The Insanity of Romans 12:1
Bible Study | Romans 12:1
Romans 12:1 A Living Sacrifice [1] [z]I appeal to you therefore, brothers,(1) by the mercies of God, [a]to present your bodies [b]as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.(2)
Now I just find myself questioning everything of Paul… Did Jesus ever ask this? For us to take Yahushua’s place? To put our suffering as a seen “sacrifice” before Yahweh?
What Yahushua Actually Said
Yahushua never uses the phrase “living sacrifice,” but He does speak of:
Denying oneself:
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his stake (cross), and follow Me.”
(Mattithyahu/Matthew 16:24, TS2009)Losing your life for His sake:
“For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.”
(Matt. 16:25)
So, while Yahushua never says to "offer your body as a living sacrifice," He does call us to die to ourselves, walk in obedience, and live a life fully surrendered to Him. This is deeply consistent with the Torah-based pattern of worship: surrender, obedience, and covenant loyalty.
BUT…
FREEDOM is Not Sacrifice
Freedom is not sacrifice.
Freedom only feels like sacrifice when the heart still longs for evil.
When one desires to remain bound,
To keep company with sin,
To worship the self instead of the Savior—
Then yes, freedom feels like death.
But to the one reborn in the goodness and wholeness of Yahushua,
Rebirth is FREEDOM.
Freedom from the world.
Freedom from bondage.
Freedom from lies, lust, pride, idolatry, confusion, and decay.
Freedom from evil.
No one who truly loves Yahushua sees that freedom as sacrifice.
They see it as home.
They see it as peace.
They see it as the beginning of everything good.
So let the world call it loss—
We call it life.
That’s the revelation right there.
What the world and religious systems call sacrifice, Yahushua calls freedom.
Because for the reborn heart—
Giving up sin isn’t painful.
Walking away from Babylon isn’t loss.
Offering your life to Yahushua isn’t a sacrifice—
It’s the only thing that ever made you whole and made you truly feel alive!
Paul Was Confronted, Not Convicted Unto Wholeness
Paul was confronted, not convicted unto wholeness.
He never sought freedom from his sin—he was interrupted. Blinded. Humbled, yes—but never reborn in the way Yahushua called others to be.
He speaks of wrestling with sin in present tense (Romans 7)—
“For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”
That’s not the language of someone set free—
That’s someone still bound.
Contrast that with Yahushua’s words:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone doing sin is a servant of sin... But if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.”
(John 8:34–36)
That’s not wrestling. That’s deliverance. That’s freedom.
Paul never rejoices in freedom. He boasts in struggle.
He doesn’t point to the finished work of Yahushua—
He often points back to his own efforts, his own thorn, his own flesh.
And yet—Yahushua said:
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
(Matt. 11:28)
Not more struggle. Not another sacrifice. Rest.
Wholeness. Healing. The end of sin’s grip.
Paul loved his high place.
And when that was stripped away, he wore his chains like medals—
But never does he fully lay himself at Yahushua’s feet the way Peter, Mary, or the healed demoniac did.
He was stopped.
But never fully transformed.
The True Worship Yahushua Desires
He never asked for suffering for suffering’s sake.
He never asked you to take His place on the altar.
He asked you to follow Him.
To abide in Him.
To walk with Him.
And in doing that… you walk out of slavery.
Paul’s phrase can confuse this, because he writes as though we’re crawling back onto the altar daily—
But Yahushua already went there.
And then He got up.
And now He says: “Come with Me.”
