Romans 12 opens a new section of the letter. In the first 11 chapters, Paul systematically goes through the doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ. “A man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Rom 3:28), and “sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (6:14). Starting from chapter 12, he goes into the next step – sanctification.
Sanctification begins with seeking God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will (12:2). How do we do that? Paul sums it up in two parts: “do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world” and “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (12:2). When we set our mind and heart to such tasks, then we will be able to know God’s will for his people. From this point on, Paul lays down several areas of conduct that will help the followers of Christ to accomplish such transformation.
The order of Paul’s exhortation is worth pondering. He begins with humility, which shows its importance in our sanctification process. “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought” (12:3). The pattern of the world is to put self first and to see self as the most important part of our life, but we ought not to conform to that pattern any longer. Instead, we should “think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (12:3). This is what a transformed disciple of Christ supposed to do, and through that we may then discern God’s will which is good, pleasing, and perfect.
We can use such contrasting practice for the rest of this book, and such practice will help us see the daunting task of transformation set before us. Then, we shall really appreciate how much we need God’s grace in this process.
The verb “to transform” appears only three other times in the NT. Twice in the gospels describing the transformation of Jesus on the mountain (Matt 17:2, Mk 9:2), and once in 2 Corinthians describing the disciples changing to the glorified image of Christ (2Co 3:18). In other words, Paul is telling the Romans to change their image to be like Christ. Next time when we sing hymns like “O to be like thee”, let us think about its implication and ask the question: “do I look like Christ in other’s eyes?”
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