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Writer's pictureMichael E.B. Maher

Why our bodies are living sacrifices

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.


Michael E.B. Maher




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