1:9–11

In 1:9–11 Paul reviewed the chief points of the gospel. He talked about several distinct thoughts here. It will probably be necessary for you to put these thoughts in separate sentences. Good News Translation begins a new sentence at 1:9, with God as the subject of the verb.

1:9a

He has saved us: God has saved us from eternal death.

1:9b

and called us to a holy calling: A literal translation of this clause is: “and having called us with/to a holy calling.” Because the Greek preposition in this clause may be translated as either “with” or “to,” there are two ways to interpret this part of the verse:

(1) God called us “to a holy calling.” According to this interpretation, the term “holy calling” refers to what God called us to. For example, God’s Word says:

God saved us and called us to be holy….

See also Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version.

(2) God called us “with/by-means-of a holy calling.” According to this interpretation, the term “holy calling” is a description of the way that God called us. For example the NET Bible says:

He is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling….

See also Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Version.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). There are several translation possibilities for this interpretation. These are discussed below.

called: The word called is used in a special sense here. It means “summoned” or “chosen” (New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Contemporary English Version), or “invited.” Do not use a word that only refers to someone “calling loudly.”

a holy calling: Following interpretation (1) above, you can translate holy calling as:

God called us to live a holy life.
-or-
God called us to be his holy people.
-or-
God called us to be holy.

1:9c

not because of our works: This clause refers back to the two verbs in 1:9a–b. That is, “He (God) saved us and called/chose us^(incl) .” He did all of this for us even though we had not done anything to deserve it.

our works: This refers to the acts or deeds that we have done, and the way we have behaved.

1:9d

but by His own purpose and by the grace: This phrase explains the reason for which God saved us and chose us to be his holy people. As in 1:9c, the phrase that follows by depends on the verbs that are in 1:9a–b. Therefore, in 1:9a–d Paul was saying that God saved us and called us because he planned to do these things.

purpose and by the grace: The words purpose and grace are abstract nouns. It may be necessary in your language to use verbs rather than nouns to express these concepts. In this context, purpose refers to what God planned to do and grace means that God favors people or is kind to people even though they do not deserve it.

General Comment on 1:9a–d

In some languages it may be more natural to break 1:9a–d into several sentences and/or to reverse the order of 1:9c and 1:9d as follows:

God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this because of his own purpose and grace. He did not do this because we have done anything to deserve it.

1:9e

the grace He granted us: The clause the grace He granted us means “God was kind to us even though we did not deserve it.”

in Christ Jesus: This phrase tells how God was kind to us. He planned to save us from eternal death by means of Jesus Christ dying for us on the cross.

before time began: God planned this long ago. He planned it even before he made the world or created any human being.

© 2003 by SIL International®

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.