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– 1 Timothy 3:15

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12. COMMUNITY LIVING

Per Marva J. Dawn, the ‘therefore’ in Romans 12:1 is the pivot in the entire book of Romans. She views the epistle to be wholly about being community - the community of the people of God. Chapters 1-11 deal with community formation (how all have sinned and yet through God’s grace, both Jew and Gentile alike can have justification through faith in Jesus Christ) and chapters 12-15 are all about community living with the last chapter (16) containing some personal messages, principally greetings, from Paul.

Marva J. Dawn’s argument is persuasive and throughout this series of short studies on Romans, this writer has kept her argument in mind; and has believed too, that if there is any overarching theme that can span the entire epistle, it would be: being the community of God’s people. Many, after Martin Luther, have believed that Paul’s tour de force in his epistle to the Roman church is his presentation of the doctrine of justification by faith. True, the doctrine of justification by faith is a major theological treatise in Romans; but, in its context, it is only subservient to what the apostle actually wants to achieve by his writing. He wants to convince the divided and quarrelsome church, which is Rome, to put aside all their baggages of pride and differences and be the one people of God living ‘in harmony with one another’ (12:16). To this end, Paul has to begin from the beginning: that in the purview of God, there is no difference between person A and person B, or, between a Jew and a Gentile. All are under sin; all stand before God condemned; no one can claim any form of righteousness; all are in need of God’s grace; all must show faith in Christ, desist from sin, and yield to the leadership of the Spirit. Having thus laid the theological groundwork, Paul now begins to construct his intended building - ethical and relational living in and amongst the community of God’s people justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. Towards this purpose, the apostle tells the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome:
     Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as
     living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.
     Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by
     the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s
     will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. - 12:1-2

Certainly, Romans 12:1-2 teaches that ‘all life is worship’, perhaps clearer and stronger than any other passage in the Bible. The words of the apostle are unmistakable. He uses the language of liturgy: ‘God’s mercy’, ‘offer’, ‘bodies’, ‘sacrifices’, ‘holy’, ‘pleasing’, and ‘spiritual act of worship’. All these are a throwback to the now defunct Old Testament practice of offering clean and unblemished animals as burnt sacrifices to appease and please God (e.g., see Gen. 8:20, 21). Instead of animals killed and burnt, the Christian is to offer his own ‘body’, not dead, but living, a ‘living sacrifice’. This speaks of a constancy in the presentation of oneself to the service of God. This constancy cannot be periodical, or episodal, and certainly, not haphazard, but, continuous, as to constitute living out one’s life as if it is a daily ‘offering’ of ‘living sacrifices’. In short, the life of a Christian is a life of worship; his every being and act is ‘live[d] for God’ (as per Paul’s expression in Gal. 2:19).

Further, this offering of one’s body as living sacrifice has to be a holy offering so that it can be pleasing to God. It is not good enough to present oneself as a living sacrifice. It needs to be a living and holy sacrifice, which calls upon the Christian to be free from sin (a theme that Paul had discussed in chapters 6-8). In the community of God’s people, the benchmark for ethical living is the sinless life, the life that is committed to bringing out God’s righteousness in each and every Christian, who are led and controlled by the Holy Spirit (see chap. 8).

How does a Christian live this sinless life? Paul enjoins the Roman Christians not to conform themselves to the standards and practices of the world. Rather, they are to undergo a transformation process, a renewing of minds in terms of their values, worldviews, and practices.

This transformation or, renewing, is a remaking of oneself in accordance with the spiritual dictates of the holy God, not the material dictates of the world. Yet this remaking cannot be achieved through human effort alone; it has to be done in co-operation and with the guidance of the Spirit of God.

With this transformation, the heart of the Christian is attuned to things spiritual. The pulse of the heart beats with the Spirit, so to speak; and this enables the Christian to ‘test and approve what God’s will is’. The word ‘test’ has the sense of to prove or disprove the authenticity, truthfulness, or goodness of the thing under test. In the present instance, it is to ‘test and approve’ - meaning we shall find that the will of God is ‘good, pleasing and perfect’ and that it is proper for us to pursue after this will, rather than any other will including that of the self.

Archive
The Romans Series
1. Being the Community of God’s People
2. Ethno-Religious Tensions
3. The Power and the Wrath of God
4. Justification by Faith
5. Justification Brings Blessings
6. While We Were Still Sinners
7. Died to Sin
8. Slaves to Righteousness
9. The Difference of the Spirit
10. The Israel Problem
11. The Gentile Problem
12. Community Living
13. Community Unity
14. Community Ethics
15. Loving the Enemy Ethic
16. Extra-Community Ethics
17. The Weak and the Strong
18. Community Formation
19. Paul, the Minister
20. Gems in Greetings

Articles on The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism and
the Gospel of Judas
1. The Da Vinci Code: A Christian Response
2. The Nag Hammadi Documents and Gnosticism
3. The Gospel of Judas
4. The Gospel of Judas - A Retake
5. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 1)
6. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 2)
7. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 3)
8. Canonicity and the Gospel of Judas

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