What is the “calling” of God? The words call, called, and calling are used over 700 times in the Old and New Testaments, according to the New Bible Dictionary. The Greek words translated call include kaleo and its derivatives parakaleo, epikaleo, and kletos, along with legein and phonein. Despite such a variety of words, there is no clear difference in their theological meanings; all these words are used in a variety of contexts to refer to different things. A survey of an exhaustive commentary shows the following basic uses…
Robert Thune of Coram Deo in Omaha asks the question: “Is God’s calling effectual or not?“
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear R.A. I appreciate your article. I wanted to comment because I like the article and noticed there were no comments posted. Your article is timely. One of the themes in my doctoral project is “the divine call” of God to full time vocational ministry. However everyone is called to service. I am focusing on those who believe they are called to full time vocational ministry in the local church. Yet God calls and gifts everyone for a purpose. This is especially important in the 21st century since there is so much emphasis on the priesthood of believers and the importance of mobilizing individuals for ministry. Thanks for the thoughtful and well researched article. I wish you God’s best.
Ava, thanks for commenting. However I’m not sure if you actually read the entire article by Robert Thune. It actually wasn’t addressing the call to ministry but rather the effectual calling of God to an unbeliever for salvation…
Dear R.A. Thanks for the comment. Yes, I did read the entire article and in my project I began with God’s call – his invitation to all to be reconciled to him first. Using the greek word kaleo and its derivatives, I am building my work from the general call to all. It was for that part, that the article was helpful. Sorry for not being so clear. Thanks again! God bless!