A GENUINE LOVE RESULTS IN TRUE HUMILITY - ROMANS 12

I- Present your Bodies as a living Sacrifice (v.1-2)

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

A- Therefore

1- Previous Context: Chap 1-11

Chapter 1 to 11, unfolds for us the mystery of the Doctrine of Salvation or “Soteriology” for those who like fancy word.

Christ’s Death has a reason

Romans 5:1 NET

1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 5:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In order to get into relationship with us

Immediate Context: “the Church”

There is a false understanding of the Gospel that prevails in our day:

ROmans 5.1; 9; 10

Romans 1:16–19 NET

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.” 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,19 because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

Immediate Context: “the Church”

Romans 1:16 NET

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

2- Present context: Chap 12-16 - the Christian life.

Paul expands on Doctrine in the first half of the book and then from now on, he shows how our theology impacts our lives.

Matyn Lloyd’s Jones says in his commentary on Romans,

There is an indissoluble association between doctrine and life. Many foolishly say that what they want is to be able to live the life, and that they are not concerned about doctrine . To which the simple answer is that it is only the people who really know and understand the doctrine who can live the life.

Many foolishly say that what they want is to be able to live the life

Immediate Context: “the Church”

He adds,

This is God’s way of sanctifying us. Our Lord prayed, ‘sanctify them through, or by, thy truth: thy word is truth’ (). There is no shortcut to holiness. Holiness is developped in us chiefly as the result of our understanding of these great truths.

Martyn Lloyd’s Jones - Commentary on

Immediate Context: “the Church”

Chap 12 -16 deals with practice:

How do we live and apply what we’ve come to know and believe?

For Paul, there is a time to believe, but there is time to know what we believe and a time to conduct ourselves according to what we believe.

The most problem we commonly face among Christians is that we may know what we believe but our lives and conducts contradict what we profess to believe. And this is precisely what the world are blaming us for, we are inconsistent with what we profess.

That is the reason why Paul stresses on doctrine from chap 1 to 11 and right after that from chap 12 – 16, he goes onto the practice.

3- Immediate Context: “the Church as the recipient of Paul’s Teaching ”

A false assumption we make while reading Paul’s Epistles is to think primiraly that he addresses these issues to individuals.

In fact, when we read these verses we always think about ourselves, What Paul is trying to say to me.

The truth is, every Paul’s letters are adressed to the church, a collective of person that are in Christ, whom he often calls Saints.

Romans 1:7 NET

7 To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Romans 1:1–2 ESV

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

ROma

Here in our present text Paul alludes to the image of a “Body”

Romans 12:3 ESV

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Romans 12:4–5 ESV

4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Why? Well the answer is simple:

Why?

The one who knows how to behave or conduct himself within the Church, knows how to conduct himself outside the church.

All the present Chapter talks about how we are to relate to each other within the body of Christ, namely the Church.

Then the next chapter is directly about how we are to relate to those outside the church:

Romans 13:1–2 ESV

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

We will see later on, that this is crucial for our understanding of the present passage.

Paul uses the image/picture of a body.

Each Christian being member of that body serving one another.

It’s not about me, rather it’s about me being part of the church, acting for its sake.

B- Living Sacrifice that has to be “Holy”, and “Acceptable to God”

1- “Living Sacrifice”:

As RC Sproul comments on the verse,

“The sacrificial system of the Old Testament is over. No longer do worshippers come with sheep, goats, bullocks and cereal offerings, and burn them before the Lord as sacrifice for their sins.”

“But there is still a New Testament sacrificial system. It is not a sacrifice that we give in order to make an atonement, but a sacrifice that we give because an atonement has been made for us.”

And that sacrifice is YOU and ME.

Now look how Paul defines this sacrifice. It has to be a “living” sacrifice, but most and foremost it has to be holy and “Acceptable” to God. If we stop there, and reflect on it,

[…] “You,” “me,” “all of us” are to be a sacrifice that is acceptable to God; to which God would be pleased in, and would accept.

In the OT, the only way one knows if a sacrifice was pleasing to God was:

Now the question is, how do we know that God is pleased with the sacrifice? How do I know that me as a “living sacrifice,” am pleasing to God?

Again, remember the Context = the Church.

So when I go to church how can God be pleased with me as a living sacrifice?

2- In the OT, the only way one knows if a sacrifice was pleasing to God was:

It was burnt in totality

Transformed into ashes

Case of Elihija and the prophets of Baal

Obviously, and we don’t have to be really smart to understand that what the sacrifice was before is no longer the same after being burned.

3- The principle remains

Nothing o

No if we return to Romans, how can we apply it to us as a living sacrifice in the context of the church.

We are to be burned if we want God to be pleased with are sacrifice.

How then is it to happen practically? Will we see a fire from heaven and consume us? I hope not…That would be tragic…

So thank God it’s not the case. Nevertheless the principle remains, we are to be “transformed.”

