The Great Eight - Pt 25

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 28-30 ESV).

Let’s go a bit further today. The call referred to here is not the general call that goes out to all men in the preaching of the gospel. Paul plainly teaches that not all who are called in this general sense are justified. “We are justified by faith!” (Romans 5:1). Not all who are called in this general sense have faith, and therefore not all are justified. However, Paul says in our reading today that “those who are called are justified!” (v. 30). He clarifies this for us in his letter to the Corinthian church: But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23-24 ESV). The gospel has been preached indiscriminately. In that sense, all are called. But that is not the sense in which Paul uses the word here. He says that out from among those who hear the general call there are those who are “called.” And the difference is that those who are called in this narrower sense stop regarding Christ as a stumbling block and as folly. Instead, they regard him as the power of God and the wisdom of God. It is what we have come to define as the “effectual call of God.” So Paul teaches that when the gospel is preached, God calls some so powerfully that their hearts and minds are changed about Jesus Christ and they embrace him in faith and love. This call of God produces faith; it opens the eyes of the blind to see that Jesus is the wisdom and the power of God. This call is like the call of Jesus to the corpse of Lazarus: “Lazarus, come forth!” The call contains the power to produce what it commands. It is an effectual call. That is why Paul can say that all “those who are called are justified.” The certainty of their justification lies in the fact that the faith by which men are justified is produced by the effectual call of God. This means that the beneficiaries of this massive promise are those who once did not love God but now do love God because God himself has called them effectually from darkness to light, from unbelief to faith, from death to life, and has planted within them a love to himself. It is one thing if God sends out a mass mailing addressed “to whom it may concern” inviting all to the banquet where all things work together for good. But it is quite another if God himself drives up to your front door, walks in, picks you up, puts you in the car, drives you to the banquet, gives you the banquet garment of love, and then seats you at the right hand of his Son. This is not a call that can be ignored or refused. And, therefore it is not a promise to some of God’s children. It is to all of us!