I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. - Romans 12:1 (ESV)
I read Jerry Bridges Discipline of Grace recently, and in the book, he quotes John Calvin's Commentary on Romans 12:1. He writes,
Paul's entreaty teaches us that men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey Him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy.... Paul,... in order to bind us to God not by servile fear but by a voluntary and cheerful love of righteousness, attracts us by the sweetness of that grace in which our salvation consists.
As the old hymn by John Newton goes, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound." Our worship of God and sacrifice for God should be motivated by the sweet grace of the Gospel of Salvation which Paul laid out in Romans 1-11.
Paul's entreaty teaches us that men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey Him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy.... Paul,... in order to bind us to God not by servile fear but by a voluntary and cheerful love of righteousness, attracts us by the sweetness of that grace in which our salvation consists.
As the old hymn by John Newton goes, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound." Our worship of God and sacrifice for God should be motivated by the sweet grace of the Gospel of Salvation which Paul laid out in Romans 1-11.
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Grace and Peace
Ollie
March 2009
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