Called According to Paul: All the Rest

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.

There are only three more examples of Paul using the word called in regards to the call of God, and the plan is to look at all three in this post. First up is Colossians 3:15:

Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful. (NET)

The call to the Colossian Christians was a call to peace. We’ve seen this idea before in Paul’s usage of the word call: the call that believers received was an appointment to a certain kind of life—a life of holiness, peace, fellowship with the Son, etc.

The Colossian believers were called “as one body”. I understand this to be referring to the way they were called and not what they were called to. The believers in Colosse that Paul is writing to were called as a group (See chapter 1.) and came to faith as a group, and that they were called as “one body” was reason for them to not be factious, but to continue to be a unified, peaceful body.

The next usage of called by Paul is in 1 Thessalonians 4:7:

For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. (NET)

This is another place where the calling is to a certain kind of life. Those who are called are called to holiness. We can compare this to verse 3 of the same chapter, which says that “this is God’s will: that you become holy.” A calling from God is an appointment to sanctification.

The very last verse to look at is 1 Timothy 6:12:

Compete well for the faith and lay hold of that eternal life you were called for and made your good confession for in the presence of many witnesses. (NET)

In this case, the calling is an appointment to eternal life, and this appointment serves as incentive to “compete well for the faith.”

Now I’m done—almost. I’ve examined every time Paul uses the word call in regards to God’s call. I’ll follow up with one last post summarizing everything I’ve learned and then I’ll compare that with the quote from Herman Ridderbos that started this whole series rolling.