Romans 12
Disciples’ Literal New Testament
I Urge You To Present Your Bodies To God As a Living Sacrifice, And Renew Your Mind
12 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the compassions[a] of God, to present[b] your bodies as a living holy sacrifice pleasing to God, as your spiritual[c] worship[d]. 2 And do not be conformed[e] to this age[f], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may be approving what[g] is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God.
Think Sound-Mindedly About Yourself As God Has Apportioned You The Faith
3 For I say to everyone being among you through the grace having been given to me not to be thinking-highly of yourself beyond what you ought-to think, but to be thinking so as to be sound-minded, as God apportioned[h] to each a measure[i] of faith.
For We Are One Body In Christ. Use The Gifts And Faith God Has Given You
4 For just as we have many body-parts in one body and all the body-parts do not have the same function, 5 in this manner we the many are one body in Christ, and individually body-parts of one another. 6 And having different grace-gifts according-to the grace having been given to us, exercise them accordingly[j]: whether prophecy, in accordance with the proportion[k] of your faith[l]; 7 or service[m], in-the-sphere-of [n] your service[o]; or the one teaching, in the sphere of your teaching[p]; 8 or the one exhorting[q], in the sphere of your exhortation[r]; the one giving, with[s] generosity[t]; the one leading[u], with diligence; the one showing-mercy, with cheerfulness.
Think And Diligently Act In Love, Faith, And Holiness
9 I say[v] to let your love be sincere[w], while abhorring the evil, clinging[x] to the good; 10 to be affectionate[y] to one another in brotherly-love, preferring[z] one another in honor; 11 to not be hesitant in diligence; to be boiling in spirit, serving the Lord, 12 rejoicing in hope, enduring in affliction, devoting-yourselves to prayer, 13 sharing in the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality. 14 Be blessing the ones persecuting you— be blessing and not cursing[aa]. 15 I say to rejoice with rejoicing ones, to weep with weeping ones; 16 to be thinking the same thing toward one another, not thinking lofty[ab] things, but being carried-along-with[ac] the lowly[ad] (do not be wise among yourselves); 17 to be giving-back evil for evil to no one; to be providing-for[ae] good things in the sight of all people, 18 living-in-peace with all people if possible— as far as from you; 19 to not be avenging yourselves, beloved, but give a place to the wrath of God. For it has been written: “Vengeance is for Me, I will repay, says the Lord” [Deut 32:35]. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give-a-drink to him. For doing this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head” [Prov 25:21-22]. 21 Do not be overcome by[af] evil, but be overcoming evil with good.
Footnotes
- Romans 12:1 Or, acts-of-compassion.
- Romans 12:1 Or, offer.
- Romans 12:1 Or, reasonable, thoughtful, pertaining to the real (spiritual) nature of things.
- Romans 12:1 Or, service.
- Romans 12:2 Or, molded.
- Romans 12:2 Or, world.
- Romans 12:2 what is... God. Or, what is the will of God— the thing good and pleasing and perfect.
- Romans 12:3 Or, divided, distributed.
- Romans 12:3 Or, a quantity, a measured-portion.
- Romans 12:6 At some point Paul transitions from explanation to exhortation, intending the reader to supply the commands needed. Some add a single command here; others a command after each gift mentioned next.
- Romans 12:6 That is, your measure of faith. Or, the right-relationship to the faith.
- Romans 12:6 Or, the faith given.
- Romans 12:7 Or, ministry.
- Romans 12:7 Or, with, by. Both the gift and the sphere or realm in which it is used are gifts from God.
- Romans 12:7 Or, the service given.
- Romans 12:7 Or, the teaching given.
- Romans 12:8 Or, encouraging, comforting.
- Romans 12:8 Or, the exhortation given.
- Romans 12:8 Paul changes from referring to the sphere in which the gift is used to the manner in which it is used.
- Romans 12:8 Or, simplicity (that is, without any self-seeking motive or partiality), sincerity.
- Romans 12:8 Or, managing, ruling, being at the head, presiding over.
- Romans 12:9 What follows is clearly a series of exhortations, so most make them all commands. Here they are given as Paul wrote them, with words supplied in italics to make the sense clear. Since there is no clear indication of a change of subject, they are listed as a continuation of what Paul wants to ‘say to everyone being among you’, v 3.
- Romans 12:9 Or, genuine, without-hypocrisy.
- Romans 12:9 Or, joining oneself to, associating with.
- Romans 12:10 Or, warmly-devoted, tenderly-loving.
- Romans 12:10 Paul may mean leading the way for one another in honor; or, being first to honor one another; or, esteeming one another more highly in honor.
- Romans 12:14 That is, calling down curses.
- Romans 12:16 Or, high, proud.
- Romans 12:16 Or, accommodating to, associating with.
- Romans 12:16 Or, humble.
- Romans 12:17 Or, planning for, taking thought for.
- Romans 12:21 That is, by the evil done to you. Do not be controlled or directed by it, but take the lead yourself with good.
Romans 12
New English Translation
Consecration of the Believer’s Life
12 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God[b]—which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed[c] to this present world,[d] but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve[e] what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
Conduct in Humility
3 For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you[f] a measure of faith.[g] 4 For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, 5 so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another. 6 And we have different gifts[h] according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith.[i] 7 If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; 8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.
Conduct in Love
9 Love must be[j] without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.[k] Do not be conceited.[l] 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people.[m] 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people.[n] 19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath,[o] for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,”[p] says the Lord. 20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head.[q] 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Footnotes
- Romans 12:1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
- Romans 12:1 tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.sn Taken as predicate adjectives, the terms alive, holy, and pleasing are showing how unusual is the sacrifice that believers can now offer, for OT sacrifices were dead. As has often been quipped about this text, “The problem with living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off the altar.”
- Romans 12:2 tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschēmatizesthe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.
- Romans 12:2 tn Grk “to this age.”
- Romans 12:2 sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazō) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”
- Romans 12:3 tn The words “of you” have been supplied for clarity.
- Romans 12:3 tn Or “to each as God has distributed a measure of faith.”
- Romans 12:6 tn This word comes from the same root as “grace” in the following clause; it means “things graciously given,” “grace-gifts.”
- Romans 12:6 tn The last part of this verse has no verb; either an indicative or imperative is implied. Most likely an imperative is intended because of the general tenor of this section of the epistle as exhortation and because of the particular flow of this verse, which seems to imply how to use spiritual gifts.
- Romans 12:9 tn The verb “must be” is understood in the Greek text.
- Romans 12:16 tn Or “but give yourselves to menial tasks.” The translation depends on whether one takes the adjective “lowly” as masculine or neuter.
- Romans 12:16 tn Grk “Do not be wise in your thinking.”
- Romans 12:17 tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) is used as a generic and refers to both men and women.
- Romans 12:18 tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos) is used as a generic and refers to both men and women.
- Romans 12:19 tn Grk “the wrath,” referring to God’s wrath as the remainder of the verse shows.
- Romans 12:19 sn A quotation from Deut 32:35.
- Romans 12:20 sn A quotation from Prov 25:21-22.
Disciples' Literal New Testament: Serving Modern Disciples by More Fully Reflecting the Writing Style of the Ancient Disciples, Copyright © 2011 Michael J. Magill. All Rights Reserved. Published by Reyma Publishing
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.