By Charles Welch
Two passages speak of the ‘calling’ in the epistles written before the setting aside of Israel at Acts 28, namely 2 Thessalonians 1:11 and 1 Corinthians 1:26. In one passage, the apostle prays that the believer may be counted worthy of the calling, in the other, the apostle draws attention to the fact that in this calling ‘not many wise after the flesh, not many noble are called’ (1 Cor. 1:26), but that all is in Christ Jesus.
To discover the nature of the calling of this period we shall have to ponder the teaching of the Acts and epistles that cover it. We shall find, among other features, that it differs from the calling of Israel inasmuch as those who belong to this company are comprised of both Jew and Greek, and being made ‘all one in Christ Jesus’ they are necessarily also ‘Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise’ (Gal. 3:27-29). The calling of the Church during the Acts looks to the promise made to Abraham as its foundation. This promise includes ‘the Gospel’ preached (Gal. 3:8), the great doctrine of justification by faith (Rom. 4:3), and the promise of the spirit (Gal. 3:14).
The hope that was entertained by this Church was millennial in character (Rom. 15:12, 13), and was linked with the hope of Israel which extended right to the last chapter of the Acts (Acts 28:20), which hope was definitely linked with the ‘Archangel’ and the ‘trump’ of God, and so with the hope of Israel. (See HOPE2 and ARCHANGEL p. 95).
There was, however, no equality except in sin and salvation where there was ‘no difference’ (Rom. 3:22; 10:12), for the Gentile believer was reminded by the apostle that his position was that of a wild olive graft, contrary to nature, into the olive tree of Israel (Rom. 11:24), (see articles on OLIVE TREE3 and ROMANS4 - Provoke unto Jealousy), and that the Jew was still ‘first’ (Rom. 1:16). The middle wall still stood, and the enmity occasioned by ‘the decrees’ of Acts 15 made it impossible while such a condition lasted that the one body in which every member was on perfect equality could be revealed (see articles on BODY p. 119, and MIDDLE WALL3). The Gentile had been called and blessed during this period, to provoke to jealousy and to emulation the failing people of Israel. The long-suffering of God waited for thirty-five years, and then the change of which Paul had warned them in Acts 13:40 fell.
While the glorious basic doctrine of Redemption and Justification remains, the dispensational position has entirely changed, and we must turn to the Prison Epistles of Paul, to learn what calling obtains at the present time.
There are four references which indicate something of the glory of this new calling. It is a holy calling (2 Tim. 1:9).
The context supplies the following distinctive features.
(1) This calling is essentially associated with Paul as ‘the Lord’s prisoner’.
(2) This calling is essentially associated with a period spoken of as ‘before the world began’ (literally ‘before times of ages’ pro chronon aionion).
(3) To this testimony Paul had been appointed ‘a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles’.
(4) And this glorious message including both its gospel and its calling is spoken of as a ‘deposit’, ‘something committed’.
It is a high calling (Phil. 3:14). The interpretation suggested by some, that this should be rendered ‘the call on high’ as though it were a future summons, has been examined in the articles entitled ABOVE (p. 3), HOPE2, and PRIZE3, which cannot be repeated here. Our conclusion can be stated, however, the passage in Philippians does not refer to a future summons ‘on high’ but to ‘the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ here and now. Here, in Philippians, ‘the Prize’ of this calling is in view, whereas in Ephesians it is ‘the hope’ of this same calling that is in view. The prize may be won or lost, the hope is intrinsic, it can neither be won nor lost, it is as much a gift of grace as is salvation itself. Hope is related to calling in two passages in Ephesians. The first is in the doctrinal portion, in which after giving ‘the charter of the church’ (see under EPHESIANS, p. 275) in Ephesians 1:3-14, the apostle pauses to make the new revelation a matter of prayer.
‘That ye may know what is the hope of His calling’ (Eph. 1:18).
The second is found in the practical outworking of this great revelation and forms a part of the sevenfold unity of the Spirit (see UNITY OF THE SPIRIT5) in Ephesians 4:4. ‘There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling’. Doctrine - ‘His calling’; Practice - ‘Your calling’; the same calling seen from two points of view.
The doctrinal portion of the epistle (see EPHESIANS, p. 275, for structure of the epistle as a whole) opens with the apostle beseeching his readers that they ‘walk worthy of the vocation’ (calling) wherewith they had been called (Eph. 4:1), and upon that pivot the whole teaching of the epistle is balanced. To appreciate the unique character of the calling we must become acquainted with the meaning and implication of such terms as ‘all spiritual blessings’, ‘heavenly places’, ‘foundation of the world’, ‘seated together’, ‘mystery’, ‘far above all’ and ‘Prison Epistles’.
These various and wondrous elements of this unique calling can be considered by turning to articles in this analysis which either bear these titles, or which evidently include them.
Taken from An Alphabetical Analysis of terms and texts used in the study of ‘Dispensational Truth,’ Part 1 - A-E Dispensational Truth.