To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Truth to Learn
All Christians have been called by God, and we are all saints.
Behind the Words
“Beloved” is translated from agapētos, meaning “one who is loved.” It is from the verb agapaō, which means “to love with a self-sacrificing love.”
The word “called” is from the Greek word klētos, meaning “someone who is called, or invited.” It is not a verb, but an adjective. In other words, Paul is not saying that the Romans are referred to as saints, but that they are saints who have been invited.
The word translated “saints” is the Greek word hagios, which means “something which is pure and set-apart for God’s use.”
Meaning Explained
As I said when we looked at the first verse of this letter, it is customary for such a letter to contain a salutation in the opening portion identifying both the sender and the intended audience. Paul identifies himself right away, but not until verse seven does he identify his intended recipients. This epistle was written to the Christian believers who were at that time living in the city of Rome, center of the great Roman Empire. This letter was written around the year 58 AD, which would be very early in the reign of Nero (the Christian hater) as Emperor.
From the English translation it appears that Paul is saying that he is writing to everyone in Rome, proclaiming them to be beloved of God and to be given the title of saints. That’s not what the Greek sentence construction says, however. It says, “to the ones who are in Rome, who are beloved of God, who are saints that are called ones.” In other words, the letter is to those people in Rome who are both beloved of God and who are called. This is the same calling that is referred to in the previous verse.
For those of you who don’t believe in the doctrines of election and eternal security, I want to be very clear. The Apostle Paul believed in both of these doctrines and taught them as truth. He believed that genuine Christians are those who were “chosen in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him” (Ephesians 1:4). We are not Christians because we did something; we are Christians because God did something. For that reason, Paul says that we are “saints” who have been called by God.
And yes, every Christian is a saint! It does not require special canonization by the church for us to be saints. The Bible teaches very clearly that all believers are saints. I want to emphasize, as we pointed out in the previous verse, that Paul is not saying that the beloved of God are referred to as saints, rather that we are called by God to be saints.
Paul then completes this verse with a standard blessing of grace and peace from both God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Application
The thing I want us all to take away from today’s verse is the privilege and honor we have as Christians that we have been specifically selected by God and called to a life of holiness and service to the King of Kings. What a great honor! Anything less than complete submission and obedience to Him does not meet His expectation of us and is a waste of time and effort.
Humbling, isn’t it? Are you up to the challenge?
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2017 Will Krause. All rights reserved