Thoughts on 2 Timothy: The Holy in Holy Calling

In the last post, we looked God calling us unto a holy calling in 2 Timothy 1:9; and I spent much of the time working through the force and effect of the repetition of call as a verb and calling as a noun, and I emphasized the Source, and the indivisibility between the One-who-calls and the calling.

I did not want to move on without addressing the adjective “holy” in the phrase “called us unto a holy calling.” Like the term “godly”, “holy” has been diluted in keeping with the superficiality and vanity of our culture. Certainly without some effort on our part, the term “holy” lacks the instructive and corrective power God intended the word to have in a real-world-application in our everyday lives.

One clue to understanding a word’s definition is to see when and where the word was first used. The word for holy was first used in Genesis 2:3 in verb form: “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

This underscores the principle we saw in 2 Timothy 1: the source of the calling is the One-who-calls. His activity dictates the nature and character of the calling. The One-who-calls and the calling are indivisible or the calling is not his; if we wrest the calling from him as ours or his or hers or theirs, we have something else other than his holy calling.

In Genesis 2, God rested from all the work of creating that he had done—that act (rest) plus his blessing defines the day. He marks it. Without him, the day is like any other; but this day is not like any other, as Israel would learn. It is special and unique, different and distinct from the other days, only because he said so after he had done something special on that day.

God’s separating this sabbath from the other six days develops throughout Scripture. The holy character of the day does not diminish with time. On the contrary, he told Israel: ““This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord” and “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” and “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” and “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.” 

Something is happening here. God is using the day—his day of rest—his making holy—to transform the Israelites into a people who understand the distinctions God has made, and to learn something about God himself through these distinctions so that ultimately the character of God would be come in practice the character of these people. This lesson means so much to God, Israel’s objection of it meant death:

You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.

I am curious; how would the verse read if we substituted “holy calling”?

You shall keep the calling wherewith I have called you, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes the holy calling shall be put to death.

Unless “holy” means less today than it did when he pressed it upon Israel, “holy” is an adjective we should treat carefully, and the thing God has made holy we should treat thoughtfully and reverentially. I am not sure “holy” has changed in God’s eyes; maybe in ours, but not his. Let’s turn to Hebrews 4 and see:

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,

“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’”

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said,

“They shall not enter my rest.”

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

God means to be taken seriously. Is that requirement any different when he calls us into a holy calling?

What other things did God make holy, and can we learn anything from them? God declared the the ground where Moses was standing holy: “Then he said, ‘Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’” The ground was holy because the ground was in contact with God. God’s holy nature and presence gave that patch a character it only retained as long as God was there. That patch of earth today is not taboo; we could walk over it if we wanted; and I am sure some have unwittingly done so, and not been struck down dead. The ground could only be transformed as it was God’s, marked out by his manifested presence.

Similarly, the holy calling will only be true to his calling if he is actively present. Miss that point, fail to learn what that means, you cannot be active in his holy calling; you are active in something else.

Other times God made other things, and people, and times holy: the tabernacle, the holy place, the most holy place, the Levites, the Aaronic priesthood, the high priest, the Jubilee, the feasts and offerings. And we see throughout the Bible severe penalties for profaning what God has made holy like Aaron son’s, Uzzah, and Eli’s sons.

Let’s consider Aaron’s sons, because this passage should question the informality and triviality in which we New Testament believers treat something like “called into a holy calling”:

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be [regarded as holy, sanctified, consecrated—same word for holy] and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.

And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, “Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

As we did with the verse in Exodus, let’s apply this passage to “calling with a holy calling” since He has He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father (Rev. 1:6):

Among those who are near me—that us, those whom I have called—I will be [regarded as holy, sanctified, consecrated—same word for holy] in your calling and before all the people I will be glorified, by your doing so.  

You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach all nations the things I have commanded you. (see e.g., Matthew 28:19-20)

Let’s key on “holy and common” a distinction God has made and one he wants us to make and maintain. “Sacred and profane” would work as well. Do you have a sacred calling? Is that where your priorities lie? Or are most of your efforts spent in the common things of this life. Remember: God can transform the common things of this life—even plain old dirt—into something holy when he is manifestly present. Is he present in the common things of your life? Are you sacred and in your word and deed regarding Him before the whole world as holy?

These are good questions for all of us to work through if we are going to respond to him in some way other than Nadab and Abihu did, and answer his call aright.

Image by Erica Nilson. Sourced via Unsplash