Living Sacrifice – Zao Thusia

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. – Romans 12:1

The context of this term really contributes more to its significance in worship than does the actual definition of the terms.  Very simply Zao means living and Thusia, sacrifice.  Thusia is in this case significant because in all of its uses, it is used to define something offered to God as dead.  The very nature of the term Zao Thusia is somewhat an oxymoron when you consider the normal use of the terms.  The very idea, whether pagan or Christian, is that the sacrifice dies.  Yet here, we see that the sacrifice is still alive.  The sacrifice is our body.  By placing the focus on the living sacrifice of our body, Paul was focusing “on the service of everyday life.”  Again, we must realize that our consistency as Christians is an aspect of our corporate worship when we gather.  In other words, when we come together or lead worship, we are bringing to the table the reality that we have or have not offered to God our bodies as a living sacrifice.  The problem is that we like to live our lives as we would and then expect to encounter God as if we had lived another life of sacrifice as opposed to the selfish withdrawal of our bodies, God’s living sacrifice.  Consider these timely words:

Congregational worship in some contexts can be like a narcotic trip into another world to escape the ethical responsibilities of living a Christian life in this world.

Instead of our corporate worship being an escape from our ethical responsibilities, lets have our worship be a natural outpouring of consecrated, holy, and obedient living Monday thru Saturday.  Amen.

  To download the entire study with footnotes, click here.