Romans 8:12-25 Greek Text
12 Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, ὀφειλέται ἐσμέν, οὐ τῇ σαρκὶ τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα ζῆν· 13 εἰ γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα ζῆτε μέλλετε ἀποθνῄσκειν, εἰ δὲ πνεύματι τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος θανατοῦτε ζήσεσθε. 14 ὅσοι γὰρ πνεύματι θεοῦ ἄγονται, οὗτοι υἱοὶ εἰσιν θεοῦ. 15 οὐ γὰρ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα δουλίας πάλιν εἰς φόβον, ἀλλὰ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας, ἐν ᾧ κράζομεν, Ἀββᾶ ὁ πατήρ· 16 αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα συνμαρτυρεῖ τῷ πνεύματι ἡμῶν ὅτι ἐσμὲν τέκνα θεοῦ. 17 εἰ δὲ τέκνα, καὶ κληρονόμοι· κληρονόμοι μὲν θεοῦ, συνκληρονόμοι δὲ Χριστοῦ, εἴπερ συνπάσχομεν ἵνα καὶ συνδοξασθῶμεν. 18 Λογίζομαι γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς. 19 ἡ γὰρ ἀποκαραδοκία τῆς κτίσεως τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεκδέχεται· 20 τῇ γὰρ ματαιότητι ἡ κτίσις ὑπετάγη, οὐχ ἑκοῦσα ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα, ἐφ’ ἐλπίδι 21 διότι καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ κτίσις ἐλευθερωθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς δουλίας τῆς φθορᾶς εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ θεοῦ. 22 οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις συστενάζει καὶ συνωδίνει ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν· 23 οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ἔχοντες ἡμεῖς καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς στενάζομεν υἱοθεσίαν ἀπεκδεχόμενοι, τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν. 24 τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν· ἐλπὶς δὲ βλεπομένη οὐκ ἔστιν ἐλπίς· ὃ γὰρ βλέπει τίς, τί καὶ ἐλπίζει; 25 εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ βλέπομεν ἐλπίζομεν, δι’ ὑπομονῆς ἀπεκδεχόμεθα.

Romans 8:12-25 My Translation
12. Therefore, then, family, we are not debtors to the flesh, living according to the flesh. 13. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14. For as many are being led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15. For you have not received a spirit of slavery, falling again into fear. You have received the Spirit who brought about the adoption to sonship, by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17. And if we are his children, then we are also his heirs. On the one hand we are heirs to God, on the other we are heirs with the Messiah since we suffer together so that we will be glorified.

18. For we consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy compared to the glory that is coming to us. 19 For it is the expectation of creation and it waits for the revealing of God’s sons. 20. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly but because of the one who subjected it, concerning hope. 21. Therefore the creation itself will be set free from its slavery to corruption and brought into the freedom of the glory of God’s children. 22. For we know the whole creation groans together and is in labor until now. 23. And not only this, but we who have the first-fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we wait for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24. For we were saved in hope, and hope that is seen isn’t hope. Who hopes in what is seen? 25. But if we hope in what we do not see, we wait for it patiently.

She stands alone, like the palace and fortress of the king. She is the symbol of his reign over his people. The pride of his eye, the love of his life. Regal and noble she stands, a fitting home for royalty. She is a fortress, a place of refuge for the people she is charged to protect. When the enemy attacks they flee to her for safety. Into her arms they fall, her warm embrace reassuring them that no harm will come to them.

She stands alone, like a bastion daring its enemies to lay siege. Age is a merciless foe, showing no quarter and taking no prisoners. The battles over the decades have taken their toll, the signs of war covering her exterior walls. The external beauty that captured her lover’s eye has borne the full brunt of Age’s onslaught. But the beauty of her person, her strength, caring, compassion, kindness, wisdom, and resiliency still remain unscathed by Age’s devastation.

