Called According to God’s Purpose and Grace

Scripture — 2 Timothy 1:9-10 (NRSV)

[God] saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Devotion

According to Merriam-Webster, the word “calling” can mean “the vocation or profession in which one customarily engages.” Yet when people speak of their calling, they often mean more than this. Merriam-Webster also defines “calling” as “a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence.” Calling, in this common perspective, is that “strong inner impulse.” It’s something that lives inside of us, guiding and motivating us.

I don’t have a problem when people use the word “calling” in this way. In fact, I think it’s wonderful when someone has a “strong inner impulse” if that impulse is honorable and leads them to contribute positively to the world. But we need to understand that this popular sense of calling is not the primary meaning we find in Scripture. For example, in the New Testament book we know as 2 Timothy we read:

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace (1:8-9, emphasis added).

Notice that in this passage, “calling” refers not to some inner conviction we might have about how to live, but rather to God’s activity as the One who calls us. God has “called us with a holy calling.” Now, we might say that, in light of this, we have a sense of calling, a strong inner impulse. But we should recognize that the primary meaning of calling in this passage from 2 Timothy is God’s activity directed toward us.

Several years ago, I wrote an article on “Call, Calling” for the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Second Edition. I began this article by focusing on “The God Who Calls.” Here’s what I wrote:

In Pauline theology, calling is not so much something believers have as it is something God does in their lives (1 Cor 1:9). Calling is so essential to God’s activity that Paul can refer to God simply as “the one who called you” (Gal 1:6 NRSV; see 1 Thes 5:24).

God calls people based on God’s own sovereign choice and purpose (Rom 8:28-30). One’s calling does not depend on one’s own works or worthiness (though one is to walk worthy of our calling; see section 5 below). Rather, God calls people “according to [God’s] own purpose and grace” (2 Tim 1:9 NRSV; also Gal 1:6).

Seeing the Christian life in terms of calling underscores the authority and initiative of God. Those who know God through Christ are not initiators in this relationship but responders to the initiating, calling God.

So, if you want to say that you have a calling to something, to your work, your family, your faith, and so on, that’s fine. But you need to remember that you have a calling because God calls you. Your calling is really God’s calling to you. Thus, when you say you have a calling, implicitly you’re saying that your life is guided and governed by the divine Caller.

2 Timothy 1:9 reveals that God “called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace.” The calling of God is a result of God’s purpose, which is coupled with divine grace. Notice that purpose in this context isn’t something we have chosen to direct our lives. Rather, purpose is something God has and acts upon. The Greek word translated as purpose can also be rendered as “plan, resolve, or will” (see prothesis in A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature). However we understand our purpose in life, we must be sure to see our purpose in light of God’s greater purpose or plan for all things, including us.

Thus, in 2 Timothy we encounter a close relationship between purpose and calling. Purpose is something that belongs to God, and calling is something God does in our lives because of this purpose. By grace and according to the divine purpose, God calls us to a new way of living through the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

If our purpose in life isn’t primarily ours but rather God’s purpose for us, this suggests an obvious and crucial question: What really is God’s purpose for me? Another passage in the New Testament answers this question strikingly and unexpectedly. We’ll turn to that passage in tomorrow’s devotion. (If you don’t want to be kept hanging, check out Romans 8:28.)

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Cultures Can Persist for Generations (2 Timothy 1:1–2:13; 3:10–17).