A People For His Name – Romans 1:5-7

Bethel Baptist Church, David Rising

Romans 1:5-7; March 8, 2026 Sunday AM

A People for His Name

The gospel of God is the good news that is centered on the person of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul the apostle was defined by this gospel work – it was his life’s work – and his desire was to make Christ known wherever he went.

God set Him apart for this work. God would put to work Paul’s skills as a devout Jew to probe the OT message and draw that line in his message about Christ and the cross. Paul was the ideal person to relate to the Jews because he was a Jew skilled in the scriptures.

In the book of Acts we see Paul entering the Jewish synagogues and making his case for Christ from the OT.

Paul makes that same point in verse 2 as he reminds these readers that the gospel was promised before through the prophets in the scriptures. Jesus’ resurrection showed the world that this Jesus, the physical son of David, was also indeed the Christ, the Son of God as He became exalted on high and now sits at the right hand of the Father.

The gospel fundamentally changed Paul and it also changes anyone who receives Christ as his or her Lord and Savior.

Today we will see how the gospel affected both Paul, the apostles, and these Roman citizens, and us as well. Pray.

1. Obedience of Faith (1:5a)

5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,

5δἰ οὗ ἐλάβομεν χάριν καὶ ἀποστολὴν εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ, 6ἐν οἷς ἐστε καὶ ὑμεῖς κλητοὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ,

Through Jesus Christ the Apostle Paul and the other apostles – “we” – have received two things: (1) grace, and (2) apostleship. This appears also to be in the order of importance as well.

Paul says he received grace through Christ.

Paul received God’s grace through Christ. God’s grace is His kindness, His favor, His benefits, blessings. He does not specify, but this surely refers to his new place in God’s work for him including His personal transformation.

God granted to Paul His grace and it came through Jesus.

This is essentially how we explain the gospel. This is what God did for us as well.

To receive grace is to receive personally what Christ has done for us. He took upon Himself our sin and suffered in our place, dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. We receive the gift of eternal life, the gift of the forgiveness of our sins by faith in Christ.

Christ transforms our lives by His grace.

This is where our spiritual journey begins.

Paul speaks about receiving apostleship. Paul said this in verse 1 as he identified himself as one called to be an apostle.

This is a position to which Christ called him to serve. He and the other apostles received by grace this role as an apostle. An apostle was a key individual at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus established for the advancement of the gospel and the establishment of churches.

We noted last week in Ephesians 2 that God’s household was established upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ being the chief cornerstone.

Some individuals in our day and even in our area claim to be apostles, but I believe that role was limited in scope to the first century – for those who were at that initial phase of the church.

Notice the next phrase in verse 5 points to the desired outcome for the work of an apostle – ‘for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name’.

εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ

Paul and the other apostles had a job to do and that was to preach Jesus Christ as Lord to a world that was not following Jesus Christ.

Their work was to present Christ and urge an obedient response to the message of Christ.

Notice that obedience and faith are linked here and described as the only appropriate response to their work as apostles, to their work of preaching Jesus Christ as Lord.

This phrase, “obedience to the faith,” is interesting.

The NET bible note says there are 4 ways this has been understood.

tn The phrase ὑπακοὴν πίστεως has been variously understood as (1) an objective genitive (a reference to the Christian faith, “obedience to [the] faith”); (2) a subjective genitive (“the obedience faith produces [or requires]”); (3) an attributive genitive (“believing obedience”); or (4) as a genitive of apposition (“obedience, [namely] faith”) in which “faith” further defines “obedience.” These options are discussed by C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 1:66. Others take the phrase as deliberately ambiguous; see D. B. Garlington, “The Obedience of Faith in the Letter to the Romans: Part I: The Meaning of ὑπακοὴ πίστεως (Rom 1:5; 16:26),” WTJ 52 (1990): 201–24.[1]

I understand this phrase to mean the appropriate response to the gospel which is to believe – the obedience of faith.

NASB/NET “to bring about the obedience of faith”

In Acts 2 Peter preached a powerful message, and the question of the crowd at the end was this (2:37): “Brethren, what shall we do?”

To the message of Jesus, the only response is this: repent! Turn from your sin and follow Him who loves you and gave Himself for you. Repentance is one side of the coin. Believe is the other side. They are different but inseparable. People debate these things, but I have no interest in debating them. I pray for both to show up in my life and the life of all who hear the gospel.