She stands alone, on the brink, the edge of the Abyss. Should she just give in and, like the last of the ruins of the mighty castles, collapse into the abyss? No! she declares. There is still too much to see, to witness, to experience with her old eyes. Her steadfast determination, her uncompromising desire to move forward and never surrender rise up within her once more. Her strength is renewed. Once more she dares her familiar foe to come and do battle, to try and deny her what is hers.

But, she stands alone uncertain of her future. She knows she is at the end. Her time is fast approaching. She looks to those she loves most for comfort and peace. But there she finds more turmoil. Her safe harbor is raging against her. There is not place of solace, no comfort. There is no place to put in to port. Where is her comfort? Where is her Barnabas in these last days?

She stands alone, seeing her joy just out of reach; obstructed and held back by those who cling so tight to her that she cannot move. Her joy is there and she fight for it to no avail. But she does fight. She engages those who should be her vanguard to her delight. She is forced to make war against the ones who should be her Barnabas. Oh how truly evil a foe Age is! Nothing lies beyond the reach of its ugly tentacles.

But she stands not alone. A scarred hand takes hers in the desperate struggle. His grasp is comforting and full of rest. It is the grasp of One who has fought the old foe head on, and claimed victory. He takes her hand in His and stand by her side, her one and only Ally in the war. Her cares all melt away as her Eternal Friend joins the fray. He goes to war with her, for her. Against Him Age is without hope, reminded of its own defeat at His hands. Disarmed the foe stands, helpless to fight back against her Ally.

Hand-in-hand, they stand together. Where others have failed by disguising their own quest for their own comfort and peace and happiness as concern for her happiness and well-being, He leads her to something greater than she was striving for. He leads her to the green pastures and still waters; to a table he has prepared for her, the greatest of all feasts to be enjoyed with her vanquished archnemesis looking on in its own demise. And in His house she finishes out her days, unending days free of Age and in the presence of pure, undefiled joy and delight of which she could not have imagined nor could describe if she were to try.

The Gospel Defined
So let me restate how I have defined the gospel after looking at the New Testament. The good news that I, as a follower of Jesus Messiah, am to proclaim is this: God is fulfilling his promises made in the Old Testament Scriptures in the person and work of Jesus Messiah, by sending the Spirit into this fallen world and raise up the Davidic Priestly Servant-King, to recreate the world by the Spirit under the rule of Messiah, to call Israel out of her exile and return to her land under the watchful Shepherd of Messiah, and to draw the Gentiles out of their lost and dark pagan ways and into the light of this newly created Israel in a newly created world. Jesus death and resurrection announce the beginning of this work of Yahweh to recreate the world and Israel and to restore them to their original purposes for which they were created, to fill the creation with Yahweh’s image.

To simplify this message I would put it like this:

In fulfillment of his promises, God sent the divine Messiah-King, Jesus of Nazareth, into this world to restore the creation to its original purpose through his life, death, and resurrection.

This incorporates all that I believe the New Testament speaks to when it talks about the gospels. Yes there is more that must be said to fill out the contours and shape of the gospel but this gives a simplified definition that would be more useful in evangelistic purposes. It allows for the story of God to be told to those who need to hear it. It isn’t just spouting off doctrines but putting those doctrines in the context of the story from which they are derived. From Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 this definition really allows the whole of Scripture to speak together in one harmonious voice.

Faith and Repentance
Now before I finish this series I want to speak a word about faith and repentance. Jesus and the Apostles give these two things as the only appropriate response to the gospel. Jesus says in Mark 1:14-15 (NET), “Now after John was imprisoned, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God. He said, ‘The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!’”

