CALL
Old Testament
Verb: קָרָא (qārāʾ), GK 7924 (S 7121), 739×. qārāʾ is the most common verb in Heb. that means “to call, summon, proclaim.” The basic meaning of this verb is to draw attention to oneself by using one’s voice. It is often accompanied by a corresponding verb “to hear” or “to answer.”
(1) The first use of this verb in the OT means “to call, name.” “God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night’ ” (Gen 1:5). In Gen 2:19–20, Adam “names” the animals, and in 2:23, he “calls” Eve “woman.” And after Adam and Eve sin, “God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ ” (3:9). These uses illustrate some of the most common meanings of qārāʾ.
(2) One of the more important uses of qārāʾ is with God as the subject, calling various people into his service. God calls Abraham into his service (see Isa 51:2), Israel (41:9; 42:1), Cyrus (45:3), and Eliakim (22:20). And when he calls someone, he expects that person to answer to his call; anything less is disobedience. This use can be compared to the contemporary notion of a person being called by God to teach and preach his Word.
(3) Conversely, qārāʾ is also often used of people calling on the Lord. About the time of the birth of Seth, people “began to call on the name of the Lord” (Gen 4:26). When Abraham left his home country, traveled to Canaan, and built an altar, he “called on the name of the Lord” (12:8). A frequent comment in the Psalms is “I call(ed) on you, O God” (e.g., Ps 17:6; 18:3, 6; 30:8; 55:16). For the most part, the Lord responds to these verbal requests, though at times a psalmist may feel silence from the Lord (e.g., 22:2). When people do not call on the name of the Lord, it concerns him deeply (e.g., Isa 43:22).
(4) In the prophets, qārāʾ is an expression used for a servant of God who “proclaims” his will (e.g., 1 Ki. 13:32; Isa 40:2; 58:1; Jer 2:2; 11:6; Zech 1:14). Jonah, for example, was called by God to “go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it” (Jon 1:2). After his attempt to run away, this is precisely what Jonah does do (3:2). See NIDOTTE, 3:971–74.
New Testament
Verb: βοάω (boaō), GK 1066 (S 994), 12×. boaō means “to cry out, call loudly.” Each of the gospels quotes at least part of Isa 40:3 to describe John: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him.” (Mt 3:3; Mk 1:3; Lk 3:4; Jn 1:23). These uses recall the idea of a herald making an announcement (also Acts 17:6; possibly 25:24). In Gal 4:27, in a quote from Isa 54:1, boaō heralds good news, but the verb also includes the idea of shouting in joyful exuberance. A similar use but with fear instead of joy is the account of Philip in Samaria, when evil spirits “shrieked” as they came out of many people (Acts 8:3).
While the previous occurrences describe a general announcement or cry, the following uses of boaō have a specific audience in mind. Twice citizens “call out” or “complain” to a public official (Acts 17:6; 25:24). Elsewhere boaō denotes begging or pleading. The object of the pleading is God or Jesus in four of these occurrences. For example, Jesus “cries out” to God on the cross, saying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Mk 15:34, a quote from Ps 22:1). In Lk 9:38 and 18:38 Jesus hears the cry of a person and performs a miracle for them. Similarly, in Lk 18:7 Jesus says that God will listen to his chosen ones who “cry out” to him. The common thread in these examples is that God listens when people cry out to him. Christians need not offer up expertly composed and theologically insightful prayers in order to be heard; rather, we simply need to cry out to our Father. As the psalmist says of God, “O you who hears prayer” (Ps 65:2). See NIDNTT-A, 96–97.
Verb: ἐπικαλέω (epikaleō), GK 2126 (S 1941), 30×. epikaleō is a compound verb formed from the preposition epi (“on, upon”) and the verb kaleō (“to call”). The resulting verb means “to call on someone” or even “to appeal to someone for help.” The majority of occurrences fall within this range.
Peter in his Pentecost message quotes from the prophet Joel: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21; see also 9:14, 21; 22:16; Rom 10:12; 2 Tim. 2:22). Some NT books use this verb to express the idea of calling on Jesus with the idiomatic phrase “call(s) on the name of the Lord” (Rom 10:13; 1 Cor. 1:12). Jesus is the addressee when epikaleō is used in the sense of praying (Acts 7:59). This verb is also used of Paul calling on God as his witness (2 Cor. 1:23) and the act of Christians calling on God the Father (1 Pet. 1:17). When Paul appeals his imprisonment to Caesar, he uses this verb (Acts 25:11, 12, 21, 25; 26:32; 28:19).