“Repentance and faith” are combined in Acts 20:21: “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This Acts 2 passage is for me an example of the obedience of faith.

When we preach Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, and risen, we pray for the response of faith by those who hear.

This is the response that all nations must have in response to the preaching of the gospel.

And is this not the response that we had when we were confronted with the gospel message?

There are several different ways we can describe our response and our conversation, and the phrase ‘obedience of faith’ is certainly one of them.

The Philippian jailer cried out to Paul and Silas: “what must I do to be saved?” To which they replied, “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ….” Believe. It’s a command.

The work of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ is a ministry of speaking a message that demands a response. It is not simply giving a talk so people have facts to tuck away in their notebooks. Preaching the gospel is a call to respond in faith, to believe in the person and redemptive work of Jesus, turning away from our sins in repentance.

2. Universal Message (1:5b)

among all nations ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν

This gospel message was not reserved for only some ethnic groups. The message of Jesus was not an exclusive message for the Jews or the Samaritans or the people of Rome or some other city.

The gospel is for all nations.

This echoes what Jesus said to the disciples in Matthew 28 – go into all the world (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη).

The word behind the English word ‘nation’ or ‘world’ is ἔθνη from which we get our English word ‘ethnic’ – a word referring to different people groups.

The world likes to use the word ‘race’ but I think that can be misleading and divisive. There is only one race – the human race.

There are people groups with distinguishing physical features and there is skin color based on different levels of melanin, but there is only one human race. And there is one audience for the gospel and it is an audience of people from every nation on this planet.

This is why we send missionaries all over the world.

And our message is not a white man’s religion to spread over the planet with the goal of colonization.

Our goal is conversion – the obedience of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Acts 1 the message began in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and then to the ends of the earth. Rome was far from Jerusalem – 2,511 miles drive by car today – but here is Paul writing to believers who had come to experience the transforming power of the gospel in their lives.

Here we are in Broome County, New York in 2026, having experienced this life-changing message about Jesus.

Before we look at verse 6, notice that last phrase in verse 5:

3. For His Name (1:5c)

for His name

This is a short phrase, but a very big point to observe. Spurgeon would probably have an entire sermon on these three words.

All of this work Paul describes – all of the responses of the believers in Rome – all of it is for His name.

In context, this is the name of Jesus.

The work of ministry, the preaching of the gospel, the response of faith to the gospel – all of it is for the name of Jesus – it is all to His glory and not our own.

In Acts 15, after Peter explained how not only had Jews come to faith in Jesus, but also did Gentiles. James later explains this (vs. 14) by saying that “God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name….”

A people for His name. That would have been a shocking statement to hear. For centuries, the message was that God had called the Jews out of the nations of the earth for His name.

Now it included Gentiles. That was what so much of the buzz was about in the NT – how God grafted into the olive tree the Gentiles. We’ll hear about that in Romans 11.

Now Gentiles and Jews would name God as their God, and God would name both Jews and Gentiles as His people – a people for His name.

If you are truly a Christian, you are a person for His name. His name is plastered on your forehead as His child.

“I am His and He is mine” the hymn goes.

We are not our own, for we have been bought at a price (1 Cor. 6:20).

There is much packed into verse 5, but let us move to verse 6. Here we will see one key word describing these Roman believers:

4. Called (1:6)

6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

Not only were Paul and the other apostles called, but these believers in Rome also were called of Jesus Christ.

This does not mean the Roman believers were apostles. Rather, it means that they too were recipients of God’s grace.

God had done a work of grace in their hearts, and this letter explains what God had done.

They were called of Jesus Christ.

When we come to faith in Christ, especially at a young age, we don’t understand all the complexities of the gospel. As we grow and mature, we learn more and more about the work that God did to call us His own.

To be called is to be named God’s child. We’ll say much more about this when we get to chapter 8, but listen to

Romans 8:30 (NKJV) 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Predestined…called…justified…glorified. Calling is the second of four big theological words describing the effect of the gospel in our lives.

If you confess the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised up Jesus from the dead, you are saved. You are called.

Notice now that Paul formally identifies his readers and also adds more color to their identity:

5. Beloved (1:7a)

7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God,

7πᾶσιν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἀγαπητοῖς θεοῦ, κλητοῖς ἁγίοις,

Paul puts the address on this letter: to all who are in Rome.