Faith is a trusting in God to fulfill his promise. Faith is a sinner seeing who Jesus is and what Jesus did and trusting that all that Jesus is and has done is true for them. Jesus is now this sinner’s king, and the sinner bows in submission to Jesus. The sinner sees Jesus as his sole and only standing before Yahweh, representing the sinner as the Holy One and the Righteous One. The sinner sees Jesus death on the cross and resurrection from the grave as the only hope of submitting to the just demands of Yahweh against the sinner’s rebellion and being able to pass through to the other side into blessing. That through Jesus’ death, the sinner has accepted God’s pronouncement of guilty as true, justifying God’s claim. That through Jesus’ resurrection the sinner will rise from the grave, fully vindicated and declared righteous and holy before the Creator. Through Jesus’ perfect obedience to the covenantal demands God has placed upon his people the sinner is no longer counted disobedient but rather obedient. Faith unites the sinner to the person and work of Jesus, so that Jesus represents the sinner before the Father and all that is true of Jesus is true for the sinner.

Repentance is the opposite side of the same coin. Where as faith bows before the King, repentance is to turn away from the former tyrants of Sin and Satan and their rebellion. Repentance is abandoning the rebellion against the Creator and kneeling before him in humility and servitude. Repentance is now living in the kingdom that King Jesus instated during his incarnation, mission, and ascension. While that kingdom has yet to be fully realized, repentance is the living out the king in the present. Because by their uniting faith, the sinner is now holy and righteous, by repentance the saint lives out holiness and righteousness. Repentance lives out the New Testament ethic, “be what you are.”

The Spirit and the Sinner’s Response
Now I fully realize that most of what I have said nearly anyone can agree with if they are Protestant Evangelicals. But I feel that I must discuss the role of the Spirit in faith and repentance. This will turn many heads away because of the nature of my beliefs about faith and repentance and the Spirit. So with that warning I proceed.

Having read the New Testament I still cannot escape the reality that faith and repentance are part of the new creation, worked by the Spirit, in the sinner. When the Spirit recreates a human being, it begins by creating faith in the heart. The Spirit indwells and creates the fruit and characteristics that mark out the kingdom of heaven which arrived on the scene when Jesus invaded the world in the incarnation. Faith and repentance are part of the recreating work of the Spirit in the world. The Israelites that return from exile and the Gentiles that turn to the light of Messiah and his kingdom are those whom the Spirit has recreated and united to Jesus.

Conclusion
So in conclusion, the gospel is God fulfilling his promise, made through the OT prophets, to recreate the world into the paradise he intended it to be and to recreate humanity into the vice-regents they were supposed to be by sending his Spirit into the world to raise up raise up this new creation’s king, who by the Spirit will end the exile of Israel and call the Gentiles out of their darkness and into the light of his kingdom. The response of the Israelite to leave his or her exile, and the Gentile to leave his or her darkness and enter Messiah’s light, is that of faith and repentance. But this response is part of the Spirit’s recreating work in these sinners’ hearts and persons.

I have enjoyed this series greatly. To put down in words the things about the gospel that has changed for me over the past year or so has been a great…release. As I look over this series, I notice how much of a hermeneutical and linguistic shift I have undergone in the last two years or so. I do not sound like the typical Evangelical who talks merely about sins being forgiven as the good news. I believe that’s part of what is going on in the gospel, especially in terms of how it relates to the sinner. But to narrowly define the gospel in such terms misses out on all that God has promised to do in Jesus, has done in Jesus, is doing in Jesus, and will do in Jesus. The gospel is cosmic in scope and humanity has been given the exalted privilege to participate in the spread of the Spirit’s recreating work and extending the reign of Jesus over the lives of rebellious sinners lost in exile and darkness.

And at the same time, I have noticed that my theology hasn’t changed. I’m still a fully committed Calvinist, and in someways more committed than before. As I wrote these posts I became more excited about the Reformed faith precisely because I see how it can be retold to a world that doesn’t want to fight the same old battles with Rome, and those battles must be fought. But for those parts of the world that don’t know of those struggles, articulating my theology like this really opens the door to speak more into their lives with the story of God than the story of Luther/Calvin vs. the Pope. I still follow Calvin’s theology, but I am not feeling like I have to express it in the same static categories and language. Calvin’s theology has come more alive during this series than ever before. I pray for those who read this post series will read and see their own theology (whether it is Reformed or not) come alive and become a great passion for them.

