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by Zebedee D. King (Author)
Before a believer ever asks what they are supposed to do for God, Scripture has already answered a deeper question: who they already are in Him. Our Common Callings, Volume One of The Callings series, walks through seven identities the New Testament gives to every believer - not honorary titles reserved for the exceptional few, but the shared inheritance of the whole body of Christ.
The book opens by distinguishing two categories Scripture treats very differently - general callings given to every believer without exception, and specific callings and gifts distributed individually - a distinction the author argues gets blurred constantly in the modern church, producing both false humility ("that calling is for someone more spiritual than me") and false pride ("my gift makes me more essential than you"). From there, each chapter takes up one of the seven identities in turn: sainthood, the call to be holy that begins the instant a person believes rather than a status earned by later performance; sonship, the call to be a child and heir of God grounded in adoption rather than achievement; the mutual inheritance shared between the Father, the Son, and every joint heir; kingship, the call to reign that Scripture assigns to ordinary believers rather than a spiritual elite; priesthood, the call to draw near and to offer spiritual sacrifice that the New Testament extends to the whole royal priesthood, not a professional clergy class; the prophetic call to witness and confess Christ openly; and finally the call to be perfect - a call to maturity and completeness the author is careful to distinguish from sinless perfection.
Each chapter follows the same pattern: careful, pastoral exposition of the KJV text, a closing return to the chapter's key idea, and a Reflect & Discuss set of questions suited to personal study or small-group use. A complete Scripture index lets readers navigate every reference cited across the volume. Building toward a conclusion that holds all seven callings together as one coherent identity rather than seven separate ideas, this volume grounds every later discussion of gifts, ministry, and mission - the subjects of the rest of The Callings series - in its opening claim: that calling begins with identity, not activity. Whether read alone or as the foundation for the full four-volume series, this book is written for the believer who wants to know, plainly and biblically, what it means to already belong to God before ever asking what to do next.
