Love Takes Saul to Paul

“God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we are now justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”  (Rom 5: 8-10)

Rom 5: 8  God shows His love:  This is so remarkable because we are ungodly and enemies and did not deserved God’s unconditional love for the world that He showed by sending His Son. (1 Jn 3: 16)

Rom 5: 10  shall we be saved:  Salvation is past, present, and future.  It is past in that our Baptism saved us from the filth of our sins.  It is a present reality when we allow grace to make us more virtuous and holy.  It is the future hope that we will live forever with Jesus in glory.

St. Paul was Saul arresting Christians to execute them.  Then he came to believe profoundly in the power of Christ’s death to reconcile sinners.  He also came to know the depths of forgiveness in Christ.  So nothing else was important to St. Paul except spending the rest of his life after his conversion preaching about Jesus and winning people to Him.  St. Paul believed in Jesus, loved Jesus and loved humanity.  In his writings, St. Paul does not isolate faith from love but sees that faith is directed to love.

Results of Justification

Romans: 5: 1-8

Rom 5: 1-5   The justified are endowed with the theological virtues.  By faith, they live in peace with God and have access to His grace.  In hope, they long for the glory of God that awaits them.  Through love, they show that the charity of the Holy Spirit dwells in their hearts.  Equipped with faith, hope and love, believers can become more like Christ through endurance and suffering.

“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.” Rom 5: 5

Reread this line slowly in the context of St. Paul describing the grace of faith that leads to hope.  Throughout his epistles, St. Paul mentions these three theological virtues (faith, hope, and love) together.  St. Paul does not link love to a feeling or an emotion but with the active presence of the Holy Spirit.  Any love within us is a gift of God’s own love.

In Romans 5: 8, we read that God’s love doesn’t wait for us to become perfect but He loves us while we are still in the midst of our sins.  God’s love is the gift of His own Son.  Christian love is a gift to ourselves and the willingness to accept the one who is loved.  God’s love must take us beyond our limitations to become lovers of God and of fellow sinners.

Next time:  More St. Paul

Meditation:  (1 Corinthians 13: 1-13)  How does St. Paul compare love to the charismatic gifts?  How does love compare to faith? knowledge? generosity? prophecies?