounds so spiritual and wonderful. But I want you to know, before you go into a church, get ordained, and take up the office, that it’s a throwaway life. When you enter into the service of Jesus Christ, by the standards of this world, you are throwing your life away. You are wasting your life.”

I will never forget when I made the decision to go to seminary and become a minister. My father had died shortly before that. He was the president of the largest corporate bankruptcy firm in the city of Pittsburgh and had a multitude of attorneys on his staff. The name of that company was R.C. Sproul and Sons. It was begun by my grandfather, whose name was R.C. Sproul, and then my father, R.C. Sproul Jr., became the president. He hired a battery of attorneys for cases of bankruptcy.

I was the heir to this prosperous company. All I had to do was to get my license, and I could step right into the presidency of this company. When I told my mother that I was not going that route and that God had called me into the ministry—for which she was very pleased—I was descended upon by a battery of attorneys.

The attorneys’ messages were all the same: “Are you out of your mind? Are you crazy? You have this whole organization set up for you that guarantees prosperity, and you want to go into the ministry?” They were all over me, and they were speaking to me as strenuously and as passionately as they could.

They did not represent the slightest bit of temptation. I realized in those conversations that they had no idea what it was about. They did not understand that I was a sinner who had experienced the mercies of God, and that same God had called me to serve Him no matter what. It is a throwaway life.

That is true not only for pastors. That is true for any Christian whose life is given over, body and soul, to the service of God. That is what it means to be a Christian, that you present yourself as a living sacrifice. Your life is a living sacrifice. We are not talking about tithes and offerings. We are talking about your whole person devoted to the service of God—a living sacrifice.

Consecrated Sacrifice

Paul goes on to make a qualification. Besides being living, he says that it is a “holy” sacrifice. The offering of ourselves that we are to bring to God is not an offering of sin. The animals offered to God in the Old Testament economy were to be the firstfruits of the flock, without blemish.

Christ has already taken your sin. When you give yourself as a living sacrifice to God, He wants that sacrifice sanctified. He wants that sacrifice to be consecrated. We used to sing an old hymn. It is a very simple hymn, but it carried this message: “Give of your best to the Master.” Give that portion of your life that is the most sanctified as an act of praise to God.

Paul is giving us a tough job to do. He starts it by begging: “I beg you in light of the mercies of God, present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.” You can sense the way in which the Old Testament economy is informing Paul’s understanding of this metaphor of sacrifice.

Not all the offerings that God received from His people in the Old Testament delighted Him. The prophets came when the people of God were being hypocritical and offering false worship to Him. Through the voice of the prophets, God said to His people: "I despise your feasts. I hate your solemn assemblies. Your sacrifices have become a stench in My nostrils."

We often overlook that, do we not? We think that any act of religion, any act of spiritual sacrifice will necessarily be delightful to God. That is not true. God requires that when we give this offering of ourselves, we give it in a way that is acceptable to Him. He requires that we offer ourselves in humility and repentance to Him. We offer ourselves to Him so that the sacrifice of our praise will be a sweet aroma in His nostrils and not a stench.

Reasonable Worship

The Apostle says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” That is what my translation, the NKJV, reads. Some of you may have different translations. Others read, “Which is your spiritual worship.” I see in the text that the Apostle says, “Which is your logikos latreia—your logical worship.” Is that not interesting?

There are two ways that we can look at this. We can ask, What is more logical, what is more reasonable than to respond to God by offering our whole selves to Him in thanksgiving, praise, worship, and adoration? With the saints behind the altar we sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.” That is the logical response. If we understand the gospel for a moment, then indifference and apathy are irrational responses.

The worship that we are to offer to God is not to be mindless worship. The church today is pervaded by mindless worship. We have seen a whole generation of Christians who do not want to have to think. They do not want to have to grapple with the content of the Word of God. They want their religion to be simply a religion of feeling rather than one of understanding. If you ask these believers questions about it, they may say: “God calls us to have a childlike faith.” That is right, but not a childish faith. We are to be childlike in our morality and in our trust. We are not to be hardened professionals in sin. We are to be children in that sense, but in our understanding, we are called to be adults.

The Word of God rebukes those who, in their Christian lives, are satisfied with a diet of milk and pabulum. We are called to go for the meat of the gospel, to dig as deeply as we possibly can in our lifetimes. We are called to grow into the fullness of maturity in Jesus Christ. That is our reasonable worship—a worship that, as we will see in the text, involves the mind in an engaging way.

