Romans 1 | The Called of Jesus Christ

Called by the Gospel

The apostle Paul penned words to the Roman believers that echo with profound significance for every soul who has come to saving faith: “Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:6). This phrase, the called, contains within it the entire mechanism of salvation, the breadth of God’s mercy, and the crystal-clear distinction between biblical truth and the cold determinism that has infected the church through Calvinist teaching. To understand what it means to be “the called of Jesus Christ” is to understand how salvation comes to the sinner’s heart and how we must therefore live in light of such unmerited privilege.

The Mechanism of the Call

Scripture speaks with unmistakable clarity about the means by which God calls sinners unto salvation. Paul declares in 2 Thessalonians 2:14, “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The mechanism is the gospel itself, the good news that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). This calling does not occur through some mystical, irresistible divine decree imposed upon passive souls before the foundation of the world. Rather, it comes through the preaching of the word, the hearing of the message, and the sinner’s response of faith.​

Paul establishes this order in Romans 10:13-17 with words that leave no room for Calvinist speculation: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?…So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God“. Notice the sacred progression: God sends the messenger, the messenger preaches the gospel, the sinner hears the message, the hearer believes the truth, the believer calls upon the Lord, and salvation comes to the one who calls.​ At this point, the saved soul literally becomes “the called.”

This sequence is destructive to the Calvinist fiction that regeneration precedes faith or that God arbitrarily determines who shall believe apart from the gospel call. The called are those who have heard the gospel and responded in faith, not those predetermined to salvation regardless of human response.​

Chosen Through Belief of the Truth

When Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers, he carefully qualifies God’s choosing with words that Calvinists prefer to ignore: “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). The choosing unto salvation occurs through two inseparable means, sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. God does not choose men to salvation and then give them faith; He chooses unto salvation those who believe the truth when the Spirit convicts and the gospel is preached.​​

This distinction proves vital for understanding biblical election. God predetermined from eternity past what would happen to those who trust Christ, they would be conformed to the image of His Son, justified, glorified, and made joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:29-30). What God did not predetermine is who would trust Christ. The decision to believe rests with the individual sinner who hears the gospel call.​​

The term “belief of the truth” points directly to the content of the gospel. We become the called when we believe the truth about Christ’s substitutionary death and bodily resurrection. Faith lays hold of the gospel facts and trusts in Christ alone for salvation. This personal, volitional response to the proclaimed word separates biblical Christianity from the fatalistic determinism that corrupted the church through Augustine’s Manichean philosophy and Calvin’s Stoic leanings.​​

The Universal Scope of the Gospel Call

The beauty of the gospel lies in its universal availability. When Joel prophesied and Paul confirmed, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” the Holy Spirit used a word that demolishes every vestige of Calvinist exclusivism, whosoever. Not “the predetermined elect.” Not “those chosen before the foundation of the world to the exclusion of all others.” But whosoever, anyone, without exception, who calls upon the Lord in faith shall receive salvation.​

This universal offer appears throughout scripture with unyielding consistency. Christ Himself declared, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). The Father draws men to Christ through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the gospel (John 6:44). This drawing does not override human will through irresistible force but enables genuine response through the Spirit’s illumination and conviction.​

The apostle John records the most well-known verse in scripture: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The world, not some arbitrary elect. Whosoever believes, not only those predetermined to believe. This is the gospel we proclaim, and it stands in stark contrast to the limited atonement and unconditional election of Calvinist theology.​​

The Calling Produces Transformed Identity

Those who respond to the gospel call by faith receive far more than forgiveness of sins, they receive a completely new identity in Christ. Paul addresses the Roman believers as “the called of Jesus Christ” because this term encompasses their new relationship and standing before God. The called have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Colossians 1:13). They have been baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). They have become new creatures, with old things passed away and all things become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).​​

This transformation occurs the moment one trusts Christ. There is no gap between hearing the gospel, believing the message, and being sealed with the Holy Spirit. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). The order proves unalterable: hear the word, believe the message, receive the seal.​

The calling into fellowship with Christ brings immediate and permanent changes to the believer’s standing. We who were once children of wrath become children of God (Ephesians 2:3; John 1:12). We who were strangers and foreigners become fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19). We who were without hope in the world become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). All these blessings flow from responding to the gospel call, not from arbitrary divine decree pronounced before the foundation of the world.​​

Walking Worthy of the Calling

Having been called by the gospel unto salvation, believers face the lifelong responsibility to walk worthy of their calling. Paul beseeches the Ephesian Christians, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3). This exhortation presumes genuine human responsibility and the capacity to choose obedience over rebellion, concepts foreign to thoroughgoing Calvinism.

