“among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints…” (Romans 1:6-7).
The gospel is Jesus’ earnest invitation of salvation to you (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Its final line was written at Calvary and personally signed in His blood. To accept His invitation (i.e., “calling”), you must render “obedience to the faith” (Romans 1:5) as the Christians in Rome had.
When you have been “buried with Him through baptism into death” (Romans 6:4), you have “obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Romans 6:17). Or, to use the language of Romans 1:6-7—“you have been called by the gospel unto salvation and are now “the called of Jesus Christ…beloved of God, called to be saints.”
Because Jesus is the Good Shepherd, His sheep hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27).
Because Jesus is God’s beloved Son in whom He is well pleased (Matthew 3:17), His bride—the church (i.e., “the called-out ones”) is beloved of God.
Because He is holy (Hebrews 7:26), He calls us with a holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9) and instructs us to be holy in all our conduct (1 Peter 1:15).
Not only does the gospel call and deliver us from the unholiness of our past sins, it calls us to be saints—people who deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age (Titus 2:12).
What a calling!
