#5. Romans 1:6-7 - To Whom?

Part I: Introductions

Paul, severed for the evangel of God, concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, for His name's sake, among whom are you also, the called of Jesus Christ: to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints:

Hi, guys! I am going to blow your mind this morning with some wonderful information, that will surely change your life:

Ancient mail had no envelope.

Please, hold your applause until the end of the article.

The first invention and patent for a steam-powered engine that could reliably craft an envelope was made by Edwin Hill, in 1845. Later, an automatic envelope maker was invented by Russel Hawes in 1853. With that information in mind, here’s the thing:

Paul didn’t have an envelope.

His letters were a la carte, sweet and to-the-point. These first seven verses that we are reading are not unique in structure and scope to other letters written in the first-century. Paul’s letter here (as my article titles note) cover a number of critical aspects:

1)    Who is writing?

2)    What is this person writing about?

3)    Why is this person writing?

4)    To whom is this person writing?

That last question is the one I want to focus on today, as it will tie in to a large claim I made at the beginning of this study: to whom is Paul writing? Paul mentioned at the end of the last clause that we are “among” Jesus Christ’s namesake, but… who does the “you” (which is plural – ‘ye’) refer to?

The answer is given threefold in the final portion of Paul’s introduction. Paul starts by stating that this group of “you” are “called ones.” Paul used the term “called” once previously, in reference to himself being a “called” apostle – in fact, 3 of the 11 times the term ‘called’ is used can be found here in this very introduction! It is the sparse nature of this term that caught my attention. It deserves our special consideration, being such a special word.

In this case, Paul is speaking to the ‘called’ of Jesus Christ. The phrase ‘of Jesus Christ’ is very similar to the phrase ‘of God,’ from verse 1. These phrases are written in the genitive case, which denote description. The quality of these ‘called ones’ are of Jesus Christ. We learned three aspects of God’s Son, and why He would be our Lord – and here, we see that we are called by this One.

The place where the “you” Paul speaks of is Rome. This, like I said in my introduction, is a definitive affirmation that Paul speaks to those outside of Rome. When we look at the introductions of letters written by Peter and James (which we will – 1 Pet. 1:1, Jam. 1:1,) we see that they are not writing to those in Rome, but to the twelve tribes of the dispersion (to those new to this, there are twelve tribes of Israel.) The message they share is distinctly of Hebrew nature. Their evangel is “circumcision” – that is, to those who partake of the promise given by God to Abraham in circumcision (Gen. 17:1-14.) This is a promise for Israel (yes, God is playing favorites.)

Paul, in contrast, has an evangel that is not limited to this national difference, but is presented to all (Acts 13:44-14:7, Gal. 2:7-8.) To speak frankly: the balls on this guy! Yeah? Look at him! It must take him fifteen minutes to get out of bed in the morning! To write a letter to Rome? The Rome?? The nation that hosted Christ’s crucifixion? The largest power on the planet at that time?

Impressive.

Paul’s evangel speaks to all the called ones of Jesus Christ in Rome. Notice that Paul does not call them a “church,” either. Mainstream Christianity likes to claim that Paul is writing to a “church,” which evokes imagery of glass window panes with Peter and co, a giant cross or plastic Jesus statue, and a giant marble/wooden steeple. In actuality, Paul had stepped outside of his religious roots (being Judaism,) and instead deems his religious training a forfeit in favor of Christ (Phil. 3:1-7.)

This is an aside, but the term ‘church’ is not going to be covered by me. The proper term here is ‘ecclesia,’ not church, for an ‘ecclesia’ is a gathering of people (as little as two.) The word for ‘church’ as popularly translated by our modern Bibles is ekklesia. There are many uses of this term that could not possibly mean ‘church’ in the modern sense. Here’s Adlai Loudy on this matter, in God’s Eonian Purpose, p. 145-146–

“In our study of the word ‘church,’ we find it is ekklesia in the Greek, a common noun, compounded from the elements ek, meaning “OUT,” and klesia, meaning ‘CALLED.’ When joined together we have the literal meaning in English of the Greek, namely: “OUT-CALLED.” The word occurs 115 times in the original. In our [KJV,] it has been rendered 112 times by the English word ‘church’ and 3 times by the word ‘assembly.’”

