“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Yourselves: in times past, other bodies than our own, now our own must be offered. Spiritual. The fourth part of this Epistle, which after the finishing of the chief points of Christian doctrine, consisteth in declaring of precepts of Christian life. And first of all he giveth general precepts and grounds: the chiefest whereof is this that every man consecrate himself wholly to the spiritual service of God, and do as it were sacrifice himself, trusting to the grace of God. By this preface he showeth that God’s glory is the utmost end of all our doings. In times past the sacrifices were presented before the altar, but now the altar is everywhere. In times past, dead sacrifices were offered, but now we must offer such as have the spirit of life in them.