Chapter Eight--Blot Out, Call

Lesson Eight

BLOT OUT, CALL

Blot Out

The words "blot out" are from the single Greek word exaleipho. It occurs only five times in the New Testament, but with great significance. In classical Greek it begins with the meaning of "wash over or plaster." It is used to describe the whitewashing of a wall: "Ladders were made to match the height of the enemy's wall, which they measured by the layers of bricks, the side turned toward them not being thoroughly whitewashed" (Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War 111.20). It is used for warriors painting their bodies with war paint: "When they [the Ethiopians] went into battle they painted their bodies half with chalk and half with vermilion" (Herodotus, History V11.69). It developed into the general meaning of "wipe out, obliterate, destroy;" for example, "Would God I could rub my beauty out like a picture" (Euripides, Helen 162); "And now, my friend, please to begin again at this point; and having wiped out of your memory all that has preceded . . ." (Plato, Theatetus 187); "No longer can I efface from my mind the memory of thy sufferings" (Euripides, Hecuba 590); ". . . albeit we try to destroy the wicked, house and home" (Euripides, Hippolytus 1241).

The general classical meaning of exaleipho is retained in the papyri. A man writes to another, "I could not read your letter because it had been obliterated." In both classical Greek and the Koine exaleipho has the meaning of wiping something out as a person would with a , sponge. This is similar in meaning to the familiar expression "wiping the slate clean." And that is the meaning of the word as it is used in the. New Testament. Twice it describes the "wiping away" every tear from the eyes of the eternally redeemed in the blissful state of heaven: "And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4) This expression is one of exquisite tenderness and beauty. The poet Robert Burns declared that he could never read it without being moved to weeping. And it is every tear that God will obliterate from the eyes of His own in heaven. Not even the barest vestige of a tear will remain because not a single cause of tears will exist in that land where there can he no sorrow or pain. Cf. Isaiah 25:8.

Graphically contrasted to the use of exaleipho in Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4 is its use in Revelation 3:5, "He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garment; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." Those who go to heaven will have their tears obliterated, completely wiped away from their eyes; but those who go to hell will have their names obliterated, completely wiped away from the book of life. As names are blotted out or removed from military registers when death occurs, so God will blot out or remove from the heavenly register the names of all those who are consigned to eternal death in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8).

Another passage in which exaleipho is used is Acts 3:19, "Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." The import of God "wiping the slate clean" regarding our sins as revealed in this passage is especially enhanced by the use of exaleipho in Colos-sians 2:14, quoted here with verse 13: "And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross." The Greek word rendered here as "bond" is cheirographos ,literally meaning "a hand-written document," but used by Paul to designate a certificate of indebtedness or bond. In the papyri a man writes to another, "If you can, please worry Dioscorus and exact from him his bond." In connection with the purchase of wine, a papyrus contains the phrase, "for which you draw me up a bond."

A cheirographos, then, is a document which acknowledges a debt that has to be paid. In a sense, this is what the law represented, for it reckoned men as indebted to God because of their sins, a debt that had to be fully paid if they were reconciled to God. But naked law, whether the law of Moses or any other religious legal system, makes no provisions for the paying of this debt, for the blotting out of sins; it can only pronounce a curse on men because of their transgressions of it (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:10-11). Thus the law is reckoned as being "against us . . . contrary to us." But when Jesus died upon the cross, shedding His blood for the remission of sins, He nailed the law to the cross in the sense of cancelling the debt that it requires of all transgressors. This is evidently the basic teaching of Colossians 2:13-14. The "having forgiven our trespasses" (verse 13) is equivalent to the "having blotted out the bond written in ordinances" (verse 14). No violence at all, then, is done to Paul's meaning when we affirm that the sacrificial death of Christ in "blotting out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us" is the same as His sacrificial death in blotting out our sins.

It is interesting to consider here that another Greek word for can-celling a debt is chiazo. This word literally means "mark with two lines crossing like a capital X (the Greek letter chi)." In cancelling a debt this letter was written right across the document. In the papyri there is an example of its use in a document in which an Egyptian governor gives orders that a bond should be cancelled, "crossed out (chiazesthai)." We must notice that Paul did not say Jesus "crossed out" (chiazo) the indebtedness involved in our transgressions of divine law, but rather "blotted it out" (exaleipho), completely obliterated it. Crossing it out would still make our sins visible, but Jesus has completely obliterated our sins forever. "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalms 103:12). "For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12). Cf. Isaiah 1:18.

A little boy was once puzzled about sins being blotted out, and said , "I cannot think of what becomes of sins God forgives, mother."

"Why, Charlie, can you tell me where are the figures you wrote in your slate yesterday?"

"I washed them all out, mother."

"And where are they, then?"

"Why, they are nowhere; they are all gone," replied Charlie.

"Just so it is with the believer's sins--they are all gone, blotted out, remembered no more."

Are we striving with the Lord's help to grant the same kind of forgive-ness to others as our Father grants us? The man who says that he has forgiven some injury done him by another, but insists that he will always remember the injury, has not really manifested genuine Christlike for-giveness. Let all of us who have had our sins blotted out by God's grace through Christ's blood strive always to grant to others the Christlike forgiveness that truly forgets the sins they commit against us.

Call

The word "call" is from the Greek kaleo. The noun "calling" is from klesis, and the adjective "called" is from kletos. One of the greatest and most basic themes of the New Testament is the conception of God's calling of men, and it is with this conception that these three words deal.

In secular Greek the verb kaleo has four main usages, all of which throw light on its use in the New Testament.

