Romans 12: Hating Evil, Clinging to Good

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.

Too often, people view theology as stuff for hermits or marooned shipwreck victims. When there's nothing else to do, then is the time to ask abstract questions about God. Such a notion would have exasperated the apostle Paul.

To him, theology always leads to action. He characteristically concludes the most concise theological book in the Bible with a down-to-earth discussion of everyday problems: politics, revenge, pride and the ups and downs of interpersonal relationships.

Pauls' life offers a good example of how to make theology practical. No intellectual recluse, he applies his theology to life, practicing what he preaches. In fact, he is writing the lofty book of Romans while traveling to raise funds for victims of a famine. Here in Romans 12, Paul describes what love in action should look like. "Offer your bodies as living sacrifices," he urges his readers. The Romans of his day, both Jews and Gentiles, associated the word sacrifice with the lambs and other animals they bring to the temple for priests to kill on an altar.

Reflection

But Paul makes clear that God wants living human beings, bot dead animals, as sacrifices. A person committed to God's will is the kind of offering most pleasing to God. Yet, as Paul warns us...let us be careful not to think of us more highly than we should; it's so easy to get "showy" with our sacrifices and forget about the humility that Christ tried to instill in us during his time on earth.