Romans · 21 verses
Romans 12
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
An enemy is to be fed when hungry and given drink when thirsty; the result, astonishingly, is a headful of burning coals, and the chapter does not say quite how the kindness achieves it.
Living worshipvv. 1–2
The opening turns worship into a living offering: bodies are sacrifices, but not dead ones. Renewal of the mind follows, so that the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God may be tested and approved.
Many members, many giftsvv. 3–8
The many become one body in Christ, with belonging running between the members. Gifts then arrive in a wonderfully unruly list: prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and showing mercy—each with its own manner of being done.
Good answering evilvv. 9–21
The instructions gather into a crowded household of conduct: sincere love, honour, hospitality, patience, prayer, blessing for persecutors, sympathy in joy and grief, harmony with the lowly, and peace where possible. Vengeance is left to God; kindness toward an enemy is prescribed with that singular image of burning coals, before the chapter closes by setting good against evil.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Rom 12:1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Rom 12:2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Rom 12:3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.
Rom 12:4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function,
Rom 12:5so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.
Rom 12:6We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith;
Rom 12:7if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
Rom 12:8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Rom 12:9Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good.
Rom 12:10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.
Rom 12:11Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
Rom 12:12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.
Rom 12:13Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Rom 12:14Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.
Rom 12:15Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Rom 12:16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.
Rom 12:17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.
Rom 12:18If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.
Rom 12:19Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
Rom 12:20On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Rom 12:21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 589 passages were voted onto 21 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 21 Peter 1:14As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.
- 2Ephesians 4:22–24to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
- 22 Corinthians 5:17Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
- 2Colossians 3:10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
- 21 John 2:15–17Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- 11 Peter 2:5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- 2Ephesians 5:17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
- 2Ezekiel 36:26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
- 1Romans 6:13Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.
- 2John 15:19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- 2Psalms 51:10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
- 1Hebrews 13:15–16Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
- 1Romans 6:19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
- 2Romans 13:14Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
- 2Titus 3:5He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
- 1Ephesians 4:1As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:
Onward