Reformed Theology of Calling

The voice of God is ancient and majestic. He called all things into being by His sovereign Word, and He shaped the creation according to His Wisdom. Human beings were created by God and placed in positions of authority and responsibility. God called Adam and Eve into faithful service in the creation, designing the creation with rich opportunities for faithful response to His call. God continued to call to His people, to call into His own creation, again and again throughout biblical history. In judgment He warned of the consequences of sin; in mercy he forgave those who sought Him in faith; by selection He called Abram to seek the Promised Land; by mighty deliverance He freed Israel from bondage and provides the righteous law; and through the prophets He called His people again and again to repentance and to covenant faithfulness. Some heard the call, but most stopped their ears and wandered in self-made silence.

In His mercy God Himself came into the world that He had made to announce divine forgiveness, to invite His people home. This is the dominant call of the New Testament—the call to hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wrapped up in this call is the call for every believer to abide in Christ, to stand in His righteousness, and to become once again the kings and queens of the creation that we were originally created to be.

This rich sense of God’s call, of God’s multiple calls, was lost throughout long stretches of the history of the church. Even the fundamental call to faith in Christ Jesus was overshadowed by tradition, institutional politics, and other-worldly asceticism. Martin Luther wasn’t the first, but is remembered as one of the most strident and articulate reformers, who called the church back to the fundamental call of God to faith in Jesus Christ. The heart of Luther’s conception of calling is the radical gospel of grace. No priest was necessary as a mediator between God and man, for Christ Jesus is the only worthy mediator. Luther’s view of calling went beyond being called to Jesus Christ; he taught that Christians were also called to be little Christs to their neighbors. The Christian ethic was largely an ethic of neighbor love. For Luther “calling” was not yet conditioned by the social mobility and professionalization of the ensuing centuries. He argued that Christians should live faithfully in their present station, whatever that station was.

Another great reformer, John Calvin, provided theological and ecclesiastical leadership in the Reformation movement begun by Luther. In Calvin’s view calling applied not only to neighbor love within one’s station, but included a responsibility to address social and institutional contexts as well. Calvin recognized the need for ongoing social reform. According to Calvin the good creation (that groans to be released from oppression, Romans 8) was pregnant with possibilities for God-honoring service.

While Luther had discussed a Christian piety of everyday life (and was adamantly opposed to the cloistered life), Calvin provided a broader theological foundation for reflecting upon everyday and active spirituality. In Calvin’s writings God is Creator, King, and Redeemer of the entire creation. “When our Lord Jesus Christ appeared he acquired possession of the whole world; and his kingdom was extended from one end of it to the other, especially with the proclamation of the Gospel . . . God has consecrated the entire earth through the precious blood of his Son to the end that we may inhabit it and live under his reign.” (Serm. No. 45 on Deut., 426-427) Since Christ has come to redeem not only His people, but the entire creation, every aspect of creaturely life is opened up to God’s concern and call. According to Calvin “no task will be so sordid and base, provided you obey your calling in it, that it will not shine and be reckoned very precious in God’s sight.” (Institutes 3.10.6)

Much attention has been given to Calvin’s notion of special or particular calling. Particular calling is God’s efficacious call to some to come to faith in Christ Jesus (Institutes 3.24.8). Also important is Calvin’s notion of general calling. General calling is God’s call to every human being to multi-faceted, obedient service in God’s creation. Lee Hardy describes general calling this way:

“To gain a full-orbed, properly nuanced and balanced view of the place of work in human life, it is imperative to recover the broad sense of vocation. For an occupation is only one element in the total configuration of my vocation. After I’ve done my job as an employee, I still have other things to do as a spouse, a parent, a parishioner, a neighbor, and a citizen—not to mention the fact that I am also called to rest in leisurely contentment with God’s goodness on the Sabbath. If I pour myself into my work, with nothing left over to give to my spouse, my children, church, community, or country, I have neither heard nor heeded the full scope of God’s call in my life.” (Fabric of the World, p. 113)

Christians are called into certain responsibilities in the normal course of life, as they seek to live faithfully where God has placed them and to respond in love to the needs of the day. They may be called into special duties as well. “Our calling is not always confined to its ordinary duties, because God sometimes imposes on his servants new and unusual roles.” (Comm. Num. 25:7) For discernment of such special duties Calvin distinguishes between inner and outer calls. The first is the secret call made conscious in the heart before God. The second is that call of the church made public. Discerning God’s call—in the Word, in life circumstances, by God’s Spirit—is the responsibility and joy of every believer and church. “Strength will never be wanting to God’s servants when they are encouraged by the knowledge that God himself is the source of their calling. When they are thus lifted up, God supplies them with such invincible strength and courage that they are formidable to all the world.” (Calvin’s Commentaries 1 Tim 6:12; Jer 1:17)

Most of the students who come to study at Geneva College, and the faculty as well, have not had their calling to higher education confirmed by their church, nor do they sense the mysterious call of God leading them to Beaver Falls. Instead we are here, students and faculty alike, eager to discern what God has in store for us and how we can serve faithfully in His world. We are practicing attentiveness, seeking to be attentive to God’s rich creation, to the ache of our neighbor’s need, to the gifts that have been distributed, and to the glorious possibilities of life in a world where grace is alive.

God is not the only one with a voice, not the only caller. God has called the creation into being, and the whole creation is designed to call back. In the Psalms we hear the creation itself sounding forth praise to its Maker. Creatures live out their creaturely lives in response to God’s design. Human beings are called to worship the Creator and Redeemer, calling back to Him in song and testimony. Like the Seraphim in Isaiah 6 and the saints in Revelation 5 we all ought to be crying out—Holy, Holy, Holy! Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!

God’s call is eclipsed today by other loud voices—the sirens of hyper-consumption, status, exhilaration, and power. We hope that the programs that have been designed in the Call will give voice to the truer, deeper, more profound calls of God—His call to faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, His call to display neighbor love to a world in need, His call to steward the creation and to serve God as cultural transformers, and His call to return that call in worship and praise.