Saturday, March 1, 2008
Romans 12
TEXT
every ONE of YOU
I read all of chapter twelve but I kept coming back to the first three verses. Is Paul commanding each one of us to be transformed individually? Or, is he asking for a communal transformation?
Actually I went back to chapter eleven. I don't think the "therefore" in 12:1 connects back to the doxology of 11:33-36. I think it connects back to the word "mercy" in the conclusion of Paul's musings about the salvation of Israel in 11:32. Paul seems to be saying, "God has shown and is showing mercy to Israel and to us the Gentiles. Therefore, let us be transformed." This is one of those times when pulling the old King James off the shelf is very helpful. If the KJV uses "you, your, yours" the Greek is plural and refers to the group. If the KJV uses variations of "he" or "thee" it is singular and refering to an individual.
So here is my question for you, and I hope to be overloaded with responses. (Click on the word "comments" just below these paragraphs and follow the instructions.)
I contend that we have misread this passage and taught ourselves to transform our individual selves. How do things change if Paul is actually calling us to transform and serve the body of Christ communally?
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3 comments:
I'm sorry I'm a couple of days late, but here's my response...
I don't think it's an "either" "or" thing. You can't separate the communal transformation from the individual. It's like the great theologian Michael Jackson said: if you're going to change the world, you have to start with the man in the mirror.
You missed the question. I am not asking for an either or, but if we read this passage communally, how does that change things?
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Romans 12:4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
Jesus commissioned Peter (John 21:17) “Feed my sheep.” Oswald Chambers in March 3 devotion from “My Utmost for his Highest” expressed that Jesus has some extraordinary peculiar sheep: some are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward and pushy. And some that have gone astray. It is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. We are not released from our commission to “Feed my Sheep”.
1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. 11 If you speak, you should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If you serve, you should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
When we each lose ourselves in service to others we find ourselves. We find ourselves serving a community of “sheep”.
Azalee Tatum
Ben has a different approach. He picked up on the “all” and read all of Chapters 11 and 13.
He sees the “all” as a group. The following notes from “The People’s New Testament’s with Explanatory Notes” by B. W. Johnson suggests that the argument of mercy ends with verse one and then the apostle appeals for those who have obtained mercy to be transformed.
1, 2. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. The depth of the riches of the divine mercy has been shown in the argument of the preceding chapters, mercy for Jew and Gentile believers, and mercy in prospect for all Israel. The argument is now ended; God's plans have been explained, and the apostle appeals to those who have found mercy, in the name of that mercy, "to continue in the goodness of God." That you present your bodies a living sacrifice. The Jewish dispensation with its sacrifices was ended; it closed when Christ, "our passover," was offered for us. But a new order of sacrifice has come in. We should give ourselves. As the victim on the altar was surrendered wholly to God, so our bodies with all their members should be consecrated to his service; not as slain, but as "living sacrifices." We do this when they become the temple of the Holy Spirit, and are used to serve God. Reasonable service. The consecration of the body to God is not an outward act, like the sacrifice on the altar, but an act of the mind, or reason; hence "a reasonable service." 2. Be not conformed to this world. The spirit of the world is opposed to that of Christ. Satan is "the Prince of this world." Christ died (Gal. 1:4) "to deliver us from this present wicked world." Hence the service of Christ renders necessary a refusal to fashion ourselves after its ways. But be ye transformed. Instead of following the ways of the world, the Christian must be "transformed," changed into a new form of life by the renewing of your mind, by having a new spirit, and walking after the Spirit. That ye may prove. Demonstrate, show forth. The saint, transformed, renewed, will show forth in his life "the will of God."
FROM BEN AND AZALEE TATUM
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