James Nisbet Commentary - Romans 1:7 - 1:7

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James Nisbet Commentary - Romans 1:7 - 1:7


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

OUR CALLING

‘Called to be saints.’

Rom_1:7

St. Paul is not writing to great, well-known people. The Church of Christ in Rome did not number many of the high and mighty in the world. Most of its members were of the low and despised class, many even slaves, but whether high or low, slave or free, St. Paul addresses them all alike as ‘beloved of God, called to be saints.’

I. Our calling.—We are not called to be great; we are called to be saints. And what do we mean by saints? The word in the original Greek means ‘holy ones.’ We are called to holiness. ‘How can I lead the holy life? With such temptations to evil, with so much wickedness all round me in the world?’ Are you saying that? Well, then, you can, because others have done so. In fighting the battle against evil in your own hearts and in the outside world, you will not be alone. Some have done their work and have gone to their rest. Others, though perhaps unknown to you, are carrying on the work still. This is the communion of saints; the saints whose rest is won, and the saints who are working still are linked together in one common brotherhood and form one army, and their General is ordering the work, even Christ the Lord.

II. Faith binds all in One.—What is wanted to make ourselves good soldiers in this army? Faith. That is what joins all in One. A belief in the goodness of their cause, a sure trust in the wisdom and goodness of their Leader. Faith is that power which enables a man to live and work in the sight of Christ, although to bodily sight his Leader is invisible. Every one who lives a holy life now, however poor and unknown, is really preaching faith, showing he believes there is something higher and nobler and more worth living for than this world or his own self. May we not add one word of warning? Do not let us think that God’s saints are confined to one particular nation or branch of the Church. Such may be our puny view, but the truth is broader far. In that great vision of the Apocalypse, John beheld standing before the Lamb a great multitude of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues. Shall we then ever in the face of this deny salvation to any because they may not think exactly as we do? Not that we should be indifferent about our faith. Our business is to seek with might and main for the truth, and hold it at all costs whenever we may find it.

III. Reverence holiness in all.—We are ready enough to honour it when accompanied by greatness, but do we not sometimes ridicule it and speak of it as a weakness? Perhaps it may be but a weak, a very weak, trial to rise, only a feeble effort to seek after God and holiness, yet holiness and goodness, like all other things, must have a beginning, and our ridicule and disdain may check it in the bud. We are all called to be God’s saints. Shall we be ashamed of the name ourselves or speak slightingly of any one who is trying, however feebly, to live according to his high calling? We are called to be saints, but do we belong to them? Year after year we join in the festival of All Saints, but some day or other a saints’ festival will come when we shall not be here. Others will be joining in the hymn of thanksgiving, but our voice will not be heard. Will they then be giving thanks for us? Shall we be among that great multitude who, together with the saints on earth, make up the mighty Church of God? We ought to be there. It will be our own fault if we are not there, for we are all—each one of us—called to be saints.

—
Bishop Were.

Illustration

‘All Saints’ Day is a day by itself, quite different from all the other saints’ days in the year. There is, I am afraid, a certain sense of unreality in keeping the usual saints’ days, arising, I suppose, from the fact that the saints themselves seem far removed from us. But All Saints’ Day is quite a different day. No longer are our thoughts directed to one or, at the most, two well-known followers of our Blessed Lord; the Lessons, Collect, and Epistle all speak to us of a great multitude, such a multitude as no man can number, men and women who have lived and died in the faith and fear of our Lord Jesus Christ, and have been received by Him, and are being kept safe in His charge till the day of the final resurrection.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

‘ONE COMMUNION AND FELLOWSHIP’

A saint is simply a sanctified person; one who is sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God. It does not mean one who is dead; it does not mean one who has been canonised as Saint by the Church; it does not mean, and it is not to be restricted to the Apostles, Evangelists, and the early Christian Martyrs. They are, of course, saints, but there are saints not merely dead but also living, in fact, all Christians are, or have been, saints.

