See also: Vocation
📖 Biblical Definition
Vocation is the doctrine of calling—the truth that God calls His people not only to salvation but to particular stations, duties, and labors in the world, so that the ordinary work and relationships of life are themselves a sphere of service to God and neighbor. The word has two related senses. In its primary theological sense, vocation is the effectual call of God by which the elect are summoned out of darkness into His marvelous light—the inward, saving call treated under effectual calling. But the Reformation recovered a second, world-affirming sense: every Christian has a calling (or callings) in the world—as worker, spouse, parent, child, citizen, master, servant—and these stations are not lower or merely secular alternatives to a ‘sacred’ religious life, but are themselves divine vocations through which God’s providence works and in which He is to be served. This was a recovery of immense significance. The medieval church had divided life into the ‘religious’ (the monk, the priest, the nun, who alone were thought to have a vocation) and the merely secular (the farmer, the merchant, the wife and mother). The Reformers—Luther especially—demolished this two-tier scheme, teaching that the milkmaid at her pail and the farmer in his field serve God as truly as the preacher in his pulpit, that all lawful work is a calling from God and a mask through which He provides for the world, and that to do one’s ordinary duties faithfully, as unto the Lord, is genuine worship and obedience. Paul bids each abide in the calling wherein he is called, and to do all, whatever he does, heartily as to the Lord. Vocation thus dignifies ordinary life and labor: the Christian cobbler is to make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price, not merely to stamp crosses on it; he serves God by serving his neighbor through his work. The doctrine guards against both the false spirituality that despises common labor and the secularism that empties work of any God-ward meaning, teaching the believer to receive his station as a calling, to labor in it faithfully, and to glorify God in the ordinary duties of his place.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Webster 1828 defines VOCATION as a calling; a summons; designation to a particular state or business; the calling of one’s occupation or profession.
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VOCATION, n. — 1. A calling by the will of God; or the bestowment of God’s distinguishing grace upon a person or nation, by which that person or nation is put in the way of salvation. 2. Summons; call; inducement. 3. Designation or destination to a particular state or profession. 4. Employment; calling; occupation; trade.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Corinthians 7:20 — "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called."
Colossians 3:23 — "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."
1 Corinthians 10:31 — "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
Ephesians 4:1 — "...that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Vocation is corrupted by the medieval two-tier division of “sacred” callings above “secular” work—and, oppositely, by the modern secularism that empties work of all God-ward meaning, or the careerism that makes vocation an idol of self-fulfillment.
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The historic corruption of vocation was the two-tier scheme that the Reformation overthrew: the division of life into the ‘sacred’ vocations of the priest, monk, and nun—thought to be the higher, truly religious callings—and the merely ‘secular’ pursuits of ordinary Christians, regarded as a lower path. This robbed the farmer, the mother, the craftsman, and the merchant of any sense that their daily labor was a calling from God, and concentrated holiness in the cloister. The Reformers demolished it, teaching that all lawful work is a divine vocation, that God serves the world through the ordinary labors of ordinary people, and that the believer glorifies God as truly at the workbench and the cradle as in the pulpit. To despise common labor as unspiritual is to despise a calling God has given and a mask through which He provides.
The modern age has produced its own corruptions of vocation. Secularism empties work of all God-ward meaning, reducing it to a means of income or self-interest, so that labor becomes mere drudgery or mere transaction with no sense of serving God and neighbor. Careerism, at the opposite extreme, exalts work into an idol—the source of one’s identity, meaning, and self-fulfillment—so that ‘following one’s passion’ or ‘finding oneself’ in a career replaces the humble service of one’s neighbor in one’s station. The biblical doctrine corrects both: vocation is neither meaningless toil nor self-worship, but a calling from God to serve Him and one’s neighbor through faithful labor in one’s appointed place. The Christian receives his station as from the Lord, labors in it heartily as to the Lord, does his work well for the good of those it serves, and glorifies God in the ordinary duties of life—whether eating, drinking, or whatsoever he does—knowing that faithful work in a lawful calling is genuine obedience and a true sphere of worship.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
The doctrine rests on the klēsis (calling) in which each is to abide, doing all as to the Lord (Greek kyriō)—ordinary labor a divine vocation.
Usage
"Vocation dignifies ordinary labor: the milkmaid at her pail serves God as truly as the preacher in his pulpit."
"The Reformers demolished the two-tier scheme that exalted ‘sacred’ callings above ‘secular’ work."
"The Christian receives his station as a calling, labors in it as to the Lord, and glorifies God in ordinary duties."