Called According to Paul: Galatians 1

This is another repost of an old post in the Called According to Paul series. I’m reposting them all, one per week (sort of), so I can link to them in the sidebar under Favorite Posts. An explanation of this series can be found here, and the already reposted pieces are here.

The word called is used twice in Galatians 1, first in verse 6:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel… (NET)

The phrase the one who called you refers to God the Father. The unified purpose but distinctive roles of the Father and Son are seen throughout the previous verses, and in this verse, Paul refers to the role of the Father, who calls people by the grace of Christ.

As we saw in 1 Corinthians 1, this call to the true gospel is a call that changes how the message of the gospel is perceived. The Galatians, then, having been called by the Father, have known the true gospel and have understood the power, wisdom and redemption in it; yet now they are turning away from it to “another gospel” that is not really the gospel at all.

It would be a mistake to think of their turning away as merely a turning from a proper understanding of the gospel. It is more than that: Turning away from the gospel is also leaving behind “the one who called.” God’s call is personal. It is not just a general and unspecific call, but a call from a personal God to individual people, so that following a different gospel is a personal betrayal of the one who called them.

To sum up what we can glean about the call of God from this verse:

• It originates with the Father
• It is a call based in grace, which means it is underserved.
• It is grounded in Christ’s work, for it is “the grace of Christ.”
• It is personal, coming from a personal God to individual persons.

Moving on  to verses 15 and 16 of this chapter, where the word called is used again:

But when the one who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from any human being… (NET)

In context, I’d think this call is Paul’s call to apostleship. It was a call that was founded upon a choice (or a setting apart) by God before Paul was born. It resulted in God’s work within Paul’s life to accomplish the purpose for which he had set Paul apart. The point stressed is God’s sovereignty in the the whole thing: choosing Paul, calling him, saving him, and equipping him for service. This was a call to an office, apostleship, that was planned and accomplished by God.

What more can you glean from these two texts in Galatians 1 about Paul’s use of the word called as it refers to the call of God?

Called According to Paul: Ephesians

This is another repost of an old post in the Called According to Paul series. I’m reposting them all, one per week (sort of), so I can link to them in the sidebar under Favorite Posts. An explanation of this series can be found here, and the already reposted pieces are here.

In this post, I’m going to look at all the uses of the word called or calling in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. The first time Paul uses this word is in Ephesians 1:18:

…since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened - so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints… (NET)

I see this as being similar to the other times Paul tell us that God’s call is to something: to righteousness or peace or holiness, etc. God’s call, as the term is used here, is an appointment. Specifically in this case, it’s an appointment to hope.

Next, skipping over to chapter 4 of Ephesians, where the word called or calling is used several times in the first few verses:

I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling….

Here, as we saw, too, in 1 Corinthians 1 and 7 (and other texts), called and calling are being used as near synonyms (or metonymies) for salvation. Those who are being saved are being urged to live in a way that reflects God’s saving work within them, or that reflects their status as ones who are being saved.

Notice, too, that in verse 4, just as in Ephesians 1:18 above, Paul says that our call is to hope.

These posts are getting a little repetitive aren’t they?  That’s not a bad thing, because it means we’re discovering a pattern to the way Paul uses the word called in his writings.

Called According to Paul: Romans 9

This is another repost of an old post in the Called According to Paul series. I’m reposting them all, one per week (sort of), so I can link to them in the sidebar under Favorite Posts. An explanation of this series can be found here, and the already reposted pieces are here.

Not Herman RiddeSome form of the word called is found five times in Romans 9, first in verse 11:

And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:10-13 ESV)

There’s no need for me to explain all of Romans 9 here, since these posts have a very specific purpose, and that’s to understand the way Paul uses the word call. Here are a few things I see in these verses:

• Here again, the call is linked with God’s purpose. In this case, it’s God’s purpose of election. God’s call, according to Paul, is based in God’s will or plan or purpose.
  
  
• Paul contrasts God’s call and “works”: not because of works but because of his call. God’s call is the determining factor in the older son serving the younger, and not the good or bad deeds of the sons. We might say that God’s call (in the way Paul uses the term) works freely to accomplish God’s purpose. God’s call brings about God’s plan, and in this case, God planned for Esau to serve Jacob. It is God’s call that causes his plan to become a reality.
  
  
• Just as we’ve seen in some of the other passages, God call is related to God’s love for a particular person, and with God’s choice (election).

Later in Romans 9, Paul uses called again:

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.

In these verses

• God’s call is associated with God’s mercy. Those who are called are “vessels of mercy.”
  
  
• God’s call is also connected to a prior plan of God. The “vessels of mercy” who are called are “prepared beforehand for glory.”
  
  
• God’s call causes things to happen. Those who were not God’s people become his people, become “beloved”, and become “sons of the living God” because of God’s call. God’s call is a call with power.

What do you see that I missed? What can you see in this passage about the way Paul uses the word “called” when he uses it in regards to the call of God?