The transitional phrase so then may be rendered in some languages as “as a result” or “therefore.”
Great mercy (most translations “mercy”) translates a plural form in Greek (literally “mercies”) and the Good News Translation attempts to bring out the significance of the plural by using the adjective great. The plural may have this intensive significance, but it is also possible that it simply reflects the corresponding Hebrew word in the Old Testament. In fact, this word occurs five times in the New Testament, and in four of them it is used in the plural (Romans 12.1; 2 Corinthians 1.3; Philippians 2.1; Hebrews 10.28), while it is used in the singular only once (Colossians 3.12). In a number of languages great mercy may only be expressed as “the many times that God has shown mercy to us.”
I make this appeal (Revised Standard Version, An American Translation*, Moffatt “I appeal”) is rendered “I beg” by the Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible and “I implore” by the New English Bible. This same verb is also used in 15.30 and 16.17 in a similar way. See also 1 Corinthians 1.10; 4.16; 2 Corinthians 2.8; Philemon 9 and 10. Paul makes three appeals to the Roman Christians; two of them are positive, offer yourselves … let God transform you inwardly, and one is negative, do not conform outwardly. A similar pattern is followed in 13.13-14.
There are a number of ways in which the phrase I make this appeal to you may be rendered in various languages—for example, “I strongly urge you,” “I say with strong words,” “I beg of you earnestly,” or, idiomatically, “I say with my heart open.”
Yourselves is literally “your bodies,” but in such a context Paul is using “bodies” as a reference to one’s entire self (New English Bible “your very selves”). This is similar to the meaning in 6.13, 19.
The sacrifice that the Christian is to offer is described in three ways: living, dedicated to his service, and pleasing to him.
Dedicated to his service (New English Bible “dedicated”; Moffatt “consecrated”) translates the word rendered “holy” by most translations. As mentioned earlier, the word translated “holy” has as its primary meaning “that which is set apart for God,” but “holy” usually fails to convey this meaning to the English reader. Rather, the idea is one of moral purity. Moral purity is, of course, involved in dedication to God, but it is something which grows out of the “holiness” of the Christian.
The phrase living sacrifice involves a contradiction in terms since a sacrifice is something which is put to death. In some languages the distinction is rendered as “offer yourself as though a killed gift to God while still alive,” “give yourself to God just as though you were a sacrifice but still living,” or “give your lives to God as though they were a sacrifice.” The need for making the contrast between sacrifice and living is especially necessary in languages for which a translation for sacrifice is literally “a killed gift” or “a slain offering.”
In some languages it is simpler and more effective to treat dedicated to his service and pleasing to him as being syntactically coordinate with offer yourselves—for example, “dedicate yourselves to serving him and to pleasing him.” On the other hand, the relationship to the sacrifice may be made explicit by saying “by offering yourself as a sacrifice, though still living, you dedicate yourself to his service and you are pleasing to him.”
This is the true worship (New English Bible “the worship offered by mind and heart”) is taken by some to mean “your rational worship” (An American Translation*; Jerusalem Bible “that is worthy of thinking beings”) and by others as “your spiritual worship” (New American Bible; see Moffatt). The meaning of the word rendered true (“rational” and “spiritual”) is difficult. Although the etymology of the word may mean “rational,” it is misleading. The way in which this word is used elsewhere outside the New Testament suggests that the basic meaning is “that which is in keeping with one’s true nature as a person,” and the Good News Translation attempts to bring this out by the word true. This seems also to be the basis for the translation of the New English Bible.
In many languages it is difficult to speak of true worship, especially since worship must generally be expressed by a verb. Furthermore, true in this type of context is not related to the concept of truth as much as it is to the idea of what is fitting and proper. The last sentence of verse 1 may therefore be rendered in some languages as “This is the way in which you ought to worship” or “This is the proper way to worship God.” On the other hand if one understands the underlying Greek expression to refer to spiritual worship, one may translate: “This is the way you ought to worship God in your hearts” or “This is the way to worship God within yourselves.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .