[Sidenote: Ver. 7.] =To all who in Rome are God's beloved ones.= Wonderful collocation, wonderful possibility! "_Beloved ones of God_," as close to the eternal heart as it is possible to be, because "in the Beloved"; that is one side. "_In Rome_," in the capital of universal paganism, material power, iron empire, immeasurable worldliness, flagrant and indescribable sin; that is the other side. "I know where thou dwellest," said the glorified Saviour to much tried disciples at a later day; "even where Satan has his throne" (Rev. ii. 13). That throne was conspicuously present in the Rome of Nero. Yet faith, hope, and love could breathe there, when the Lord "called." They could much more than breathe. This whole Epistle shows that a deep and developed faith, a glorious hope, and the mighty love of a holy life were matters of fact in men and women who every day of the year saw the world as it went by in forum and basilica, in Suburra and Velabrum, in slave-chambers and in the halls of pleasure where they had to serve or to meet company. The atmosphere of heaven was carried down into that dark pool by the believing souls who were bidden to live there. They lived the heavenly life in Rome; as the creature of the air in our stagnant waters weaves and fills its silver diving-bell, and works and thrives in peace far down. Read some vivid picture of Roman life, and think of this. See it as it is shown by Tacitus, Suetonius, Juvenal, Martial; or as modern hands, Becker's or Farrar's, have restored it from their materials. What a deadly air for the regenerate soul--deadly not only in its vice, but in its magnificence, and in its thought! But nothing is deadly to the Lord Jesus Christ. The soul's regeneration means not only new ideas and likings, but an eternal Presence, the indwelling of the Life itself. That Life could live at Rome; and therefore "_God's beloved ones in Rome_" could live there also, while it was His will they should be there. The argument comes _a fortiori_ to ourselves. =(His) called holy ones;= they were "_called_," in the sense we have seen, and now, by that effectual Voice, drawing them into Christ, they were constituted "_holy ones_," "_saints_." What does that word mean? Whatever its etymology may be,[5] its usage gives us the thought of dedication to God, connexion with Him, separation to His service, His will. _The saints_ are those who belong to Him, His personal property, for His ends. Thus it is used habitually in the Scriptures for _all Christians, supposed to be true to their name_. Not an inner circle, but all, bear the title. It is not only a glorified aristocracy, but the believing commonalty; not the stars of the eternal sky but the flowers sown by the Lord in the common field; even in such a tract of that field as "Cæsar's household" was (Phil. iv. 22).