This is the second portion of the opening verses of Romans 1.
Regarding Saints
Saints need perfecting (Ephesians 4:12), though our new man cannot sin (1 John 3:9). To Ephesus, Paul writes, And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive… (Ephesians 4:11-14).
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If we will walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
Although all of God’s children live in the Spirit (without his Spirit we are none of his -- Romans 8:9), they do not always walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). When we do not walk in the Spirit, we are admonished to put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24). It is this new man, which is born of God, that doth not commit sin; for God’s seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God (1 John 3:9).
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him (1 John 5:1). Our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ saves us; that which is born again in us is born of God, that is, of Christ’s Spirit: which is the Holy Ghost. He cannot sin. In Him, I cannot sin; yet, in my flesh I still sin.
The Apostle John instructs us regarding our old nature: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). If we say that we have not sinned, we make him (God) a liar, and his word is not in us (1 John 1:10).
So that, as long as I am in this flesh, I must battle the sinful nature I inherited from Adam. Paul speaks of this battle when he declares, I die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31). The Apostle’s advice: Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth…for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience… (Colossians 3:5-6).
Saints need perfecting, that is, maturing (Ephesians 4:12). Saints are not to be partakers with the children of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6-10). Saints are to prove what is acceptable unto the Lord (Ephesians 5:10) and to reprove the unfruitful works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11). They are to walk circumspectly (Ephesians 5:15), redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). Saints are to understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:17) and to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
Five proofs are given with regard to being filled with the Spirit. They are the means to prove whether we are in the flesh or in the Spirit with regards to our conduct. The five tests are as follows: (1.) Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; (2.) Singing in your heart to the Lord; (3.) Making melody in your heart to the Lord; (4.) Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (5.) Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God (Ephesians 5:19-21).
Note that everything centers around the One who loved us and gave himself for us. Speaking to ourselves in psalms requires a familiarity with God’s Word, as do hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody to the Lord is a love of the heart who has knowledge of his salvation and the resurrection of his Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God (the Holy Ghost) and unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ requires a love for God that acknowledges His first love for us. Submitting ourselves one to another in the fear of God reflects the knowledge that God is ultimately in control of the circumstances of life.
Beloved of God
Paul comes to the salutation of this Roman epistle: To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints (Romans 1:7). Although God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son (John 3:16) and he first thereby demonstrated his love us before any of us ever loved him (1 John 4:19), the Apostle is not speaking of the world, the general population of Rome. He is addressing the Church. Though God loves the sinner, the beloved of God refers to those who have believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has a love for all who have loved his only begotten Son. We can describe that love as a familial love, a family love. Recall what John recorded regarding the Father’s love of Christ’s disciples and prayer: At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God (John 16:26-27).
Since we are the children of God faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26), we have a different relationship with God. We possess the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15). We are now the sons of God (1 John 3:2). We have confessed Christ as our Saviour (Romans 10:9), and he has, in turn, confessed us before his Father which is in heaven (Matthew 10:32). He knows us as family! We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17). We will never hear the Lord say, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (Matthew 7:23), because we have received the love of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10), having heard the call of God by the gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).
As Paul confesses that he was a servant of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1), so these beloved of God also know the joy of salvation and the new relationship into which they have been born of God (John 1:13). We are not our own. We have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19). We are not to be the servants of men (1 Corinthians 7:23).
Like Paul, we have a calling, as God’s children: we are called to be saints (Romans 1:7). No matter what else the Lord will do with you and through you, we are first and foremost to be saints. It is our apostleship. We are advocates, backers, boosters, champions of, exponents of, friends of, heralders of, promoters and supporters of the gospel of Jesus Christ! All of these terms, and more, are synonyms for apostle.
Grace to you
Just Lot vexed his righteous soul from day to day with the unlawful deeds and the filthy conversation of the wicked (2 Peter 2:7-8). What would you need if you were like Lot, a righteous soul living in the midst of ungodly and unjust men? What would help you, having to daily deal with reprobates, fornicators, the wicked, coveters, deceivers, those malicious, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despisers, the arrogant, boasters, inventors of evil things, those disobedient to parents, covenant breakers, men without understanding or natural affection, the implacable, the unmerciful? God has an answer: grace and peace.
Grace is often defined as God’s unmerited favour. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines grace as unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification. The Apostle Paul tells believers that ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21).
God’s grace is the forgiveness of man’s sin. When Paul preached in Antioch of Pisidia, the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ and that by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39), many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas. In speaking to them, they persuaded them to continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43). Paul preached to them the gospel, the grace of God. He persuaded them to continue in the gospel, the message of forgiveness.
The grace of God is also a reference to the Spirit of God, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ… (Titus 2:11-13).
When the Apostle Paul writes, Grace to you…, he is reminding the Church of the mercy of God (Romans 11:30-32) that they have received. Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:24-25); but, not for ours only. He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:3). The Apostle is also reminding the Church of the presence of the love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost (Romans 5:5).
That same crowd of fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers and extortioners describes what some of us once were: but we are washed, but we are sanctified, but we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:11).
God’s grace is the strength of God manifested in the heart of the believer. As the Lord told Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Apostle’s response? Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9b).
Whether in distresses, reproaches, necessities or persecutions for Christ’s sake, Paul declares, For, when I am weak, then am I strong (2 Corinthians 12:10). In this strength, this grace, is the secret of how we walk worthy of the Lord, being strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness (Colossians 1:10-11).
Peace to you
Peace is defined as a state of tranquility or quiet; harmony in personal relationships. We, being justified by faith, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and wherein we rjoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2). Lot, however, vexed his righteous soul from day to day (2 Peter 2:8). His testimony brought no results while he lived in Sodom. God could not find ten righteous souls when he agreed not to destroy the cities of the plain for their sin (Genesis 18:32).
Lot is righteous, but only Lot. His wife looked back toward the city in disobedience, and she became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). His two remaining, unbelieving daughters caused Lot to sin in his later days (Genesis 19:31-38). Sad is the price sin demands in all of our lives, saved and lost.
Yet, God gives peace to all who will receive it: peace about eternity (John 3:16), peace about security (1 John 5:13); peace about today (Romans 8:28). Though men would cause us to be troubled, our Saviour desires we rest in Him (John 14:27). There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his (Hebrews 4:9-10).
Like these Roman believers, we face many trials and temptations. Through them all, the Lord wants the peace of God, which passes all our understanding, to keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Having made our requests known unto God by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6), let us allow the God of hope to fill us with all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost (Romans 16:13).
From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Remember that the Holy Spirit does not speak of himself. As our Lord instructed, when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he will not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you (John 16:13-14). Though the Holy Ghost is active in this grace and peace which we have received and do now enjoy, Paul writes, Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:7).
God is identified as our Father. This is the new name the Lord Jesus has introduced for God Almighty (John 17:6). Since no man can come unto God but by the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6),his heavenly Father becomes our heavenly Father through faith in the Son. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 10:32-33).
God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). After our redemption is received, we are comforted by the Comforter, the Holy Ghost (John 14:26). But, not just by the Holy Spirit. We are also comforted by God the Father (2 Corinthians 1:3), and our consolation abounds by Christ (2 Corinthians 1:5). This continuing source of grace and peace abides within every believer in Christ since our acceptance of him. Our body has become the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16).