The calling produces unity among believers, not division. When someone claims a special calling that creates strife, breeds controversy, or undermines the body of Christ, that person has departed from biblical Christianity into dangerous error. The Spirit’s work always produces love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23), never confusion, elitism, or factional pride.

Believers exercise their God-given liberty to pursue godliness or compromise with worldliness. Paul writes, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). This liberty encompasses freedom from the law’s condemnation, freedom from sin’s mastery, and freedom to grow in sanctification through the Spirit’s enabling. But liberty never means license to sin presumptuously while claiming Christ’s name. The called must walk in the Spirit, crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, and demonstrate through transformed living that they have genuinely passed from death unto life.​

The Eternal Purpose of the Call

God’s calling through the gospel aims at something far greater than rescue from hell, glorious though that rescue proves. Paul declares that God “hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9). The purpose extends beyond salvation to transformation into Christ’s image, preparation for eternity, and display of God’s grace throughout the ages to come (Ephesians 2:7).​​

Peter reminds believers that God “hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus” (1 Peter 5:10). This eternal glory encompasses ruling and reigning with Christ in His kingdom, receiving rewards for faithful service, and enjoying unbroken fellowship with the Triune God forever. The suffering we endure in this present evil world cannot be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).​​

The called will one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10). This judgment concerns rewards, not salvation, which was settled the moment we trusted Christ. Those who built with gold, silver, and precious stones will receive reward; those who built with wood, hay, and stubble will suffer loss of reward while they themselves are saved, yet so as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). This truth should motivate every believer to faithful service, diligent witness, and consistent obedience to Christ’s commands.​

Stand Fast in the Truth

Having established how believers become the called, through hearing and believing the gospel, Paul issues urgent exhortation: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). The Thessalonian believers faced deception from false teachers who claimed the day of the Lord had already come. Paul corrects their confusion by reminding them of their calling through the gospel and commanding them to hold fast to apostolic teaching.​

The same command applies with equal force today. Believers must stand fast against every wind of doctrine, every philosophical speculation, and every theological system that undermines the simplicity of the gospel or denies genuine human responsibility in salvation. The Calvinist insistence that God predetermines who will be saved apart from human response represents precisely the kind of philosophical contamination Paul warned against when he wrote, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8).​

The gospel we proclaim must remain pure, unencumbered by Augustinian speculation about predetermination or Calvinist abstractions about irresistible grace. We preach that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. We declare that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. We invite sinners to call upon the Lord, promising on the authority of God’s word that everyone who calls shall be saved. This is the gospel by which God calls sinners unto salvation, simple, powerful, and available to all who will hear and believe.​​

Everlasting Consolation Through Grace

Paul closes his instruction about the calling with words of profound comfort: “Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17). The comfort believers receive differs entirely from worldly consolations that fade with changing circumstances. God gives everlasting consolation, permanent, unshakable confidence grounded in Christ’s finished work and secured by the Holy Spirit’s seal.​

This consolation sustains believers through every trial, loss, and persecution. When the world crumbles around us, when sickness ravages the body, when death claims those we love, we possess everlasting consolation through grace. We know that our suffering is temporary, that our Redeemer lives, and that we shall one day stand in His presence clothed in righteousness and free from every vestige of sin and sorrow.​

The good hope we possess comes through grace, not works. We did not earn our calling, cannot maintain it through human effort, and will not lose it through weakness or failure. From beginning to end, salvation belongs to the Lord who calls sinners by His gospel and transforms them by His Spirit.​​

The Choice Before Every Soul

Understanding the calling clarifies the choice that confronts every person who hears the gospel. God has provided salvation through Christ’s substitutionary death and victorious resurrection. He sends messengers to proclaim this good news to every creature. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment, drawing sinners to Christ and enabling genuine faith. The sinner must then choose, will you call upon the Lord and be saved, or will you reject the gospel and perish in unbelief?​

This is not Calvinist determinism dressed in evangelical language. This is biblical Christianity that honors God without denying human responsibility, exalts God’s grace without eliminating genuine choice, and proclaims that whosoever will may come and drink of the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17). The called are those who heard the gospel, believed the truth, and called upon the Lord in saving faith. They were not predetermined to believe while others were predetermined to perish. They simply responded to God’s universal call when the Spirit opened their hearts to receive the word.​​

Let us therefore give thanks always to God, who has called us by the gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us stand fast in the truth, walk worthy of our calling, and proclaim this same gospel to all who will hear. For God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). The call goes forth to every sinner without exception: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). May all who read these words respond in faith, call upon the Lord, and join the company of the called, those privileged souls who have been transferred from death unto life through believing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Thomas Irvin
Victory Baptist Church
Coden, Alabama