The first portion of this scripture is crucial and necessarily first. It speaks of the body being presented as a living and holy sacrifice. The word presented is the Greek word paristemi and in the present context it has the direct meaning of things being consecrated to God. The word presented also carries the meaning of "standing beside" or "standing in the presence of God" in the both the Old Testament Septuagint and in the New Testament. In this sense there are two primary verses and they both happen to pertain to an angel: in Luke 1:19 it is "Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God", in Revelation 8:2 it is "the seven angels who stand before God". The important thing here is not that they are angels but the fact that they "stand before and in the presence of God". This is the notion of Coram Deo, a Latin phrase translated, "in the presence of God", "before the face of God" or "in the sight of God", and it is a Christian theological view which states that the overarching goal of the Christian is to "live in the presence of, under the authority of, and to the honor and glory of God." Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coram_Deo
The body is important in spiritual worship to the extent that it is holy consecrated to God's service; that it "lives" in the presence and sight of God, under His divine authority and to His honor and glory. This is what makes our very lives reasonable, spiritual worship. The Word of God is eternal and has integrity, as such you can see this principle throughout both testaments: Old and New. In the first mention of worship in the Bible we have the brothers Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:2-7). "And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard." Then the Lord says something to Cain as to the reason that his offering was not received, "If you do well, surely you will be accepted. And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." In the New Testament we see this affirmed in I John 3:10-12, where the Apostle states that the differences between the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: "anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother"; Cain "was of the evil one" and "his deeds were evil, and his brother's deeds were righteous". This sheds light on the Genesis passage that said, Cain "if you do well, surely you will be accepted." It was not the sacrifice that was the issue, it was the person's life before Him. This brings into proper perspective how God views worship. Hosea 6:6 states it in this way: "I delight in loyalty in love, a love going beyond mere duty (Hebrew: chesed), rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than in burnt offerings." I Samuel 15:22 says: "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams." Combining the concepts found in these two verses, we see that God's focus is not on outward offerings, but rather on a loyal obedience founded upon a love towards Him. Abel's deeds of righteousness were an expression of his life of devotion towards God, and it is this that God was honoring when He received his offering.
Romans 12:1 says that it is your body that is offered to God "by the mercies of God"; translating this back into Hebrew would be "by the chesed of God". In essence, all chesed found in this world is not found outside of God for it is primarily an attribute of God or His very nature. It could be said God is "chesed", and outside of God there is no "chesed". Romans 6:13 says: "do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments or weapons of unrighteousness (against God); but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments or weapons of righteousness to God". Romans 6:16,17 says: "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart (in chesed) to that form of teaching to which you were committed."
All of this speaks of repentance. The Greek infinitive word for present in Romans 12:1 is aorist active which says that it was a decisive act or commitment made once and for all. The body has been presented or committed to God in one decisive act of consecration. The body that was once used for unrighteous acts against a holy God has now been consecrated to God for righteous acts.
This consecration in repentance actually gives the impetus for the transformation described in the following verse. Transformed is the Greek word, metamorphousthe. It is in the present tense, has a passive voice and is in the mood of command. This says that the trans formative process is to be immediate upon the offering of the body and is to continue on in time progressively. The passive voice means that it is not any action of the person causing the mind to be transformed, but the mind of the individual is being acted upon. In context, it is the consecration of the body to righteousness in the prior verse, that results in the mind being transformed. Repentance is the causative agent of change. It affects both the "spirit of the mind", Ephesian 4:23, as well as the physical structure of the brain. Very recent brain research shows that the body's repetitive actions are the single, most causative force behind any long term physical transformation in the brain's structure. All of this is a result of the neuroplasticity of the brain.
The following link is to a video by University of British Columbia at Vancouver's brain researcher, Dr. Laura Boyd, on "Brain Neuroplasticity":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNv8UFEfBFw
As I already mentioned, the fact that the Ephesian 4:23 passage instructs us to be "renewed in the spirit (pneuma) of the mind" shows that how the body is used is key to worship in both Spirit and in Truth. Romans 8:4,5 states that the walk according to the Spirit is in conjunction with the mind of the Spirit. To what end and purpose the body is presented, affects the transformative process acting upon the mind and brain and determines which spirit the person is yielded to. It is impossible, from these scriptures, to suggest that a person is under the control and influence of God's Spirit, when this person is actively pursuing a lifestyle that is in direct opposition to the Holy Spirit. In fact, in such an instance, the mind is not being renewed or framed according to God's Spirit, at all.
Ezekiel 18:30,31 is an essential understanding of the creation of the new heart with a new spirit. It says: "Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!"
Isaiah 55:7-9 says: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
A slightly different perspective is presented in 2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. The word transformed here is again, metamorphoumetha, and it also is in the passive voice, suggesting that the person is not affecting the change, but is a recipient of the transformation. The transformation is being affected by the Spirit. From this scripture, much of current, popular Christianity suggests that emphasizing repentance is to get things reversed. That the New Testament is diametrically opposed to the sum of the Old Testament. The error here is in not understanding that the Old Testament saints who lived by faith did so in the same spirit of faith and that grace existed in the Old Testament, as well. The current trend in much of the churches today is to emphasize the reborn spirit and the new creation's work within the person. The mind is thus transformed from the Spirit's work within, and the body is to eventually fall in line. Unfortunately, the body is being yielded to someone in the interim; this is worship, in God's eyes. As long as the body is yielding to unrighteousness as a weapon against God, the greatest force for changing the human mind is being applied against the mind's transformation into Christlikeness. Nowhere in Scripture is it suggested that the mind or the spirit of the individual is to be offered to God as a holy sacrifice in reasonable, spiritual worship. Worship begins with a commitment of the body towards God as an instrument of righteousness. The extent that this commitment is adhered to, is the extent to which the soul of the person is being transformed and is no longer being conformed to the world. It is impossible for the soul to be affected in a positive way as long as the individual's body is being yielded in worship to an antichrist spirit through disobedience.
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