We have seen that God has called us to His own glory. He has also called us unto the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, “To which also He called you through our gospel unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thes. 2:14). The words “to which” refer to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, as mentioned in verse 13. In eternity God chose us unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, and then in time He called us unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord. Salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth are the procedures; obtaining the glory of our Lord is the goal.
First God chose us and then He called us. He chose us unto the belief of the truth and unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit. Then through the gospel He called us unto the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the Lord is that He is the Son of God the Father, possessing the Father’s life and nature to express Him. To obtain the Lord’s glory is to be in the same position as sons of God to express Him.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:14 Paul does not say that God has called us unto the obtaining of forgiveness, justification, or reconciliation. He says that God has called us unto the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus. In John 17:22 the Lord said in His prayer to the Father, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one.” The glory which the Father has given the Son is the sonship with the Father’s life and nature (John 5:26) to express the Father in His fullness (John 1:18; 14:9; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3). This glory the Son has given to His believers that they also may have the sonship with the Father’s life and nature (John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4) to express the Father in the Son in His fullness (John 1:16). This means that the Son has given us the Father’s life and nature that we may be able to express God the Father. God has called us unto the obtaining of this glory, the glory of the divine life and the divine nature to express the divine Being.
As believers, we have also been called into God’s eternal glory for the expression of the God of all grace. First Peter 5:10a speaks of “the God of all grace, who called you into His eternal glory in Christ.” Here “all grace” refers to the riches of the bountiful supply of the divine life in many aspects ministered to us in many steps of the divine operation on us and in us in God’s economy. The initial step is to call us, and the consummate step is to glorify us, as indicated by the words “called you into His eternal glory.” Between these two steps are God’s loving care while He is disciplining us and His perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding work in us. In all these divine acts the bountiful supply of the divine life is ministered to us as grace in varied experiences. We should be encouraged by the fact that our God is the God of all grace and that He has called us into eternal glory, a glory that is unlimited in both space and time.
Peter says that God has called us into His eternal glory in Christ. “In Christ” indicates that the God of all grace has gone through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to accomplish the complete and full redemption so that He may bring His redeemed people into an organic union with Himself. Thus they may participate in the riches of the Triune God as their enjoyment. All the steps of the divine operation are in Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God becoming the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the bountiful life supply to us. It is in this Christ, through His all-inclusive redemption and based on all His achievements, that God can be the God of all grace to call us into His eternal glory and to perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us in the Triune God as the solid foundation, thus enabling us to attain unto His glorious goal. What a miracle that fallen sinners can be brought into God’s eternal glory, into His eternal expression! This is accomplished through His grace. Therefore, we are called into God’s glory for the expression of the God of all grace.
First Thessalonians 2:12 says, “That you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” God’s calling is according to His selection, and it follows His selection (1 Thes. 1:4). Through the salvation in Christ, we have been called into the kingdom of God, which is the sphere for us to worship God and enjoy Him under the divine ruling with the view of entering into God’s glory. God’s glory goes with His kingdom.
In 2:12 Paul tells us clearly that the Christian life has a goal and that this goal is the kingdom of God. We are moving toward this goal, this destination. Our destination, and also our destiny, is to enter into God’s kingdom. The kingdom, a major subject in the New Testament, is the unique goal of our Christian walk. First Thessalonians 2:12 does not say that God has called us to heaven, but says that He has called us with the goal of entering into His kingdom. This kingdom involves God’s glory. When we enter into the kingdom, we shall certainly be in glory. The kingdom of God with the glory of God is far more excellent than a so-called heavenly mansion.
Paul exhorts the believers in 2:12 to walk worthily of God. Walking worthily of God is related to entering into His kingdom and being ushered into His glory. We need to have a Christian walk that will enable us to enter into the kingdom of God, a walk that will usher us into God’s glory. When we live God, we walk worthily of Him. Such a walk will lead us into the kingdom and usher us into the glory of God. This is the goal of God’s calling. God has called us to enter His kingdom and glory.
God’s calling is for the believers to be separated and made holy unto God, to be the holy ones, the saints. Romans 1:7 speaks of those who are “called saints.” The root of the Greek word for “saints,” hagios, means separated, set apart. Therefore, saints are the separated ones, the ones set apart to God. We have become saints through the calling of the sanctifying God. God’s calling involves separation, and this separation is sanctification.
The expression “called saints” indicates that the believers in Christ are the called saints; they are not called to be saints (as in KJV). This is a positional matter, a sanctification in position with a view to sanctification in disposition.
Every saved one is a called one. To be called is to be saved. Once we were called, we became saints. To be called by God is to be separated unto His purpose. Because we have been called by God unto His purpose, separated unto Him for the fulfillment of His eternal plan, we are the called saints.