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THE WHOLE OF OUR LIVES 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. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Rom. 12:1-2).
The theocentric focus in this passage is God as the owner of every man. He places a legal claim on the whole of our lives.
The Meaning of Sacrifice Paul, in Romans 11, presented the case for the future conversion of the Jews to saving faith as a separate people. Here he switches to the theme of total sacrifice. He is writing to Romans. For Romans, total sacrifice meant human sacrifice. This is what it meant for the Greeks, too. Both societies had originally practiced human sacrifice.(1) Rome in Paul's day still imposed the death penalty on any vestal virgin who allowed the city's sacred fire to go out. She was buried alive.(2) Paul was not advocating this form of living sacrifice. He did not want redeemed people to die; he wanted them to live.
For Jews, the image of a total sacrifice hearkened back to the whole burnt offering (Lev. 1). But this could not be a living sacrifice. A sacrificial animal had to be slain before it was placed on the altar. The exception, theologically speaking, was Jesus Christ. He was placed on the altar alive: a perfect sacrifice, unlike bulls, lambs, turtledoves, and goats.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins (Heb. 9:28-10:4).
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb. 10:8-10).
We do not sacrifice ourselves on our own behalf in order to gain right legal standing with God. Jesus Christ has done this for us. Yet Paul speaks here of presenting our bodies to God as living sacrifices. We call upon God to consume us, just as He consumed the Old Covenant sacrifices. We become in effect drink offerings before God (Num. 15:5, 7, 10). We are poured out before Him. This requires our complete break with this world: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (v. 2). We must surrender the whole of our lives. This involves both body and mind, appearance and confession.
God possesses a legal claim on all men. This claim is made visible in the rite of baptism. The Christian acknowledges publicly that God possesses this legal claim, or else his parents acknowledged this publicly on his behalf through infant baptism. Earlier in this epistle, Paul described one implication of baptism: death to sin. "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:3-6). Here he describes a positive implication: service to God. Our lives are no longer our own. They belong to Christ.
Christ's followers are supposed to regard their lives as utterly forfeit. They must place themselves completely at Christ's disposal. This donation to God is their reasonable service. Paul makes it plain that everything we possess of any value rightfully belongs to God. We are to offer this to God, holding nothing back.
The highest military honor in the United States is the Congressional Medal of Honor. It is awarded, generally posthumously, to men who have performed "above and beyond the call of duty." This phrase can never apply to Christian service. The Christian's call of duty is total. He cannot go beyond it. He must not think of himself as superior to others when he performs well. He has only met his call of duty. "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (v. 3). A sober assessment of one's performance, given the presupposition of the requirement of total sacrifice, leads to a sober conclusion. The individual has performed well, but this was only what was expected.
God's Monopoly of Service God possesses a legal monopoly: complete ownership of each person. He is the sole owner as well as the soul's owner. He does not share this legal claim with anyone. There are false contenders.
The Communist Party at one time commanded a degree of loyalty comparable to God's. Benjamin Gitlow was one of the founders of the Communist Party of America in the early 1920's, was expelled by Stalin in 1929. In 1924 and 1928, he was the Communist Party's candidate for Vice President of the United States. He defected from the Party in the late 1930's. He testified against the Party in front of a Congressional investigating committee. He chose as the title of his study of American Communism, The Whole of Their Lives (1948). He understood what the Party had demanded from him and all other members: complete sacrifice. This aspect of Party rule was discussed by other defectors. Douglas Hyde, a high official in the Communist Party of England in the 1940's, made the same point in his memoir, Dedication and Leadership (1956). Hyde joined the Roman Catholic Church at the time of his defection from the Party.
No human institution may lawfully place such a claim on any man's life. Organizations may officially do this, but they cannot sustain such loyalty, generation after generation. I wrote to Hyde in the 1980's, hoping to get the right to reprint a series of lectures he had presented to church workers. He had taken certain Communist Party training techniques and had reworked them for application in service within the church. He refused to allow me to reprint the lectures. He told me that they had been delivered in an era in which such dedication by Party members was common. By the mid-1980's, this degree of dedication had disappeared. He did not want the public to imagine that the Communist Party still represented the threat that it had. He was correct about the threat. By 1989, faith in Communism had visibly departed inside the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed.
