There was a great deal of travel in the ancient world, much more than we might suppose. Rome was the center of these comings and goings. Undoubtedly, people who had been brought to Christ as a result of Paul’s Gentile mission went to and from Rome, and many undoubtedly settled there. This would explain how Paul came to know as many of the Roman Christians as he did, and it would explain why Paul wasn’t hesitant to write to this church to seek its prayer support for his trip to Jerusalem as well as its financial backing for his projected missionary excursion to Spain (Rom. 15:24, 30-31). It would also explain why, although the church was undoubtedly composed of both Jews and Gentiles, Paul writes to these believers largely as Gentiles. We see this as early as verse 6, where the phrase naturally picks up from the description of Paul’s commission in verse 5: “to call people from among all the Gentiles.”

The interesting thing about the end of this introduction to the letter is what it tells us about the spiritual origins of these people. Here is a group of people who were in the midst of a corrupt pagan society, yet were entirely different from the mainstream. How did they get to be different? How did they become Christians? In these verses Paul tells us four important things about the early church at Rome.

1.       The Christians at Rome, like all Christians, were called to belong to Jesus Christ. This is a general description of Christians, which is different from the similar phrase “called to be saints” that occurs in the next verse. What does it mean? Some people have read verse 6 as if it were describing Christians as people “called by Jesus Christ,” because the Greek can be translated that way. But the NIV is undoubtedly correct when it inserts the words “to belong to.” The sense is not that Jesus has called Christians – that is a work usually attributed to God the Father – but rather that, as a result of God’s calling, Christians are attracted to Jesus and have their true life in that relationship. A Christian is one who belongs to Jesus Christ. That is what makes him or her different and why such a one inevitably seeks the company of others who also belong to Jesus. Does this describe you? Do you belong to Jesus Christ? If you do, you will live like it. If you do not, you are no true Christian, regardless of your outward profession.

2.       The Christians at Rome, like all Christians, were loved by God the Father. God’s love is an electing, saving love. So the statement “loved by God” actually describes how those who are Christians come to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ in the first place. Some think that people become believers by their own unaided choice, as if all we have to do is decide to trust Jesus. But how could we possibly do that if, as we have seen Paul say, each of us is “dead in…transgressions and sins”? How can a dead man decide anything? Some have supposed that we become Christians because God in His omniscience sees some small bit of good in us, even if that “good” is only a tiny seed of faith. But how could God see good in us if, as Paul will later remind us: “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one (Rom. 3:12). Why then does God love us? The answer is “because He loves us.” There is just nothing to be said beyond that. It is love and love only. The most important thing is that God has loved us. Therefore, we should love and serve Him.

3.       The Christians at Rome, like all Christians, were called to be believers by God. Here is the same idea that occurs earlier in the phrase “called to belong to Jesus Christ”; but although the meaning of the verb is the same, the emphasis here is different. In the earlier phrase the emphasis was on what is means to be a Christian. A Christian is one who belongs to Jesus Christ; this is his identity. Here the emphasis is on the call itself, and it is a follow-up to the truth that Christians have been loved by God. First loved; then called. Left to ourselves, we are all spiritual corpses. We cannot do anything. But when God calls savingly, some of these spiritual corpses come to spiritual life and do God’s bidding. Anyone who has been saved by God has heard this call in some way and has responded to it.

4.       The Christians at Rome, like all Christians, are called saints. Here “saint” does not mean what it has come to mean in large sectors of the Christian church: one who has attained a certain level of holiness and is therefore worthy of some special veneration or even hearing human prayers. In the Bible, being a saint or being sanctified always means being separated to God and His work, precisely what Paul said of himself in verse 1 in the words “set apart for the gospel of God.” Having been loved by God and called by Him, to live for Him and work for Him in this world. This is why the faith of the Roman Christians was “being reported all over the world,” as Paul says it was in verse 8. Because they had been called by God and were separated to Him, these believers were different from the culture around them; and people noticed it! Their being saints was not the cause but the result of their election.

The one who has been loved and called by God does obey God and does follow after Him. Yet this involves struggle. It requires the grace and peace of God each step of the rugged upward way. When Paul closes his introduction with the wish that the believers at Rome might experience “grace and peace…from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ,” he is not merely passing on a traditional Christian greeting. He is wishing them what they, and we also, need every day we remain on this planet. We have been saved by grace. We must live by grace also. Just as we live moment by moment by moment by drawing on His favor. Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5b); and peace? We always need peace, for these are not peaceful times. Only fools think them peaceful. These are troublesome times. But those who are in Christ and are drawing on Him for their strength live peacefully in the midst of them.

I close with Paul’s own prayer for those great Roman Christians: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” What great gifts these are! What a wonderful and inexhaustible source of supply!

Romans 1:6-7 Reflection Questions:

What Psalm is Paul quoting in Romans 3:12?

How are you loving and serving God, because He loved you first? How are you responding to God’s call?

Do people today notice the difference in those who profess to be Christians? Do they see a difference in you?

Are you drawing on Jesus Christ for your strength to get you through these troublesome times we are all going through?