God's Fellowship

Living Sacrifice

Romans 12

The first verse of Romans 12 starts with "therefore" or "so" depending on what version of the Bible you read. They mean the same thing and they are code for: “Pay attention to what you just read because what comes next depends on what came before it.”

In the verses before Romans 12, Paul retold the long history of Israel, God’s chosen nation and people, which is told in full in the Old Testament. Paul highlights just a few of the many times God showed mercy to people who disobeyed him, ignored him, rejected him, and denied him.

Then Paul reminds his readers that God’s love and mercy aren’t just for Israel. They are for everyone.

Paul also admits that it can be hard to understand why things happen the way they do. Why doesn’t God just fix everything? Why doesn’t he just make everyone believe him and love him? Why doesn’t he just put everything back to the way he made it, before sin destroyed things? Why doesn’t he just stop bad things and change bad people?

Here is Paul’s answer: God’s wisdom, knowledge, decisions, and plans are profound. We can’t understand them. We are foolish to think otherwise. Which makes sense because he is God and we are not. Everything comes from him. Everything exists through him. He is the one true almighty Lord and King.

Therefore...

Read & Reflect

Romans 12

What patterns, behaviors, or customs of this world do you sometimes imitate? (or: in what ways do you sometimes conform to the world instead of to Jesus?)
Why do you think a renewed or transformed mind is necessary for becoming a new person?
List the ways Paul says we should display a life of love and faith (verses 9-21). Where do you need to grow?
What do you learn about God in these verses? (When Paul writes "God" he almost always means the Father.)
What do you learn about Jesus in these verses? (When Paul writes "Lord" he almost always means Jesus.)
What do you learn about the Holy Spirit in these verses?
What do you learn about humanity and yourself in these verses?

Extra Info

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The Bible is filled with images and metaphors that help explain who God is, who we are, and how we should live.

Have you ever thought about how amazing it is that a book written so many thousands of years ago — by people who lived in an ancient world of different cultures with ideas and customs so different from ours today — would be filled with images and metaphors that still make sense to us today?

Trees, water, light, salt, seeds, farming, fishing, athletes, soldiers, knitting, pottery, weaving, families, the human body, and more — we can understand all of these things today.

Paul used the human body as a metaphor for God's people because it was easy to understand back then and still is today.

Extra Verses

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1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Extra Things

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Listen to "We Are the Body" (posted below).

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2103 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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