ACC ~ Romans 12 v1

NEW LIFE MANIFESTED IN OUR BODIES. ORIGEN: Paul says that the sacrifice is living because it has eternal life in it, which is Christ. Elsewhere he says: “We always carry in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” He calls it holy because the Holy Spirit dwells in it, as he says elsewhere: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

ORIGEN: The divine Word wants you to offer your flesh to God in purity, with the understanding of your reason. HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 1.5.1.

HOLY AND ACCEPTABLE TO GOD. GREGORY OF NYSSA: How can the person who is conformed to this age, who is not transformed in the newness of his mind and who does not walk in the newness of this life but instead follows the life of the old man, obey Paul, who commanded you to present your body as a sacrifice living, holy and pleasing to God? How can you be a priest for God, having been anointed for this very purpose of offering a gift to God, not a gift that is completely alien or fraudulent because it consists of what is external to you but a gift which is truly yours because it consists of what is internal to you, which is the man inside you helping you to be perfect and blameless according to the word of the Lamb, free from all stain and dishonor? How will you place these offerings before God if you do not listen to the law which forbids an unholy man to be a priest? ON VIRGINITY 23.

A LIVING SACRIFICE. JEROME: Idolatry is not confined to casting incense upon an altar with finger and thumb or to pouring libations of wine out of a cup into a bowl. Covetousness is idolatry, or else the selling of the Lord for thirty pieces of silver was a righteous act.Lust involves sacrilege, or else men may defile with common harlots those members of Christ which should be “a living sacrifice, acceptable to God.” EPISTLES 14.5.

NOT BODIES BUT SINS OF THE BODY SACRIFICED. AMBROSIASTER: Paul pleads with them through the mercy of God, by which the human race is saved. … This is a warning that they should remember that they have received God’s mercy and that they should take care to worship the one who gave it to them.

God’s will is our sanctification, for bodies subject to sin are considered not to be alive but dead, since they have no hope of obtaining the promise of eternal life. It is for this purpose that we are cleansed from our sins by God’s gift, that henceforth we should lead a pure life and stir up the love of God in us, not making his work of grace of no effect. For the ancients killed sacrifices which were offered in order to signify that men were subjected to death because of sin. But now, since by the gift of God men have been purified and set free from the second death, they must offer a living sacrifice as a sign of eternal life. For now it is no longer the case that bodies are sacrificed for bodies, but instead of bodies it is the sins of the body which must be put to death. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

HOW THE BODY BECOMES A SACRIFICE. CHRYSOSTOM: How is the body to become a sacrifice? Let the eye look on no evil thing, and it has already become a sacrifice. Let the tongue say nothing filthy, and it has become an offering. Let your hand do nothing evil, and it has become a whole burnt offering. But even this is not enough, for we must have good works also.The hand must do alms, the mouth must bless those who curse it, and the ears must find time to listen to the reading of Scripture. Sacrifice allows of no unclean thing. It is the first fruits of all other actions. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 20.

AFLAME WITH DIVINE LOVE. AUGUSTINE: If the body, which is less than the soul and which the soul uses as a servant or a tool, is a sacrifice when it is used well and rightly for the service of God, how much more so is the soul when it offers itself to God? In this way, aflame in the fire of divine love and with the dross of worldly desire melted away, it is remolded into the unchangeable form of God and becomes beautiful in his sight by reason of the bounty of beauty which he has bestowed upon it. THE CITY OF GOD 10.6.

FROM DOCTRINE TO MORALS. [PSEUDO-]CONSTANTIUS: Up to this point Paul has expounded doctrine. Now he goes on to teach morals. THE HOLY LETTER OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

NOT ANIMALS SACRIFICED BUT OUR OWN BODIES. PELAGIUS: Because Paul has already mentioned the mind of the Lord, he now instructs them how they ought to conduct themselves so that they are worthy to have the mind of the Lord. They possessed nothing greater than the mercy of God because they had been set free by it. They were to present their bodies, not those of animals, as under the law, which (in spite of the fact that they were a symbolic offering) were nevertheless offered up healthy and unblemished. The living sacrifice was to be pure and free from the total death of sin. It should be pleasing only to God, not to other people. Every good work pleases God if it is done in a reasonable manner. For one is deprived of one’s reward if, for example, one fasts for public notice, for then one is performing a good deed in a foolish way. And the same applies to all vices that border on virtues. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

AS IF WE HAD RISEN. THEODORET OF CYR: Paul has already exhorted us to make our members instruments of righteousness and to present ourselves before God as if we had risen from the dead.But here he exhorts us to make our members a sacrifice, and one which he describes as “living.” He does not command us to kill our bodies but demands that they should be dead to sin. INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

THE LIVING SACRIFICE OF RATIONAL CREATURES. GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: As the fullness of God’s mercies toward us is limitless, I am obliged and I challenge us all to be set apart and offered to God as a complete sacrifice. For the present sacrifice does not lead to death, as did that under the law, but by making us holy it leads to eternal life, because it is pleasing to God and the offering of rational creatures is much more valuable than that of dumb ones. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

PRIESTLY OFFERING. PHILOXENUS OF MABBUG: Just as with the former law of Moses, all the priests … must first offer a rational sacrifice to God for themselves, and only then for the people. In his prayer, the priest asks in the first place for forgiveness of his own sins and a cleansing of his own soul and body from all sinful thoughts and actions. Then each priest offers these prayers to God in accordance with the measure of his own purity of soul. ON THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

I APPEAL TO YOU. LUCULENTIUS: The difference between asking and appealing is that we ask about unimportant matters but appeal about important ones. … Our bodies are sacrifices because the flesh is put to death. They are living sacrifices, because the Spirit has given them life. COMMENTARY 3.

THE SAME GLORY. BEDE: If we display our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, he will with heavenly condescension deign to see to it that we are rewarded with the same glory as those who have given their bodies up to death for the Lord’s sake. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.21.

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