---
title: Romans 1:7
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-1-7/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/romans-1-7.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Romans 1:7
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Romans 1:7

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "to all those who are in Rome as God's beloved ones, called to be holy ones"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary takes Romans 1:7 as Paul's general greeting to a first-century congregation, with no special significance for modern readers beyond the universal Christian greeting. "Called to be holy ones" applies to the anointed class of first-century Christians; subsequent chapters address what membership in Jehovah's people now requires. The verse provides no support for assurance of salvation.

## Protestant Usage

This verse is the audience marker for Romans 8 — including the golden chain of vv29-30. Paul addresses his entire letter "to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people." When Romans 8:28-30 says "those whom he foreknew, he also predestined… also called… also justified… also glorified," the "those" are the same people identified in 1:7 — every Roman believer Paul addresses, not a 144,000- only subset. The unbroken chain has five links and zero forks. If the Watchtower restricts Romans 8 to the anointed, it must also restrict 1:7 — meaning the great crowd is not loved by God or called to be holy at all. The letter reads as a unified address to every believer.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders hagioi as "holy ones" rather than "saints" (consensus ESV/NASB/NIV/KJV). The flattening avoids the Catholic-derived "saint" category but at the cost of the technical Pauline term that designates believers as the separated-and-set-apart people of God. "Undeserved kindness" for charis continues the pattern (see Rom 1:5).

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus as Alpha and Omega](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/alpha-omega.md) — Revelation 22:12–16 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Golden Chain](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/golden-chain.md) — Romans 8:29-30 -- No Fork in the Road [Salvation]
- [Paul's Greeting Puts Jesus Beside the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/pauline-greeting-formula.md) — Galatians 1:1-3 — Co-Source of Grace and Peace [Deity of Christ]