Romans 1.6-The Recipients of the Epistle-the Called Ones, Owned By Jesus Christ
Sunday May 20, 2007
Romans: Romans 1:6-The Recipients of the Epistle-The Called Ones, Owned By Jesus Christ
Lesson # 11
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:1.
This morning we will continue with our study of the salutation in the book of Romans that appears in Romans 1:1-7, which identifies the writer as Paul (verse 1) and the recipients of the letter as being believers in Rome (verses 6 and 7) and the subject as being Jesus Christ (verse 1:2-5).
In Romans 1:1, Paul identified himself to his readers by giving a three-fold description of himself and then, in Romans 1:2, he further defines the gospel that he proclaimed as the fulfillment of prophetic expectation in the Old Testament.
In Romans 1:3-4, Paul presents the subject of the epistle, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next, in Romans 1:5, we read where Paul states that he received the unmerited spiritual gift of apostleship at the moment of his salvation in order to bring about among the Gentiles the faith, which produces obedience to God.
This morning we will study Romans 1:6, in which Paul identifies the recipients of this epistle as the called ones who are owned by Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:1-7, “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 by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake, 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.”
The prepositional phrase “among whom” is composed of the preposition en (e)n), “among” and the locative neuter plural form of the relative pronoun hos (o^$) (hos), “whom,” which refers to the “Gentiles,” who are mentioned in Romans 1:5.
The preposition en is used in a distributive sense with respect to persons and means “among” whereas the relative pronoun hos is a locative of sphere denoting the “sphere” of individuals in which the Roman believers were called out from.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase “among whom” indicates quite clearly that the people to whom Paul was addressing in this epistle were predominately Gentile racially rather than Jewish.
“Called” is the nominative masculine plural form of the adjective kletos (klhtov$), which means, “called ones” and describes the Christian as one who is called to the privilege, responsibilities and blessings of obtaining salvation as well as an eternal relationship and fellowship with the Trinity and service to the Father through faith in Jesus Christ.
The believer has been called to according to the Father’s purpose to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8:29-30. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
The believer has also been called into fellowship with God.
1 Corinthians 1:9, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The believer has been called into the body of Christ.
Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
The believer has been called to peace (See 1 Corinthians 7:15) and is commanded to walk in a manner worthy of his calling (See Ephesians 4:1-3).
Ephesians 4:1-3, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The believer has been called to sanctification.
1 Thessalonians 4:7, “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.”
The believer has also been called to eternal life.
1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
He has also been called to underserved suffering (See 1 Peter 2:18-21).
The believer has been called to serve his fellow believer.
Galatians 5:13, “For all of you were elected to freedom, brothers, only do not exploit this freedom for indulging the sin nature, but rather through divine-love be serving one another.”
These individuals have responded in obedience to the Father’s invitation to obtain salvation and an eternal relationship and fellowship and service for Him, which is communicated by the Holy Spirit in common grace through the gospel message.
“Common grace” is grace that the entire human race receives when God the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel message, which is a spiritual language, understandable to the spiritually dead unbeliever in order that they can make a decision to believe in Christ or reject Him for salvation.
God wants everyone to be saved.
1 Timothy 2:4, “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (Bible Doctrine, the mind of Christ).”
Not everyone will be saved because God in His perfect integrity has provided everyone with a free will or volition and thus some will choose to reject God’s invitation to salvation through faith in Christ while others will accept it.
The “call of God” is simply God the Father’s offer or invitation of salvation through faith in Christ (See 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Timothy 1:8-11; 1 Peter 5:10; 1 John 3:1).
John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
The Father draws a human being to Himself through the Person and work of Christ.
He attracts men to Himself through the love that He and the Son demonstrated at the cross.
The Lord drew Old Testament Israel to Himself with His love.
Jeremiah 31:2-3, “Thus says the LORD, ‘the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness -- Israel, when it went to find its rest.’ The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.’”
Some men are attracted to Christ and His cross whereas others stumble over Christ and His cross and others consider it ridiculous.
1 Corinthians 1:23-24, “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
The Father presents this offer or invitation through the presentation of the Gospel.
The Gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died for every sin ever committed in the human race-past, present and future and that by believing in Him you can have eternal life.
