A (Not) Exhaustive Word Study on the Word "Calling", and What I Think It Means

In my continued ponderings on the idea of being “called”, and looking with a fresh set of eyes at my own sense of “calling” as a believer, it made sense to do a little word study on the words “calling” and “called” in the Bible. At first look, I was honestly surprised.

Here’s what I found:

FIRST–Throughout the New Testament, the Greek word for calling means, simply, “invitation”, and the word for called is a derivative of the same word. (This does not include the other uses of “called”, like naming someone or calling someone for dinner.) This meaning of “invitation”, in my view, actually flies in the face of some of the ideas we have about calling. I have all my life thought of my calling as an unavoidable mandate from God. I’ve heard sermons about the “hound of heaven” making life miserable for people who are running from their calling, badgering and tormenting them into submission. After all, “the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable.” But when you see the word “calling” as “invitation”, it places this whole thing in a new light. Not that we shouldn’t yield to the call of God–we should–but maybe we miss something of God’s heart by painting Him as a harsh taskmaster who sort of enslaves His people with “calling.” Rather, He is inviting us to participate in His kingdom business, and giving us gifts to aid us in that effort. When He says that His gifts and callings are irrevocable, it means the invitation will never be withdrawn.

This said, I still believe that we are happiest and most fulfilled when we accept God’s invitation, and robbing ourselves of that fulfillment when we do not. But the idea of calling as an invitation reinforces that God will not violate our free will. You are fully able to resist the invitation your entire life, and God will protect your right to do it. But the invitation remains open.

This also does not rule out the idea that sometimes there is a sense of compelling from God, as Paul indicated in 1 Cor. 9 that he felt under constraint to preach the gospel: “Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” As I said in the title, this is not an exhaustive word study. 🙂 But the idea of invitation is definitely something to think about.

SECOND–in almost every instance when “calling” is mentioned in the New Testament, it is not referring to a specific call to a specific ministry. Rather, it is referring to the overall “calling” of the church. The church (the ekklesia) is the collective body of “called-out ones.” We all have been invited into a greater kingdom and a shared mission on earth. Most of the time, this is what the words “calling” and “called” are referring to–the general calling we all share as believers in Jesus.

The only exception I found to this is when Paul, a couple of times in Scripture, says he was “called as an apostle.” This would at least suggest that God does call specific ones to specific functions of ministry. But “called to the ministry” is not a term found anywhere in the Bible.

What does that do to my previous beliefs about calling? I still find evidence, both in Scripture and in my experience, that people do have specific callings (invitations) from God, based upon the gifts He gives us. But at the very least, what I believe this means is that we have developed an unbalanced view of calling over the centuries, placing more emphasis on the calling of the individual than the calling of the church itself. It’s not unlike the overemphasis we’ve put on pastoral ministry (the word “pastors” is only mentioned once in Scripture, yet most of our church leadership structure is centered on pastors).

Again–this does not mean we don’t have individual callings; it just means we’ve possibly given too much attention to that element of our faith. The greatest evidence we have of this is the celebrity status we tend to give to ministers, or the great sense of expectation we place on people who get “called into ministry.” We treat calling almost like it’s something spooky, when in fact, as believers, we are all called in some way.

For me, I want to embrace God’s invitation fully. I accept the fact that not only has He invited me as part of the church, but He has invited me personally into His kingdom business. My focus in this season is to let those deeper things He’s placed in my heart help guide me into my part of “Father’s business” for the days ahead.