Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (12)

 

 

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; 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.

 

“…called as saints…” Is it not to our Father’s glory that in Jesus Christ He has called us and brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light, taking sinners and making them saints?

 

I recall one of my preaching professors, Haddon Robinson, saying that “The difference between an amateur speaker and a professional speaker, is that an amateur will ask, ‘What do you want me to speak about?’ While a professional will ask, ‘Tell me about my audience.’” Paul wrote to saints, he did not write to sinners; Paul wrote to the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth. Is it safe to assume that Paul knew his audience? Is it safe to think that Paul knew the Gospel and that he knew what he was doing when he consistently called his audience “saints”? Perhaps Paul was mistaken?

 

One of the beauties of Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians is that he lays out both the forensic and organic path we have in Christ, from being sinners alienated from God, indeed enemies of God, to becoming His beloved sons and daughters, to becoming saints in Jesus Christ. So many professing Christians have been taught that they remain sinners after coming to know Jesus Christ, and thereby functionally reject their glorious inheritance in Christ during their time on earth, living beneath their calling, and often providing an excuse for disobedience; after all, they have been taught that they remain sinners. This identity crisis has us abandoning our heavenly citizenship for earthly identities and affinities – well, what we can expect if we think we remain sinners?

 

Regarding Romans, after the glorious message of Romans 1:1 – 5:11, Paul goes on to establish our new creation and identity in Jesus Christ; first that we no longer are in Adam but in Christ (5:12 – 21), then (Romans Chapter 6) that we have been crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ, and therefore that we are to consider, to reckon, ourselves “to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). This is to be our way of thinking, both about ourselves and other believers in Jesus Christ.

 

Then in Romans Chapter 7 we are taught that having died with Christ, our marriage to the Law has ended and we are married to Another, to Jesus Christ. In Romans Chapter 8 we have our glorious sonship in Jesus Christ, culminating in one of the great crescendos of the Bible.

 

One of my points is that having addressed the Roman Christians as “saints,” Paul will demonstrate just how this is so. I am not suggesting that this was in Paul’s mind as he wrote “called saints” in Romans 1:7, after all, this was his typical and normal way of addressing and thinking about the Christians to whom he wrote, he knew his audience; however, I point this out should any of us wonder just how Paul could write such a thing – he could write it because of the amazing love and redemption that we have in Jesus Christ, a love and redemption that transforms sinners into saints – both forensically and organically.

 

How comprehensive is this redemption? What is its goal and purpose? Consider Romans 8:28 – 30. It is the Father’s desire that we be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ might be the “firstborn among many brethren” (see also Hebrews 2:10 – 13). Therefore, God has predestined us, called us, justified us, and glorified us – in Jesus Christ. And in 8:31 when Paul asks, “What shall we say to these things?” His answer is, “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spear His own Son, but delivered Him over for us, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” This is for us, in Christ, today.

 

If we are to insist that the Word of God shape our theology and thinking, as opposed to experience, then we must not confuse temptation with actual sin, and we ought not permit our experience of sin to define who we are in Christ, that is, should I sin, I must look to the reality of the Word of God for my identity and not my experience of having sinned. God’s Word, holy Scripture, is a reality greater than my experience, and thus Scripture is to define my experience and my identity – for if I don’t know who I am, how can I read His Word and hear His Voice through His Word? I am called to read His Word as His son, I am called to understand His Word as His child, as one in whom is the life of God, as one who is fully and completely justified by faith in Jesus Christ, and as one who is called, made holy, and is being glorified in Jesus Christ.

 

This is a miracle, and once I accept the glory of justification by faith and the glories of being in Christ and no longer in Adam, reckoning myself to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ, being dead to the condemnation of the Law, and being made a son of the Living God, crying out, “Abba! Father!” – once I begin to look to God’s Word and not to myself, once I begin to see the Face of Jesus Christ – then what Peter styles a “joy unspeakable and full of glory” begins to be mine in Jesus Christ.

 

Can we trust 2 Corinthians 5:14 – 21? Or, are we continuing to know one another “according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:16) as opposed to living by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:5)? Have we really been made the righteousness of God in Christ (5:21), or is this some kind of fiction? Are we truly new creatures (5:17), or again, is this a fiction, and a cruel one at that?

 

How shall we view one another in Christ? How shall we view ourselves?

 

“Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Philippians 4:21 – 23.