Sunday Morning Greek Blog

August 23, 2026

Life as a “Living Sacrifice”: Finding Your Gifts (Romans 12:1–8)

Filed under: 1 Corinthians,Ecclesiology,Evangelism,Faith, Faithfulness,Immersion/Baptism,New Testament,Pneumatology,Prophet,Resurrection,Romans,Tongues — Scott Stocking @ 4:47 pm
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I preached this message on August 23, 2026, at Mount View Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE, as part of a continuing series through the Romans passages indicated in the Lectionary for each Sunday. The congregation has received these messages quite well. I’ll tackle the last half of Romans 12 for the following Sunday. The last Romans passage in the Lectionary for this year is Romans 14 on September 13, but after August 30, I won’t preach there again until September 20.

Good morning! The Lord be with you!

Well, here we are. We’ve taken a closer look at the first 11 chapters of the Paul’s letter to the Romans and have heard much about faith and faithfulness, life in Christ through the Holy Spirit, and free gift of God’s grace that brings us salvation when we confess Christ as our Savior and Lord. Chapter 12 begins a very different section of Romans, one in which Paul starts to address unity among the house churches in Rome. But he’s not addressing unity just for the sake of unity. Paul wants the Roman believers, both Jews and Gentiles, to present a united front in the way they fellowship with each other and reach out to and evangelize their family, friends, and neighbors in Rome.

The first two verses of our passage today represent the application of all that Paul has just taught in the first 11 chapters. We’ll look closely at those two verses, then we’ll look at verses 3–8 to see just what Paul expects of believers with respect to living in unity (Psalm 133), especially when it comes to addressing the diversity in the Roman culture more broadly, and the differing worldviews that Jews and Gentiles bring to the (dinner) table.

Once again, in 12:1, we see the word “therefore.” This is our clue that Paul is referring to at least the previous three chapters of Romans that we touched on last week, but more likely, given some of the verbal parallels here, he’s referring to the entire eleven chapters up to this point.

One of the first things Paul says in vs. 1 is that he’s urging the Roman believers to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Now when it comes to being a living sacrifice, you’ve probably heard quotes similar to what John MacArthur cited recently in one of his daily devotions: “But as someone has rightly said, the problem with living sacrifices is they tend to crawl off the altar.”[1] But this quote has a couple problems in my mind.

First, no one seems to know who originated the quote. The closest Copilot AI can come to nailing it down seems to be the mid-20th century to a couple holiness preachers.[2] I have four respectable commentaries on Romans going back about 50 years among them, and none of them use this sentiment in reference to this passage, at least not in the main discussion of the passage.

Second, if God wants us to be “living sacrifices,” why in the world would we stay on the altar? Some of the commentators who have used the “crawl off the altar” statement suggest that implies we bail on God when the fire gets turned up. But the passage we’re looking at this morning seems to have a completely opposite view of that. Our passage this morning, as we’ll see shortly, calls us to go into the world and use our gifts for God.

So what is Paul talking about when he says “living sacrifice” if it means that the sacrificial rite, so to speak, isn’t going to lead to our death? We need to look back no farther than Romans 6:3–4 to see just what that is: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”[3] Our baptism makes us a living sacrifice!

If you were baptized as an infant, your parents, family, and church dedicated themselves to raising you in the faith, and here you are today. I have many friends who did not get baptized until they became adults, but they also now are living sacrifices. Christ went to the cross for us so we wouldn’t have to. When we “offer” or “present” ourselves to God in this way, we’re not expected to climb up on the cross or jump up on a burning altar. The sacrifice has already been made; we participate in the result of that sacrifice by living our lives for Christ and his kingdom. God wants us out in the world sharing the good news of Jesus. That is where we’ll experience both the joys of salvation and in some cases the struggle of persecution and rejection. In other words, the world is our “altar.”

In the NIV, Paul calls this our “true and proper worship”; in the version we read this morning, the New Revised Standard Version, it’s translated “reasonable” worship. The word in the original language sounds like our English word “logical” (λογικός logikos) and is used to refer to the “pure spiritual milk” Peter says we should crave. [4] We worship in the world by living our lives for Christ. Worship isn’t just singing and gathering at church; it’s ministering to a lost world.

As we go out into the world, then, two things happen to us if we’re focused on Christ. First, we begin to see the futility of the way the world lives without God, without guidance from the Holy Spirit, and without an understanding of the sacrificial love Jesus demonstrated for us. As we witness that regularly, we begin to understand why Paul exhorts us: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.” The pattern of this world is without hope; we begin to desire God more and more, because he is the only one who can fulfill the second part of that exhortation in verse 2: “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” so you can “test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ”[5]

The exercise of our faith is no different than exercising our bodies or practicing a sport or skill. If you’re faithful in your exercise routine, you will begin to see results for your body. The more you practice a sport or skill, the more muscle memory you build so that your actions become more instinctive than forced or mimicked by rote. It is in those actions that we find out just how good God is, how effective God is, and how true his Word is.

In verses 3–8, Paul summarizes the gifts of the Spirit from chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, which he had written a couple years earlier. Similarly, verses 9–21, which we’ll look at next week, parallel Paul’s “love” chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. Paul exhorts the Roman believers to exercise some humility by exercising “sober judgment” with yourself in accordance with your faith. What he’s saying here is not that everyone should be equally humble: certain gifts may be more prominent than others, and if you’ve got one of those gifts, don’t be afraid to use it. But also don’t look down on others who may have a different gift that may not be as popular or that may make us uncomfortable in a good way. We are unified as a body, and each gift has its purpose for the edification of the body. In that sense, we are all equal in the eyes of God, so let’s be sure to see each other through his eyes instead of our own.

Now in case it’s been a while since you’ve looked at these gifts of the Spirit, whether here or in 1 Corinthians, let me take a few minutes here to speak to those and just what those gifts entail. If you’re curious about what your gifts may be, spiritual or otherwise, there are some decent ones online. Some are longer than others, but if they’re thoughtfully prepared and have a robust rubric to analyze your responses, you should be able to get a pretty accurate reading for yourself. For example, this survey from churchgrowth.org has 108 questions covering the gifts mentioned in Scripture: Spiritual Gifts | FREE Spiritual Gifts Survey | Assessment, Analysis, Test.

Almost 16 years ago, after I had fully integrated into my current home church, I took the Gallup “Strengths” survey. Although the strengths are not necessarily defined as spiritual gifts in all cases, the survey does reveal how God wired you as an individual and may help you figure out areas of ministry that would be a good fit for you. My top gift was “intellection,” and one of the key actions it said I should follow through on to exercise that strength was to start a blog. Well little did that survey know I had indeed just started doing that about a month earlier, so when I got home after viewing my results, I immediately set up my current blog on WordPress.com, and it is still going strong to this day.

Now, about the gifts that Paul mentions. The first gift he mentions is prophesying. It may surprise you to learn that prophesying in Scripture is not necessarily about foretelling the future, but about forth-telling the Gospel, sometimes in ways that make people uncomfortable. There’s a difference between warning about possible or probable outcomes of sinful behavior, but that’s not the same as predicting a specific future event. By the same token, prophesy might also be about edifying the church as well, as seems to be the thought in 1 Corinthians 14:4: “Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.”[6]

You don’t have to be a preacher to have the gift of prophesying, nor do you have to run out and quit your job if you discover you have the gift of prophesying and become a preacher. If you feel God is calling you in that direction, then that’s okay too. Exercise some “sober judgment” as Paul says, pray and ask for guidance, and speak to your family as well so you don’t shock them with a life-altering decision out of the blue. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 14:32: “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.”[7] How you exercise that gift is in accordance with your faith. It’s important to exercise some due diligence to flesh out any implications.

The gift of serving, I think, is probably the easiest one to wrap our brains around. It’s a generic enough category that just about anyone can fit into depending on your gifts and talents. These gifts of service are typically those things that help improve peoples’ lives, whether it’s serving in a food line or caring for an elderly or disabled friend or family member who can’t afford to pay someone to help with activities of daily living.

Teaching is another obvious one, and this, I believe, is my strong suit as a spiritual gift. The first-ever spiritual gifts inventory I took tagged me as having the gift of teaching, which I thought was odd as a junior in college since I had never even considered teaching as a career. And yet here I am at 63 years old with over 30 years of college and primary education experience. I’d like to think God knew what he was doing way back then.

