Called to ministry? I don’t think so.

Do you think God called you into the ministry? Herein are 7 reasons why that’s not true:

1) The only calling today is the gospel.

Consider 2 Thess. 2:14, “Whereunto he called you by our gospel…” Paul explicitly states how God calls people in this dispensation of grace – through the gospel, by the preaching of Jesus Christ, unto salvation. There is no passage teaching that God calls believers for specific roles through subjective feelings. Those verses do not exist in your Bible. The only universal calling in this dispensation is: to salvation (2 Thess. 2:14), to sanctification (1 Thess. 4:7), to walk worthy (Eph. 4:1), to live in liberty (Gal. 5:13), or to lay hold on your eternal life (1 Tim. 6:12). All those different callings are merely extensions of the gospel itself, because the gospel teaches you how to live. Nowhere does the Bible talk about anyone being led by God through inner feelings to take on specific roles.

2) 1 Tim. 3:1 bases ministry on desire, not a divine summons.

“If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.”

Qualifications for ministry begins with a desire for that role, not a leading through feelings. You’re not going to read in the pastoral epistles Paul writing things like, “If the Lord has laid it on his heart…” or “If God has called him…” or “If he has received a burden…” The structure is: Desire → Qualification → Consideration. That’s radically different from: having feelings → then claiming divine appointment to be in a certain role.

3) No Pauline instructions about discerning a mystical feeling/calling.

Across all thirteen Pauline epistles, we do not find instructions to: wait for God to reveal your life assignment through feelings, how to discern your personal calling through impressions, seek confirmation of a supernatural leading, and/or test whether God is telling you to change careers. Do you know why Paul doesn’t give any instructions about any of those things? Because God doesn’t operate that way.

4) God’s Word, not emotions, gives you guidance for your life.

In Paul’s letters guidance comes through doctrine (Rom. 12:2 – be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind). Decision-making operates through renewed thinking, not feelings. Wisdom comes from the Word (Col. 1:9–10 – Paul’s prayer was that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing…). The Spirit works through Scripture, not emotional impulses. There is no verse that says the Spirit communicates God’s vocational will for your life through feelings or any other mystical inner sensations.

5) A feeling-based calling undermines the sufficiency of Scripture.

If God has given us a completed written revelation with the Word of God, if He has given us all the doctrine necessary for holy living in the epistles of Paul, then claiming that God is personally directing you to be in a role because you felt things introduces an extra-Biblical guidance that the Bible does not ever teach. Now you’ve drifting down this scary lane of potentially embracing even more dangerous notions, like getting full-blown visions and revelations from God, and all that Charismatic subjectivism, or just any weird form of mysticism – all of which pulls your mind AWAY from the Word of God.

6) “Calling to Ministry” language blurs Israel and the Body

When a prophet was called to do a specific ministry, God verbally told him what He wanted him to do. They were verbally appointed by God. How did God call Paul to be an apostle on that road to Damascus? Verbally. There was never ever any confusion about what God wanted. Importing how God called people in Israel or in the transition period of Acts and then twisting everything to be all about subjective feelings does nothing but create M.U.D. (mixed-up doctrine) and confusion all of which can potentially be very harmful to believers. If this were true, anyone can claim divine authorization to do anything. Accountability weakens. Scripture is displaced by subjective feelings. And the Word is ultimately pushed out of view into the shadows.

7) Grace emphasizes liberty, not hidden assignments.

Grace emphasizes the all-sufficiency of the cross (Heb. 10:10) and what God made you in Christ (Rom. 6). You are complete in Him (Col. 2:10). You are indwelt by God and spiritually equipped (Eph. 3:20). You are free to serve Him however you think is best. In whatever you choose to do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 3:17). Do all in a manner that brings honor and glory to God (1 Cor. 10:31, Phil. 1:11). That’s true grace. Anything other than that wouldn’t be grace. We’ve been given lives of stewardship — not mystical appointments. The Spirit forms Christ in you, produces fruit, and guides you through the Word. He does not assign careers through feelings. God’s will today is doctrinal and moral — not vocationally micromanaged by feelings.

“Wait, Joel!!!! What about Eph. 4:7-13? Doesn’t that teach God gifts special talents to certain men to fill specific roles in the Body of Christ?”

No.

In Eph. 4:11, Paul doesn’t list men. He lists offices. Paul doesn’t say the Lord gave men special talents to be in specific roles. He says the Lord gave these offices to serve the Body of Christ. Not every man who occupied those offices have been blessings to the Body.

You would agree, I’m guessing, that the greater context is “Christ giving gifts,” right? The gifts are the spoils of His victory that He freely gives away so He can have a relationship with you and dwell with you, which is why Paul quoted Psa. 68:18 in Eph. 4:8.

If the gifts are just people, the metaphor becomes really clunky and confusing, doesn’t it? How can the spoils of the Lord’s victory at Calvary be the people He’s supposedly given us to occupy these roles? How does that make any sense?

Consider vs 7. “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” I’d suggest that verse means all the grace and blessings we’ve been given is proportionate to the all-sufficiency of Christ and His work at Calvary. This means the gift IS Christ, and we’ve all been equally blessed, equally transformed, and equally empowered spiritually, because Christ’s victory at Calvary was great enough to do that for us.

Consider the contextual logic. Vs 7 – Every believer receives grace proportionate to the greatness of the gift of Christ Himself. Verses 8–10 – Christ’s ascension, His victory, and His distribution of gifts. If verse 7 establishes equality of grace, it would be inconsistent for verse 11 to suddenly introduce a spiritually superior class of individuals, wouldn’t it?

The movement of the text is clear: equal grace to all (vs 7), victory accomplished by Christ (vs 8–10), and then offices given to the Body for edification (vs 11–12), and men are equally equipped for those roles. The offices merely serve the already-graced Body.

And if the gifts are the offices —then the triumph imagery fits perfectly here. The ascended Christ is not handing out men He’s specially gifted to be in certain roles. It means the ascended Christ was free to hand out roles to serve, to edify the Body through the Word, and that He also equally empowered His saints to occupy those roles. The offices He gave are permanent endowments. The individuals are temporary stewards.