Here is a very easy example of the term ‘ecclesia’ not meaning some holier-than-thou church. Observe Acts 19:40-41–

"For we are also in danger of being indicted concerning today's commotion, there inhering not one cause concerning which we shall be able to render any account concerning this riot." And, saying these things, he dismisses the ecclesia.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that, if the term ‘church’ were used here, then the writer of Acts would be calling a riotous mob a church! Say it ain’t so, Joe!

This should show us, definitively, that the phrase is not exclusive to one ‘church’ of people spanning generations. It refers to different ‘ecclesias,’ or ‘gatherings,’ based on the context. When someone comes along and tells you that ‘Paul is establishing the church in Rome in Romans!’ They are, in layman’s terms, talking out their ass. Nowhere have we seen Paul express in these first 6 verses that he is ‘establishing the church.’

This matters because many like to say, “Oh, well, the Scriptures are all written to us today!” Yet this completely brushes past context that the Book is providing for a reason. It’s not giving you an option on the context. It is telling you, and if you don’t like the fact that “Genesis” simply wasn’t written to you personally, then I don’t know what to tell you. Cry about it? I don’t know. But it was undoubtedly written to Israel, and the ‘church,’ or ecclesia spoken of in the Old Testament does not apply to you or me today in any way.

Back to Rome. This letter is to ‘all who are in Rome,’ which does, literally, mean that there is an ‘ecclesia,’ or ‘gathering’ of believers in Rome that Paul is writing to. With that said, he is careful to call them the called of Jesus Christ. It follows: if you, reader, are the called of Jesus Christ, then the doctrine (not the personal stuff at the end of the letter, though valuable) does apply to you, as Paul has expressly clarified that he is writing of the evangel of God, concerning His Son, to the uncircumcision (Gal. 2:7-8.) This letter to the Romans expresses all necessary doctrine we need in order to understand and further contextualize Paul’s other letters (which is why God presents it first.)

Why does this matter? Well, Paul writes that this evangel is to those beloved by God. This is not “loves,” for God loves all (John 3:16.) This is beloved. The term ‘love’ is agape in Greek, and I will have much to say about it as the word arises. The word ‘beloved’ is agapetos in Greek. ‘Love’ is a noun – but ‘beloved’ is the adjectival form of the word. This word encompasses the previous and following clause – the called of Jesus Christ, called saints. These are beloved by God. God loves all, but these believers are the objects of His love – believers are lavished with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3,) and it all begins here, with this word.

It’s a simple phrase, I admit. I call my girlfriend ‘beloved’ daily. She probably doesn’t know the extent by which I dwell on this word. Many men call their wives ‘beloved.’ And here, God is calling the recipients of His teaching beloved. There is an exclusivity here that makes for great conversation at your local bar:

“Hey! Did you know I’m beloved by God?”

Side note: don’t actually try that if you don’t want to end up mocked, or, in extreme cases, with a black eye for sounding like a pompous ass to someone’s girlfriend (or even the girl herself.) Yet the fact remains: “of God,” similar to “of Jesus Christ,” refers to the quality of the love lavished on these people (and us, by proxy.)

Those that are beloved by God are called saints. This is, I believe, an adequate definition for the term ‘saint.’ It does not denote ‘perfection,’ as is used in our modern lingo. It doesn’t mean ‘goody-goody,’ or ‘flawless,’ as Paul himself used to be Saul, a murderous religious zealot who took sinister measures to achieve his goals.

In truth, the word ‘saint’ is derivative of the word ‘holy,’ and is only translated ‘saint’ when speaking of a human being (you could, in theory, just use the word ‘holy’ in this verse, and it would carry the same weight.) To be ‘holy’ is not to be ‘righteous,’ for these are two different words used in this very letter. To be ‘holy’ is to be set apart. The called of Jesus Christ are beloved by God, for they are called “set-apart-ones.”

The term saint also has its own Hebrew origin, from the word haag. It is in reference to a festival, where sometimes sacrifices would be made. This shows us that God celebrates saints, and also sacrifices them in measure in this era (just see a fraction of Paul’s journey as documented in Acts, and you’ll see what I mean.) This is not to say that God celebrates the sacrifice of saints, but that they are set apart to Him for His purpose and glorification, as we will see in this letter.

Thus, Paul’s introduction is complete. He has thoroughly introduced himself, the topic at hand, a summary of the topic at hand, why he is sharing anything, who he is sharing this topic with, and the special nature of those reading this letter with a clear view. These first seven verses are a spiritual drumroll, and his last clause, which we will cover in the next article, is the cymbal before we read the greatest concert ever conducted.

- GerudoKing