1:24 Who are "them which are called" that Paul refers to here?
1:24 Who are "them which are called" that Paul refers to here?
Them which are called in V24 are them that believe in V21 (CP V21-26 with Ac 2:37-41; Ro 8:28-30; 1Cor 7:17; Eph 1:18-19; 4:1-6; Php 3:13-14; 1Th 2:11-12; 2Th 1:11-12; 2:13-14: 2Ti 1:8-10; He 3:1; 1Pe 5:10; 2Pe 1:10-11).
None of those scriptures teach that the called have been arbitrarily chosen for salvation by God while the rest of mankind has been consigned to hell, as some in the church teach.
They simply reflect the fact that those who respond affirmatively to the universal call of God to salvation through the gospel of Christ, become the called (CP Mt 20:1-16 with 11:28-30: Lu 14:16-24; Jn 3:16-18, 36; 5:24; 6:27, 35, 40, 47, 51-54; 7:37-38; 8:12; 10:9; Ac 2:21; Ro 1:16-17; 4:4-5; 10:8-13; 1Cor 1:21; He 5:9; Jude 1; Rev 21:6; 22:17).
See also comments on Mt 11:28-30, 13:10-11, 20:16; Jn 1:12-13, 3:14-15, 3:36, 6:37, 12:37-40; Ac 2:37-38, 3:22-23, 13:48, 28:23-29; Ro 1:16-17, 3:24-26(A), 1Cor 8:28-30, 9:1-3, 9:7, 9:10-13, 9:14-18, 9:19-21, 10:14-17, 11:2, 11:4, 11:7-10; Eph 1:3-6, 1:11-14, 2:8-10; 1Th 1:4; 2Ti 1:8-9; 1Pe 1:2, and author's studies Salvation - a Free Will Choice or Predestinated? and Chosen by God? in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1).