Called



Romans 1:1-7
1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
3concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
4and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
6including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
7To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

According to my mother, one of my first words was “self” which was usually accompanied by a foot stomp. I have always been fiercely independent and have wanted to do everything by myself. I wish I could say that two year old has disappeared into maturity – but she probably hasn’t. As a people who honor self-determination and independence we often stumble over one of the major tenants of the faith – we have been called by God. We don’t choose the faith. God calls us to it and enables our confession. Paul makes this point abundantly clear in the first seven verses of his letter to the Romans. The faith is always all about God’s action in our lives. I can stomp and declare that I’ve done it by myself [as in I have decided to follow Jesus] all I want but that will never make it true. God has done it all.

As Paul launches into his doctrinal exposition he makes very clear from the outset that all of the faith has it’s beginning in the Lord. We are responsible for nothing except being the benefactors of His grace. Not only did He do the calling when it comes to our faith, He also sent Jesus who appeared in the flesh as a descendant of King David to fulfill the promises made through the Old Testament prophets; Jesus who has always existed along with the Father and the Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity are alive and well in these seven verses.

And of course the center of this passage is Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation and the central reason we have the life that we live. His work of redemption that is displayed for all to see in the resurrection of His body after the crucifixion is proof that God’s plan is playing out perfectly. Now we have all been called to faith in Him and for that we raise up a shout of praise to God for His gracious gift.

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