Thoughts on 2 Timothy: Call to a Holy Calling

Paul confronts Timothy with a real mouthful at the very start in Chapter 1, verses 8-12. Here it is:

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do.

I wonder how often Timothy turned to this letter after Paul was gone; and we should lament our present apathy in writing real ink-on-paper letters to those people we cherish. Such written letters can provide comfort and encouragement long after we are gone.

In any event, if I had received the letter to Timothy, I would have had to keep coming back to think through, and pray through, what Paul had written—not only to touch again the heart and spirit in which it was written to me, but to work through the good words Paul intended to be living words for my soul, long after he was gone.

Paul packed a lot in his letter; and that “line upon line, precept upon precept” effort is evident in these first few verses in the chapter. I would encourage you, dear reader, to takes these verses one bite at a time, as Timothy must have done. But, with the space allotted in these blog posts, I want to limit our attention to this portion: “called us to a holy calling.” (ESV).

The NIV treats this phrase a little differently, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life.”

Given the slight disparity, let’s look at is more close then. The Greek is literally: called us with a holy calling. I would just point out a key difference between the two translations. ESV (and the majority) have followed a literal translation in English whereas the NIV has offered a meaning. I can see why. Called with a holy calling—with its repetition of the same root word expressed as a verb and a noun, at first glance, doesn’t give us much to go on, standing alone. But I would submit “calling us to a holy life” does not add much more to our hope in understanding the text as “a holy calling” does.

Neither translation is confusing; we just have to think through what Paul means whether we take it to mean a “holy calling” or a “holy life.”

Where we find immediate, interpretive assistance is in the identity of him who has saved and called us—that is, the verse tells us the Caller is God himself. And we further glean that God’s call not surprisingly has power, and we learn his call is bound up together with our salvation, good news, and, lo and behold, suffering. Presumably, the power of God within the call of God serves two purposes, to transform hearts, from stone into flesh, and to empower the believer to fulfill the holy calling, by both motivation and energy.

I want to point out that the repetition of the root in both verb and nouns forms is also helpful although that might not be immediately apparent. By doing so, called and calling, Paul makes clear the One who calls and the holy calling are conjoined and should not, and cannot, be separated. In other words, the holiness of the Caller and the holiness of the calling are inseparable—with one intimately derivative its source. The indivisibility of the Holy One who calls and our holy calling matters a great deal; we separate them, at our peril and confusion, when we say “I have this calling” or “So-and-so has that calling” or “he is called to such and such thing.” Worldly pragmatism is not what this verse holds. Utility is not emphasis; the nature and character of the thing is in full view when the Holy One who calls and the holy calling are inalienable.

This verse has more to do with the streaming thought and activity of God issuing forth from God’s throne. We see life that in living color in Revelation 22:1, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

We are strictly in keeping with His holy calling when our activity derives from this living water until this very same living water flows through us to others. See John 7:38, which says “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

If you step out of the river of living water, which comes from the throne of God, the will of God, and the rule of God, you have no living water flowing from you—you are instead a cistern, which by its very nature cuts off living waters, and holds them in a very different, and stagnant way. Compare Jeremiah 2:13, which says, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

I would suggest when the typical, American self-realization view of “holy calling” takes preeminence over flowing with and in God’s sovereign rule, you have, contrary to his purposes in calling, dug a cistern for yourself.—and you can rise no higher than a pool of stagnant water. Granted, people may come and drink; but it’s not the same thing no matter how close in appearance.

Another metaphor may be helpful. Jesus said, and this is critical to understand the meaning of “called to a holy calling:”

I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful . . . Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.

I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.

I have emphasized certain things in bold type, but the other bits are just as important. Even so, I hope you can see a parallel here. The caller and the calling are indivisible. We have presently acted as if they are two separate things, and we have ironically imposed a separation between us and him in doing so. That separation, dividing caller and the called is antithetical to the good news, where God brings union in Christ, not disunity from God.

Reflecting our robust, industrious, and affluent era, we want a calling, something to do, something to separate us from others; we prefer distinctions one from another. Whole denominations are today built on “distinctives.” God, on the other hand, brings union with Christ and unity in a single body with a single head—namely Jesus. To be clear, a body has different parts and functions, some more noble than the rest. But that is his prerogative, not ours. And when we wrestle that to ourselves, we do greatly err for a branch cannot exist separated from, or cut away from, the vine.

Instead, the Holy-One-who-calls calls us unto himself, and remarkably, into himself: Abide in me . . . apart from me you can do nothing. The “unto himself” and “into himself” is the holy calling—remaining in him, abiding in him alone, separated unto him alone—disinterested from the affairs of this life like a good legionnaire, focused on winning the heavenly prize like an athlete in the Games, and planting good seed in good soil, putting hand to plow and not looking back—that’s the holiness of it, and that’s the calling part of it as well.

“Be holy as He is holy” (open your Bibles to 1 Peter 1:15-16; and Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26)—you can only hope to be holy when in relationship with God, and in God, sensitive to His vocation, and then our vocation. This is the point at which we go astray: Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (John 5:17). We have our own minds about what we are to do.

But the many references in Leviticus to the same governing principle are helpful. Their separation was not to be a line of demarcation between Jew and Gentile resulting in racial prejudice and animus. The separation was to be intermediate as Israel grew out of the Levitical priesthood into an understanding they were to be a kingdom of priests to the nations around them (Exodus 19:6).

Their holiness was to be testimonial—but not of the Mosaic law, rather of the nature and character of God who wanted to dwell with man. Israel was to exemplify the calling of God in such a way that the nations were called unto God, wooed and enticed. How so? By loving the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and strength, and loving their neighbor (which Israel was told over and over again included the stranger among them, the poor, the widow, and the oppressed). Love expressed in this holy manner was the river of living water coming from His throne. It is no different for us today, all our contrary efforts notwithstanding.

Let’s return to John 15 and Jesus’ instruction on his holy calling:

As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. This is My command to you: Love one another.

So, what have we be called to? We place our emphasis on the fruit, when his emphasis is on abiding in Him. If our version of the holy calling does not produce love for our neighbor, and a multiplication of love for our neighbor, He has not been part of it no matter how religious sounding or appearing our calling appears to others to be. And further I would point out the fruit is not for the called one—the one living in the holy calling, any more than the fruit is for the branch that bears it. The man of God is a fruit producer as he abides in Christ; others are to be the fruit eaters.

Note in this holy calling are three blessings. The vinedresser is pleased with his good work, the fruitful branch has brought glory to the vinedresser by bearing such fruit, and the eater is well-satisfied in eating it. That’s a complete and holy calling worthy of the Lord, and of his name. This sounds wonderful; but remember Paul associated suffering with the holy calling and the good news. So too, Jesus:

If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. f you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well. But they will treat you like this on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’

The holy calling unfortunately does bring division—a distinction between sheep and goats—those that love God and those who hate him. That division is not one we should seek to cement however. Instead, we like the Samaritan should note those who have fallen in among the thieves that so readily steal, kill, and destroy life, and we should have compassion on them, and go to them, and bandage their wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and bear their burdens, and give them rest, and care for them out of the abundance we have when we abide in Christ Jesus, and he in us. Please read, in your own Bibles, Luke 10:25-37.

A high calling this, for the people of God. Grace be with you in it.

Image by Thomas Lipke. Sourced from Unsplash.