I. A saint is a sanctified person.—Now, we believe in the Christian Church that every person who is baptized is sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God. That the Holy Spirit descends upon every person at his baptism, and that He will dwell within that person, sanctifying him, unless he expel Him by reason of his sin. And, therefore, I wish you to bear in mind that the way in which the Apostle uses the word ‘saints’ in addressing the Romans appeals to us now; in fact, that in every age of the Christian Church there have been saints; that every member of the Christian Church would be a saint were it not for his sins, if, in fact, it were not for the inconsistency of his life. If we were consistent Christians we should all be saints, and it is true that we have all been called to be saints, we have been all elected, or selected, that we might be the saints of God, and if we are not the saints of God it is entirely through our own sins.

II. In the Creed we declare our belief in the communion of saints, but how many persons are there in any congregation who really attach any meaning at all to this article of the Creed? They say that they believe in ‘the communion of saints.’ What do they mean by the communion of saints? If they do not understand what a saint is, they certainly cannot understand what the communion of saints is. We all believe in the communion of saints, that is, we believe that all the saints form one body, one community, one society. What we declare in this article of the Creed is, that we believe that all those saints who have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and who have preserved their holiness, that all those who have been made members of the mystical Body of Christ, and have not been finally excluded by their sins, we believe that they all make up the one Body of Christ, that they all make up the one communion of the Christian Church, which is the communion of saints. There is really not much difference between this article of the Creed and the one which precedes it, in which we say that we believe in the Holy Catholic Church. They really mean the same thing. The saints are the Holy Catholic Church, only that in the Holy Catholic Church there are a great many who have unfortunately fallen away from their saintliness, and are so no longer. There are those who, like the tares, will be separated from the wheat at the harvest. We believe that all those, from the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost down to the present day, who have been sanctified by the Holy Ghost, all make up the one Body of Jesus Christ, that they all belong to the Church of Christ. The communion of saints must extend through the whole Church, from its very beginning down to the present day.

III. There are three positions in which the saints of God are.—

(a) There are some in heaven now. The Church has always believed that in heaven are the Blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, His apostles and evangelists, and the prophets and the martyrs. Who else are there we cannot, of course, tell, but there are, no doubt, saints in heaven.

(b) There are saints in the place of departed souls—the faithful departed.

(c) There are saints on earth.

There is a communion, a fellowship, between these three classes of saints. We have communion with the saints in heaven, and we have communion with the saints who are in the place of departed souls.

—
Rev. H. M. J. Bowles.

Illustration

‘The communion of saints is that partnership and fellowship of privilege, sympathy and love, visible or invisible, silent or expressed, which unites together “the whole family of God in earth and heaven,”—though they be divided upon earth, and though they be separated for a little while by death. It is the necessary result of union with Christ. For all who are His, everywhere, both here and there, being united to Him, Who is their life, they are all members of one body, drawing from one Head, and consequently are knit together in one affection, declaring it when they can, but whether they can utter it or not, equally believing in it, feeling it, comforted by it, delighting in it, in all places, and at all times. That is the communion of saints.’

(THIRD OUTLINE)

GROUNDS OF OUR CALLING

‘Called to be saints.’ By what means?

I. By the election of God, and by the providence of your birth in a Christian land.

II. By the dedication and the grace of your baptism.

III. By those inward calls which from time to time you have felt in your heart.

IV. By the many voices of affliction, and by the constant gentle operations of the Comforter in your soul.

Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

‘I quite sympathise with the feelings of men of the world, who very often say, “If I am ever a Christian, I will be a very different Christian from the Christians I see.” Do not be a religious person; be “a saint,”—be an eminent “servant of God”; determine that you will be a great Christian, that you will do something large before you die; that you will be really holy, heavenly, God-like—“a saint.” The higher the mark, the easier it is to some minds to reach it. And the reason why some simply do nothing, is because they have not yet conceived great things. Do not be content with common-places, do not be like Christians about you. Throw your ambition into a channel worthy of the capabilities of which you are conscious. Leave beaten tracks, and conventional standards, and the trite ordinary ways of so-called Christians—be “a saint,” be “a saint”! Who knows what a work may be appointed for you to do in this church? Who knows to what a place you are to reach hereafter, in the ever-ascending circles of the blest?’