Through
Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith
among all nations for His
name, among whom you also are
the called of Jesus Christ; To
all who are in Rome, beloved of God,
called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 01:05-07, NKJV).
In
Greek, there are six different words translated “love”, each with
it's own precise meaning, giving that ancient language far more
precision than our modern English. For instance, in today's parlance,
I can “love” peanut butter and “love” my children, and while
the understanding is that these are two very different emotions, the
one word tries to encompass them both.
Not
so in Ancient Greek: two different emotions, two different words
(φιλία philía
and στοργή storgē,
respectively). The word for beloved
that Paul uses in his salutation in these verses is a form of agápē,
which is a word likely first coined in the New Testament to denote a
very special kind of divine, sacrificial love.
The
kind of love that compels someone to lay down his life for someone
else; the kind of love that puts the object of love before everything
else; the kind of love that sent Jesus to the Cross to die for our
sins; the kind of love shown to us by the Father in giving us His
only begotten Son as our Perfect Sacrifice.
That
is the kind of love Paul is reminding us about when He calls us
beloved of God.
Now,
in a general sense, because God is
love, He demonstrates love for all His creatures, but there is
reserved for us, His children by faith, this special kind of love
that guarantees eternal life in Heaven and shields us from another
very powerful divine emotion: His wrath
(orgé)
against sin.
When
we humans become angry, it is often an impulsive affair, a spur of
the moment outburst, usually on our own behalf, that does no one any
real good. The Bible warns us that the wrath
of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
But
the wrath of God
is as different as is His love, and each can perhaps best be
understood in light of the other.
God's
wrath, like His love, is a longstanding and settled
emotion. It is the very opposite of
impulse, founded upon His own perfect righteousness and intelligence.
It is the natural outcome of His holiness and desire for justice.
To
those who are His by faith, His love protects us from the
consequences of sin. Likewise, to those who have rejected His offer
of salvation, His wrath guarantees that they will be the recipients
of His judgment.
The
contrast between those who are beloved of God, and those who refuse
His love could not be greater. To the first group He is Life-giver,
Sustainer, Redeemer, Father, and Friend. To the second, He is
implacable (relentless) Judge.
So
Paul's reaffirmation of our relationship with God in his greeting
serves to call to mind that very contrast; to highlight our entrance
into life from death, from darkness into light.
Without
God's love our life on this earth would be utterly futile and
meaningless, and at death we would enter into an eternity of
punishment. But with His love, and our acceptance of His love through
Jesus, all that changes.
This
is so important to understand and remember. Therefore, to be His
beloved is the highest calling possible. To be counted among those
who have chosen to believe is greater than anything we could attain
in this life, and it will reap eternal benefits.
Finally
then, this is perhaps the most important thing to recall about being
His beloved, so that we avoid the mistake of thinking that it is
anything in us that makes us worthy:
We
love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19, NKJV).
Love,
Dad