For any human institution to claim such dedication from its followers is to make a false claim of divinity. It requires the divinization of some aspect of the creation. God will not tolerate such claims. He is a jealous God.
Dedication and Profitability God requires total dedication. This dedication is always mediated. It is not just that people are required to pray to God. They are required to obey Him. This means that they must serve Him in history and through history. They serve Him by serving in the church, family, and State. They serve Him in their occupations. They serve Him enthusiastically. Paul writes: "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ" (Col. 3:22-24).
The goal here is dedicated, enthusiastic service to those in lawful authority. Men serve those in authority above them. In the free market, this means that producers ultimately serve consumers. It is the consumer who possesses final authority in the free market, for he possesses the most marketable commodity: money. Money is the free market's means of bringing sanctions. Consumers decide to buy or not to buy. This imposes positive sanctions on some sellers, and negative sanctions on others.
In the next section of chapter 12, Paul describes the division of labor in the church. The church is described as a living organism with specialized organs: "members." Each organ has a function that supports the rest of the body.(3) The goal is service. In the early verses, Paul establishes the individual basis of the church's corporate life: personal sacrifice. When people adopt this attitude of service, the church prospers.
This is true of any institution whose members adopt this view of service. No institution may lawfully claim total service, but it can become the beneficiary of workers who have as their personal ideal their complete dedication to God. Christians who adopt this outlook and who then discipline themselves to achieve it become highly valuable members of whatever organization employs them or recruits them. The attitude of complete dedication to God produces employees who are profitable. They put more wealth into the employing organization than their competitors do. They in effect buy attention from their employers.
There should be a premium on hiring covenant-keepers. Organizations should recognize that covenant-keepers perform better than their rivals at any given wage. This should make them more desirable employees. They should be near the top of the list of those who are "first hired, last fired." If this is not the case, then there is an abnormality. Perhaps they are not being faithful to Paul's injunction. Or perhaps employers do not yet recognize their superior performance. But, over time, faithful service gains attention. It is always rare. It calls attention to itself.
Dedicated service increases social cooperation. It reduces the risk of failure. A society filled with people who possess this ideal of service will gain greater wealth, including wealth per capita, than a society that lacks it. The earth will be subdued by people who possess this outlook on service. The dominion covenant is fulfilled in such a way that those who obey God on this point become the heirs of the world. "What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth" (Ps. 25:12-13).
Conclusion Paul announced God's comprehensive claim on His people. God's redeemed people are supposed to serve God without reservation. They are to hold back nothing. They do, of course, just as Ananias and Sapphira did (Acts 5).(4) But Jesus Christ did not hold anything back. His perfect sacrifice, in life and death, becomes the possession of all those who are redeemed by grace through faith. Christ's perfect righteousness is imputed -- transferred judicially -- by God the Father to Christ's followers.(5)
The goal of perfect service is inescapable. We are to become living sacrifices. As God's people approach this ideal, however imperfectly, they serve God by serving other men. They serve in institutions and in institutional settings. They begin to gain a reputation for humble, efficient service to humanity. This advances the kingdom of God in history.
They become more valuable employees because they do serve their employers faithfully. This is how they serve God. This makes covenant-keepers more desirable employees.
Footnotes:
1. Lord Acton, "Human Sacrifice" (1863), in Essays in Religion, Politics, and Morality , 3 vols. (Indianapolis, Indiana: LibertyClassics, 1988), III, ch. 19.
2. Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome (Garden City, New York: Doubleday Anchor, [1864] 1955), III:VI, p. 147.
3. Chapter 8, below.
4. Gary North, Sacrifice and Dominion: An Economic Commentary on Acts (electronic edition, Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 2000), ch. 4.
5. Chapter 3.
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