2 Timothy 1.9a-The Father Saved the Christian And Effectually Called Them By Means of an Invitation to Privilege which is Holy
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday February 18, 2015
Second Timothy: Second Timothy 1:9a-The Father Saved the Christian and Effectually Called Them By Means of an Invitation to Privilege which is Holy
Lesson # 12
2 Timothy 1:3 I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. (NASB95)
“Who has saved us” refers to the Father delivering the Christian from personal sins, the sin nature, Satan, his cosmic system, condemnation from the Law, spiritual and physical death and eternal condemnation through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
The Father saved the Christian through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection in the sense that His death and resurrection provided them with eternal salvation which was appropriated for them by the Holy Spirit the moment they exercised faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
“And called us with a holy calling” intensifies upon the previous statement that God saved each and every Christian.
“Called” is the verb kaleō (καλέω), which is used in relation to the conversion of Paul and Timothy and all Christians.
It refers to the Father “effectually calling” them to trust in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and which invitation originated from eternity past and is thus directly related to the Christian’s election.
By responding in faith they manifested in time that they had in fact been elected to privilege by God.
God who is omniscient looked down the corridors of time and saw that the Christian would trust in His Son Jesus Christ as Savior and had prepared in advance a plan for them and elected them to privilege.
Thus, when they placed their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, they were manifesting the fact that they had been elected to privilege by the Father.
He did not coerce their volition by electing them but rather elected them to privilege when He saw through His omniscience that they would believe in His Son.
“With a holy calling” is composed of the noun klēsis (κλῆσις), “with a calling” and the adjective hagios (ἅγιος), “holy.”
The noun klēsis means “invitation to privilege” referring to the Father inviting the Christian to receive the blessings of eternal salvation.
It is the invitation to the privilege of having an eternal relationship and fellowship with the Trinity and was communicated to the Christian through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This noun functions as a dative instrumental of means which is indicating that the Father effectually called the Christian “by means of” or “with” a holy invitation to privilege.
So this word speaks of the gospel as the means by which the Father effectually called the Christian and describes the gospel as an invitation to the privilege of having an eternal relationship and fellowship with the Trinity.
The noun klēsis is modified by the adjective hagios which means “holy” which indicates that this invitation to privilege originates only from the Father.
In other words, this invitation to privilege is the gospel message concerning the victorious proclamation of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection indicating that it is a message which originates from the Father and is by no means human in origin but rather it is divine in origin.
Second Timothy 1:9 The one who saved each and every one of us. Indeed, the one who effectually called each and every one of us by means of an invitation to privilege which is holy. Never because of our meritorious actions but rather because of His own gracious predetermined plan which was brought into existence for the benefit of each and every one of us in association with the Christ who is Jesus before eternal ages. (Author’s translation)
In Second Timothy 1:9, the apostle Paul continues his thought from Second Timothy 1:8 regarding the Father and describes the Father’s work on behalf of the Christian in eternity past.
“The one who saved each and every one of us” refers to the Father delivering the Christian from personal sins, the sin nature, Satan, his cosmic system, condemnation from the Law, spiritual and physical death and eternal condemnation through His Son Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
The Christian’s salvation, i.e. their deliverance from these things is also accomplished in three stages:
(1) Positional: At the moment the believer exercised faith alone in Christ alone, he was delivered “positionally” from the sin nature through the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:9; John 4:22; Acts 4:12; 13:26, 47; 16:17; Rom. 1:16; 10:1, 10; 11:11; 2 Cor. 6:2; Eph. 1:13; 2:8-9; Phlp. 1:28; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 2:10; 5:9; 6:9; 1 Pet. 1:9-10; 2 Pet. 3:15; Jude 3; Rev. 7:10).
By “positionally,” I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which was accomplished at the moment of conversion through the Baptism of the Spirit when the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit placed the believer in an eternal union with Christ.
In other words, the “positional” aspect of the believer’s salvation refers to the past action of God saving them from sin when they trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
The believer’s deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for him to experience this deliverance in time since this deliverance can only be experienced after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.
It also guarantees the believer’s ultimate deliverance at the rapture, which is based upon the sovereign decision of God rather than the volition of the believer.
(2) Experiential: After conversion, the believer can “experience” his deliverance by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that they have been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
This constitutes the believer’s spiritual life after being delivered from real spiritual death (1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 1:6; 7:10; Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Phlp. 2:12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17; 2 Tim. 2:10; 3:15; Heb. 2:3, 10; 1 Pet. 2:2).
In other words, the “experiential” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s deliverance in the present moment.
(3) Perfective: At the resurrection the believer will be delivered in a “perfective” sense and permanently when they receive their resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which is imminent (Rom. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:8-9; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 1:14; 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5).
In other words, the “perfective” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s future deliverance.
Just as in the believer’s sanctification, their deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for them to experience this deliverance in time since this deliverance can only be experienced after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God through the enabling power of the Spirit.
It also guarantees the believer’s ultimate deliverance at the rapture, which is based upon the sovereign decision of God rather than the volition of the believer.
“Indeed, the one who effectually called each and every one of us by means of an invitation to privilege which is holy” refers to the “effective evocation” of faith through the presentation of the gospel by the Holy Spirit who united Timothy to Christ according to the Father’s electing him to privilege and His gracious eternal purpose and predetermined plan.
It refers to not only the Father’s invitation to salvation for the Christian through the presentation of the gospel by the Holy Spirit but it also refers to their acceptance of this invitation by faith and which invitation originates from eternity past.
So it refers to the Christian’s conversion to Christianity.
Election is never used in Scripture in relation to the unbeliever since 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9 teach that God desires all men to be saved.
Ephesians 1:3 Worthy of praise and glorification is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who has blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in the Person of Christ. 4 When He elected us to privilege in Him before the foundation of the world for the purpose of being holy and blameless before Him. (My translation)
God elected the believer before the foundation of the world in the sense that God, in His foreknowledge, which is based upon His omniscience, knew before anything was ever created, that we would believe in His Son in time.
He elected the believer before the foundation of the world since He knew beforehand that the believer would accept Jesus Christ as Savior in time and therefore elected the believer to privilege.
Election means that God has a plan for your life, which is to be conformed to the image of Christ.
In Second Timothy 1:9, the prepositional phrase “by means of an invitation to privilege which is holy” indicates that the Father effectually called the Christian by means of an invitation to privilege which is holy.
So it speaks of the gospel as the means by which the Father effectually called the Christian and describes the gospel as an invitation to the privilege of having an eternal relationship and fellowship with the Trinity.
This invitation to privilege is therefore, the gospel message concerning the victorious proclamation of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
Paul describes this invitation to privilege as holy which indicates that it is a message which originates from the Father and is by no means human in origin.