The Gospel message at the point of salvation is God’s victorious proclamation of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, which delivers the believer positionally from the power of the old sin nature and the cosmic system of Satan and eternal condemnation.
Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’”
The Gospel is the good news to the human race that God has made a peace treaty with the entire human race and the terms of that peace treaty is accepting the Gospel message through faith alone in Christ alone.
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:17, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world (Christ would die in their place), but that the world should be saved through Him (faith alone in Christ alone).”
John 3:18, “He who believes in Him (the Lord Jesus Christ) is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the uniquely born Son of God.”
John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see eternal life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
When the unbeliever hears the gospel message of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone, the Holy Spirit convicts them of three things, namely, the sin of not believing in Christ, the righteousness of Christ and the judgment of Satan.
John 16:7, “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
The “Helper” is a reference to God the Holy Spirit according to John 14:26.
John 16:8-11, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”
The statement “concerning sin because they do not believe in Me” refers to the rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior.
The statement “concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me” refers to the righteousness of Christ who is the only sinless Person in all of creation that can approach the Father on His own merits.
The statement “concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged” is a reference to the fact that the Christ’s death on the Cross judged Satan.
The moment a person believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior, the Holy Spirit makes their faith “effective” for salvation, which is called in theology, “efficacious grace.”
2 Corinthians 6:1-2, “And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain-for He says, ‘At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation (the day that you believed in Christ) I (God the Holy Spirit) helped you,’ behold, now is 'the acceptable time,’ behold, now is ‘the day of salvation.’”
Romans 1:6, “among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.”
“Of Jesus Christ” is composed of the genitive masculine singular form of the proper noun Iesou ( )Ihsou), “Jesus” and the genitive masculine singular form of the noun Christos (xristov$), “Christ.”
“Jesus” is the proper noun Iesou ( )Ihsou), which is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew word Jehoshua meaning, “Jehovah saves,” and refers to the perfect human nature of our Lord.
“Christ” is proper name Christos (xristov$), which is a technical word designating the humanity of our Lord as the promised Savior for all mankind and signifies that He is unique as the incarnate Son of God and totally and completely guided and empowered by the Spirit as the Servant of the Father.
The proper noun Christos, “Christ” functions grammatically as a genitive of simple apposition meaning it is “clarifying” for Paul’s readers, which Jesus Paul is speaking of and should be translated, “who is the Christ.”
The proper noun Iesou, “Jesus” is a “genitive of possession” meaning that the Lord Jesus “possesses” or “owns” Paul’s readers who are believers in the Lord Jesus and like Paul have been purchased by Him out of the slave market of sin and the devil’s world through His substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross.
Redemption is that aspect of the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross whereby all of humanity has been purchased out from the slave market of sin in which they were born spiritually dead and delivered to the freedom of grace (See 1 Corinthians 6:23).
The humanity of Christ purchased the entire human race out from the slave market of sin by means of His voluntary substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross.
Colossians 1:14, “in whom (Christ) we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
All believers have left the slave market of sin and become slaves of Christ through personal faith in Jesus Christ.
The purpose for which the believer has been purchased out of the slave market sin is to serve the Lord and other members of His body and not self.
The Lord Jesus Christ served us by redeeming us and by redeeming us, we as His purchased possession, have been given the opportunity and the privilege of serving Him who is now our Master (See Deuteronomy 10:12).
Christian service is directed toward both God and man with the former (serving God) acting as the motivation for the latter (serving man) (Eph. 6:5-9).
1 Peter 4:10, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
Christian service is based upon the principle of reciprocal love, meaning that Christian service is the response by the believer to God self-sacrificially loving him in the manner in which He did at the Cross and reciprocating by self-sacrificially loving God and his fellow man in return in the same manner (See John 12:25-26).
The Servant of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect example of servanthood and the believer is to imitate His example of self-sacrifice in order to serve God (Isaiah 53).
One must be properly motivated in order to perform Christian service that is acceptable to God.
Motivation is that which prompts a person to act in a certain way, the goal of one’s actions.
Christian service if it is to be acceptable to God must be motivated by our love for who and what God is, what He has done for us and the manner in which He loved us at the Cross.
Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”