Romans 1:1-7 (NET)
1 “From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. 2 This gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3 concerning his Son who was a descendant of David with reference to the flesh, 4 who was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power according to the Holy Spirit by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we have received grace and our apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles on behalf of his name. 6 You also are among them, called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all those loved by God in Rome, called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!”
Did you notice the two references to being called in these verses? The first one was that we are “called to belong to Jesus Christ”, the second one, “called to be saints” that is, God’s holy people.
I suggest that the first calling gives rise to the second. In other words, the more of us that we acknowledge belongs to Jesus the less vulnerable we will be to temptation. Why? Because temptation is always directed to something we still see ourselves in charge of. But if we truly belong to Jesus as his slave, then — with reference to ourselves — we have no say about how someone else’s “slave” should handle or respond to anything. That’s the master’s business.