Some of you may be acquainted with Ligonier Ministries and the radio program that I host daily called Renewing Your Mind. Do you know where that title came from? It came from Romans 12, from the passage I have just read, because immediately after this passage about your reasonable service, Paul says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Do Not Conform to the World

There is a contrast between what we are exhorted to do and what we are not to do. Both have to do with morphology. Morphology is the study of forms. In English, the root words of form can describe shape or indicate a style. Paul now contrasts conformity with transformation. We are to flee from one to the other.

The first thing Paul says negatively regards what it means to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, “which is your reasonable service.” Here is what it does not mean: to be conformed to this world.

Dear friends, the biggest problem we have that saps the strength of Christian witness is the common conformity of the Christian community to the world. Many of you have children who are teenagers, and many of you were once teenagers. You may remember that the single greatest pressure that you faced socially was the pressure of conformity.

The worst thing that could befall you in your adolescent years was to be considered “out of it,” to be marching to a different drumbeat. You could be called a dork, a nerd, or a fool. Yet as Christians, that is exactly what we are called to be: fools for Christ. The things that we cherish and the things that we follow are considered foolishness and rubbish by the standards of this world. In the first instance, a Christian is a nonconformist.

One thing that scares me is reading polls presented on the behavior of so-called “born-again Christians.” There is no discernable difference, with respect to divorce, abortion, and sexual morality between the professing Christian and the secularist. How is that possible?

Many Christians are still adolescents. We are watching what the world is doing, and we want to win the approval of this world. We do not want to be rejected. We do not want to be outcasts. We do not want to be social pariahs. So, we allow the standards and the customs of our culture to dictate our behavior instead of the Word of God. Do you see why the Apostle is reduced to begging? He understands our frames. He knows that there is a tremendous pull on our psyches to conform ourselves to this world.

Spiritual Obedience

The other side of the coin is that throughout the history of the Christian church, we have seen many forms and movements of Christian nonconformity. I think of the Amish in America. I went to college in a town where the largest indigenous population was Amish people. You had to be very careful driving at night, because the Amish do not drive cars. They drive horses and buggies with lanterns on the side of them. They are very difficult to see at night, and it seemed like every month there would be a terrible collision between an Amish buggy and an automobile.

The Amish use white sheets for their curtains. They have hooks and eyes on their clothing. They do not believe in the use of buttons. They do not believe in the use of electricity. They have none of the modern amenities. They plow their fields with a mule or a horse, pulling a handheld plow. Why? They are trying to obey this passage. Their idea is this: “If the world does it, we won’t. If the world uses electricity, we’re not going to use electricity. If they use buttons, we won’t use buttons. If they use zippers, we’re not going to use zippers.” I don’t know why they didn’t take it further: “If they wear hats, we won’t wear hats.” They wear a different kind of hat, but they still wear hats. So, you see what happens when nonconformity degenerates to nonconformity for its own sake.

There are many Christian groups in our culture that say the essence of Christian piety is that you do not go to movies, wear lipstick, or dance. They reduce the spiritual matters of eternity to trivial things. The kingdom of God is not about lipstick. It is not about playing cards. It is not about going to movies. It is not about dancing. It is about obeying the law of God and living lives of godly spiritual obedience to Him. We cheapen this when we say, “We’re nonconformists because we don’t play cards.” That is not what this text is about. It is about the spirit of this age. It is about the godlessness of the culture.

The Apostle writes of fornication, “Let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (Eph. 5:3). Sexual activity outside of marriage is so far from Christian behavior that it ought not occur, even once, in the Christian community. If Christians in the twenty-first century were measured by that standard, how much more would they want to give up cards or dancing?

In Light of Eternity

The point is not just negative. Paul urges us not to be conformed to this world. When Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world,” the word in Latin, ironically, is the word saeculum, not the word mundus. Latin has two terms for what we call in English “the world”—mundus, or mundum, and saeculum. The difference is this: The mundus referred to this world spatially, this geographical location, this planet as distinguished from the “heavenlies” of which the Bible speaks. The other word for world was the word saeculum, which meant this age, this present time that is not informed by the eternal.

