Agonizomai: Romans Chapter 1<br>Paul's Gospel, Paul's Testimony Part 6

Belovedness in Christ (v. 7)

Romans 1:7 To 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.

All who are called to be saints with the effectual call are beloved of God in a special way. Contrast the two scriptures…

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. {John 3:16-18}

There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. {Romans 3: 9-10 but citing Psalms 14: 1-3 and 53: 1-3}

They are both the Word of God. They are both true. Yet we can make assumptions that make them seem contradictory at first glance. The full explanation is that God sent His Son to a world that not only had universally rejected Him, but that He knew would continue to universally reject Him, if left to their own devices. The cross of Christ is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the wisdom of God to those who are being saved. What makes the difference in a person’s mind? The scriptures say that it is God. He elects, he calls, He draws with the bands of love, so we are able to say with Jeremiah…

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. {Jer 31:3}

Therefore “the Apostle whom Jesus loved” declares to us…

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. {1John 3:1}

It does not say that we asked, but that God gave, or bestowed upon us that degree of love that we are called His children. We certainly came to ask Him when we received Christ upon hearing the gospel. But our response, the Bible assures us, was entirely due to the mighty working of His Spirit. He prepared our hearts, He sent the messenger, He gave the Son, He issued forth the word by which came our faith and He opened our ears to hear it. Our acceptance inevitably flows from His actions as Almighty God and Sovereign Lord and Saviour, because He did all that was necessary for each one of His elect to be brought to saving faith.

This is why I feel so sad for those who thirst after the outwardly miraculous, rather than after the God whose every movement is itself a miracle. What greater miracle can there possibly be than when God saves a soul from corruption, hell, judgment and death? By any human standard it is impossible. Nobody, left to themselves, even wants to be saved because they love sin too much. The devil tempts and lies, the flesh corrupts and the world seduces in a dazzling mesmerization from which no human being can possibly hope to deliver himself. But God saves some. And each one that is saved has needed the kind of love that only God could express. A love that would not be denied. A love that loved until the end. A love that suffered all that we ought to have suffered at the hand of God’s omnipotent wrath. A love that wounded and grieved and, yes hurt God to the very depths of His own Being.

Let us not say that we love God as if we have “worked up” something out of ourselves that other poor wretches have not. That would be unbiblical, vain and proud. Let us rather marvel at the love of God…

In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. {1Jo 4:10}

We love, because he first loved us. {1Jo 4:19}

Abiding in God’s love for us in Christ is what will produce much fruit. How? Because if we live in the full knowledge, acceptance and understanding of it, we are gloriously free from the world, the flesh, the devil, the power of sin and its sting. We shall exult with Paul in saying…