Meaning of CALLING

The terms gr. «kaleõ», «klêsis», «klêtos» have several applications in Scripture.

(a) A person's habitual position or occupation, as slave or free: the Christian is called to continue in his calling if he can do so with God (1 Cor. 7:20-24).

(b) The general "call" or invitation of the gospel, as opposed to those who are "chosen" (Mt. 20:16; 22:14,).

(c) The calling of individuals by God, when he also gives them the willingness to obey, as in the case of Abraham when he was called to leave his country and kindred (Heb. 11:8).

(d) In an absolute sense, of salvation: “And those whom he predestined, them he also called; and those whom he called, these he also justified” (Rom. 8:30; 11:29). Saints are saints by calling; the apostles were such by calling (Rom. 1:1, 7).

The Christian is called to use diligence to “make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10), not evidently in God's mind, but in his own.

(e) There is the "high" calling and the "holy" calling (Phil. 3:14; 2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 3:1). The term "vocation" in Eph. 4:1 is the same word, and is in the context of an exhortation to walk in a way that corresponds to a position one already is in.