The primary assertion of contemporary secularism is the principle that our time on this planet, this saeculum, is the only time there is. There is the hic et nunc—the here and now—and nothing more. There is no eternity. There is no life beyond the grave. That is why young people are bombarded with advertisements telling them: “You only go through life once. Grab all you can get. Go for the gusto now, because this saeculum, this time, is all that there is.”

To that the Scriptures say emphatically: No, we are not secularists. We live in the sphere of this world, but we do not live according to the precepts and principles of this passing age. We are to live our lives in the light of eternity, in light of that truth which comes to us from above.

Transformation of the Mind

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.” The word for “transformation” in the Greek is a form of the word metamorphosis, which we use in English to describe the transition that a caterpillar goes through when it becomes a butterfly. It is a radical change of form. The goal of the Christian life here is not mere nonconformity. Nonconformity is the easy part. The goal is transformation. In this case, the prefix trans- to the word formed means “above and beyond the forms of this world.”

If you want to summarize what it means to be a Christian, it is this: You do not live by the drumbeat of this world. You live by a higher calling—the calling of God. When you do that, the form of your life changes. Instead of being conformed to this dying age, your life will be transformed by the power of God.

What is the power of transformation according to the Apostle? How is this transformation wrought in us? “Be transformed.” How? “By the renewing of your mind.” If you want a new life, if you want a transformed life, you first must have a new mind.

The beginning of the Christian life is rooted in repentance. The word for repentance in the Greek is metanoeō, which refers to a changing of the mind. Prior to your repentance, you thought one way. You thought according to the precepts of this world. You thought just like your secular neighbors, doing everything in your power to bury your sin in your subconscious. But when the Holy Spirit brought you to conviction, awakened you to your absolute need for a Savior, and you rushed to the cross, your mind and the entire direction of your life were changed. The mind is in the center in this . This transformation comes by having a new mind.

That is why I chose Renewing Your Mind for the title of our broadest program, because if you want to change people, you need to change their thinking. If I can use this distinction once more, a changed mind is a necessary condition for transformation, but it is not a sufficient condition. You can study the things of God, you can study the Word of God, you can make 100 percent on every theological examination that you ever take—you can have it in your head but never get it to your heart. If it does not get to your heart, you will never be transformed.

However, the way God has made you is that the avenue to your heart is through the mind. The Bible was written and given for our understanding so that we might begin to think like Jesus thinks, approve what He approves, and despise what He despises. That is the way our lives are changed. When we begin to think like Christians, we get a new mind. Out of that new mind, we pray that the heart will be changed. When the heart is changed, the life is changed, and we are a transformed people.

God’s Perfect Will for You

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove”—that is, that you may know, understand, certify, and authenticate—“what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Many years ago, before Renewing Your Mind was on the radio, we had a five-minute program called Ask R.C. where people would call in with questions. They wanted theological comments and biblical references on their questions. Do you know the number one question we received? “How can I know the will of God for my life?” That was the question that I was asked more than any other question.

You do not find God’s will by using a Ouija board. It is not found by looking for signs. It is not found by putting out fleeces. It is found by the renewing of your mind through feeding on the Word of God so that you begin to think God’s thoughts after Him. When your mind is informed by the Word of God, then you are able to certify, to prove, and to recognize “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

People come to me and ask, “What’s the will of God for my life?” I answer: “Are you asking me whether you should be a lawyer or a butcher, baker, candlestick maker? Are you asking, ‘Should I marry Jane or Virginia?’ I do not know.” We will talk more about that next time, God willing.

Let me tell you what the will of God is for your life, according to the Bible. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3). It does not matter what your job is, who your wife is, or what city you live in. If you are not growing in sanctification, those things are worthless. If you really want to know what the will of God is for your life, let me tell you. What God wants from me and from you is that we grow into spiritual maturity, that our lives become more and more set apart and consecrated by the Holy Spirit, that our minds are changed, and that our minds are transformed. Then we will be able to tell what is pleasing to God. Then we will be able to know what He wants us to do, what is good, what is acceptable, and what is the total and complete will of God. Let us pray.

Our Father, we need Your Word, we need Your Spirit, and we need Your grace to be transformed. We pray, O Father, that You will never allow us, in this secular time, to be satisfied with our own growth. We want transformation. Give us the capacity to give our whole selves to You as a sacrifice of praise, as our reasonable worship. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.