His Calling

An Exhortation from the Epistle to the Ephesians

The apostle Paul prays earnestly (Eph.1:16‑20) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, would bless the Church so bountifully in wisdom, in knowledge and in heart appreciation that they will be able to know the hope of HIS calling. And the word "hope" is used in the best Bible sense of certain prospect and eventual attainment. On no occasion should we suppose the word to mean the hope of the man of today, for he in his most ambitious and happiest moments uses the word in the sense of "perhaps" and "I hope so." For the purpose of an interesting and profitable excursus (digression) in Scriptural truth let us read as though Paul is emphasising the word "his" in v.18. Is he not stressing the fact that the invitation emanates from the Father of glory alone; that while the whole plan of the ages is the ordering of the great Creator, this phase of his purpose is particularly HIS? Paul is impressing this upon us that we may the more value it; that our hope in it may increase; that we may gain confidence by it; that the eternal Father has deep interest in this portion of his workmanship; and that He does not dwell alone in inaccessible heavens waiting for his plans to reach their inevitable triumph, but is ever personally attentive to the needs of those who HE HIMSELF has called. According to verses 4/5, this calling was in his mind before the foundation of the world and that He had then predestined the honour to which the called should attain. Truly it is HIS calling. Planned long ago, but at long last at the appointed period the call goes forth, first by our Lord and then through his faithful disciples, particularly the apostle Paul. God had through the prophets of old declared his intention to recover and bless mankind, but his sacred secret was not revealed by them or known to them. It may be that this secret purpose can be deduced by study of incidents in the lives of the early servants of God; but it is true to believe that it was "hidden in God" prior to its appointed time of revealment. And, furthermore, unless the Church truth had been revealed by the operation of the Holy Spirit it would never have been found by diligent students of the Old Testament. Throughout the law and the prophets God is declared as the creator, the lawgiver, the judge and protector—in fact, all that we revere in the word God; but beginning with our Lord, the Holy Spirit reveals God as the heavenly Father. And it is because He is the Father of the Church, and they his sons as shown in the N.T. that we may know that in the highest sense it is HIS calling. Hence his personal interest in the welfare of his sons. And that is why Paul when planning such words as Romans 8 and the first four chapters of Ephesians speaks in such exultant tones. It was this new aspect of relationship to God in our Lord’s words about his Father and our Father that caused Philip to exclaim "show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." (John 14:8) The answer to Philip and to us all who make the same request is the work of the Holy Spirit in the church dispensation, and the answer does suffice, does satisfy us that "the Father himself loveth you." (John 16:27) Only by the knowledge that it is HIS calling can we fathom and accept the fatherhood and love of God.

But, whereas we assume that Paul emphasises the point that it is HIS calling, when writing to the Corinthian church he says it is YOUR calling. (1 Cor.1:26) He changes the word in order to assure these brethren that they, even they, were called. It is probable that were the work of calling deputed to us, we should have passed Corinth by as unsuitable. None knew better than Paul the failings of this ecclesia; he knew that when they considered the breadth, and length, and depth, and the height of the love and also the call of God they would know themselves to be unworthy and might become despondent by introspection. In the context of 1 Cor.1, Paul has forestalled any plea of unworthiness by describing the ones whom God has honoured with his calling, and the description fits the Corinthian brethren very well. Thus by saying it is the foolish, the weak, the base and the despised which He has called, he is contrasting HIS calling of Eph.1 with YOUR calling of 1 Cor.1. Both points of view are true, for it is HIS because it is his purpose and grace and it is YOURS because you are called according to his purpose. Is there not strength and assurance in the belief that we are called, even though we know in ourselves that we often fall short and cannot ever be worthy in ourselves? And, in 1 Cor.1:30 Paul adds that by God’s provision, Christ "is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (deliverance)" and thus we may know that our deficiencies are supplied by his gifts. Let us believe with James that God hath chosen the poor of this world who are rich in faith, for by doing this we shall assure ourselves that it is OUR calling.

When writing to the Hebrews (ch.3:1) he describes it as being a HEAVENLY calling. It is heavenly in origin and in prospect. We who once were Gentiles may believe and hold the church promises in this epistle, but should remember that primarily it was written to those who had long been the favoured people of God. As children of Jacob they had promises heavenly in origin but not in prospect. They had blessings of which, like the Church later, they were not worthy. And, they had already been called; called out of Egypt; chosen by the Lord God to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. (Deut.7:6‑8) On Mount Sinai, Moses, as near to heaven as it was possible for man to be, had received the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and by the giving of the law with its provision of sacrifice and priesthood; and given a fair land in which to dwell, with promises of blessing, in basket and store, they were ranked above the surrounding nations. It was to this favoured people that the HEAVENLY call first is made, being at first thought, the people most likely to accept the new appeal. On the other hand knowing themselves to be the chosen people with ample proof of Divine blessing, they might question any new offer purporting to come from their own God of Israel. And so the writer to the Hebrews emphasises the heavenly prospect of the call as distinct from the best of earthly promises which they had enjoyed. He was offering something far better, something heavenly, based upon a better sacrifice. In the second chapter of Hebrews he expresses this new and heavenly call as bringing many sons to glory, and that the chief Son Who had been made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death was now crowned with glory and honour, which in a later chapter he shows to be at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. And from the words of our Lord himself we know that He has gone to prepare a place for these sons of glory and that on his coming again He would receive them unto himself; that where He was there they would be also.

When Paul writes to the Philippian church he refers to it as a HIGH calling, and again the context tells why in that connection he so speaks. The heavenly calling is of course a high calling as to destination, yet he speaks of the HIGH calling as to rank. Think of the rank to which Paul had been born a Jew, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and as touching the law, a Pharisee. (Phil.3:4‑5) His standing was so high that he could have boasted that if any man thought he had whereof he could trust in the flesh, he had more. But those things which were gain he counted loss for Christ. His high rank as a Jew he renounced most gladly for the hope of his calling, "the HIGH calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil.3:14) Called in his youth and taught in the perfect manner of the law at the feet of Gamaliel; called while on the Damascus road to be an apostle; there was another call to which all his powers were centred and he was pressing toward the mark for the prize of the HIGH calling. Thus he was able to forget those things which were behind, honourable though they were and reach forth unto those things which were before, knowing that "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Col.3:4)

Writing to Timothy (2 Tim.1:9) he speaks of the HOLY calling—a reminder that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. (Heb.12:14) A call to be like him who issued the invitation. "As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. " (1 Pet.1:15‑16) Here Peter quotes from words addressed to the nation which had been called out of Egypt to be a holy nation unto himself. God’s method of forming them into a holy people was to separate them from the surrounding nations and bless them. He blessed them so abundantly that He appealed to them in later times through the prophet Isaiah (5:4), saying "What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" That they failed to be worthy of their status is too well‑known to need noting now, providing that those who now are called with the HOLY calling profit by their failings. For again the call is issued to us to be a holy nation, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a purchased people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. The call of today will also be separate (though not isolated) from the world by the Father’s answer to our Lord’s prayer in John 17:15 "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." The sons of God may confidently know that He Who kept Israel, never slumbering or sleeping, will also keep them; it being understood that the sons will walk worthy of the calling wherewith they are called.

Jan/ Feb ‘82