1 Corinthians 1:26

Calling (klhsin). Not condition of life, but your calling by God; not depending on wisdom, power, or lineage.

Noble [ε υ γ ε ν ε ι ς]. Of high birth. So originally, though as Greece became democratic, it came to signify merely the better sort of freemen. Plato applies it to the children of native Athenians (" Menexenus, " 237).

Aeschylus makes Clytaemnestra say to the captive Cassandra that if slavery must befall one there is an advantage in having masters of ancient family property instead of those who have become unexpectedly rich (" Agamemnon, " 1010).