So, Paul answers the question in the following verse. V.2 he says,

What does God transform in us?

Romans 12:1–2 NET

1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2 ESV

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

What does God transform in us?

Now see the verb he uses is to be “transformed”: which literally means to have another form.

The Greek word gives the idea of being “metamorphosed.”

It means then that whenever I go to Church and offer myself as a sacrifice, I must change.

In fact what does God burn within us? What does He change in us? What is to be transformed and changed ?

Paul is clear MY MIND!!

In other words, I should not be the same person when I live the Church. My mind has to be transformed!!!

Now, what is the fire that is going to burn us and transform us? What is God means to renew our mind?

His Word.

That is why it is crucial for us to go to church since there God will renew our mind and transform us.

What God transforms in you is your mind, so that you may discern his will

By the renewal of your “mind”

What God transforms in you is your mind, so that you may discern his will

C- So that you may “Discern” “what is the will of God”

C- So that you may “discern” “what is the will of God”

1- DEFINITION OF DISCERNING

The Bible never says, we are to known the will of God, though unconsciously, at the end of the day, it is what we search for.

Our tendency and desire as human being is to ask for responses such as YES or NO to our questions. We tend to force God to do so.

Why can’t God be simple. Or it will be more simple for both party if it was the case.

Well the truth is, it simply will not be the case. You know why, because even if it was the case we won’t believe it!! We will say it’s so simple to be truth.

Isn’t that what we do with the Gospel. God says that if you believe in Christ you will be saved. It can’t be more simple than that. One of my friend after I shared the gospel to him said to me, That’s all? I only have to believe in Jesus Christ? It is so simple to be true. You want me to believe that any of the good works I am trying to do will worth nothing before God. I don’t buy that!!!

Tim Keller in one of his essay describes it as “a belief in an age of skepticism”

2- So God does not expect us to know his WILL but look what he says: we are called to “Discern” it !!!

II- Do Not Think of Yourself More Highly than You Ought to Think […] (v.3, 16).

Now DISCERNING the will of God leads to an attitude.

II- Do Not Think of Yourself More Highly than You Ought to Think […] (v.3, 16).

II- Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think […] (v.3)

The first kind of discernment one ought to have (within the church) is seen in verse 3:

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

The first kind of discernment one ought to have (within the church) is seen in verse 3:

The first kind of discernment one ought to have (within the church) is seen in verse 3:

Romans 12:3 ESV

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

This Theme is crucial since Paul repeats the same theme in verse 16, with other words:

Romans 12:16 ESV

16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

The question is : Why?

A- Explanation of Humility (cf. Tim Keller)

Who puts the standards? Me

Who defines what you should be like? yourself.

What humility has to do with Conflict

The danger here are twofold:

1- We live in an illusion

Do we know this human tendency to always talk of ourselves in superlatives

I am the best

I did this and that

My son is the first of his promotion, just to let others know that we are great parents...

Even our humility can serves as to promote ourselves

as Carson says,

we do not like holiness, but the reputation to be holy

2- We tend to impose our own perception of ourselves to others

And whenever someone else touches this image of ourselves, or forsake it,

we will defend ourselves

we will fight

we will avenge ourselves

B- False Humility leads to conflict

Ego manifests itself in the midst of many

It needs other to be manifest

Reference to a young child

Necessity of fulfilling the needs of

That is precisely what Paul describes in verse 17-21,

Romans 12:17–21 ESV

17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

ROmans 12.17-19

In Galatians Paul uses strong words:

Galatians 5:13–15 ESV

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Gal

Do you believe that Christians can bite and devour one another?

Remember! Paul is addressing Christians in the Church. In Chapter one, he calls them “saints”.

Do you believe that Saints can act as such? YES

Where is then the problem?

Here in Galatians Paul gives us a hint. He says v. 13 “but through love serve one another."

But let’s return to our text in Romans chapter 12. Paul gives the answer in verse 9.

III- The Source: Let Love be Genuine (v.9).

Romans 12:9–10 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:9 ESV

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Romans 12.9

What does the verse mean?

What does the verse mean?

A- False understanding of Agapao:

Ego manifests itself in the midst of many

It needs other to be manifest

Reference to a young child

Necessity of fulfilling the needs of “the Self”

In a similar vein, although it is doubtless true that the entire range of ἀγαπάω (agapaō, to love) and the entire range of φιλέω (phileō, to love) are not exactly the same, nevertheless they enjoy substantial overlap; and where they overlap, appeal to a “root meaning” in order to discern a difference is fallacious. In (LXX), both ἀγαπάω (agapaō, to love) and the cognate ἀγάπη (agapē, love) can refer to Amnon’s incestuous rape of his half sister Tamar (, LXX). When we read that Demas forsook Paul because he loved this present, evil world, there is no linguistic reason to be surprised that the verb is ἀγαπάω (agapaō, ). records that the Father loves the Son and uses the verb ἀγαπάω (agapaō); repeats the thought, but uses φιλέω (phileō)— without any discernible shift in meaning. The false assumptions surrounding this pair of words are ubiquitous; and so I shall return to them again. My only point here is that there is nothing intrinsic to the verb ἀγαπάω (agapaō) or the noun ἀγάπη (agapē) to prove its real meaning or hidden meaning refers to some special kind of love.