I’ve seen a lot of encouragement in this congregation in the five years (has it been that long?) that I’ve been an adjunct pulpit-filler here. That is one of the beauties here, especially as a small congregation. The support and care you show for one another and have shown for me and my family in some of our struggles has meant so much to each other and myself. I think that’s one of the gifts you have that can attract more people to walk through our doors.

The gift of giving, as you might imagine, is not one that depends on how much money you have in the bank or the size of your paycheck every payday. Being a giver reflects an attitude of the heart, one that is, I think, accompanied by a strong faith in God’s provision. You’re not afraid to give because you know and have experienced God’s provision in your own life.

Leadership is a tough one, I think. So much goes into the concept of leadership, and sometimes the skillset that accompanies that gift will look different depending on the setting in which God is calling you to leadership. Are you a visionary that can see the potential in an idea or a person? Are you a financial whiz that knows how to keep a company in the black? Do you have strong people skills that can help with conflict resolution? Leadership in the church doesn’t necessarily mean you have to know the Bible as well as the preacher. Sometimes you can lead in compassionate ministry or children’s ministry.

Finally, Paul addresses mercy. I’m not afraid to tell you that mercy is an area I need some work on, especially as I get older, crankier, and more set in my ways. I shared with some of you last week about the trials of trying to Jill and Becca’s luggage to them in Scandinavia. After the third time in 24 hours that the luggage headed west back to Chicago instead of east over the Atlantic, mercy was about the farthest thing from my mind. In my defense, and in defense of the rest of us who get angry from time to time, the Bible does say it’s okay to get angry, as long as we don’t sin with our actions that accompany that anger.

Those are the gifts Paul mentions in Romans. If you want to see other gifts, you can review 1 Corinthians 12–14 to get an idea about the gifts and some extended instruction on how to use them.

I do want to issue you a challenge this morning. Most of you know each other, so I don’t think this is going to be too weird for you. Look around the sanctuary from where you’re sitting, if it’s not too difficult to turn around for you. Yeah, make eye contact. During our fellowship time afterwards, I’d like you to consider encouraging one another by complimenting them on a gift you see in that person. It doesn’t have to be one that we’ve talked about, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a spiritual gift. We’re a family here, and one of our goals should be to edify each other. When you get home, do the same for someone significant in your life as well: a sibling, your spouse, a child or grandchild, etc. Let’s be living sacrifices for the growth of God’s kingdom. Amen.

[1] John MacArthur (July-09-2026) Daily Devotional: A Living Sacrifice. Accessed 08/22/26.

[2] Copilot returned this assessment on 08/22/26:

The quote appears in various forms in:

• Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895–1960)

Barnhouse used the line in his Romans radio expositions and later in print. He never claimed authorship; he also attributed it to “someone has said.”

This is the earliest reliably documented usage.

• Early Keswick / holiness preaching (1940s–1960s)

Several holiness and revivalist preachers used similar phrasing, often anonymously:

  • “The trouble with a living sacrifice is that it keeps trying to get off the altar.”
  • “Living sacrifices tend to crawl off the altar.”

These appear in sermon transcripts and devotional pamphlets, but without attribution.

[3] Romans 6:3–4. The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. See also Edwards, James R. Romans. Understanding the Bible Commentary Series. 1992. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, p. 283, where he cites a similar statement from Romans 6:8.

[4] 1 Peter 2:2. The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[5] Romans 1:2. The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[6] 1 Corinthians 14:4. The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[7] 1 Corinthians 14:32. The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

August 4, 2026

Podcast Episode: Baptism And Christian Life (Romans Podcast Part 4)

Filed under: Christology,Faith, Faithfulness,Greek,Immersion/Baptism,Repentance,Romans,Soteriology — Scott Stocking @ 9:45 pm
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Pip: Sunday Morning Greek Blog, where the footnotes go six layers deep and the baptismal theology is somehow more soaking wet than you’d expect.

Mara: Scott Stocking has been doing a deep dive into Romans, and what surfaces is a case that baptism and the call to be a living sacrifice are more tightly connected than most readings let on. That’s the territory we’re covering today.

Pip: Let’s start with that connection — baptism as theology, not ceremony.

Baptism as Living Sacrifice: Romans 6 and 12:1

Mara: The central claim here is that Romans 6 and Romans 12:1 are not two separate ideas — they are one continuous argument, and baptism is the hinge between them.

