The Changed Sacrifice
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 15 hours ago
- 7 min read
Romans 12:1 “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 saints under the old covenant were required to offer various sacrifices to the Lord, but they were never instructed to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to Him. The reason for that was twofold. Firstly their bodies were not the temple of the Holy Spirit, and secondly the bodies of the Old Testament saints had not been purchased by God. Under the new covenant things have changed however, for firstly the scripture teaches us the bodies of the New Testament saints have become the temple of the Holy Spirit, and then secondly the bodies of the New Testament saints have been purchased by God and therefore belong to Him (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And so because of these two reasons, the Holy Spirit in the above quoted passage of scripture teaches us that the saints under the new covenant are required to present their bodies to God as a living sacrifice. So what does that actually mean? If we look at the old covenant sacrifices that were offered to God we get a clearer idea as to what it means for the New Testament saints to offer their bodies to God as a living sacrifice. A sacrifice offered under the old covenant could not be marred in any way and it had to be without blemish, for to offer a sacrifice to God that was blemished was considered to be an abomination by Him (Deuteronomy 17:1). In the same manner God requires that the sacrifice of our bodies should also be offered without blemish, which is why the scripture declares that our bodies should be holy and acceptable to Him. Another difference between the Old Testament sacrifice and the New is that the saints under the old covenant offered their sacrifices whenever the occasion required it. Under the new covenant however, the Lord instructs the saints to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. In other words the saints do not present their bodies whenever the occasion requires or even once a week when they go to church, but rather they are to present their bodies to Him continually, for they are accounted as living sacrifices. In this passage the apostle Paul also teaches us that presenting our bodies to God as living sacrifices is the Christian’s reasonable service. In other words God is not unjust in expecting His saints to offer this sacrifice to Him, for it is His just due. A point that I want you to notice in this passage is that God expects the Christian to present their body. In other words this is not something that God will do for us. When we are born-again God recreates our spirit and cleanses our conscience, but He does nothing with our bodies, for God expects us to present our bodies to Him. God is not unjust and would therefore not require us to perform this service to Him if it were not possible for us to do it. It is certainly possible, and so all saints should be obedient and present their bodies as living sacrifices before the Lord.
Romans 6:13 “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
We have seen that we are to present our bodies holy and acceptable to the Lord. So what does that mean? In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit gives us a bit more insight into what He means when He tells us that our bodies are to be holy and acceptable, for He tells us to present our bodies to Him as instruments of righteousness and not as instruments of sin. Very clearly the saint that is practicing a lifestyle of sin cannot present their bodies to the Lord as instruments of righteousness. And so we see that a very clear requirement is that the saint is to abstain from sin if their sacrifice is to be accepted by the Lord. Someone said that is easier said than done. If it was easy then it would not be considered as sacrifice, for the very nature of a sacrifice denotes that there is a price to pay. King David put it this way, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24). Nevertheless as we have seen earlier the Lord Jesus has condemned sin in the flesh for us so that we can fulfil the righteous requirements of the law, thus presenting our bodies as instruments of righteousness before the Lord.
Romans 7:23-25 “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (25) I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Many saints struggle in the area of sin in their bodies and there is a reason for that. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us that the reason many saints struggle to overcome sin in their bodies, is because of the fact that the law of sin resides in our physical bodies and that sin has the potential to bring the Christian into captivity. Nevertheless in this same passage the apostle Paul recognises that Jesus Christ has delivered us from any bondage of sin. And so we see that as believers we have full control over our earthly bodies, but in order for the Christian to exercise that control it requires discipline on behalf of the saint. Our bodies will do whatever we tell them to do, but because of the nature of sin that resides in our physical bodies; our bodies have to be brought into subjection because the natural inclination of the body is toward sin.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, (10) nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”
We have seen that sacrifices offered under the old covenant could not be blemished in any way; otherwise they would not be accepted by the Lord. In the same manner the living sacrifice of our bodies must also be free from blemishes if they are to be accepted by the Lord. So what types of blemishes can the saints can have in their bodies that would disqualify their sacrifice from being accepted by the Lord? In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul lists just a few of the sinful practices that men commit, including some of the sinful practices that men commit with their bodies, i.e. fornication, adultery, homosexuality, sodomy and drunkenness. And so it is practices like these that the believer is admonished to stay away from so that they can present their bodies to God as the living sacrifices that He will accept.
Romans 8:3-13 “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, (4) that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. … (13) For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
The Lord has provided His New Testament saints with abilities that the Old Testament saints never had, because of which He expects us to live a holier life than they did. Under the old covenant no saint was ever born-again, and so they did not have the spiritual ability to put to death the deeds of their bodies. The above quoted passage of scripture teaches us that the law was weak through the flesh and so it could not accomplish God’s righteous requirement. In other words because the Old Testament saints were spiritually dead people, they had no ability to keep the righteous requirements of the law. This passage goes on however, to teach us that God therefore did what man could not, in that He sent Jesus in the likeness of sinful flesh so that He could condemn sin in the flesh for us. In other words Jesus lived in a body just like ours but never once committed any sin. And so because of what Jesus has done for us we now have His ability to fulfil the righteous requirements of God’s law, for it is Christ in us who enables us to walk in His righteousness. And so we see that under the new covenant God’s saints have the spiritual ability to put to death the sinful deeds of the body. So how do we do that? We do it by faith, for the scripture teaches the saints under the new covenant to live by faith (Romans 1:17).
1 Corinthians 9:27 “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”
As we have already seen, our Lord Jesus has condemned sin in our bodies for us, and so the Christian who walks in that authority will not be brought into the captivity of sins in the flesh, but will in fact reign over that sin (Romans 6:12). But let me once again stress that this requires discipline on our part. There is a reason that one of the fruit of the born-again human spirit is the fruit of self-control (Galatians 5:23). In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul, who was most probably one of the Lord’s most spiritual leaders in the church, acknowledged that even he had to keep his physical body under control so that he could present his body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God. And so, we need to follow Paul’s example just as he admonished us to do (Philippians 3:17), by disciplining our bodies and bringing them into subjection so that we too can present our bodies to the Lord a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him.
Michael E.B. Maher
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