For the last couple of classes, we’ve been studying the first seven verses of chapter 1as a contextual unit, by focusing on a verse or two in particular each class. This evening, we will finish the last three verses of Paul’s salutation to the Romans. Let’s begin by reading it again, only this time I want to read from The Good News Translation:

From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus and an apostle chosen and called by God to preach his Good News. The Good News was promised long ago by God through his prophets, as written in the Holy Scriptures. It is about his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: as to his humanity, he was born a descendant of David; as to his divine holiness, he was shown with great power to be the Son of God by being raised from death. Through him God gave me the privilege of being an apostle for the sake of Christ, in order to lead people of all nations to believe and obey. This also includes you who are in Rome, whom God has called to belong to Jesus Christ. And so I write to all of you in Rome whom God loves and has called to be his own people: May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. (Romans 1:1-7)

Let’s begin by looking at verse 5 in the NASB95:

The little prepositional phrase through whom, that refers back to Jesus Christ our Lord in verse 4 might be easily overlooked, but according to the Word Biblical Commentary, there is real significance: It does not say "on account of whom," that is, for the sake of a great servant of God now dead. Nor "from whom," that is, from Christ as source of divine power. But "through whom," "through Christ," that is, through the risen Christ as an active agent and participant in the process of salvation.

By my count, Paul uses the word "through" 52 times in Romans and with few exceptions, he is referring to Christ:

Romans 2:16: …on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

Romans 5:2: …through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:9: Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

Romans 5:11: And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Romans 5:21: …so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 7:25: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Romans 8:37: But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

Romans 11:36: For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

As with much of Scripture, there is a difference of opinion. Some believe he is simply using "the categorical plural, referring to Paul, and not including the other apostles…" While others feel that here, "Paul links others with himself—we received. He does not regard himself as the sole apostle to the Gentiles, which would in any case have been a difficult position to maintain in writing to a largely Gentile church which he had not founded. It seems to me that Paul was linking others with himself as having received grace and apostleship…he certainly was not singular in that respect, but, based on his statements found in other places (Romans 11:13; 1Timothy 2:7; Galatians 2:8-9), it is clear that Paul felt that he had been set apart by a special calling from Jesus Christ to make the Gentiles his primary focus.

I lean toward the idea that even though the majority of translations use the phrase grace and apostleship, Paul was really describing his apostleship as being grounded in God’s grace…just like he seems to see everything else in that same way.

The word obedience is the Greek hupakoe (hoop·ak·o·ay) and conveys the idea of compliance or submission. The word faith is the Greek pistis (pis·tis) that appears 41 times in Romans and subjectively means firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity or reality. Objectively, in the New Testament, it carries the idea of believing the Christian doctrine and articles of faith.

The King James Version reads, obedience to the faith and gives the impression that Paul is trying to get his converts to be loyal to the faith…such an egocentric approach never results in sustained faithfulness. The only faith that lasts is the faith given to each believer by God. And the only obedience that has value in the sight of God is the obedience of Jesus expressing Himself in and through the believer.

Although it only appears one other time in direct connection with the word faith, obedience is used a total of seven times in Romans and clearly shows that Paul sees a connection between the two. And as I said last week, Paul’s gospel of God is more than human breath and words…it carries the creative power of God to bring about both faith and the obedience that springs from faith in those who accept it.

In the simplest terms, when a person hears the "good news" that Jesus died so that they could live, their sin-debt has been paid in full, God reckons them to be righteous and they accept all this as true, Jesus comes to live inside that person as their Life Source. He is their faith; He is their obedience; He is their life!

One of the ways a person can be "known" is by their name…it allows us to "attach a handle" in order to identify them apart from everybody else. This was even more true in Bible times where names often identified, not only a specific person, but one of their dominate character traits or special qualities. Isaac was named because of the attendant laughter of his parents (Genesis 17:17; 18:12; 21:3–7); Samuel, because of the prayer of his mother (1 Samuel 1:20); Moses, because his princess-mother drew him from the water (Exodus 2:10); Jacob, because of the position of the twins at birth (Genesis 25:26). In many such cases, the Bible provides the evidence to show that such ‘accidents’ were truly symbolic: the victory at the Red Sea makes Moses pre-eminently the man who came up out of the water; the story of Samuel is precisely the story of the man who knew that prayer is answered, and so on. In other words, there is a continuing link between the idea of giving a name and the dynamism of the ever-potent word of God affecting that which it declares.

The phrase for His name’s sake could be translated "for the benefit of his reputation," and carries the thought that Christ should be known as the one who fulfills God’s covenant purpose in bringing the Gentiles to the obedience of faith (2:24; 9:17; 10:13; 15:9). Indeed, there may be a deliberate contrast here with Romans 2:24, where in reference to the nation of Israel, Isaiah declares, For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," just as it is written. (Isaiah 52:5; Ezekiel 36:20 ff)

Paul sees the Gentiles as fulfilling God’s covenant purpose in the obedience of faith that will enhance His "public image," whereas the Jewish failure to fulfill the covenant, through pride and disobedience, has reduced God’s image in the eyes of the nations.

The next phrase constitutes verse 6: among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ…

As I pointed out in our lesson on verse 1, where Paul describes himself as "called", the Greek word is kletos (klay·tos) and can be understood as an invitation to a banquet or as in this case, a divine appointment.

The debate has raged for hundreds of years between those who support the ideas of John Calvin and those who support the ideas of Jacobus Arminius. In simple terms, the Calvinists believe that some people are predestined (called) to be saved and others are predestined (called) to be lost while the Arminians believe that man is given free will by God and can chose to accept or reject salvation.

My spiritual mentor believes that this argument is easily settled by taking it outside of time where God dwells. He believes that what looks like predestination is, in fact, simply God’s foreknowledge…He knows who will accept His offer of salvation and who will reject it. To my way of thinking, that doesn’t come close to settling the real issue. If the majority of humans are lost, how does that bring glory to God? If 1Corinthians 13 is describing the love that only God has…a love that never fails. If one person is lost, did God’s love fail?

I believe Calvin was correct when he asserted that some people are predestined to be saved and they will spend eternity in heaven; he was incorrect when he asserted that some people were predestined to be lost and will spend eternity in hell. Arminius was correct when he asserted that God has apparently given man the ability to make some choices; he was incorrect when he labeled it "free will" and asserted that man could exercise that freedom in a way that would thwart the ultimate will of God. I think we get confused because we seem to have choices in some areas of life and that leads us to incorrectly conclude that we have choices in every area of life.

As we will see later in our study of Romans, Paul seems clear when he declares in chapter 8, verse 29: For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren….

To my way of thinking, the obvious question here is, "How many did He foreknow?"

In verse 7, Paul says to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle John said, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Paul further narrows the group in Rome to whom this letter is addressed: called as saints.

Here comes a controversial question: Was everybody in Rome called to be a saint?

If this world is a demonstration, then everyone cannot be called to be a saint during the demonstration. When the demonstration is over, then everyone will become a saint.

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