BW3: God and “My Rights”

Here is my response to this sermon so listen to it before reading on.

First, Pastor Tim’s introductory remarks were quite comforting because he was willing to express his discomfort with men in the faith who are GIANTS. Spurgeon, Edwards, and many others he was willing to voice disagreement with and that speaks volumes. It tells us that not every Christian has it right, that we must continually check our position against the text of the Scripture. Pastor Tim’s growth and change in position says that he did that.

Second, Pastor Tim’s exegesis of Romans 14 and the other passages were, as always, spot on. Pastor Tim has an uncanny and can-only-be-explained-by-the-leading-of-the-Spirit (My inner comic nerd says, hehehehe) ability to get in and behind the text to its intent. He has the gift of διδάσκαλος, teacher (cf. Ephesians 4:11; 1 Timothy 2:7).

However before one can get into issues like Sabbath, one must understand the role of the Law of Moses and the Old Covenant in the life of the New Covenant believer. Before he went to Galatians 4, he needed to go to Galatians 3. Because the issue of are we obligated to the Old Covenant Law in someway must be understood and addressed first. And under a Covenant and Dispensational reading of the text, one gets two very different answers that are based upon faulty hermeneutics. I wish he would have taken the time to show us that the Old Covenant has passed away and been replaced by the New Covenant. It was only a temporary covenant and a pedagogue for Israel until the Messiah and faith came (cf. Galatians 3:23-25). Thus the Sabbath command is no longer in effect as prescribed by Yahweh through Moses.

My second critique is that he did not delineate between what is done by the Christian on Sundays and the Sabbath day. He did a good job of arguing against going to church because it is the Sabbath moved to Sundays. Because we don’t go to Sabbath, it isn’t necessarily a sin to go watch the Chiefs play (…wait as bad as they are it might be). But why should I go to church on Sunday mornings? Why would he look unfavorably at my forsaking to gather together with fellow believers to encourage and be encouraged to do good works of love in faith? Is it just because Hebrews 10:25 says so? Can that be done on any other day than Sunday? Couldn’t I just get together on Thursdays with some Christian friends, have fellowship and some time in the Word and we all exhort one another to love others? This is a looming question that I hope to be answered in the coming weeks.

My main point though is that I am thinking that for a reboot of the Superman franchise by WB, this story might be a great story to utilize. It would help bring in Krypton and Superman’s alien past as well as bring in a villain that isn’t Lex Luthor in Brainiac. It would help to bring out a more realistic hero, not a dark one like Batman, that is easier for contemporary audiences to identify with. One of the themes so far in the arc is that Brainiac criticizes Superman for considering himself human instead of embracing his alien heritage. This story arc even works in Lord Zodd from Superman II.

The one glaring difficulty is Supergirl. She plays a central role in the story as Johns is diving into her origins as much as Superman’s. If the movie writers could somehow remove her without compromising the story’s awesomeness or place her into the movie without being a distraction from Superman, I’d be fine with that. This is one of the problems that was encountered by adding Robin and Batgirl into the Batman movies–and to a large degree the Joker in The Dark Knightmovie (To be fair, some of that distraction was caused by Heath Ledger’s untimely and unfortunate death). They distracted the audience from Batman, the person they wanted to see on the big screen in the first place! Supergirl would probably do this in a reboot movie.

Warner Bros. I hope you seriously consider this eight-part(?) series by Geoff Johns as a possible script for your Superman reboot. While I liked Superman Returns, its time to see a real Superman villain that will put Superman in a situation where Superman has to fight his way out. Brainiac will present an intelligent nemesis as well as one that Superman will need all of his super strength and super powers to beat. It’s what Superman fans want and it’s what Superman fans deserve. No more movies that would have worked in the 1970s, give us something that works today!