Pip: And the evidence for that hinge is a single Greek word that shows up five times in Romans 6 and then reappears exactly when Paul says what he means by a living sacrifice.

Mara: Right — the word is paristēmi, translated “offer.” It appears throughout Romans 6 as Paul urges believers to offer themselves to God and then surfaces again in 12:1: “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship.”

Pip: So the living sacrifice of chapter 12 is not a new instruction — it is a callback to what baptism already accomplished.

Mara: Exactly. And to understand why, you have to follow Paul’s logic from the earlier part of Romans 6. The setup is verses 3 through 5: “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Mara: What that means in practice is that baptism is not primarily a public declaration — it is the moment of union with Christ’s death and resurrection. The believer does not merely symbolize something; they participate in it.

Pip: Which reframes the famous last verse of Romans 6 considerably. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” — usually read as a warning — is actually, on this reading, an affirmation for people who have already come through baptism.

Mara: That is precisely the argument. Because Christ paid the wages of sin on the cross, and because baptism unites the believer with that crucifixion, the verse functions as a confirmation of what has already happened, not a threat about what might.

Pip: The obedience Paul keeps returning to — his stated theme from Romans 1:5 all the way to 16:26 — is not a checklist. It is what life in Christ’s presence actually looks like after baptism.

Mara: And that reading is reinforced in the earlier post on the mystery of immersion, which makes a closely related case: that immersion is “the glue that ties the two pillars of the faith — Christ’s death and his subsequent resurrection — together.” That post works through the benefits linked to each pillar separately, from justification and reconciliation on the death side, to bearing fruit and victory over death on the resurrection side.

Pip: Both posts land in the same place — baptism is not peripheral, not merely a work of the flesh, not optional color commentary on the real theology happening elsewhere.

Mara: The phrase from the immersion post is worth sitting with: immersion is “a near-complete picture of who we are and what we have in Christ.”

Pip: Romans as a unified argument, baptism as the hinge, and the living sacrifice not as a new ask but as a return to the starting point.

Mara: There is more in Romans to surface. We will be back when the next posts land.

July 31, 2026

Podcast Episode: The Meaning of Baptism

Filed under: 1 Peter,forgiveness,Greek,Immersion/Baptism,John Gospel of,Luke Gospel of,Mark Gospel of,Matthew Gospel of,Romans,Soteriology — Scott Stocking @ 8:23 pm
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Pip: Sunday Morning Greek Blog — where the Greek is original and the theology is anything but shallow.

Mara: Scott Stocking has been working through one of the more contested questions in New Testament theology: what immersion actually does, what Peter and Paul meant by it, and whether the word itself carries more weight than most translations let on.

Pip: Let’s start with the text that says it most plainly — 1 Peter 3.

Baptism as Event, Not Ritual

Mara: The question driving these posts is deceptively simple: does immersion save, and if so, how does it work — what gives the water any power at all?

Pip: First Peter 3:21 is the sharpest answer in the New Testament, and the post on that passage offers a translation that cuts through the usual hedging: “This immersion now saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, not the body-dirt removal immersion, but the clear-conscience-pledge to God immersion.”

Mara: So the power is not in the water itself. The resurrection is the qualifier — it is what carries the person through immersion the way the floodwater carried the ark. Without that phrase at the end of the verse, the whole thing collapses into ritual.

Pip: And the Greek grammar backs that reading up. The relative pronoun at the start of verse 21 is neuter, which means it points back to water, not to the ark — Peter is saying the flood water corresponds to immersion, not that the ark does.

Mara: The post on The Mystery of Immersion picks up that thread and pushes it further, asking whether ascribing salvific power to immersion while calling the Lord’s Table a mere symbol is a theological inconsistency — either both carry mysterious power, or both are symbols.

Pip: That is a genuinely uncomfortable corner to be argued into.

Mara: Mystery of Immersion, Part Two lands the argument more firmly. It reads Romans 6 as the centerpiece of Paul’s entire theological argument in chapters 1 through 11, with immersion as the event that binds Christ’s death and resurrection together in a single act.

Pip: So immersion is not a footnote to salvation — it is, in Paul’s architecture, the load-bearing joint.

