Romans 1:1 (Called!)

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

The bell shown in the photo above was used to call slaves from the fields for a lunch break about 150 years ago. This was a call they anticipated and welcomed as it gave them a brief break from the hard labor they were forced to perform. Paul, on the other hand, received a call that was not expected on the Road to Damascus. It was a divine call that came with power from Jesus Christ. It changed Paul’s entire world-view and perception of reality and truth. It was a dramatic and irresistible call that immediately transformed Paul from an extreme anti-Christian persecutor of Christians to a zealous crusading follower and preacher of Christianity. While Paul willingly and enthusiastically embarked on his mission as a great apostle, he did not do this in and of himself through his free will. Paul was powerfully called and set apart for the gospel of God. He did not make a decision for Christ based on human knowledge alone. No, he was changed by God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Just as Moses was transformed by his burning bush encounter, Paul was transformed totally on the road to Damascus. It was the makeover to end all makeovers.

Paul thoroughly explains the gospel of God in the book of Romans, and you can be totally confident that the power of God that called and transformed Paul has insured that Paul understood the gospel of God and communicated it without error.