Romans 12:1–2 is one of the best-known passages in the Bible—and deservedly so, for we find here a succinct description of the essence of the believer’s response to God’s grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It functions as the heading for all the specifics Paul will unpack in the subsequent chapters. Our response is rooted in God’s grace. The niv’s “God’s mercy” conceals the fact that the Greek word for “mercy” is in the plural (“mercies”). Paul is reminding us of the many displays of God’s mercy he has touched on in chapters 1–11. “In view of” probably modifies “urge”; Paul exhorts us in light of the manifold mercy of God. Our obedience is the product of what God has done in our lives, not something we can manufacture on our own.

The command to “offer” ourselves to God reminds us of Romans 6, where Paul used this same verb (paristemi) to express the basic response of believers to God’s grace to us in Christ (see 6:13, 16, 19). Indeed, all of Romans 12:1–15:13 is an explication of this basic demand in chapter 6. As new covenant Christians, we no longer offer animal sacrifices; we now offer ourselves as “living sacrifices.” “Living” perhaps has a theological meaning: We offer ourselves as people who have been brought from death to life (see 6:13). This may, however, be reading more into the word than we should. Paul probably wants us simply to contrast ourselves with the dead animal sacrifices of the Old Testament (see also John 6:51). But God demands sacrifices that are “holy,” that is, apart from profane matters and dedicated to his service.

This offering of ourselves to God constitutes, Paul concludes, our “spiritual act of worship.” “Spiritual” translates a word (logikos) over which there is much debate, as the varied renderings in English translations suggest: “spiritual” (niv; nrsv; nasb); “reasonable” (kjv); “true” (tev); “offered by mind and heart” (reb); “intelligent” (Phillips). But when the background is considered (see Bridging Contexts), we think “informed” or “understanding” is the best single equivalent in English. We give ourselves to God as his sacrifices when we understand his grace and its place in our lives. We offer ourselves not ignorantly, like animals brought to slaughter, but intelligently and willingly. This is the worship that pleases God.

Verse 2 tells us how we can carry out the sweeping demand to give ourselves as sacrifices to the Lord. Building on his “two-era” concept of salvation history (see Bridging Contexts), Paul demands that we “not conform” to “this age” (lit. trans.). The niv’s rendition as “the pattern of this world” captures the general sense well enough. The old age to which we belonged in our pre-Christian past still exerts influence on us, enticing us to follow its “pattern” of sinful and ungodly behavior. Rather than “conforming” our conduct to that age, we must be “transformed” in our behavior. The neat contrast of these two words in English is not found in the Greek, which uses two different verb roots (syschematizo and metamorphoo). But the English rendering is true to the sense of the Greek and certainly makes the verse easy to remember.

The means by which we accomplish this transformation in conduct is the “renewing of your mind” (for a close parallel see Eph. 4:23; cf. also 2 Cor. 4:16; Col. 3:10; Titus 3:5). A new orientation in our thinking leads to a new orientation in behavior. Here Paul touches on the heart of New Testament ethics (see Contemporary Significance section), for the result of this transformation is that we will be able to please God by doing his will.