THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
zur Erkenntniss des Christlichcn anzuhiten (3 vols., 1728-36); and De convcrsione M uhammedanorum ad Christum expetita ieniaque (1733).
Bibliography: J. M. H. Doering, Die gelehrten Theologen Deutschlands, i. 221 sqq., Neustatlt, 1831; J. C. F. Hoefer, Xouvelte Biographie generate, vii 202. 46 vols., Paris, 1851-66.
CALLING (vocation; Lat. vocatio, Gk. klesis): In dogmatic language as well as in the practical usage of the Church that act of divine grace {gratia applicatrix) with which the ordo salutis (see Order of Salvation) begins.
The Greek terms kalein, klctos, klesis are often used both in the Septuagint and in the New Testament in the sense of calling (e.g., Matt. ix. 13; Acts iv. IS), then of summoning to court,
Biblical of inviting to dinner, etc. (e.g., Ill Usage. Mace. v. 14; Matt. xxii. 4, 8; Rev. xix. 9). But even in the Old Testament usage the Hebrew Jcara' or the Greek kalein has the meaning of calling some one effectually for some purpose (cf. Isa. xlii. G, xlviii. 12, xlix. 1, li. 2), which may signify " to call into existence " (Wisd. of Sol. xi. 2,3; Baruch iii. 33, 34; cf. Ps. xxxiii. 9). From this point the solemn usage of the New Testament takes its departure. The call proceeds from God ; it comes to man through the word of preaching, which is not the word of man but of God (I Cor. i. 9; II Pet. i. 3; I Thess. ii. 13; II Thess. ii. 14). Inasmuch as the call comes from God, it is a "holy calling " (II Tim. i. 9), a " heavenly calling " (Heb. iii. 1), a " high calling of God in Christ Jesus " (Phil. iii. 14). The call is a free act of the grace of God (Rom. ix. 11), in which the divine election and predestination realize themselves (II Thess. ii. 13, 14; II Tim. i. 9-10; Rom. viii. 30). From this it is clear that it is always the effectual calling that is thought of; indeed it is precisely the divine election of grace which is made manifest in the call. Hence those who became Christians were " called to be saints " (Rom. i. 7; I Cor. i. 2, cf. Jude 1: "called and kept"). That to which the Christians are called, or that which constitutes the content of the call is the blessing of the New Testament salvation, and this is expressed in the most diverse terms: to communion with Christ (I Cor. i. 9); to salvation (II Thess. ii. 14); to the peace of Christ (Col. iii. 15); to the kingdom and glory of God (I Thess. ii. 12); out of the darkness into a wonderful light (I Pet. ii. 9); to eternal life, to his glory and his inheritance (I Tim. vi. 12; I Pet. v. 10; Heb. ix. 15); to the hope of his calling (Eph. i. 18, iv. 4).
Inasmuch as the call indicates the New Testament salvation, it also procures the moral change comprehended in that blessing. As on the human side obedience corresponds to the call (Heb. xi. 6), so we are called " not for uncleanness, but in sanctification " (I Thess. iv. 7); the Christian's life is to be holy " as he who called you is holy " (I Pet. i. 15). If, therefore, the call is the effectual invitation of God to man, conveyed through the Word, for the kingdom and its blessings, so that every one possessing these came by them through the call, the call, on the other hand, points beyond itself to the realization through God or through man:
" Faithful is he that calleth you who also will doit '■ (I Thess. v. 24) and " give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure " (II Pet. i. 10).
Luther's use of the expression in the exposition of the third article of his Shorter Catechism is important for the history of the conception. But the term did not immediately receive on that account an independent place in dogmatics. In the older Protestant literature it is used in connection with election and the Church. By the Re- It seems to have received a firm
formers, place in dogmatics for the first time in Hutter (Compendium, XIII. v. 8). According to Calovius it opens the ordo salutis, and he defines it (Systema, x. 1) as an " effectual bringing in to the Church " (ad ecclesiam efficax adductio), whereas Hollaz (Examen theologicum, III. i. 4, qua^stio 1) makes it an offer of benefits by Christ. Moreover, a distinction is made between the vocatio generalis, which through nature, etc., comes to all men, and the vocatio specialis, which comes through the Gospel. The latter may be ordinaria, i.e., through the Word, or extraordinaria,. and that immediata or mediata. The call is seria and efficax (in opposition to the view of the Reformed), inasmuch as the Spirit regularly becomes effectual in the Word. It is, moreover, universalis. That many peoples do without it is their own fault. Then comes the doubtful contention that since Adam all peoples in one way or another have been given the opportunity of hearing the Gospel (the above is from Hollaz; for a full discussion cf. H. Schmid, Die Dogmatik der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, Gutersloh, 1893, 320 sqq.).
Dogmatically considered, the doctrine of vocation
is only the application of the doctrine of the Word
of God to conversion. Therefore, this conception
will disclose no new dogmatic knowl-
In Dog- edge, but will only offer a confirmamatics. tion of such things as have been acquired elsewhere. But because the Scriptures often apply the term and because it has through the catechism gone over into the popular religious consciousness, its right to a special treatment in dogmatics is not to be denied. The call takes place the very moment a person — be he a non-Christian or be he externally connected with Christianity — becomes aware that the heard (or read) Word as the Word of God efficaciously works in him the divine will unto salvation, and as there is no conceivable moment in the Christian life in which that revelation of salvation in the Word becomes superfluous, the vocation will be a continual one and the Christian will always remain a vocatus. We may, therefore, confine the conception to the opening of the new life; but, starting from the thought of the Word of God, we must define the call as that influence of God upon man, through the medium of the Word, which makes the beginning of the new life and conditions its continuation and its completion. The call brings us the whole salvation, as the passages of Scripture above cited show. If dogmaticians as a rule, in speaking ol vocation, think only of the first influence of God, this must be supplemented by the fact that this