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Tuesday 12 June 2012

Romans 1:5 - A Call to All

"Through Him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles". There are a number of things to note here. First Christ is the source of everything. The church is not here to decide what it thinks about Jesus, rather we are here to carry out the work that Jesus gives us to do. As Paul says elsewhere, Christ is the head of the church. We are up a gum tree whenever we forget this, as churches frequently do, in all sorts of ways.
Next there is grace. We too often think of grace as a passive thing, ie by grace our sins are forgiven. Now this is true, but it is only part of the picture. Grace is also active, it enables us to do things and to achieve things. Paul succeeded as an apostle not because he was supremely talented, but because God gave him the grace to succeed.
Then there is apostleship. This was a God given task, a God given commission. They were given authority. Note also the "we", which implies that apostleship applied to more than just Paul.
Finally there is "call all the Gentiles". It is God's command that all people be called to faith. It does not matter that some do not think that this is a good idea, that some think that it goes against respect for other faiths. God wants all people to be saved, so the good news goes to all people.
And everyone is called to faith and obedience to the name of Christ. Believing is not an option, it is a matter of obedience. Our culture, including the church, is inculcated with the idea that it is a matter of personal choice whether or not someone believes. Now this is true in the sense that we can chose to believe or not, but it is a choice of whether to obey or not. I can choose to like a particular style of music or not, and whatever choice I make is perfectly valid. You can choose to believe in Christ or not, but all choices are not equally valid.

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