ROMANS Study Guide

Chapter Twelve :

Understanding and appreciating the Body of Christ

Paul in the first two verses of chapter twelve reconnects us to the ideas he had been developing from Roman’s chapter five through eight in how we are to “walk out our salvation in Jesus Christ.” Paul shifts here from the individual believer to the church. The message of the gospel must be lived out in community to be truly complete and full . There is no such thing as an isolated believer or a successful church of one. (Rom.14:7) Paul in this chapter hits the essentials of building a loving and spiritual life-giving church community.

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.

1. “Therefore I urge you!” Paul is transitioning from the fact that God

has not rejected the Jews but is going to use the Gentile Church to

provoke Israel to Jealousy and cause a hunger in them to know

the Lord (Rom.11:11,14). Therefore, understanding God’s

amazing love for Israel and how he will use the Gentile church

…then in the light of such mercy… let us present ourselves to

God to bring about this great work of grace as the church together.

a. This tells me that at the end of time the Gentile Church is going

to truly be an amazing thing to see… full of God’s life and Glory.

b. And we may be the church generation that “provokes to

jealousy” the Jewish nation to want the blessing the Gentile

church is enjoying and begin turning back to their true Messiah

(Rom.10:14).

2. Paul’s challenge to sacrificial worship (vs.1)

a. Paul evokes the concept of Old Testament sacrifice. There