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.
Paul cannot teach us how to live rightly without first establishing that all righteousness flows from God and Christ alone. Philosophers speak beautifully of morals, but theirs is a superstructure without foundation, a body without a head. So too the Papacy, which mentions faith and grace in passing while cleaving far closer to heathen philosophy than to Christ and His Apostles.
AI summary
We must first give ourselves to the Lord, this is the spring of all obedience. Present your bodies, your whole selves, as living sacrifices; it is by laying your hand on the offering and transferring all your right and interest to God that the sacrifice takes hold. Though he could command with authority, the apostle beseeches us instead, for men are more easily led than driven.
AI summary
Commenting on Romans 12:1-21
The word therefore shows these exhortations are conclusions drawn from what precedes: since all things are of God and from God and to God, you ought to present your bodies to Him. Paul addresses you as brethren, expressing both his tender love and your relation to one another and to God, and entreats rather than commands, enforcing everything by the mercies of God displayed in your election and calling.
AI summary