Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 1 Study # 4
September 8, 2019
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The "presentation" is to be a most fundamental orientation of the whole person.
Introduction: In our studies thus far in this section of Romans we have seen that Paul has a significantly developed understanding of God as One Who has already demonstrated His "mercies" toward those whom He has brought to Life. In
8:31 Paul pulled the extraordinary complexity of God's unsearchable judgments and hidden ways down to a succinct conclusion: If The God [is] for us, who [can effectively be] opposed to us? This conclusion sits immediately after one of Paul's "What therefore shall we say to these things?" (as a summons to a firm theological conclusion to prior declarations) and immediately before a most arresting question: "If He did not spare His own Son BUT delivered Him for us all, how will He not, together with Him, freely give all things to us?"
This perspective of God as strongly predisposed to be "merciful" is, then, set forth as the foundation for two exhortations. The first is a "summons" that assumes some form of waywardness that has created a distance between God and His child. That "summons" is a call "to come alongside"; i.e., a call to enter into His presence. The second is an exhortation to "present" oneself to The God as a complete person. The first "summons" is parakaleo and the second is paristemi. The sense is, "come into His presence" and, having come, "present to Him your body".
This evening we are going to look into this "presentation".
- I. The Synecdoche.
- A. A "synecdoche" is a figure of speech in which a "part" of a whole is used to refer to the "whole" itself with a special focus upon the "part".
- 1. "All hands on deck" is an example of a "synecdoche" because it uses the "hands" to refer, not only to the entire "persons", but also to the expectation that those "persons" are going to be given some form of instruction as to what they are to use their "hands" to accomplish.
- 2. Luke's declaration in Acts 27:37 that "...we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls" is another example where the "souls" of the people in the ship refers to all of the "people" with a specific focus upon their "essential" existence as "living beings" while under the threat of death from a storm while having Paul's promise that "...there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you".
- B. In our text, the "body" is the "part" of the "whole person" that is to be "presented" to The God.
- 1. The reason for the focus upon "the body" was given earlier in a like-exhortation in 6:13 where Paul insisted that all of the parts of the whole were to be presented to God in view of the need for "righteousness" to be served by every member of the whole.
- 2. But, we need to understand also that all of the "members of the body" also includes the whole person so that body, soul, and spirit are all included in the pursuit of righteous activities.
- 3. The reason for the presentation of the "body" is that it is the primary instrument of revelation in respect to the inner person; thoughts, attitudes, motivations, etc.
- II. The Qualifiers.
- A. The "body" is to be presented "alive".
- 1. The word translated "living" also has its roots in chapter six (verses 2, 10, 11, and 13) as referring specifically to "Life" as a matter of being separated from "death" by "union with God".
- 2. This aspect of "living" is, therefore, not specifically physical life as a characteristic of the body, but, instead, refers to the "soul" as having been united with Christ in "death, burial, and resurrection" with the power of that resurrection in use to empower the righteous activities of the body.
- 3. But also, it is to be presented as "sacrifice".
- a. Though some of the "sacrifices" in the Law were "offered" without a focus upon their destruction by fire, most were, if not destroyed, at least "cooked".
- b. Paul is indicating that, in this case, the body is to be viewed as "sacrifice" in that it involves the Love/Faith/Activities being subjected to Divine oversight so that one must relinquish all prerogatives and insistence upon self-determination.
- B. It is to be presented as "holy".
- 1. This does not, technically, point to "holiness" as a condition that is without sin.
- 2. Paul's use of "holy" is consistent with the general sense of the word in the culture: dedicated to The God so that it will not be used in any other type of "dedicated activities".
- 3. His point is that the "presenter" is aware that he/she is making a "whole life commitment" to be subject to His Love/Truth instructions and guidance.
- C. It is to be presented as "well-pleasing to The God".
- 1. The "pleasure of The God" is rooted in His recognition of the "faith" of the presenter (Hebrews 11:6) as a matter of strong confidence that He brings "good" to pass [Note Mark 1:40-45 where Jesus is presented as both "compassionate" and "significantly irritated" because the leper sees Him as a good deal less inclined to do him good than He actually is (because of demonic influences through the teachings of the synagogue)].
- 2. God is not "pleased" with "compelled" sacrifices (2 Corinthians 9:7) because they indicate a significant level of disbelief.
- D. It is to be viewed as "your reasonable service".
- 1. The term translated 'reasonable" is used only twice in the entire New Testament.
- a. It is derived from the widely used logos, a word that most fundamentally addresses an inherent characteristic of Jesus when He is viewed in terms of divine revelation from God (John 1:14).
- b. This derivation signals a description of something that is inherently within the mainstream of the quality of the thing described.
- c. The "summons" to "come alongside" and then "to make a presentation from that location" (alongside, in the presence of) is, clearly, directly in the middle of the stream of gracious revelation from God about His promise and capacity to fulfill it.
- 2. The term translated "service" is used in five texts of the New Testament and in each of them outside of Romans there is a direct sense of "taking some action prescribed by God for attending upon Him".
- a. John 16:2 gives us Jesus using this word to describe the thinking of men who put God's servants to death: they think they are "rendering service to God".
- 1) The idea seems to be that these murderers "think" God wishes the elimination of those spreading false information among the people (clearly believing the Gospel to be "false information").
- 2) "Service", then, is simply doing what God wishes to be done.
- b. In both Hebrews 9:1 and 9:6 the word is used to signify the particular activities within the tabernacle/temple that God commanded for "temple worship" on a daily basis; i.e., those activities within the holy place as opposed to the huge number of activities that take place outside of that specific location.
- 1) For example, it is one thing to place freshly baked bread upon the table for the "bread of presence" as an "inner holy place activity of service" and it is altogether another thing to sit upon a throne in another place and "rule the people of God as the representative of their True King, God Himself".
- 2) Paul is calling for a personal, one-on-one, "inner sanctum" decision and presentation.
- c. The conclusion I draw is this: responding to the "summons" to "come alongside" is very much like coming into the holy place "to make a presentation while in that holy place".
- 1) There is no reason to think that Paul's word use in Romans does not mean the same thing as the texts of John and Hebrews do.
- 2) Thus, Paul is saying that responding to the summons to come alongside leads directly into the middle of the stream of doing what God wishes for each of His people to do: love Him enough, and trust Him enough, to make a definitive presentation of one's "body" to Him as a "living" and "dedicated" sacrifice so that one is willing to totally focus upon His will and pleasure.
- 3) This is the core "inner" attitude, and all overt activities fall under the revelation of His will in His Word.