Mara: The Part Two post puts it this way: immersion is “the glue that ties the two pillars of the faith together.” United with Christ’s death, the believer receives justification, reconciliation, and a cleansed conscience. United with the resurrection, they bear fruit and share the victory over death.

Mara: And across all three posts, one consistent boundary holds: a purely outward act, the “dunk and ditch” version, accomplishes nothing — the pledge of a clear conscience is what makes the event real.

Pip: From water as typology to Romans as architecture — the question underneath all of it is what it means to be all-in for Christ.

Pip: Three posts, one through-line: immersion is not where the journey ends — it is where it starts in earnest.

Mara: The Greek keeps pulling that thread. More to come.

Podcast Episode: Romans And Faithful Obedience

Filed under: Christology,Faith, Faithfulness,Greek,Immersion/Baptism,Righteousness,Romans,Soteriology,Textual Criticism — Scott Stocking @ 5:50 pm
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Pip: Sunday Morning Greek Blog is back, and if you thought Paul’s letter to the Romans was just a greatest-hits playlist of salvation verses, Scott Stocking is here to walk you through the whole road — construction specs included.

Mara: Scott Stocking covers two connected territories this episode: what righteousness actually means in Romans, and how the phrase “obedience of faithfulness” functions as the letter’s spine from opening greeting to closing benediction.

Pip: Let’s start with righteousness — and what it costs to define it carefully.

Righteousness as Foundation

Mara: The central question in this segment is what Paul means by “the righteousness of God” in Romans 1:17 — and whether it’s something God hands over to believers, or something embodied in a person.

Pip: The answer lands hard. The post sets up Romans 1:17 carefully, then offers this reading: “The righteousness of God then isn’t an object to be given. It is embodied in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God.”

Mara: The upshot is that righteousness isn’t a transaction — it’s a participation. Because Jesus fulfilled every requirement of the law, he alone is called righteous, and believers share in that only by being “in Christ.”

Pip: Which reframes the familiar Romans Road considerably. The post uses a road-construction metaphor that actually earns its keep: righteousness is the substructure — the rebar, the compacted earth, the dowel bars — and Jesus’s faithfulness is the surface we walk on.

Mara: Romans 1:17 gets parsed as “from faithfulness into faithfulness” — Jesus’s perfect obedience to the law moving into his faithfulness unto death on the cross. The post ties that directly to Philippians 2:8: “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross.”

Pip: So “obedience of faithfulness” in Romans 1:5 isn’t just a theological motto. It points, specifically, to the crucifixion.

Mara: Romans 2 extends this. Paul warns both Jews and Gentiles against hypocrisy — knowing the law isn’t the same as following it. The post notes that circumcision and baptism function as parallel initiation rites in Paul’s argument, and reads Romans 2:25–29 as groundwork for the baptism discussion coming in chapter 6.

Pip: The small-group kickoff context matters here — this is a congregation being asked to read Romans one chapter at a time, and the post is honest that chapters 1 and 2 alone carry enough freight to slow anyone down.

Mara: That honesty is part of the argument. The post closes the Romans 1 and 2 discussion with a summary worth quoting directly: if we remain faithful to living in the righteousness of Christ, then as Romans 2:13 says, “we’ll be declared righteous when we stand before our maker.”

Pip: Which brings us to the phrase that holds all of this together — and how it functions across the whole letter.

The Obedience of Faithfulness

Mara: The question the second post takes up is whether “obedience of faithfulness” is a throwaway greeting formula or the actual organizing theme of Romans — and the answer is the latter.

Pip: The post on “Obedience of Faithfulness: A Walk On the Romans Road” opens with personal testimony but arrives at a precise textual claim. Paul, it argues, “told us what he was going to say, he said it, and he told us he said it” — the phrase appears in Romans 1:5 and again, word for word, in the closing benediction of Romans 16.

Mara: That’s not a coincidence. The Greek is only two words, and the post explains that the structure implies the terms define each other: “obedience is faithfulness, and faithfulness is obedience.” Faith, in this reading, is never purely intellectual — it always carries action with it.

Pip: The post traces this through baptism in Romans 6, reading immersion as the believer’s own enactment of the pattern — buried with Christ, raised to new life. That’s the “obedience of faithfulness” made physical.

Mara: And Romans 12:1–2 closes the arc: “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” and “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The post is careful to note these are promises for life now, not only for life after death.

