What does "holy calling" mean (2 Timothy 1:9)?

The gospel is well worth the while, "for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes," being entirely above the distinction which the law or circumcision made. It is of the Spirit, not of the flesh, not national now but personal. God "saved us." It is the fruit of His work in Christ; and that work was finished on earth, and accepted in heaven, and abides for ever, complete and unchanging. Men may be moved away from the hope of the gospel by ordinances on the one hand or by philosophy on the other. Both are of the world, and almost equally worthless; both are absolutely inefficacious to save, though one be a sign, the other purely human. But God "saved us and called us with a holy calling." Here "holy" is emphatic and most suitable to the Epistle and the state of things contemplated. Always true, it was urgent now to press its "holy" character. It is a calling on high or upward, as we read in Phil. 3:14, in contrast with the earthly things in which men find their glory to their shame. It is a heavenly calling, as we see in Heb. 3:1, which those needed especially to consider who were used to the external calling of Israel in the land. It is God's calling with its hope in and with Christ where the creature disappears from view and His eternal counsels for the glory of His Son are developed for the soul, as in Eph. 1 and 4. But now in the growing declension of such as bore the name of the Lord the apostle binds together God's salvation with His holy calling. An evil time is not at all one for lowering the standard but for unveiling it and for pressing its importance.

Further, being divine, God's salvation and call are not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace. Even the saint was to pray, "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant; for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified" (Ps. 143:2). There are good works in every saint: "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10); they are not only to be fair morally but they ought to be such as suit those on earth who are united to Christ in heaven, responsible to reflect heavenly grace — no longer earthly righteousness merely. Such works alone are properly Christian. "Against such there is no law" (Gal. 5:23). But they are quite distinct from those of legal obedience, were it ever so exact. Nevertheless God's salvation is according to Christ's work, not ours. Nor is it of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy (Rom. 9:16), according to His own purpose and grace, Who would thus perfectly honour the Son as we do in our measure by our faith.

This, again, was given us in Christ Jesus before everlasting times, a most weighty and blessed truth. It is not merely security assured without end, but grace given in Christ Jesus before time began. It was not so with Israel: they were called in time. God's purpose about us, Christians, was in eternity before any creature existed. To make it only endless security in the future is to lose this wondrous fact of the divine will about the saints who are now called in Christ to His glory. Their blessing was a counsel bound up with Christ before the world was or any question of creature responsibility entered: God purposed to justify His love and glorify Himself in having us with Christ in His presence and like Him of His own sovereign grace; therefore are we so much the more bound to walk, now and here, as He walked, in righteousness and holiness of truth as the new man after God was created (Eph. 4:24).

This is the first part of the gospel, and with this the mass of God's people would seek to be content. Nevertheless, the gospel proclaims far greater blessings, for it tells us of the calling of God. Not only has God saved us, but we read He has “called us with an holy calling.” In this passage the calling is referred to as “an holy calling”; it is also spoken of as “the heavenly calling” (Hebrews 3:1) and “the calling on high” (Philippians 3:14). Salvation sets us free from our sins and the judgment-doomed world: the calling links us with heaven and all those spiritual blessings which God has purposed for us in the heavenlies in Christ. Therefore the blessings of God's calling are “not according to our works”, nor our thoughts, nor our deserts, but “according to His own purpose and grace”.

It is not a questionable thing, but a settled fact: He "hath saved us" - whether Paul, Timothy, or any other true believer - "and called us with an holy calling." This distinctively places us in a position apart from all former identification: it is a "heavenly calling" (Heb. 3:1), or "The calling on high of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14-J.N.D. Trans.), a calling of dignity and blessedness infinitely precious, as high as heaven is above the earth.

It is impossible that this could be "according to our works," for in that case it would be our workmanship, not God's: such a result required infinitely more than mankind could achieve: it required the power of God. Therefore, it is "according to his own purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time." How completely above and beyond man's works are these precious expressions, "His own purpose and grace! "No one was then present to influence His purpose, no one ever having lived to raise a question as to what kind of a life would be blessed with His grace. No, it is rather the grace of God known and believed that rightly forms man's life.

Yet, this was "given us . . . before the ages of time," and this expression would seem to connect with Titus 1:2: "In hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie, promised before the ages of time." If the purpose itself was eternal, yet the promise given us is no doubt in the words of God to the woman in the Garden of Eden, that her seed would crush the serpent's head. The promise was given before man was sent out of the garden to be tested by the various dispensations of God; for these ages evidently only began in connection with man estranged from God. But since the purpose was eternal, and the promise given immediately before man was tested in the various ages of time, therefore this absolute purpose and grace is not in the least affected by all that is involved in man's history.

