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.

Round the Sphere Again: Gospel Truth

The Real Thing
John Piper answers the question “What is the gospel?”

Matthew Barrett at The Gospel Coalition Blog: We need a God who does not depend on us, for “[i]t is precisely because God is free from creation that he is able to enter into creation in order to save lost sinners.”

The Fakes
Trevin Wax charts six counterfeit gospels, showing how each one affects the gospel Story, gospel Announcement, and gospel Community.

Thankful Thursday

Some weeks are harder than others when it comes to finding things for the Thankful Thursday post, but this week it was easy. (I hope you don’t get the impression that I don’t always have things to be thankful for, because I do. But life has it’s ups and downs, you know, and sometimes the things for which to be thankful are more easily seen or more easily shared.)

This week I purchased a new car, and so far I’m quite happy with it. I’m thankful for the car; I’m thankful that I had the resources to buy it. I had told my sons exactly what I wanted in a car, right down to the model and color. Of course, I was willing to be flexible and willing to be persuaded that my preferences weren’t the best thing for me. Also, I needed a car immediately, so I’d have to take what was available here right now rather than order a car and wait a few weeks for it to be shipped. But although the dealership had only one car in the model I wanted, it was the exact color I’d specified—what I call gun metal gray, but they call something else. So hooray for that, and a big thank you to my heavenly Father who controls even the colors of cars.

I’m thankful that my domain host finally fixed whatever was wrong that caused my site to return an open DNS page. I hate dealing with tech support over the phone, mostly because I hate waiting on hold for a few minutes, let alone an hour or more. And I waited twice yesterday, but hey, now everything’s back right and for that I’m relieved and thankful to God who worked things out in the end and kept me from getting frustrated.

I’m thankful that God made the seasons and causes the sun to rise and set at just the right time. I’m thankful for the longer daylight hours and the increased energy that gives us all.

I’m thankful for a day home alone. There’s been a lot of coming and going and hanging out around here lately, so I’m thankful for peace and quiet whenever I get it.

How about you? For what are you thankful?

Throughout this year I’m planning to post a few thoughts of thanksgiving each Thursday along with Kim at the Upward Call and others.