Pip: Two posts, one through-line — the road Paul built was always meant to be walked.

Mara: Righteousness as foundation, faithfulness as the road you actually travel — that’s the frame Romans keeps returning to.

Pip: Next time, we’ll see where else on the blog that road leads.

June 28, 2026

Baptism: The “Living Sacrifice” of Romans 12:1 (Romans 6:12–23)

Filed under: Evangelism,forgiveness,Hebrews,Immersion/Baptism,Resurrection,Romans — Scott Stocking @ 7:46 pm
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I preached this message at Mount View Presbyterian Church on June 28, 2026, “Proper 8” in the Lectionary. As with my previous message, I wanted to focus on the Romans passage for the day given my recent intensive study into the letter. I also wanted to establish what I think is an overlooked connection between the climax of the first 11 chapters of Romans, chapter 6 featuring Paul’s discussion of baptism, and the “conclusion” of that argument that Paul states in 12:1, namely, that we should offer ourselves as a living sacrifice in the waters of baptism.

Good morning! The Lord be with you!

As I said a couple weeks ago, I wanted to focus on the Romans chapters in the Lectionary readings this month because of my recent “deep dive” into Romans. My purpose was twofold: to help my home church kick off a Romans study this past semester as well as to edify myself for my own personal encouragement and enrichment. The more I have drilled down into Romans, the more scriptural gold I find that enriches my own faith, calls me to a deeper commitment to faithfulness, and transforms my heart and mind in ways I have never experienced in 50 years of being an intentional Christ follower.

I’m especially excited this morning to share with you my message, mixed with a little bit of testimony, on the last half of Romans 6. I have discovered in the past year that Romans 6 is central point of Paul’s explanation of the righteousness of faithfulness. His whole discussion in the first five chapters leads up to the explanation of his stated theme. I’ve said before that Romans 1:5 is the main theme of the entire book of Romans, as is evident by Paul’s restatement of it at the end of Romans 16:26. Romans 1:5 says this:

“Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience of faithfulness for his name’s sake.”[1]

The connection of today’s passage with the concept of obedience, especially as it relates to chapter 6’s main topic of baptism, was clear as we read the text. But I want to issue a disclaimer here: when Paul is talking about obedience, he is NOT talking about a legalistic checklist we all must check off. Nor is he talking about mindless, robotic, walking-in-lockstep behavior. Obedience in this context means something much more personal, so let’s dive into the passage and find out what that is.

To refresh our memories, we need to look back at what immediately precedes our passage today, because, as I said a couple weeks ago, we need to see what the “therefore” in verse 12 is “there for.” Here’s what Paul said in vv. 3–5 as he introduces the topic of baptism:

“3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.”[2]

Then in verse 11, the verse leading into this morning’s passage, Paul says this to summary the first part of his discussion in chapter 6:

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”[3]

Paul considered baptism to be the transformative moment in the life of the believer, then. Repenting and turning to God involves two (at least) sequential events: In dying with Christ, not only do we share in his crucifixion and suffering on the cross, but we become united with, made one with Christ as well for eternity. Just as Christ did not remain in the grave forever, so we too, at baptism, are alive with the resurrected Lord even in our mortal bodies. This is what I meant above that Paul’s main theme, the obedience of faithfulness, is more than just a list of rules and behaviors to abide by. This obedience of faithfulness means we’re actually living our lives in the presence of Christ himself.

This is where we catch up with this morning’s reading. The fact that Paul says “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires”[4] should not surprise us. If we’re living “in Christ” and walking daily in His presence, would we want to bring sinful habits, behaviors, and thoughts into that relationship? Of course not!

Paul gets a little more specific as he goes on in 13 and 14. Don’t let any part of yourself—body, soul, or mind—fall into sin. Paul is pretty much saying here it’s an all or nothing proposition, just as baptism represents a complete identification with Christ. Christ gave his all for us, after all. He calls us to offer our complete self as “an instrument of righteousness.”

Paul’s use of a word here that we have translated into English as “instrument” need not concern us, even though on the surface it may cause us to think we’re just chess pieces. But as we have seen, our connection to Christ is a relationship: he is the head of the church; we are his body. So again, it never hurts to repeat this fact: we’re not cut off from the body if do happen to sin once in a while.

