By the mercy and grace of the Lord we have seen something of life, and we have seen that in order to experience life we need certain real dealings, including dealing with the flesh, the self, the conscience, the world, and the spirit. All these are for the practical experience of life. If we take care of all these dealings, we will attain to a point where we realize the divine life in the church life. We will realize the Body of Christ, not merely in doctrine but in a practical way in our Christian practice and Christian life; that is, we will realize the real practice of the Body of Christ. Therefore, in this chapter we will see something further concerning the Body of Christ. Although this may be a familiar subject or term for many of us, we look to the Lord that we may see something in a very practical way.
The book of Romans shows us that the final stage, or experience, of the Christian life is the stage, the experience, of the Body of Christ. Romans speaks of justification, release from sin, sanctification, and walking according to the Spirit. After all these, in Romans 12 we eventually realize the Body of Christ in our experience. If we read this chapter carefully, we will realize that Paul the apostle did not write concerning the Body in the way of doctrine. Rather, he wrote something about the Body of Christ in a very practical way.
First, he shows us that if we are going to realize the experience of the Body of Christ, we must offer ourselves to the Lord. When the apostle came to the matter of this offering, this consecration, he spoke in a very practical way, saying that we need to present our bodies (v. 1). To speak concerning the body is practical. To come to a meeting, for example, we must come in our physical body. To say that we are coming only in our mind or even in our spirit is something “in the air.” We may say, “I offer myself to the Lord,” but have we offered our body to the Lord? To offer ourselves in a way that is without our body is an offering or a consecration to the Lord “in the air.” We can only be in our body; we cannot be “in the air.” If we come to a brother or to his home, we must come in the body. If we do not come in the body, the brother will not know how to contact us. Similarly, if we offer ourselves without our body, the Lord will not be able to contact us on the earth. If our offering involves our body, it is practical. We need to offer our body to the Lord.
Second, Paul says, “Do not be fashioned according to this age” (v. 2a). The King James Version uses the word world in this verse, but the Greek word means “age,” the present part of the world, the part which is before us. The present part of the world is the age. Within the world as a whole there are many ages, age after age. Strictly speaking, we cannot contact the world without contacting the age of the world. We can compare this with being in the United States. We cannot be in this country without being in one of the states. To be in the country, we must be in a state. To not be conformed to the age, the present world, is also something very practical.
Third, we must be transformed by the renewing of the mind (v. 2b). This is something more practical; it is subjectively practical. We need to check how much we as Christians, reborn ones, children of God, have been transformed. We were born as the old creation, so everything within us is old. The mind is old, the will is old, the emotions are old, and the heart and every part of our being are old. Now, we have been regenerated and renewed in the spirit, but how much have we been transformed, renewed, in all the inward parts of our whole being? This is something very subjective and practical; it is not a mere doctrine. Merely listening to and agreeing with this does not work. We must realize that this is practical, something we must experience; otherwise, we do not have it.
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