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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Go then, and learn what is said, "I require mercy and not sacrifice:" for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Come to me, all who labour hard, and sustain heavy burdens, and I will give you relief.
Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who have been invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and the fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage-feast.
For many are called, but few elect.
Go therefore, make disciples among all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
And he said unto them, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, in like manner must the Son of man be lifted up: that every one who believeth on him may not perish, but have life eternal. read more. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that every one who believeth in him should not perish, but have life eternal. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world by him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is already under condemnation, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now this is the condemnation, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.
No man can come to me, except the Father who hath 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 therefore who heareth from the Father, and learneth, cometh to me.
He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Lord shall be saved."
And they stoned Stephen, in the act of prayer, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!
and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name.
And as they were employed in the ministry, and kept a fast, the Holy Ghost said, Set apart for me now both Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
And a certain woman, Lydia by name, a seller of purple, from the city of Thyatira, a worshipper of God, hearkened: whose heart the Lord thoroughly opened, to attend to the words spoken by Paul.
to open their eyes, to convert them from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins, and an inheritance with those who are sanctified by faith which is in me.
even us, whom he hath called, not only out of the Jews, but out of the Gentiles? As also he saith in Hosea, "I will call her which was not my people, my people; and her which was not beloved, beloved.
For there is no difference between either Jew or Greek: for the same Lord of all is rich to all that call upon him.
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation by the knowledge of him;
to the saints at Colosse, and to the faithful brethren in Christ: grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the 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 having found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass, that during a whole year they were jointly employed in that church, and taught a vast multitude, and they called for the first time in Antioch the disciples Christians.
She shall therefore certainly be counted an adulteress, if, her husband being alive, she be for another man: but if her husband is dead, she is free from the law; so that she shall be no adulteress, though married to another husband.