Page 19 - February 2025 - Truth & Tidings

He is looking for total yieldedness on our your logical priestly service,” since what
part. He has the right to insist on it. Paul Paul is appealing for here is actually a
tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19,20, “Ye are not priestly function.
your own … ye are bought with a price.” This brings us to verse 2. In verse 1 the
But He does not want our loyalty merely appeal was for decisive action on the part
out of a sense of duty but out of devotion. of the Christians, to present their bodies as
Next, notice the tense of the verb “to a living sacrifice. Now in verse 2 we have
present.” It is expressing the idea of de- an appeal to allow a process to take place
cisive action. In other words, He is look- in their lives. First, the appeal is for nega-
ing for yieldedness, with no intention to tive action: “and be not conformed to this
ever withdraw that commitment. Now world.” I believe that J.B. Phillips gives us
we know that we are all failing human the sense of the verse: “Don’t let the world
beings, and as such are prone to failure. around you squeeze you into its own
From time to time, we will need to renew mould.” The word translated “world” in
that commitment, but, again, it should be the KJV literally means “age.” The word
intended to be permanent. usually translated “world” speaks of the
The next word used in verse 1 is “holy.” world in its unchanging hostility to God.
But we have already seen from Romans 7 The word used in this verse speaks of
that we still have sin lurking in our mem- the world in its changing fashions, moral
bers. How can we present our bodies in standards and interests.
a state of holiness? The Greek word for Paul proceeds, “but be ye transformed
“holy” conveys the idea of “set apart for by the renewing of your mind.” Again,
God.” The Lord wants to reign supremely Phillips captures the idea: “but let God
in our hearts. re-mould your minds from within.” As
The next word that appears in verse 1 is we diligently search the Scriptures, with
“acceptable,” or “well-pleasing.” The idea a view to allowing God to change us, He
that is being expressed is that presenting produces the necessary changes.
our bodies as a living sacrifice brings Finally, we see the end result: “that ye
pleasure to God. Surely, we all want to may prove [experientially] what is that
please God who has done so much for us! good, and acceptable, and perfect, will
The final clause in verse 1 states, “which of God.” Three things are said about the
is your reasonable service.” In the NASB will of God here. First, it is good, that is,
this is translated “which is your spiritual it is beneficial to us. It may not be what
service of worship.” There is a Greek word we would choose, but it will produce the
for “spiritual” in the NT, but it is not this best results. Second, it is acceptable, or
word. This word is the one from which we well-pleasing, to us. If we have yielded
get our English word “logical.” In light of our bodies as a living sacrifice (v1), then
what the Lord has done for us, this is the we can always say “Amen!” to whatever
most logical thing we can do. The reason He chooses for our lives. Third, it is per-
the NASB translates “service” as “spiritual fect. God never makes mistakes. We can’t
service of worship” is because the word improve on God’s plans for us. We may
used in the Greek text always relates to not always understand what is happening,
priestly service (see Heb 9:6). Probably but we can always say, “Not my will, but
this phrase should be translated “which is thine, be done” (Luk 22:42).

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