1. Kaleo is the common verb for "calling" a person, place, or thing by name. Homer speaks of a "hundred-handed monster whom the gods call Briareus" (Illiad 1.393). In a papyrus of A. D. 260 is found the phrase "a necklace of the kind called maniaces." In the New Testament we note the following references: ". . . thou shalt call his name JESUS" (Matthew 1:21); "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9); ". . . to be called of men, Rabbi" (Matthew 23:7); ". . . he went into a city called Nain" (Luke 7:11). Those who heed the call of God enjoy the great honor of being called the sons of God: "I will call that my people, which was not my people; And her beloved, that was not beloved. And it shall be, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, There shall they be called sons of the living God" (Romans 9:25-26). Cf. Acts 11:26; James 2:7; 1 Peter 4:16.

2. Kaleo is the common verb for "calling" or "summoning" a person. An example of this usage in classical Greek is Homer, Odyssey 11.348, "Telemachus called her to the storeroom." In the New Testament it is used for the calling to a task; for instance, "“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. " (Matthew 25:14). It is also used in reference to a reward given a laborer: ". . . the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and pay them their hire" (Matthew 20:8).

3. Kaleo is the common verb for "calling" a guest to one's house or inviting a person to a repast. An example of this usage in classical Greek is Herodotus, History IX.16, "Thersander told me that he was himself among those invited to the feast." It is interesting to note here that the past participle passive ho keklemenos and the adjective ho kletos can both by themselves be translated as "the guest." An example of this is in the Septuagint version of 1 Kings 1:49, "And all the guests (hoi kletoi) of Adonijah were afraid." In the New Testament kaleo is rendered as "call" in reference to those invited to the wedding feast (Matthew 22:3). It is also rendered as "bidden" in reference to the invitation Simon the Pharisee had given to Jesus to dine with him (Luke 7:39), in reference to the humble and conceited who were invited to a feast (Luke 14:8), and in reference to those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). See also 1 Corinthians 10:27.

4. Kaleo is the common verb for summoning or bringing a person into a court of law. This is a familar usage in classical Greek, especially in the writings of the dramatist Aristophanes. It is the word used when one is summoned before a court to stand trial and to give an account of his actions. In the New Testament it is used in reference to Peter and John being summoned to appear before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:18) and to Paul being summoned before Felix to face his Jewish accusers (Acts 24:2).

The foregoing uses of kaleo shed light on what the call of God means to the Christian. Carefully note the following considerations:

1. The call of God is a summons to Christian living. The Christian is urged time and time again in the New Testament to walk in manner that is worthy of his divine calling; for example, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to talk worthily of the calling (kleseos) where-with ye were called" (Ephesians 4:1). See 1 Corinthians 7:17. The Christian is called to follow Christ: "For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21). The Christian is called to sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:7). In answering this call he will lead a holy life (1 Peter 1:15). All Christians have been "called to be saints" (Romans 1:7). The word "saint" is from the Greek hagios, literally meaning "separated." The call of God, then, is to a life separated from the world and consecrated to God. The saint is one whose life is God-oriented. In living a holy life the saint or Christian will be counted "worthy of his calling" (2 Thessalonians 1:11). In so living he will truly make his "calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10).

2. The call of God is a summons to privilege and honor. Kalco and klesis are intimately associated with the invitation to a feast, and the call of God to men is the call to enjoy the privilege of feasting on the spiritual food and drink given by the great Benefactor. Read Luke 14:15-24. To answer the invitation to this feast is to receive from God life's greatest honor. Indeed, the divine call the faithful Christian has answered and continues to answer is described as "the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Php 3:14). See 1 John 3:1.

3. The call of God is a call to judgment. Kaleo and klesis are also intimately associated with being summoned before a judge or court. The Christian who has answered God's call to duty, privilege, and honor shall some day be summoned to appear before Him in judgment, when the great King will give him his final call, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Carefully read Matthew 25:31-40.

There are some other important matters we must deal with concerning this concept of "the call of God."

1. The call of God is associated with salvation. "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called" (1 Timothy 6:12). ". . . God; who saved us, and called us with a holy calling" (2 Timothy 1:9). Cf. Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 1:9. One who enjoys the salvation to which God calls men has been called out of the darkness of sin into the light of righteousness (1 Peter 2:9; Colossians 1:13). He has been called to the glory of Christ and God (2 Thessalon-ians 2:14; 1 Peter 5:10).

2. The call of God is associated with divine grace. ". . . him that called you in the grace of Christ" (Galatians 1:6). "But when it was the good pleasure of God, who . . . called me through his grace" (Galatians 1:15). The call of God comes to us not on the basis of our merits but solely on the basis of divine grace, the unmerited favor of God and Christ.

3. The call of God is associated with peace. "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body" (Colossians 3:15). God's call is not to confusion but out of confusion not to turmoil but out of turmoil. It is the call to "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Php 4:7).

4. The call of God is associated with divine fellowship. "God is faith-ful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:9). This fellowship (Greek koinonia) the Chris-tian enjoys with Christ is the sharing of His nature, power, and blessings. Cf. 1 John 1:5-7.

5. The call of God is associated with freedom. "For ye, brethren, were called fo rfreedom"(Galatians 5:13). To answer God's call is not to find slavery but glorious freedom--freedom from sin and Satan, freedom to love, to serve, to be happy!

6. The call of God is associated with hope. ". . . as also ye were called in one hope of your calling" (Ephesians 4:4). One who answers the call of God receives the living hope of final and complete victory through Christ. No longer does he live in the pessimism and despair of sin, but in the glorious expectation that his new life in Christ will continue throughout all eternity.

Questions

• How is exaleipho used in classical Greek and the Koine?

• Discuss the use of exaleipho in Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4 and Revelation 3:5.

• What is the connection between the use of exaleipho in Acts 3:19 and Colossians 2:14?

• Discuss the four main usages of kaleo in both secular Greek and the New Testament.

• What does the call of God mean to the Christian?

• What are some other important matters involved in the concept of "the call of God"?