5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.           

There are three ways that describe how this message is truth. This is one of the main foundations upon which Paul will expand in this letter. He had a heart change. His heart was changed because there was no question Paul’s conversion happened because God made it happen. He was not searching for God. He was seeking to please God, but not in the way God was pleased. He was very religious, but very lost in his religion. God had to knock him down and then pick him up, turn him around, and push him to do what pleased the Lord.           

First, notice the means by which God brings salvation to the Romans as well as to us. They were called of God. Paul did not have direct hand in starting this church or group of believers. It is possible that the visitors to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost followed the Lord’s story and took the gospel back home with them or part of the Jewish believers who were dispersed following Stephen’s death went to Rome and told of the unusual events append there. Paul is aware that God initiations salvation and calls us unto Himself.

Think how the 12 apostles were each one was hand-picked. Their experiences were different; two were influenced by John the Baptist. Others had the invitation from the Lord. Another was presented with the incredible knowledge that Jesus had about him. Others were invited to come and see. But all were called of God. As a believer you were also called by God. The basic calling of God upon your life is to “believe.” Jesus says in John 5:24-26, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life . . . a time is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live . . . “ The basic calling of God is desire to enter into a personal relationship with Him. A “calling” means the Holy Spirit speaks to a person of their sin and need of a savior.

God initiates love and calls us His beloved. It is not that He loves us because we first love Him. We love Him, because He initiated contact with us and loved us even when we were unlovable. He purchased us unto Himself. He loved the world that He gave Himself as an act of love. He volunteered to take our punishment on our behalf. There is a special love for God’s own. Paul is writing to those who are "the called of Jesus Christ". The love that Paul has in mind here must be different from the love that God has for everybody else and that reveals more of His grace.  

The recipients are people of faith and that faith is known. People throughout the area are talking about Christians, even in the capital of Rome.

God’s Gospel involves obedience that comes from faith; called to belong; loved by God; called to be saints. It is God initiated. Obedience is the response. Grace and peace were gifts to the Romans. They were the recipients of these gifts.           

Paul greets the Romans with the common Greek greeting “Grace” and the common Hebrew greeting “Peace”. If you look in the Bible, these two greetings are always in this order. You never see “peace and grace to you” it is always “grace and peace to you.” First comes grace. Without grace you cannot have peace. Grace means the unmerited favor of God. It means that God has given you a gift that you did not pay for, and that you did not deserve. You may try to live a holy life, but you will always fall short of God’s standard. Once you receive the gift of grace from God, then you will have peace. In God’s sight you are blameless, spotless, and made holy. God is not going to ask you to do the impossible. It is now possible to be holy, to be a saint. Receive the free gift of grace through Jesus Christ then receive the peace from God our Father, knowing that He accepts you as His child. You will find that the things that were so hard before are the things that now you want to do.

Grace is giving us what we do not deserve. This is something the modern church needs to remember. The trend in much of Christianity today is to preach a man-centered gospel. Many talk more about what we can accomplish than about what Christ has accomplished. TV preachers are saying, "You can have the life you’ve always wanted! The financial prosperity you’ve been dreaming about! You can have the blessing of God on everything you do! You can live your best life now!" The gospel is not about how we can succeed for God. It’s about how God succeeded for us in the person of Jesus Christ. It’s about how Christ conquered all our sins and our obstacles through His death and resurrection. No matter what new trend comes down the megachurch pipe, we must remember to keep the focus on Christ.             

Leon Morris is exactly right when he says in his commentary, "God is the most important word in this epistle. Romans is a book about God. No topic is treated with anything like the frequency of God. Everything Paul touches in this letter he relates to God. In our concern to understand what the apostle is saying about righteousness, justification and the like we ought not to overlook his tremendous concentration on God. There is nothing like it elsewhere"

Dale