Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Art History U. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans from the Greek city of Corinth in AD 57, just three years after the year-old Nero had ascended to the throne as Emperor of Rome. Therefore, Paul wrote to a church that was experiencing a time of relative peace, but a church that he felt needed a strong dose of basic gospel doctrine.
Writing from Corinth, Paul likely encountered a diverse array of people and practices—from gruff sailors and meticulous tradesmen to wealthy idolaters and enslaved Christians. The prominent Greek city was also a hotbed of sexual immorality and idol worship. It was played out before his eyes every day. The letter to the Romans stands as the clearest and most systematic presentation of Christian doctrine in all the Scriptures. Paul began by discussing that which is most easily observable in the world—the sinfulness of all humanity.
What does Romans chapter 12 mean? This begins a new section in Paul's letter. As in many of his other epistles, Paul begins Romans with teaching on doctrine and ends with teaching on how we should live because of what is true. This pattern of theory, followed by application, is a hallmark of his writing. Romans 1—11 focused intently on the doctrine of salvation by God's grace and through our faith in Jesus.
Knowing those ideas, how then should those saved by God's grace live today? How should we respond to the incredible mercy God has shown to us? Romans 12 begins to answer that question. Since we can never repay God for forgiving our sins and including us in His family, there is only one rational response: worship. By this, Paul does not mean singing a few songs on Sunday morning. He describes our reasonable worship as presenting our bodies, our entire lives, to God as if we are holy and acceptable sacrifices.
The difference between this and the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant is that we are to be living, breathing sacrifices, using up our lives in service to God Romans This will require transformation, Paul writes. We must break free from, rather than conforming to, the me-first way the human world prefers. We must have our minds renewed, to look at the world through God's eyes, to begin to understand what He wants instead of focusing on what we want Romans The first investment of this sacrificed life that God asks from us is to serve each other in the church.
He has equipped us to do this by giving each believer specific spiritual gifts through His Holy Spirit who comes to live with us. In other words, God has supernaturally enabled us to be able to give to each other exactly what is needed. But we must do it. All together, the church is Christ's body, with each person serving a specific function that keeps the body going.
Our first job is to find our function and to do it, through God's power, for the good of everyone else Romans —8. Next, Paul paints a picture of a living-sacrifice lifestyle.
This comes with a long list of commands; a modern letter or office memo would put each of these in a separate bullet point. Paul begins by saying our love for God and each other must not be faked. Martin Linsky and Ronald A. This interdependence is not a weakness, but a gift from God. As we are being saved by God, we become more integrated with one another. Paul applies this to the work that each of us does in our particular role.
Sherron Watkins, recognized by Time magazine as one of the persons of the year for her whistle blowing in the Enron scandal, reflected on what she learned about taking a stand. Jordan Mintz was an in-house lawyer who was very concerned about this. I did not know that he had already taken these things to another law firm, and they had said they are very problematic. I did not know that Vince Kaminski had protested these things.
So if I had just Vince and Jordan with me, the outcome might have been different…. I should have found a few more people to go with me because then they could not have dismissed me as one lone person. Paul develops this process in the context of a specific community—the church. This is fitting because the entire letter revolves around a problem in the church—the conflict between Jewish and Gentile believers.
Compassion is a vastly underrated element of work. While we might be tempted to view compassion as a hindrance in the competitive world of work, it is actually essential for doing our work well.
The value of our work comes not merely from putting in hours, but from caring about how our goods or services serve others—in other words, by compassion. Autoworkers who do not care whether their parts are put on properly are of no use to the company, customers, or co-workers, and will sooner or later be candidates for dismissal. To make money in cases like this, it may be necessary not to have compassion for customers.
With all these gifts, the life-giving power of God is experienced in particular acts and ways of doing things. If we have genuine love, then we care about the people we work for and among. By definition, when we work, we do so at least partly as a means to an end.
But we can never treat the people we work among as a means to an end.
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