But not only has God saved us, He has "called us with an holy calling". It is a heavenly calling in Hebrews 3, in contrast with the earthly calling of the Jew; it is the calling on high in Christ Jesus in Philippians 3 as opposed to those who mind earthly things. But here it is an holy calling: there is no lowering of God's standard in a day of increasing evil.

Our holy calling was thus purposed before the world began, and its full blessedness will abide when the world has passed away. As yet we have not entered into its full blessedness, still it has been made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour, and we have a foretaste of it inasmuch as death has been annulled by His death and resurrection and life and incorruptibility have been brought to light in the Gospel. "Annulled" and not "abolished" is the right translation. Death most evidently is not yet abolished, but its power is annulled for those who believe in Jesus. Also "incorruptibility" is the word and not "immortality." The souls of the wicked are not subject to death, but we have the larger hope of being finally placed beyond corruption, where the last breath of it can never touch us.

We gladly own that our salvation is not "of works", but, "By grace ye are saved through faith" (Ephesians 2:8-9). In like manner we partake of the heavenly calling, not by "our works", but, by His grace. So we read, "God has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace (2 Timothy 1:9). Our walk and ways neither secure our salvation, nor make us a heavenly people; but the fact that we are saved, and partake of the heavenly calling, will greatly effect our walk and ways.

The call of God came to us in the Gospel by which we were saved (2 Timothy 1:9-10), though it may be at the time we but feebly, if at all, realized that God had called us. Naturally our first concern was salvation from the judgment of God, and rightly our souls were filled with gratitude for this great salvation. Little did we realize that God had something far greater before Him than the salvation of our souls, that God had a glorious purpose for us, and in view of the accomplishment of that purpose He had called us. Yet so it was, for, while the salvation of God has in view our deliverance from judgment, the call of God has in view the accomplishment of God's purpose. Thus we read in Romans 8:28, of the "called according to His purpose."

What a transcendent thought! God has a purpose for His people, settled before the foundation of the world, and in order to accomplish that purpose He has called us. He saved us because we needed saving. He has called us because He wanted us. Thus it is the privilege of each believer to say: "Though God is so great, and I am so small, yet God wants me, and wanting me, He has called me."

Power is in itself a cold impersonal thing. In this passage however the warm personal touch is given to it by verses 9 and 10. The God, whose power it is, is known to us as the Author of both our salvation and our calling. These two things ever go together, for they give us what we may call the negative and positive sides of the matter. We are saved from that we may be called to. We are delivered from the misery and peril into which sin has plunged us in order that we might be designated to the place of favour and blessing which is to be ours according to the purpose of God.

What God does in saving and calling is always according to His purpose. It was so when He saved Israel out of Egypt, for He called them to bring them into the land that He had purposed for them. There is a great difference however between Israel's salvation and calling and ours. They were saved in a national way from foes of flesh and blood in this world. We are saved from every spiritual foe and in an individual way. They were called to the Land of Promise with its attendant earthly blessings. We are called into heavenly relationships with their attendant spiritual and heavenly blessings. The kingdom, of which Israel will be the centre-piece was purposed by God "from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34), and their land was mapped out for them from the time when "the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance" (Deut. 32:8), that is, from the time of Babel. Our calling, as we are told here, is according to divine purpose which dates back "before the world began."

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the holy calling." It is only in chapter 3 that the author of the book speaks to the Hebrews. It presents many indications that the epistle was by Paul; but, not being an apostle of the circumcision, he does not mention his name. He writes not as an apostle but as a teacher. The expression "holy brethren" indicates here individuals called from heaven, and walking towards heaven without meaning the church, although that is composed of persons equally called from on high. The holy calling admits, with the saints of this dispensation, those of the Old Testament, and probably also the saints which will be on the earth after the rapture of the saints. In the course of the epistle the holy calling is put in contrast with the earthly calling of the Jews.

But the God who has given to us the spirit of power. and has saved us from our sins, from sin's dominion, and from the fear of death, has also called us with a holy calling. In the midst of a polluted world, sodden with sin, the Christian is to remember the character of the divine call. The God who has called us is holy, and as the Apostle Peter exhorts, "But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16).

This divine call is not according to our works, for we were poor sinners, not only in nature but also in practice, with an unholy nature, and walking in unholiness. God's call proceeds from His sovereign goodness, "according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim. 1:9). How very often the sovereignty of God's call is brought before us. God is working in time to give effect to His eternal purpose, and to bring us into blessing He has manifested His grace in calling us.