The word for “instrument” (ὅπλον hoplon) may have reminded the Greek-speaking gentiles of Hoplite soldiers of ancient Greece. They were heavily armed infantry troops that were quite successful in their day. The point of making this connection is that the body of Christ, the diverse church, is united in moving the kingdom forward, preferably through peaceful means, just as an army is united in purpose even though different battalions may have different tasks.

Hebrews 6 can help us understand this concept a little better, I think. Hebrews 6 can be a little scary if we don’t understand the context. Here’s what it says:

“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”[5]

The idea of not being able to return to repentance if you’ve made a mistake is a little frightening. Does that mean you miss out on some heavenly rewards? Or worse yet, that you miss out on heaven? Fortunately not. In the opening verses of chapter 6, the author chides the Hebrews for still consuming spiritual baby food. One of the items in his list is “repentance from acts that lead to death.”

The author of Hebrews is telling his readers they don’t need to “re-repent” or get “re-baptized” to get back right with God after they sin. What he is saying, however, is that the Hebrews have to develop a more mature mind set about life. He knows they already believe, they just have to start acting like they believe. They must start acting “faithfully” to show they are walking in that “obedience of faithfulness.”

Getting back to Romans 6, Paul repeats his opening question of chapter 6 with a slightly different nuance but the same answer: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!”[6] Of course not, Paul! Silly question, or so it seems, but evidently people thought that way back then. Paul goes on to talk about the difference between offering ourselves as “slaves” to righteousness as opposed to offering ourselves as slaves to sin.

The word for “offer” (παρίστημι paristēmi), which appears five times in Romans 6, is a word we should pay attention to, because the next time it appears in Romans is in 12:1: “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”[7] If you’re not picking up on the connection here, let me spell it out:

Look at Romans 6:13b again. Paul says, “Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.”[8] In the context of Romans 6, what does that phrase “from death to life” refer to? We’ve seen that it refers to baptism.

Baptism is how we unite with the sacrifice of Christ and the life that comes from his resurrection. In other words, it’s the perfect definition and example of what it means to be a “living sacrifice.” When Paul exhorts the Romans in 12:1 to offer themselves as a living sacrifice, he’s exhorting them to participate in the obedience of faithfulness as represented by baptism. In Philippians 2:8, Paul tells his readers that Christ “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”[9] The faithful obedience of Jesus should encourage our own faithful obedience.

Finally, we can’t talk about the last half of Romans 6 without talking about the very famous last verse of Romans 6: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[10] For quite a long time, this verse has been treated as a warning to believers and unbelievers alike, in some cases, being used to scare us away from the devil and toward Christ. But I want to suggest to you this morning that Paul never intended to use this verse as a warning, but as a summary statement for chapter 6 that applies to everyone who’s made the decision to follow Christ.

We know that Christ paid the full wages of sin for us on the cross so we wouldn’t have to. By participating in Christ’s crucifixion through baptism, we get “credit” as if we had paid the wage ourselves. Christ’s righteousness clothes us when we come to him. The last verse is an affirmation that we have paid the wages of sin. Since baptism also connects us the gift of eternal life and the hope of the resurrection, we have already received that free gift but will not “redeem” it until we die and go to be with the Lord. So again, verse 23 is an affirmation of that life we have received, not necessarily a promise for good behavior.

That’s what makes it grace, then. As Ephesians says, we’re saved by grace through the faithfulness of Christ. We only need to respond to it willingly. If you haven’t already, I urge you to do so today. Peace to you, brothers and sisters, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. Amen.

My thoughts are my own.

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

If you are interested in scheduling an engagement with me for teaching. pulpit supply, conference speaker, etc., please click my name in the signature and send me an e-mail. My preference is to remain within a two-hour drive of Omaha, but would consider farther for a longer weekend engagement.

[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Italicized phrase retranslated by author for emphasis.

