The “rational worship” of Romans 12:1-2 in the religio romana environment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46859/PUCRio.Acad.ReBiblica.2596-2922.2025v6n11a02Keywords:
Rational worship, Roman religio, Letter to the Romans, Idolatry, Ethics of discernmentAbstract
In the exhortation to “rational worship” in Rom 12:1-2, Paul metaphorizes sacrifice and gives new meaning to worship for the followers of the Jesus movement in Rome. This is a positive paraclisis that contrasts with the negative descriptive framework of Rom 1:18-32. This article seeks to analyze the implications of Paul’s exhortation in relation to worship in the religio romana, which is markedly ritualistic and superstitious. By understanding that in the negative framework of Rom 1:18-3 Paul had the imperial house in mind, such implications have to do with the so-called “imperial cult”, understood not only as cult of the emperor, but as mechanisms of the State that used the religio to maintain imperial power. In the exhortation that implies a new ethos for the followers of Jesus, Paul indicates the need for an ethics of discernment regarding the will of God: not to conform to the elements of the present eon but to be transformed by the renewal of the mind, so that the new life in the Spirit may be an offering pleasing to God, of living and holy bodies, which know how to discern between the justice and fidelity of the God of Jesus and the ius et fides of the Empire.
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