And while it is to “all” who are in Rome, it is not technically every person who lived in Rome. “All” is always within a context.

Let’s probe a little about this letter and Rome.

Paul wrote this letter and according to Romans 16:22 he employed the secretarial services of Tertius to write it down.

Daniel Davey in his commentary (RBP) says that Paul wrote this letter sometime in A.D. 57.

In 15:19-23 Paul states that he completed his eastern missionary work and then wanted to visit Rome after his planned visit to Jerusalem (15:24-32).

Paul likely wrote the book of Romans from the city of Corinth during the period noted in Acts 20:2-3.

From Romans 16 we glean that Paul had never been there, and thus he did not plant the church.

We know in Acts 2:10 there were visitors from Rome in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, and perhaps they went back home and in time a church was established.

If this is true, it probably would have been established by Jewish Christians.

There is plenty of debate about these historical matters and in the end they are not terribly critical, but they do give some flavor as to the backdrop for the book.

In A.D. 49 Jews were evicted from Rome over a controversy, and many believe that as a result the church took on more of a Gentile culture.

When Jews were allowed to return to Rome, this likely caused some tensions to arise between the Jews and Gentiles.

This seems likely since chapters 9-11 and 14-15 address issues along these lines.

Here in Romans 1:5 we see that the gospel was to go to the nations, which would strongly imply a Gentile focus.

Romans 1:13 notes an emphasis upon Gentiles in the church, and Romans 11:13 makes the case that the majority of those who heard this letter were Gentiles.

Why does this matter? It helps us understand the impact of what Paul is saying. Including Gentiles among God’s people was a very big deal, and so it’s important to understand the context of the gospel in a Gentile and Jewish audience.

What God had required in the Mosaic Covenant was now being set aside in many ways in the church.

For Gentiles, that would not be as much of an adjustment as it was for the Jews.

And so Paul addresses all the believers there in Rome, and he calls them ‘beloved of God.’

The ‘beloved of God’ are those who ‘be loved by God.’

NET “to all those loved by God.”

One who is beloved is one who is loved (ἀγαπητοῖς).

This is a title the apostle John likes to use in 1 John and one that highlights one’s relationship with God.

Paul tells us in 5:8 that God proved His love for us by dying on the cross for us. It’s not just some warm fuzzy feeling. It is an intentional act of God proving His love, His affection, His kindness toward us.

God loved both Gentiles and Jews.

6. Saints (1:7b)

called to be saints κλητοῖς ἁγίοις

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘saint’?

The athletic department at Seton Catholic or Siena University?

Perhaps we think of some individuals who are popularly known as saints. We might think of Saint Patrick, or we might think of Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order of the 12th century.

You might have some Roman Catholic friends who pray to certain saints.

The word saint comes from a word (ἁγίοις) that means ‘holy’ or ‘dedicated’ or ‘sacred’. It is used of things, of persons, of Christ, of God, of angels, of God’s Spirit, scripture (1:2).

Here it refers to people and is one of several words Paul used to describe these believers.

They were saints who had been transformed by the grace of the Lord.

Some use ‘saint’ as a derogatory manner to refer to us when we turn down participation in our friends’ activities. So be it. We do at times have to refrain from things that are contrary to God’s will.

A saint is someone God sets apart by His grace for His purposes.

When we trust in Christ, the Lord transforms us and we have a new position before God.

We are not instantly holy in what we do, but our credentials before God are established. We are saints, even though our behavior has much yet to be desired.

Thus, in biblical terms, a saint is another name for how God designates us as His children. It is not a title others grant to us after we die because of our wonderful works.

Having said all of that, now Paul greets them at the end of verse 7:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

Paul wishes God the Father and Jesus Christ would grant to these Roman readers His grace and peace.

Grace and peace are two words that summarize well what it means to be a Christian.

All we have is by God’s grace to us.

The peace we enjoy before the Lord is granted to us because of His grace.

To have God’s peace is to know that we are secure in our position before God.

Both of these terms will be treated as we move deeper into the book, so simply recognize this warm way to begin a letter.

We’ll put a bookmark here and pick it up next time.

Application

1. Praise God for His grace and peace

He transforms us

A message for every nation

All For his glory

We are called of Jesus Christ

We are loved by God

We are saints

We have peace with God

What a reality to enjoy.

What a message to proclaim.

What a topic to continue to study.