[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[3] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[5] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[6] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[7] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[8] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[9] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[10] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

August 30, 2012

Obedience (ὑπακοή, ὑπακούω) in Romans

Filed under: Baptism of Jesus,Biblical Studies,Faith, Faithfulness,Immersion/Baptism,New Testament,PHilippians,Righteousness,Romans,Soteriology — Scott Stocking @ 6:11 am
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I can think of a number of reasons Paul’s letter to the Romans wound up at the head of Paul’s writings in the New Testament. His discussion of justification by faith is classic, strengthened by his further treatment of the subject in Galatians. The statement from 1:16 has long been hailed from pulpits to encourage the body of Christ to boldly serve, speak, and act for the cause of the Gospel. I especially like Paul’s treatment of immersion in chapter 6, where he rescues the subject from those who downplay it as a “work of the flesh” by empowering it with the blood of Christ and his resurrection to make it an important and necessary part of our salvation journey. And of course, the Romans Road has long been an effective evangelistic tool for many, although I was never sure why that always took a detour around the heart of chapter 6. But there’s a bigger picture in Romans that often gets overlooked when we focus on verses and individual sections.

An Overlooked Inclusio

In a previous post, I mentioned that Romans 1:5 and its parallel in 16:26 form an inclusio for the entire book of Romans. However, in that post, I focused on the term πιστίς (“faith”/”faithfulness”), especially as Paul builds his initial argument in the first five chapters of Romans. In some contexts (e.g., Romans 1:17), that term refers to the faithfulness of Christ But what I noticed this time through Romans is that seven of the ten occurrences of the words for “obey” (ὑπακούω) and “obedience” (ὑπακοή) in Romans are found in chapters 6 (four times) and 15–16 (three times). The four occurrences of the words in chapter 6 come in the midst of his discussion about the significance of immersion and our being released from the slavery of sin. In fact, the words are tied to the metaphor of slavery in all occurrences there.

Because πιστίς refers to Christ in several key passages, I asked myself if “obedience” might have some Christological implications as well. One of the first passages that comes to mind is Philippians 2:8: “And being found in appearance of a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross.” A few verses later (v. 12), Paul commends the Philippians for their obedience and encourages them to “work out [κατεργάζομαι] their salvation with fear and trembling.” That word for “work out” figures very prominently in Romans 7, where Paul speaks of “doing” what he does not want to “do.” What does this mean?

Breaking it Down

First, the discussion of obedience comes between the discussion of the significance of immersion and the popular conclusion to chapter 6 (cited in the Romans Road without the rest of the context of chapter 6): “The compensation for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Here is the irony: obedience or slavery to sin and obedience or slavery to Christ both lead to death. For those who are slaves to sin, they only have eternal death to look forward to, assuming they are looking forward to anything eternally. Obedience to Christ does lead to death, death to self, but there is on the other side the gift of eternal life. What is this obedience? One only need to look back to the first part of chapter 6: obedience to immersion. Just as Christ was obedient to death on a cross, we who believe are called to be obedient to death by immersion. Immersion is our Calvary. Immersion is also our Resurrection. Paul’s conclusion in 6:23 must be viewed in the context of 6:1–10.

Second, this gives new light to the phrase “obedience of faithfulness” found in Romans 1:5 and 16:26. The whole phrase is a euphemism of sorts for the crucifixion of Christ. It’s not just about legalistic obedience or stilted faithfulness. It’s about living this life sacrificially, knowing that we have eternal life as our ultimate reward on the other side of death. Ideally, obedience to immersion is a one-time event for the Christ-follower. But obedience in general is a lifelong commitment. Salvation is not a one-time event: it is a lifelong process we “work out… with fear and trembling.” Don’t get me wrong: we become a part of the kingdom the moment we put our trust in Christ, and we can be sure of the promise of eternal life from that moment on. But we cannot sit back and expect God to do everything for us. Repentance, discipline, study, meditation on God’s Word, and faithful obedience are all part of the “working out” process. We can never become perfect in this life, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try (Matthew 5:48, 19:21).

Conclusion

Those of you who are fond of the Romans Road, don’t take a detour around the discussion of immersion in the first part of chapter 6. It is part of the obedience that informs the rest of the discussion in Romans. To add a little more context to Romans 6:23, you might read it this way: “The compensation for slavery to sin is death, but the gift of God for those who are obedient to righteousness is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Immersion is our physical experience and signification of the death and resurrection of Christ. It’s not just a “work” that you can do whenever you think you’re ready. It’s an important component of working out your salvation as you grow in your faith in and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace,

Pastor Scott Stocking, M.Div.

Author note: “representation” changed to “signification” in last paragraph at 7:30 pm, 8/30/12.

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