Normally we observe that any individual word has a certain limited semantic range, and the context may therefore modify or shape the meaning of a word only within certain boundaries.

Carson, D. A.. Exegetical Fallacies (p. 32). Baker Publishing Group. Édition du Kindle.

Carson, D. A.. Exegetical Fallacies (p. 32). Baker Publishing Group. Édition du Kindle.

[…] the meaning of a word cannot be reliably determined by etymology, or that a root, once discovered, always projects a certain semantic load onto any word that incorporates that root.

Carson, D. A.. Exegetical Fallacies (p. 32). Baker Publishing Group. Édition du Kindle.

Carson, D. A.. Exegetical Fallacies (pp. 31-32). Baker Publishing Group. Édition du Kindle.

It is true in one sense that in Greek there are different kind of love

We all have heard this explanation of different kind of love

Phileo - brotherly love

Eros - sexual love

Agape - the love from God

etc...

Tim Keller has a better explanation, which I think gives more sense to what love is all about:

At the end of the day, there are only 2 kinds of love

the other meanings are just a manifestation of one kind.

B- True understanding of Agapao

True understanding

The love of God and The Love of Self

1- The Love of Self

a. Explanation of Ego (Freud):

Explanation Explanation of Ego (Freud)

Ego manifests itself in the midst of many

It needs other to manifest itself

Reference to a young child

You know this young child who likes to show up before his parents, others, friends...

We call it in french, trying to be interesting

So then he will receive the applause of others to please and

Necessity of fulfilling the needs of “the Self”

C.S Lewis gives the reason why we need others: to show that we are better than them.

We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, cleverer, or better-looking than others.

b. Explanation of Human love: pleasing the Self

I love you because...

I love this job because there is a good ambiance

Even in the way people date...

we create an image of us so that people may love us

The consequence is that people fall in love with the image and not the person

Therefore we see more and more people commenting on their relationship are marriage: I think I lost my love for you, or I don’t love you anymore.

Why? Because we love someone as long as he or the image that we have of him is maintained,

A love led by our self satisfaction is never Genuine

We will always work hard to maintain an image to please the other and vice versa.

we will be hypocrite

And we will love as long as his or her image will be maintained and will satisfy our need.

But God loves us no matter how,

He did not wait for us to love him

In fact, we are incapable of loving him

2- The Love of God

2- The Love of God

Romans 5:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

a. The first reason why Christ died for us, is not to have eternal life, nor even to be saved from our sins;

those are the consequences of one primary reason: God’s wrath.

The first reason why Christ died for us, is not to have eternal life, nor even to be saved from our sins; those are the consequences of one primary reason: God’s wrath.

Romans 5:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5.1

Romans 5:9–10 ESV

9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

In order to get into a relationship with us God had to deal with his anger.

In order to get into a relationship with us God had to deal with his anger.

He did not wait for us to apologies, nor even to make the first move...

He loves us so much, so that he had to make a sacrifice.

True love implies sacrifice. True love requires sacrifice from my part without expecting anything in return.

b. The text here says Peace with God and not certainly Peace of God (Phi 4.7)

What is the difference

one thing we need to understand is that before asking for God’s Peace, we need first to be in peace with him

The peace of God brings Peace in our life and we know how to be in peace with others

There is a false understanding of the Gospel that prevails in our day:

There is a false understanding of the Gospel that prevails in our day:

It is in one sense a wrong gospel to believe in Christ because we want to be fulfilled

Believe in Christ and he resolve all your problems

I would even go further:

Or even in a more

Believe in Christ

Why?

Because we are seeking for the consequences, results , rather the real reason.

And if we push it far enough, it is always this idea of what (this) God can give me, What can he do for me, myself.

In one sense it is always of satisfying our self.

If we know and understand that there is enmity between us and the God of the universe, our first reaction is to seek to be in peace with him.

And not what will he do for me so that I may love him

The result is just the fruit of his grace

c. But the one who is in peace with God, have the peace of God.

If you have ever experienced God’s peace, that you have been forgiven, you will know how to forgive others

If you ever have experienced God’s Love, if you understand that you’ve been loved first you will love others

And what people did to you matters no more

What matters is to love that person.

And thus, he will know how to

English Standard Version Chapter 12

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

Live in harmony with one another

not be haughty, but to be lowly

to live peaceably with all people

IV- Conclusion

May God grant us

to always look back to God’s love manifested in Christ’s work on the Cross

To never forget that we are in peace with him

to know how to love without hypocrisy

And may

the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus ()

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus ()