Verse by Verse

³ For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

through the grace given to me — Paul’s authority to say this doesn’t come from his merit but from God’s grace

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

We should be humble-minded, realizing that anything we do that is pleasing to God comes from God.

to each — points to a diversity of gifts.

A man should not aspire to be something that is not in the will of God for him, because God has made him what he is and has a particular place for him as a Christian. How often we find people who do have some real gift, but who are dissatisfied with the gift they have, a gift which may be lowly but worthy, not spectacular but useful; and so they are desiring to be something else other than what they are and what God has purposed. — McClain, page 210

² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

conformed = fashioned, with the stress on external

mind = center of logical reasoning, ethical judgment and moral awareness

prove = test, for the purpose of approving. This should be a habit.

world = condition of humanity

transformed — inward, with external manifestation

renewing of your mind — adjustment

good — beneficial

acceptable — pleasing to God

perfect — mature

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Spirit accomplishes the transformation with our cooperation.

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:3-5).

Anyone can be a nonconformist for nonconformity’s sake. Again I want to emphasize that this is a cheap piety. What we are ultimately called to is more than nonconformity; we are called to transformation. We notice that the words conform and transform both contain the same root word form. The only difference between the two words is found in the prefixes. The prefix con means “with.” To conform, then, is to be “with the structures of forms.” In our culture a conformist is someone who is “with it.” a nonconformist may be regarded as someone who is “out of it.” If the goal of the Christian is to be “out of it,” then I am afraid we have been all too successful.

The prefix trans means “across” or “beyond.” When we are called to be transformed, it means that we are to rise above the forms and the structures of this world. We are not to follow the world’s lead but to cut across it and rise above it to a higher calling and style. This is a call to transcendent excellence, not a call to sloppy “out-of-it-ness.” Christians who give themselves as living sacrifices and offer their worship in this way are people with a high standard of discipline. They are not satisfied with superficial forms of righteousness. The “saints” are called to a rigorous pursuit of the kingdom of God. They are called to depth in their spiritual understanding.

The key method Paul underscores as the means to the transformed life is by the “renewal of the mind.” This means nothing more and nothing less than education. Serious education. Indepth education. Disciplined education in the things of God. It calls for a mastery of the Word of God. We need to be people whose lives have changed because our minds have changed.

True transformation comes by gaining a new understanding of God, ourselves, and the world. What we are after ultimately is to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are to be like Jesus, though not in the sense that we can ever gain deity. We are not god-men. But our humanity is to mirror and reflect the perfect humanity of Jesus. A tall order!

To be conformed to Jesus, we must first begin to think as Jesus did. We need the “mind of Christ.” We need to value the things He values and despise the things He despises. We need to have the same priorities He has. We need to consider weighty the things that He considers weighty.

That cannot happen without a mastery of His Word. The key to spiritual growth is in-depth Christian education that requires a serious level of sacrifice.

That is the call to excellence we have received. We are not to be like the rest of the world, content to live our lives with a superficial understanding of God. We are to grow dissatisfied with spiritual milk and hunger after spiritual meat. — R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, page 163-164

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.

therefore — If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them (John 13:17).

The “therefore” of our text in this study builds on all the truth that has been presented in the 315 verses of the first eleven chapters. Without this foundation, the ethics of the end chapters float in the sky like a roof without support. With this foundation, the life that is demanded from those who have believed in Christ is seen to be the logical development of the work of redemption. — Barnhouse, page 1-2.

Mercies — Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).

When Jesus Christ died on the cross, all the work of God for man’s salvation passed out of the realm of prophecy and became historical fact. God has now had mercy upon us. For any one to pray, “God have mercy on me,” is the equivalent of asking Him to repeat the sacrifice of Christ. All the mercy that God ever will have on man, He has already had when Christ died. This is the totality of mercy. There could not be any more. — Barnhouse, page 4

present — same word as “yield” — Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Romans 6:13).

living sacrifice — in contrast to dead animal sacrifices required in the Old Testament — also that it be continual.

What is it to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice? First of all, it must be realized that we have contact with this world only by means of our bodies. We can communicate with God through our minds and hearts, but we can communicate with the world about us only through our five senses.

This being the case, it is very important that our spiritual life have control over our physical life. Only when the body is dominated by the spirit can there be the life which is pleasing to God and, thus, satisfying to man himself. It is the teaching of the Word of God and also the teaching of experience that misuse of any of the bodily functions ultimately causes ill to the one who misuses them. — Barnhouse, page 12.

holy = set apart

service = priestly work

reasonable — of the reason, intelligent, not ritualistic

I beseech — as opposed to “I command” — apart from the Law

bodies — entire being —  soul, spirit and body

The practical appeal of the closing chapters brings to a conclusion the series of logical arguments that comprise the epistle. These arguments are presented progressively in the following steps:

• Therefore thou are inexcusable (2:1)

• Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight (3:20)

• Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law (3:28)

• Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (5:1)

• There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (8:1)

• I beseech you therefore … that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God (12:1) — Stam, page 289

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?”

³⁵ “Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?”

³⁶ For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Only God could solve the problem of how to punish the sin and save the sinner.

Who hath been His counselor? — quote from Isaiah 40:13 — Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being His counsellor hath taught Him?

God devised the plan of salvation on His own. Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:9-11).

Verse 35 — See Job 41:11 — Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine. Salvation is not God paying us back for something we’ve done. It is of Him, through Him and to Him alone.

knowledge — apprehension of facts

wisdom — cause and effect and practical application of facts

judgments — God’s dispensations, decisions and decrees

of Him = from Him — Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live (1 Corinthians 8:6).

unsearchable = too deep

past finding out = untrackable, can’t be followed.

³⁰ For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,

³¹ even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.

³² For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

God’s grace is extended to Gentiles because of Israel’s unbelief.

Both Jews and Gentiles are incapable of obtaining salvation by their own efforts, but God’s grace is offered to both.

committed = shut up, as in a trap

Only when all human merit is swept aside can God’s mercy take effect — Romans 3:20-21 (Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.)

ye (verse 30) — Gentiles as a group

their (verse 30) — Israel as a nation

verse 31 — your mercy — mercy shown to Gentiles

all (verse 32) — Jews and Gentile

Verse 32 falls in line with the two preceding verses in the following way: Verse 30, (a) disobedience (Jew and Gentile), (b) mercy (Gentile); Verse 31 (a) disobedience (Jew), (b) mercy (Jew and Gentile); Verse 32 (a) disobedience (Jew and Gentile), (b) mercy (Jew and Gentile). — Vine, page 173.

²⁸ Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

²⁹ For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

enemies for your sake — God is judicially opposed to the Jews because of their disobedience, and owing to this, He is bringing Gentiles into the mercy from which Israel as a nation has been temporarily excluded.

for the fathers’ sakes — because of God’s covenant promises to the fathers.

gifts — (Romans 9:4-5)

calling — divine relationship

without repentance — God is immutable. His promises don’t change based on the attitude of men but will be fulfilled.

as touching the election — believing remnant is loved

for (verse 29) — continues the thought at the end of verse 28.

²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

²⁷ For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

and so — what follows is related to what has been written so far.

all Israel — the nation as a nation, but not those who don’t believe

the quote is from Isaiah 59:20-21 — And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever. And Jeremiah 31:33 — But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.

shall be saved — at the start of Christ’s Millennial reign

Deliverer (in Hebrew) = kinsman-redeemer-avenger

Hebrews 8:10-11 — For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

²⁴ For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵ For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

out of the wild olive — Gentiles (strangers to the covenants)

natural branches — Israel (covenant people)

mystery — divine truth previously unknown

blindness in part — not universal or final

fullness of the Gentiles — completeness of God’s offering of salvation to Gentiles apart from Israel — not exactly the same as the church, but the Gentiles in the church.

Our Lord, when on earth, said to the Samaritan woman: Ye worship ye know not what: We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22).

But after Paul had testified to the Jews from Jerusalem to Rome, almost in vain, he said: Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it (Acts 28:28).

This latter, the salvation of the Gentiles through Israel’s rejection of Christ, had never been prophesied; it was a secret, hid in God (Ephesians 3:9), hid from ages and from generations (Colossians 1:26), in other ages not made known (Ephesians 3:5), kept secret since the world began (Romans 16:25), until God made it known through Paul. — Stam, page 283.

²² Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

²³ And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

severity — the present, temporary dealing of God with unbelieving Israel

cut off — The warning here does not signify that a believer can lose his salvation. Paul is not now dealing with the subject of individual union with Christ. That he had shown in chapter 8 to be inseparable (Romans 8:1 and 30-39). He is here speaking of the principles upon which God has acted towards Jew and Gentile. The Gentile needs to be warned of the danger of an evil heart of unbelief as much as a Jew, and of coming under the disciplinary severity of God. — Vine, page 168.

grafted in — rejection of Israel, not irrevocable