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Below the video is a link to a blog post where James White provides some graphics that will be discussed in the text. Enjoy.

AOMIN.ORG: Graphics for the Dividing Line of 9/4/08

2 And the LORD answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. 5 “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.” 6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—for how long?—and loads himself with pledges!” 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. 9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! 10 You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. 12 “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 15 “Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink—you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! 16 You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! 17 The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. 18 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! 19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. 20 But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Yahweh’s answer to Habakkuk’s cry of God being unfair is simply: “Shut up. Habakkuk, shut up.” Read Habakkuk 2:20 again, “the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” The last phrase is imperative. It is a command to be silent. Yahweh tells Habakkuk’s racism to go away and the prophet to shut up if he is going to complain.

Now on what basis does Yahweh conclude that Habakkuk needs to shut it? What has our Lord said that we must be silent before him? I believe he has told Habakkuk of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant in his blood. In this post, I want to argue for this conclusion. This will help us to really zero in on Habakkuk 2:4 in its literary context as well as help us move from the OT into the NT and see how Paul and the author of Hebrews utilize this text. This post will look at the larger literary unit and my next post will look at Habakkuk 2:4 specifically.

What is it about this oracle or message from Yahweh that leads me to believe that it refers to the good news about Jesus Christ? There are several reasons for it and I want to delve into them.

The first reason will help establish what my next post will be about. That is, this text is Yahweh speaking and not the prophet! This is important in that it helps identify what the words wesadiq means. Yahweh’s definition of this term is not what the prophet means by it. The prophet bases wesadiq upon his Jewishness and the Babylonians are not sadiq because they are Babylonian. This is not what Yahweh has already said in Deuteronomy 7:7-8 where Israel was not elected because they were Israel. Israel was elected because of God’s oath to the patriarchs and his unconditional love that had already been set upon them. In Deuteronomy 9 Yahweh tells Israel that they are getting the land of Canaan because they are righteous, indeed they are not righteous but stubborn (Deuteronomy 9:4); it is because the Canaanites are wicked and Yahweh promised to drive out the Canaanites to the forefathers. Read Deuteronomy 9:4-8 to see what Yahweh thinks of Israel’s “righteousness.” In Deuteronomy 10:17 where Yahweh is god over all gods and lord over all lords and thus doesn’t take bribes or show partiality. I reference Deuteronomy because during the time Habakkuk is a prophet, the book of Deuteronomy was rediscovered in the Temple and King Josiah launched a reformation using this book of Torah. He enacted policies to overturn and combat the paganism in Israel. Jeremiah preached a message pleading with the people to abandon their pseudogods and return to the one true God, Yahweh. This was the theology of Habakkuk’s day. It was the message being preached to the people. Moses has returned to bring the people back. Yet Habakkuk has missed a sermon or two as he doesn’t get his own unrighteousness and the Babylonians unrighteousness. It isn’t based upon race it is something else. For God to reaffirm Habakkuk’s view of sadiq then he is contradicting himself in what he says to Habakkuk and to Jeremiah!

The second reason has to do with what was the “vision” (Habakkuk 2:2) Habakkuk saw. Most commentators will say that it refers to Yahweh’s judgment of the Babylonians. When one reads Habakkuk 2:6-20, they will find a spitting image of a typical Babylonians in Habakkuk’s day. God pronounces six woes upon this Babylonian. But if this is true, then we end up right back where we were in the previous paragraph. All of a sudden sadiq is something based upon race and God does not judge upon that basis (cf Psalm 96:10).

But notice what Yahweh does say about the vision in Habakkuk 2:2, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” The vision, whatever it is, must be written down on tablets of stone. This recalls the other time something was required by Yahweh to write down on stone: the giving of the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments (cf. Exodus 24:12; Exodus 32; Exodus 34). The language here in Habakkuk 2:2 is that of the giving of the covenant. Yet now some millennia later, God is having the prophet engrave something new that is superceding the old. The Law is failing so Yahweh is having the prophet write something new down in stone, legibly so that one can read it.

