The Call of God
—1Corinthians 1
To be called by God is a marvelous blessing. It is a most important theme in 1Corinthians chapter one. This chapter identifies three cases of a calling from the Lord. Firstly there is Paul, secondly the Christians at Corinth, and thirdly the Lord Jesus himself. All these were called by God.
1 Paul was Called
At the beginning of Paul’s first letter to Corinth, Paul identified himself as "called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ" (1Corinthians 1:1).
Paul’s calling was special in that he was called to apostleship. However he was also called to faith and obedience like everybody else. Ananias urged Paul accordingly (Acts 22:16). When Jesus called Paul, Jesus knew that Paul would embrace the message of the cross and comply with the will of God.
Paul had many challenges to his calling. He had to defend it often. His calling was robust and his apostolic message was of unmatched substance, the wisdom and power of God (1Corinthians 1:18-31).
There is a "wisdom" of this world which thinks that preaching the gospel revealed by God is foolishness. But Paul holds that this "foolishness" of God is wiser than men (1Corinthians 1:25).
The gospel Paul preached may have seemed weak and foolish to some people, but it was really "the power of God" (1Corinthians 1:18).
2 The Corinthians were Called
Paul addressed his letter to "the church of God at Corinth" The Greek word translated "church" is ekklesia which means "called out". They were God’s called out people in Corinth, called out of the foolishness of this world, "called into the fellowship of his dear Son" (1Corinthians 1:2,9).
Of course, when Paul spoke of people being called by God, he took it for granted that they had also wisely responded to the call, having obeyed the message of the cross including baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. They received salvation, justification, sanctification, and redemption through Jesus Christ (1Corinthians 1:13-31).
Since all the saved were called by the same Lord, and by the one gospel, they should have been united in one undivided church. Instead Paul had to say to them, "There are divisions among you". He commanded them to be "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1Corinthians 1:10-12).
That sort of unity could come only from Christ. Paul called him "the Power and Wisdom of God". He has made foolish the wisdom of man (1Corinthians 1:22-25).
3 Christ was Called
The ekklesia, those whom God called out, were in turn those who "call on the name of the Lord". That meant that they invoked his authority, rather than the wisdom of the world, so as to be united in him (1Corinthians 1:2,10).
Paul in his blessing (v2) said that the grace of God came from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul believed that God called his Son to die on the cross, bringing grace, salvation, justification, sanctification, and redemption.
Elsewhere in scripture it is explicitly stated that Jesus’s crucifixion was part of God’s predetermined plan. God called his Son to suffer and die on the cross. He was obedient to that call (Acts 2:23, Philippians 2:8–9).
Although answering God’s call meant great suffering, there was also "the joy set before him" in that call. The cross was followed by a great victory —his resurrection and ascension (Hebrews 12:2 1Corinthians 15:4).
Called by Wisdom from God
¶ For you see your calling brethren, that not many wise according to fleshly wisdom, not many powerful, not many noble were called ...But by God’s doing you are in Christ Jesus. He became wisdom from God to us —and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption... (1Corinthians 1:26,30).