According to God’s wisdom, Paul knew all Christians are unified and of Christ. Yet, the Corinthians are thinking according to human wisdom, which causes division (1 Cor 1:9–13). Paul answered their carnality with the wisdom of God, saying, For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God . . . but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:17-18, 23–24).
The call of God through the gospel to believe that a helpless Jewish social reject hanging on a cross can save anyone from anything, much less all people from all their sin and God’s wrath, is foolishness to the Jew and Greek (human mind).
But when, by faith, a person believes God’s Word, despite all human wisdom that condemns it as foolishness, that person is then saved by believing the word of God over all human antagonisms. At that point, what he believed by faith alone because God revealed it, he begins to see as the wisdom of God. It is faith in God’s revelation, which is humanly foolish, that transforms a person in salvation so that by that transformation, he now sees what is humanly foolish as divinely wise as one of the called (1:24), also referred to as one of the saints (2 Cor 13:1; Heb 13:24), the brethren (Acts 21:17), the sons (Matt 13:38; Rom 8:19), the heirs (Heb 6:17), the body (Eph 4:12, 16; Col 1:18), the children of God (Rom 8:21; 1 John 5:2), the believers (1 Thess 1:7), or the church (Matt 18:17; Acts 8:3; Col 1:18).[1]
Paul calls them to the unity they have in the gospel, salvation, and, therefore, in Christ. He reminds them they were all saved the same way (vs. 2), because of the same grace (vs. 4), the same enrichment (vs. 5), the same confirmation (vs. 6, 8), by receiving God’s same call (vs. 9, 24), the same power (vs. 18), the same wisdom (vs. 21), and by the same gospel (vs. 21, 23). It is God’s gospel according to his wisdom, which is a stumbling block to some, and to others, it is foolishness because the gospel does not operate according to the wisdom of man. The gospel is always according to God’s wisdom in his divine salvific plan.
Romans 9 contains several examples of God building and basing his salvation plan on his wisdom that is contrary to man’s. In God’s salvation plan, one must believe God’s promise in his word as Abraham did (Gen 15:1–6). In Romans 9, God calls the Jews to trust his promise like their father Abraham instead of depending on being Abraham’s physical descendent (Rom 9:7–9) or other natural attributes or standards, none of which requires believing God’s Word and his promises. Also, God chose the older to serve the younger, contrary to cultural traditions (Rom 9:10–13); he chose Jacob over Esau “though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls” (Rom 9:11). God makes it clear that his salvation plan and an individual’s salvation experience is always initiated and designed by God as seen in the call of the gospel (Rom 10:16; 1 Cor 1:18, 24) and the drawing of the Father (John 6:44).
An example of this is the wedding feast of the King (Matt 22:1–14), in which everyone was invited, but only those who came according to the King’s invitation and clothing requirement were allowed to stay (vs. 12–13). This illustration reminds us that salvation must be according to God’s initiation, provision, and call, and only those who respond to the wisdom of the King of Kings can be referred to as saved—the called. These are also the only ones who can be referred to as the saints (2 Cor 13:1; Heb 13:24) or the believers (1 Thess 1:7).
The two calls proposed by Calvinism are not evident in Scripture but inferred from their need to take God’s one sufficient call for everyone and anyone and strip it of its divine power in their quest to create legitimacy for the concept of an additional selective, efficacious call of the elect. But Calvinism’s call is not found in the passage. Calvinism’s two call theory degrades faith to a mere consequence of regeneration rather than the vital link between every lost person and the gospel unto salvation, as seen in Scripture. Calvinists’ effort to prop up their fragile system reduces the gospel proper to an empty call masquerading as the true gospel, which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16). I believe Paul would not and could not say “For I am not ashamed of the impotent gospel of Calvinism.”
God’s sufficient call of the gospel is to and for every person (1 Cor 1:18–21), as is the promise of the Father, “and they shall all be taught of God” (John 6:45). That call spiritually illumines our eyes and hearts to God’s wisdom, which is a call to trust God’s wisdom conveyed in his revelation and reject man’s wisdom that stands in the way of trusting God’s wisdom—such as looking for a sign (John 6:30), making human sense of everything before believing (John 6:42), requiring to see Christ in person (6:36, 42), needing another sign, or explanation (1 Cor 1:22–23), or having all human questions answered first (John 5:25; 12:34—in neither place did Christ answer all their questions before sharing the gospel and calling them to believe in him). Once illumined, through the Father’s draw by his Word (John 6:44–45), we can reject human wisdom that might impede accepting God’s wisdom. We can accept God’s revelation “through the Spirit” (1 Cor 2:10) by simple faith, trusting the Father’s revelation about Christ, which is to believe the gospel in which “God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Cor 1:21).
Whether a person can be referred to as the called (1:24) depends on whether he heard the gospel (God’s revelation, which is God’s wisdom) and “learned from the Father” (John 6:45), resulting in him coming to God and becoming one of the called. If they listened and heard God’s Word under the scrutiny of man’s wisdom, the same gospel is to them a stumbling block and foolishness. Only those who listened to the wisdom of God (his Word) according to his wisdom (faith alone) can be considered the called as a group (1:24). While all are called to believe, only those who respond to the call of the gospel by trusting God’s promise (John 3:16; Rom 10:9–13) can be the called—the saved or the church.
[1] We also find these words without the definite article referring to the true believers; for example, called (Rom 1:6–7) and saints (Rom 1:7); thus, for example, Christians are equally referred to as “called” and “the called.”
