Romans 12:1

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

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Ambrosiaster

AD 400

Paul pleads with them through the mercy of God, by which the human race is saved…. This is a warning that they should remember that they have received God’s mercy and that they should take care to worship the one who gave it to them. God’s will is our sanctification, for bodies subject to sin are considered not to be alive but dead, since they have no hope of obtaining the promise of eternal life. It is for this purpose that we are cleansed from our sins by God’s gift, that henceforth we should lead a pure life and stir up the love of God in us, not making his work of grace of no effect. For the ancients killed sacrifices which were offered in order to signify that men were subjected to death because of sin. But now, since by the gift of God men have been purified and set free from the second death, they must offer a living sacrifice as a sign of eternal life. For now it is no longer the case that bodies are sacrificed for bodies, but instead of bodies it is the sins of the body which ... Read More

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

If the body, which is less than the soul and which the soul uses as a servant or a tool, is a sacrifice when it is used well and rightly for the service of God, how much more so is the soul when it offers itself to God? In this way, aflame in the fire of divine love and with the dross of worldly desire melted away, it is remolded into the unchangeable form of God and becomes beautiful in his sight by reason of the bounty of beauty which he has bestowed upon it.

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Bede

AD 735

If we display our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, he will with heavenly condescension deign to see to it that we are rewarded with the same glory as those who have given their bodies up to death for the Lord’s sake.

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.". And again: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the mercy of God, that ye constitute your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God; and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed in the renewing of your spirit, that ye may prove what is the will of God, good, and acceptable, and perfect."

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Gennadius of Constantinople

AD 471

As the fullness of God’s mercies toward us is limitless, I am obliged and I challenge us all to be set apart and offered to God as a complete sacrifice. For the present sacrifice does not lead to death, as did that under the law, but by making us holy it leads to eternal life, because it is pleasing to God and the offering of rational creatures is much more valuable than that of dumb ones. .

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Rationabile obsequium, logiken latreian. Ver. 13. Communicantes; koinonountes. Koinonein is often used by St. Paul for making others sharers by giving to them.

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

With this chapter St. Paul begins his second part, in which he gives us most excellent lessons of morality, after which every Christian should aim to form his life, and thus resemble Jesus Christ and his saints. (Haydock) That you present your bodies a living sacrifice. And how must this be done? says St. Chrysostom, hom. xx. Let the eye abstain from sinful looks and glances, and it is a sacrifice; the tongue from speaking ill, and it is a sacrifice Your reasonable service, or worship, from you; nothing being more reasonable, than for men to serve God with their souls and bodies (Witham)

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Gregory of Nyssa

AD 394

How can the person who is conformed to this age, who is not transformed in the newness of his mind and who does not walk in the newness of this life but instead follows the life of the old man, obey Paul, who commanded you to present your body as a sacrifice living, holy and pleasing to God? How can you be a priest for God, having been anointed for this very purpose of offering a gift to God, not a gift that is completely alien or fraudulent because it consists of what is external to you but a gift which is truly yours because it consists of what is internal to you, which is the man inside you helping you to be perfect and blameless according to the word of the Lamb, free from all stain and dishonor? How will you place these offerings before God if you do not listen to the law which forbids an unholy man to be a priest? On Virginity

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Irenaeus of Lyons

AD 202

Then again, Paul exhorts us "to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

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Jerome

AD 420

Idolatry is not confined to casting incense upon an altar with finger and thumb or to pouring libations of wine out of a cup into a bowl. Covetousness is idolatry, or else the selling of the Lord for thirty pieces of silver was a righteous act. Lust involves sacrilege, or else men may defile with common harlots those members of Christ which should be “a living sacrifice, acceptable to God.”

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

How is the body to become a sacrifice? Let the eye look on no evil thing, and it has already become a sacrifice. Let the tongue say nothing filthy, and it has become an offering. Let your hand do nothing evil, and it has become a whole burnt offering. But even this is not enough, for we must have good works also. The hand must do alms, the mouth must bless those who curse it, and the ears must find time to listen to the reading of Scripture. Sacrifice allows of no unclean thing. It is the first fruits of all other actions.

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Philoxenus of Mabbug

AD 523

Just as with the former law of Moses, all the priests … must first offer a rational sacrifice to God for themselves, and only then for the people. In his prayer, the priest asks in the first place for forgiveness of his own sins and a cleansing of his own soul and body from all sinful thoughts and actions. Then each priest offers these prayers to God in accordance with the measure of his own purity of soul. .

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

These must be "the bodies "which he "beseeches "the Romans to "present "as "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.". For matters of this kind belong not to religion, but to superstition, being studied, and forced, and of curious rather than rational ceremony;

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Thomas Aquinas

AD 1274

953. Having shown the need for virtues and the origin of grace [n. 97], here the Apostle teaches how grace should be used, a subject pertaining to moral instruction. And he does two things in this regard. First he sets out a general moral teaching; Second, he descends to more particular questions related to the recipients of his letter, around the middle of chapter 15 at [verse 14; n. 1163] I myself am assured. And regarding the first, he does two things. First, he teaches how one should use grace to be a perfect man; Second, how the perfect man should sustain the imperfect, in chapter 14 there [verse 1; n. 1081] at Now as for the man who is weak. Concerning the first, he does three things. 471 First he offers instruction about that perfection of life relating to the sanctity by which we a man serves God; Second, relating to righteous dealings with one’s neighbor, in chapter 13 at [verse 1; n. 1016] Let every soul; Third, relating to that purity a man must preserve within himself, arou... Read More

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