2 And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [your] mind, that ye may prove what [is] the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
as children of obedience, not conformed to [your] former lusts in your ignorance;
So if any one [be] in Christ, [there is] a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new:
[namely] your having put off according to the former conversation the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts; and being renewed in the spirit of your mind; and [your] having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness.
Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing, and its lust, but he that does the will of God abides for eternity.
For this reason be not foolish, but understanding what [is] the will of the Lord.
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
no longer to live the rest of [his] time in [the] flesh to men's lusts, but to God's will.
not on the principle of works which [have been done] in righteousness which *we* had done, but according to his own mercy he saved us through [the] washing of regeneration and renewal of [the] Holy Spirit,
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
My son, forget not my teaching, and let thy heart observe my commandments; for length of days, and years of life, and peace shall they add to thee. Let not loving-kindness and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck, write them upon the tablet of thy heart: and thou shalt find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
For this is [the] will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication;
in whom the god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is [the] image of God, should not shine forth [for them].
Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the gain thereof is better than the gain of silver, and her revenue than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not equal unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is he that retaineth her.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple; The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are righteous altogether: They are more precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold; and sweeter than honey and the dropping of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant enlightened; in keeping them there is great reward.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked [one].
I have given them thy word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world.
This I say therefore, and testify in [the] Lord, that ye should no longer walk as [the rest of] the nations walk in [the] vanity of their mind, being darkened in understanding, estranged from the life of God by reason of the ignorance which is in them, by reason of the hardness of their hearts, who having cast off all feeling, have given themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greedy unsatisfied lust. But *ye* have not thus learnt the Christ,
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works, yet now has it reconciled in the body of his flesh through death; to present you holy and unblamable and irreproachable before it,
And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved; And I will lift up my hands unto thy commandments, which I have loved, and I will meditate in thy statutes.
Taste and see that Jehovah is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him!
*Ye* are of God, children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that [is] in you than he that [is] in the world. *They* are of the world; for this reason they speak [as] of the world, and the world hears them.
who gave himself for our sins, so that he should deliver us out of the present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father;
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written, He who takes the wise in their craftiness.
Therefore I regard all [thy] precepts concerning all things to be right: I hate every false path.
I have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah, and thy law is my delight.
(for the fruit of the light [is] in all goodness and righteousness and truth,) proving what is agreeable to the Lord;
The world cannot hate you, but me it hates, because I bear witness concerning it that its works are evil.
For whoever committeth any of these abominations, ... the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. And ye shall observe my charge, that ye commit not [any] of the abominable customs which were committed before you; and ye shall not make yourselves unclean therein: I am Jehovah your God.
in which ye once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience:
Every scripture [is] divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work.
Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers; for what participation [is there] between righteousness and lawlessness? or what fellowship of light with darkness? and what consent of Christ with Beliar, or what part for a believer along with an unbeliever? and what agreement of God's temple with idols? for *ye* are [the] living God's temple; according as God has said, I will dwell among them, and walk among [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be to me a people. Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith [the] Lord, and touch not [what is] unclean, and *I* will receive you;
MEM. Oh how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing;
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man:
being enlightened in the eyes of your heart, so that ye should know what is the hope of his calling, [and] what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
When thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you he that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, that useth divination, that useth auguries, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or one that inquireth of a spirit of Python, or a soothsayer, or one that consulteth the dead. For every one that doeth these things is an abomination to Jehovah, and because of these abominations Jehovah thy God doth dispossess them from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt dispossess, hearkened unto those that use auguries, and that use divination; but as for thee, Jehovah thy God hath not suffered thee [to do] so.
Thou shalt not follow the multitude for evil; neither shalt thou answer in a cause, to go after the multitude to pervert [judgment].
How sweet are thy ùwords unto my taste! more than honey to my mouth!
knowing that ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible [things, as] silver or gold, from your vain conversation handed down from [your] fathers,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 12
Commentary on Romans 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
The apostle, having at large cleared and confirmed the prime fundamental doctrines of Christianity, comes in the next place to press the principal duties. We mistake our religion if we look upon it only as a system of notions and a guide to speculation. No, it is a practical religion, that tends to the right ordering of the conversation. It is designed not only to inform our judgments, but to reform our hearts and lives. From the method of the apostle's writing in this, as in some other of the epistles (as from the management of the principal ministers of state in Christ's kingdom) the stewards of the mysteries of God may take direction how to divide the word of truth: not to press duty abstracted from privilege, nor privilege abstracted from duty; but let both go together, with a complicated design, they will greatly promote and befriend each other. The duties are drawn from the privileges, by way of inference. The foundation of Christian practice must be laid in Christian knowledge and faith. We must first understand how we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, and then we shall know the better how to walk in him. There is a great deal of duty prescribed in this chapter. The exhortations are short and pithy, briefly summing up what is good, and what the Lord our God in Christ requires of us. It is an abridgment of the Christian directory, an excellent collection of rules for the right ordering of the conversation, as becomes the gospel. It is joined to the foregoing discourse by the word "therefore.' It is the practical application of doctrinal truths that is the life of preaching. He had been discoursing at large of justification by faith, and of the riches of free grace, and the pledges and assurances we have of the glory that is to be revealed. Hence carnal libertines would be apt to infer."Therefore we may live as we list, and walk in the way of our hearts and the sight of our eyes.' Now this does not follow; the faith that justifies is a faith that "works by love.' And there is no other way to heaven but the way of holiness and obedience. Therefore what God hath joined together let no man put asunder. The particular exhortations of this chapter are reducible to the three principal heads of Christian duty: our duty to God t ourselves, and to our brother. The grace of God teaches us, in general, to live "godly, soberly, and righteously;' and to deny all that which is contrary hereunto. Now this chapter will give us to understand what godliness, sobriety, and righteousness, are though somewhat intermixed.
Rom 12:1-21
We may observe here, according to the scheme mentioned in the contents, the apostle's exhortations,