“Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). “Christ ... through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God” (Heb. 9:14). His life was salted (tried) by fire and only emitted a fragrant odor to God. No honey — the sweetness of nature—and no leaven — that which is sour and inflated. He was salted with salt — the holy grace which binds the soul to God and enables the heart to refuse all that is presented to it which is not of Him. In short, a sinless man was before God’s eye in Christ, and He was what none else ever was in itself offered to God. In Romans 8:2-3, we are consecrated to God and presented to Him, as in Christ. In Romans 12 as priests for whom the mercies of God have opened our temple door, we have come out of all man’s corruption and now present our bodies, hitherto slaves of sin, to God, a “living sacrifice” as in Christ and His life in us, “holy,” to which the salt pointed (compare Mark 9:49-50), and “acceptable,” the grace of Christ seen in us (the frankincense) — all presented to God as an “intelligent priestly service.”
F. G. Patterson (adapted)