believer from its demands.  The fact that burial is not omitted in this

series of most blessed associations, emphasizes the utter and complete end of

the flesh so far as God and His salvation are concerned.

From henceforth all is new -- newness of life, newness of spirit -- and

this sphere lies beyond the grave.  In a sense that Abraham did not intend,

we can take his words recorded in Genesis 23:4 and reinterpret them as of

ourselves: 'I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of

a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight'.

Calling.  For the different 'callings' of Scripture the article Calling1,

should be considered.  Calling enters into the doctrinal teaching of

Scripture as well as into the dispensational, and the former aspect falls to

be considered here.  The verb kaleo is found in combination with epi, meta,

pros, para, eis and sun, but these words do not enter into the discussion

before us, namely, the character and adjuncts of the call of God.  Kaleo,

kletos and klesis will supply all the material necessary for this

'The called' appears as a title or designation of the redeemed (Rom.

1:6).  Where Romans 1:7 reads, 'called

to be saints', the verb to be is unwanted and misleading.  The teaching of

the apostle is not that the believer will one day in the future attain unto

the status and rank of a saint, but that he is 'a called saint', a saint by

calling, quite independent of his subsequent growth in grace or standard of

saintliness.  'The word called denotes not merely an external invitation to a

privilege, but it also denotes the internal and effectual call which secures

conformity to the will of Him Who calls' (Barnes).  That some such peculiar

and internal character pertains to this call of God, 1 Corinthians 1:23,24

makes clear.  In contrast with the Jews and the Greeks, to whom the preaching

of Christ crucified was a stumbling block and foolishness, the apostle places

'Them which are called, both Jews and Greeks' and to such Christ is the Power

of God and the Wisdom of God.  He proceeds:

'For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after

the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called' (1 Cor. 1:26),

and then aligns 'calling' with election, saying, 'But God hath chosen the

foolish ... the weak ... the base ... the despised ... things that are not

... that no flesh should glory in His presence' (1 Cor. 1:27 -29).  This

intimate association of calling with the Divine purpose is seen in Romans 8:

'Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He

called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also

glorified' (Rom. 8:30).

It will be observed that the calling, the justification and the

glorification of the believer are all spoken of in the aorist tense, which is

usually translated by the past.  While due regard must be paid to Greek

grammar, we must never forget that behind the Greek of the New Testament is

the Hebrew of the Old Testament, and that through the LXX version, the Hebrew

has influenced the usage of the Greek in a thousand ways.  It may be of

service to give a few examples of the way in which the past tense of the verb

is used in the Hebrew Old Testament to denote the certainty that something

will take place in the future: