Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (13)

 

 

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.

 

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” What wonderful words, “grace and peace,” knowing they come from “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Can I really desire anything more today? Can I really desire anything more when I draw my last breath? What about you?

 

The letter to the Romans, as indeed the entire Bible, is the story of how God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ bestow grace and peace on us and infuse grace and peace within us – but at what cost! O the fathomless love of God for us! “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son!”  “…who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).

 

We have been “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).” “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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” (Rom. 5:1 -2).

 

O how we should ever protect our standing in grace, how we should flee from anything that would seduce us into our own works, our own righteousness, our own self-justification. "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4).

 

There are many facets to grace and peace, but there is only one Source of true grace and peace, and that is God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father bestows grace and peace on His daughters and sons, our Lord Jesus Christ showers grace and peace on His brothers and sisters, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14:27).

 

It takes a lifetime, and more, to understand and experience grace and peace; actually, as Paul tells us, the peace of God exceeds our understanding (Phil. 4:7), and the same can be said for His grace. We can view a thousand photos of the Grand Canyon, but nothing can take the place of a personal encounter with this great wonder. We can read definitions of God’s grace and peace, we can hear the testimonies of others concerning God’s grace and peace, but nothing can substitute for our own experience of God’s grace and peace; nothing can quite so humble us, nothing can take our breath away, nothing can introduce us to such an awe and reverence for the Divine, as our own encounter with God’s grace and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

But I write of a way of life, not an isolated experience without a root system. For in God’s grace and peace the seemingly inconsequential in a seemingly mundane day is clothed with the grandeur of God. Grace and peace in Christ become the air we breathe, our biosphere, that which conveys the ever-present life of God in Christ to our entire being.

 

Now then, if God bestows His grace and peace on us, we are called to bestow that same grace and peace on others (Matthew 5:38 – 48; Ephesians 4:32 – 5:2; 2 Cor. 1:3 – 7). In fact, we are called to make peace, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).

 

“Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Can we make this our prayer for others? When standing in line in a store, can we pray this for those around us? When pumping gas, can we pray this for those we see? When stopped at a traffic light, will we pray this for those in other vehicles? When thinking of family, friends, neighbors, coworkers…might we pray for them to receive the grace and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ?

 

We cannot purchase grace and peace, we cannot earn it, we cannot merit it, we cannot deserve it; but we can receive it – from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ; and having received it, we can pass it on to others.

 

There is no sweeter air we can breathe, no surer source of life, than the grace and peace of Jesus Christ and God our Father.

 

Amen.

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.

 

Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (11)

 

 

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.

 

“to all who are beloved of God in Rome.”

 

Do we know that we are beloved of God? I realize that we may use the word “love” to speak of God, as in “God loves you. God loves us.” But what about the word “beloved”? Do you think the two words have the same exact ring to them? Are they the same, or are they similar?

 

If a husband says, “I love my wife,” is that the same as saying, “My wife is my beloved”?

A survey of the New Testament demonstrates that “beloved” is often used by the apostles when writing to those they served. I think this is more, much more, than us saying, “Dearly beloved,” when speaking to an assembly; for when we say “dearly beloved” I think we say it as a form of address, as contrasted with an expression of deep and affectionate love. Can we see ourselves saying to an assembly, “You are my beloved”? Can we see the difference? Do we say to God’s People, “You are God’s beloved?”

 

Can we hear the Father saying at Jesus’s baptism, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”? Can we hear the Father saying on the Mount of Transfiguration, “This is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to Him!”? Can we hear the Father speaking as we read the prophecy form Isaiah in Matthew 12:18, “Behold, My servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased”?

 

Jesus Christ is beloved by God, and mystery though it is, we are beloved by God. Jesus prays, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me…I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:23 & 26).

 

Notice in our passage that being called of Jesus Christ and being beloved of God are linked together, we are called because we are beloved. Keeping this in mind consider:

 

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…” (Col. 3:12).

 

“…knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you…” (1 Thess. 1:4).

 

We also see this in John 17 where we have been given to Jesus by the Father and drawn into the koinonia love of the Trinity.

 

Paul will return to our calling and God’s love for us in Romans 8:28 – 39, can you see this when reading this passage? Note Romans 8:29 – 30 and 38 – 39. Note 8:33, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?” and 8:35, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”

 

We can live in confidence in God’s calling, His choosing, His election, and His incredible love for us in Christ Jesus; we can live knowing that we are beloved by God and that nothing can separate us from His love. Our lives are to be “rooted and grounded in love” and we are called “to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14 – 19).

 

We are called to be a secure and confident People in God’s love and calling, with Jesus Christ as the Author and Perfector of our faith (Heb. 12:2), laying down our lives for one another and for this broken and sorrowful world (1 John 3:16).

 

When we see our brothers and sisters in Christ, do we see them as beloved by God? When we speak to them, pray with them, serve with them, are we doing so recognizing that they are the beloved of God?

 

How do we see ourselves? Do we see ourselves in Christ? Do we see ourselves at work, at home, in the community, as men and women and young people who are the beloved of God? Do we see our spouses as God’s beloved?

 

O dear friends, are we living as the beloved of God? Secure in His love, are we loving one another? (John 13:34 – 35; 15:12 – 13).