What promises does a believer have as a child of God when approaching Romans 12:1?
As a child of God, the believer possesses promises that nothing can separate us from the love of God and that, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Salvation brings justification, sanctification, forgiveness, baptism into the body, the Holy Spirit's indwelling, and freedom from legalism's yoke, framing the approach to Romans 12:1.
Les teaches that Galatians was written because Jewish believers were pressuring these believers to return under the law, practice circumcision, and fully embrace Judaism. Paul refutes that, saying we are not under the law or its commandments. Instead, believers are to stand fast and not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage, which is legalism. When a person enters that salvation described in Romans 1:16, its ramifications include justification, sanctification, forgiveness, baptism into the body, and the Holy Spirit indwelling. All this implies that we are in Christ and have been set free with a liberty like nothing else on this planet. So when approaching Romans 12:1, the believer as a child of God has the promises that nothing can separate us from the love of God and that, now being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
More Questions
What does Paul ask believers to present to God in Romans 12:1?
Paul beseeches believers by the mercies of God to present their bodies, not their soul, as wholly acceptable to God, which is their reasonable, logical, practical service.
What is the basis of Paul's appeal in Romans 12:1?
When Paul says "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God," his appeal rests on the basis of everything he wrote and taught in the first 8 chapters of Romans.
Is Paul commanding believers in Romans 12:1 or pleading with them?
Paul, by inspiration, is not laying down a command that says "you will or else" — that is the difference between grace and law.