Reference: Call
Easton
(1.) To cry for help, hence to pray (Ge 4:26). Thus men are said to "call upon the name of the Lord" (Ac 2:21; 7:59; 9:14; Ro 10:12; 1Co 1:2).
(2.) God calls with respect to men when he designates them to some special office (Ex 31:2; Isa 22:20; Ac 13:2), and when he invites them to accept his offered grace (Mt 9:13; 11:28; 22:4).
In the message of the gospel his call is addressed to all men, to Jews and Gentiles alike (Mt 28:19; Mr 16:15; Ro 9:24-25). But this universal call is not inseparably connected with salvation, although it leaves all to whom it comes inexcusable if they reject it (Joh 3:14-19; Mt 22:14).
An effectual call is something more than the outward message of the Word of God to men. It is internal, and is the result of the enlightening and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit (Joh 16:14; Ac 26:18; Joh 6:44), effectually drawing men to Christ, and disposing and enabling them to receive the truth (Joh 6:45; Ac 16:14; Eph 1:17).
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But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I came not to call righteous men, but sinners to repentance.
Come to me, all you that are weary, and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
Again, he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who have been invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast.
For many are called, but few chosen.
Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, immersing them (the disciples) into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;
And he said to them: Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whoever believes on him may not perish, but have eternal life. read more. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned; but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
no man can come to me, unless the Father, who sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the- prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hears from the Father, and learns, comes to me.
He will glorify me; for he will take of mine, and show it to you.
And it shall come to pass, that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And they stoned Stephen while he was calling on the Lord, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name.
And while they were ministering to the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to the work to which I have called them.
And a certain woman, named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard; whose heart the Lord opened to attend to the things that were spoken by Paul.
in order to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance among the sanctified, by faith in me.
whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? As he says also in Hosea: I will call that my people which is not my people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord of all is rich to all that call on him:
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the acknowledgment of him,
to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ that are in Colosse: grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Watsons
CALL, to name a person or thing, Ac 11:26; Ro 7:3.
2. To cry to another for help; and hence, to pray. The first passage in the Old Testament in which we meet with this phrase, is Ge 4:26, where we read, "Then began men to call on the name of the Lord," or Jehovah; the meaning of which seems to be, that they then first began to worship him in public assemblies. In both the Old and New Testament, to call upon the name of the Lord, imports invoking the true God in prayer, with a confession that he is Jehovah, that is, with an acknowledgment of his essential and incommunicable attributes. In this view the phrase is applied to the worship of Christ.
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and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass, that they met together in the church for a whole year, and taught a great multitude; and the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
So then, if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband die, she is free from the law; so that she is not an adulteress, though she be married to another man.