What does it mean to be a “living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1)?

When the apostle Paul moves from his explanation of the gospel to drawing out the practical implications in Romans, he starts with this:

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. (Rom. 12:1 ESV)

Christians here are being asked to do something: to present our bodies as living sacrifices. This is instructing us to make an intentional choice to present our bodies, which means to thoughtfully devote ourselves to God. A helpful parallel might be enlisting in the army when a war is on. When there is a war that your country is involved in, citizens are asked to volunteer to fight. If you present yourself to fight, it is because you believe that the cause you are fighting for is worth it. You are choosing to devote yourself to something bigger than yourself, something that will mean you don’t get to do whatever you want. That is like what believers are asked to do here. It is not forced, it is not like conscription, it is something that we should want to do if we understand the gospel.

The term “living sacrifice” is an unusual one. In the Old Testament, a sacrifice was made when someone had an animal killed by a priest in order to pay for their sins. Sacrifices, by definition, were not living, at least after the sacrifice was done! But the animal was devoted to God, its life given for a bigger purpose. So, what does it mean to be a living sacrifice as a Christian? Let’s be clear on what it does not mean.

1. It does not mean we are all called to die for God’s service, to be martyrs. Perhaps that will be required for some, but the phrase here is living sacrifices, not just sacrifices.
2. It does not mean that we in any way pay for sin. No, Jesus’ sacrifice for sin was once for all, and no further sacrifice is needed. We don’t need to do anything to have our sin paid for except trust in Jesus.

What is means is to be fully devoted to God’s service as the description of your life. A living sacrifice sees their purpose as serving God, willingly, and with all our hearts. The following clauses in v1 expand and explain this further.

We are to be holy and acceptable to God. That word ‘holy’ means ‘set apart’ or ‘special’ or ‘different’. The animals used for Old Testament sacrifices needed to be holy and without blemish, good animals, not the ones you didn’t want. So, Christians, as we devote our lives to God, are to focus on God’s service. Not as leftovers, not as being mainly doing what we want with a little bit of serving God, but to serve God with all we have. That is more than other religions ask of people. It is not like if we do the right religious things, then we can do whatever we want the rest of the time. No, we are to honour and serve God in our work, our family relationships, with our money, and in how we serve one another.