Now this vision anticipates something later to come that is replacing that which is. A good case can be made that this vision can be the destruction of Babylon by God in judgment of her sin. But I think that is not what is anticipated here. I think it is something, according to Habakkuk 2:3, that is yet to come describes the end (click here for a list of translations that confirm this reading against the ESV, NASB, and NET). It isn’t a sad end. It doesn’t have to be a terrible end. It could be a joyful end. It could be a happy end. It could be an end in which our primary problem is gone. The tone of this verse can be just as easily taken to be happy and it is woeful. Yes it could speak of the day when Judah returns from her exile in Babylon at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. But the langugae isn’t lending itself that way. The anticipation is not the restoration of the old but anticipating the new! The end is in light of something new.

It is primarily these three reasons that I find this passage to refer to the New Covenant. Now the question becomes who is the man that Yahweh is pronouncing woes upon? The man is most definitely a Babylonian. But in light of the vision of Habakkuk 2:2 being of the New Covenant, this “Babylonian” becomes typological of all men. We all have our idols that we fashion with our own hands (Habakkuk 2:18-19). We shame others in order to show forth our own glory (Habakkuk 2:15-17). We build our lives around iniquity and upon iniquity, taking advantage of whoever we can to advance ourselves (Habakkuk 2:9-14). We are all seeking what we can take for ourselves without having to pay for it. We are always trying to one up the other person, being more shrewd than the next guy up to take his position of power (Habakkuk 2:6-8). We are just like this Babylonian. Therefore, we all must be silent before the LORD who sits in his holy temple (Habakkuk 2:20). We have no room to complain. We are not more righteous than the other person is (Habakkuk 1:13).

The Law will not help us. It is weak and powerless. If it does anything, it worsens the problem. It causes the violence to become worse! And in the end, God will destroy us with it. We need something new. We need something that won’t kill us but save us! And God reveals to the prophet here exactly what will come, “the righteous shall live by faith.” A new covenant will emerge that will save us not because of law-keeping but because Yahweh will act in a mighty way to save us so that his glory may cover the earth like water the seas (Habakkuk 2:14).

Nearly all of the passages that I examined involved an imperative, namely that of “Go!” Abram (Genesis 12:1-3 NET), Moses (Exodus 3:10 NET), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5-10), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:1-3:11), and Jonah (Jonah 1:2 NET and Jonah 3:2 NET) were all told to “Go.”

When Acts speaks of Paul being called (Acts 13:2 and Acts 16:10), the term there is προσκαλέομαι, proskaleomai (the word comes from the preposition πρός meaning towards and the verb καλέω meaning to call or summon or invite), and the force is more like “chosen” or “summoned.”

In Galatians 1:15-16 the verb καλέω appears. However it is difficult to discern if καλέω refers to Paul being called to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to his task as the apostle to the Gentiles, or if καλέω isn’t either/or but is both/and and that there is only one call that we are gradually awakened to over time. Note also that there are striking parallels between Paul in Galatians 1:15-16 and Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5-10.

In Acts 26:15-18 and 1 Timothy 1:1, Paul’s being made an apostle is done in the same manner as the OT prophets are made prophets, by command, by an imperative to go.

I’m not sure what to make of this yet. I have only just started this investigation. What really catches my attention Paul’s use of καλέω in Galatians 1:15-16 simply because I’m not sure how to read it. I know that for Paul, in a salvific context, καλέω is an effectual call. But I’m not 100% certain that καλέσας in Galatians 1:15 is referring to his salvation, or solely to his salvation. Could it be that there is only one call in the Christian life? But that call isn’t just to salvation, but the call is to a vocation and to a marriage (or to singleness as I am still very much single) and to having children and to minister at a particular church. I have really become very curious about this possible notion. I challenge you, my reader, to think over what it means to be called as a Christian. What does it mean?