A special use of epikaleō in the passive is to identify someone: “Joseph called Barsabbas” (Acts 1:23); “John also called Mark” (12:12). This is the case in Hebrews, which states that “God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Heb 11:16), and also, “my name [the Lord] is called on them” (i.e., “they are called by my name”; Acts 15:17; also Jas 2:7). See NIDNTT-A, 285–86.
Verb: καλέω (kaleō), GK 2813 (S 2564), 148×. kaleō means “to call, invite, summon.” It is used mainly in three ways in the NT. (1) kaleō can express the ordinary idea of an audible call to someone to get their attention or invite a person to join a group. This usage is particularly prevalent in narrative literature. Herod “called” the Magi to himself (Mt 2:7). Mark writes that Jesus’ mother and brothers “called him” to meet with them (Mk 3:31). Luke writes of a Pharisee who “invited” Jesus to dine with him (Lk 7:39). In the parable of the dinner guests, kaleō is used in its participial form to denote the dinner guests, “those who were called” (Lk. 14:7ff.).
(2) The second notion is that of God or Jesus doing the calling. This moves from the simple idea of inviting or summoning to a more theological meaning of kaleō. This idea is first seen when Matthew quotes Hos 11:1, where God says, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Mt 2:15). When Jesus began his ministry, he “called” his disciples (4:21; Mk 1:20). This was a call to physically come to Jesus, but the more important element was a spiritual call, which the disciples heeded. The spiritual sense of calling is clear in Jesus’ statement, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mk 2:17; Lk 5:32). While the idea of spiritual calling is not prevalent in the gospels and Acts, it is highly developed in Paul’s writings. When God calls, it is a call that roots in predestination and ends in glorification (Rom 8:29–30; 1 Pet. 5:10). God calls us by his grace (Gal 1:6) into his fellowship (1 Cor. 1:9). But his calling is not only to salvation; it is also to a life of serving him and our fellow believers (7:15; Eph 4:1, 4; 1 Thess. 2:12; 4:7; 2 Tim. 1:9).
(3) An additional, relatively frequent use of kaleō is to express the idea of naming something, e.g., the angel of Lord told Zechariah that his son would be “called” John, and he told Joseph that Mary’s baby would be “called” Jesus (Lk 1:13, 31). See NIDNTT-A, 285–86.
Verb: λέγω (legō), GK 3306 (S 3004, 2036, 2046), 2353×. Usually translated as “say,” legō sometimes has the notion of “to call” someone by some specific name or attribute. See say.
Verb: φονέω (phoneō), GK 5888 (S 5455), 43×. phoneō means “to call out, call to, make a noise.” Several times in the NT it is used for calling out a question (Acts 10:18) or, more commonly, a statement or command. For example, Jesus “cried out” on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” (Mt 27:47), and “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Lk 23:46). Paul “called out” to the jailer, “Don’t harm yourself, we are all here” (Acts 16:28). Luke uses it when Jesus “called out” to a crowd, “he who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Lk 8:8). These last two examples are somewhere between an interjection and a command. Elsewhere phoneō occurs in the context of more clear-cut commands, as when Jesus commands a dead girl to rise (Lk 8:54) and an angel commands the one with the sickle to reap the earth’s harvest (Rev 14:18).
An additional nuance of phoneō is to “summon, invite” others. This meaning occurs frequently in the NT; e.g., “do not invite” (Lk 14:12), he “called the bridegroom” aside (Jn 2:9), and Cornelius “called/summoned” two of his servants and a devout soldier (Acts 10:7; cf. also Mk 9:35; 10:49; Lk 16:2; 19:15).
Lastly, the meaning of phoneō is so broad that in addition to its use with human subjects, it is also used of a cock “crowing” (Mt 26:34, 74, 75; Mk 14:30, 72; Lk 22:34, 60, 61; Jn 13:38) and of an evil spirit “shrieking” as it comes out of a person (Mk 1:26). See NIDNTT-A, 597.
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