In Christianity today, the phrase, ‘calling upon the Name of the Lord,’ has become used by many as a phrase by which a person can be saved without doing anything else. As a result, after admitting they are sinners, many people now believe they are saved simply because they called on Jesus to save them. Let’s go ahead and see if we can understand what this phrase actually means.
The first time the phrase is used in the Old Testament is by the prophet Joel, Joel 2:32, speaking of what people will do in the future in order to be saved. And the first time it’s used in the New Testament is by Peter as he quotes Joel’s words in the very first Gospel sermon ever preached in Acts 2:16-21, which tells us that Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled during this time.
When we carefully read Acts 2, after informing those present that ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’ Acts 2:21, we see the response of those present, they asked, ‘What shall we do?’ Acts 2:37, they were asking, what must they do to be saved?
In what way do we call upon the Lord? If calling on the Name of the Lord simply meant confessing your sinfulness and inviting Jesus into your heart, then surely, Peter would have told them to do just that, but he didn’t; he said, ‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,’ Acts 2:38.
Notice what those present on that day did: they heard the Gospel being preached, Acts 2:14 / Acts 2:22-36 / Acts 2:41. They believed the Gospel, Acts 2:37, and they repented of their sins, Acts 2:38 and were baptised for the forgiveness of their sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, Acts 2:38 /Acts 2:41.
So what we see here are faith, Romans 10:17, repentance, Luke 13:3, and baptism, Romans 6:2-3. This was how they called upon the Name of the Lord. The apostle Paul had been taught the Gospel and demonstrated faith and repentance, Acts 22:6-10.
However, if calling upon the Name of the Lord simply meant confessing your sinfulness and inviting Jesus into your heart, then surely, Ananias would have told Him to do just that, but he didn’t; he said, ‘And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised, and wash your sins away, calling on his name,’ Acts 22:16.
Read carefully what is written in that verse, Paul is to get up, be baptised, wash his sins away and notice that the baptising and sins being washed away are summed up in the words, calling on his name. Again, what we see here is faith, repentance and baptism, Acts 9:18. This was how Paul called upon the Name of the Lord.
A little later, Paul goes on to write about how God saves people from their sins when he writes to the Romans. Notice also in Romans 10:13 that he quotes from Joel 2:32, just as Peter did.
It’s such a shame that many people just read this one verse, Romans 10:13, without reading it in its context. A careful reading of the text shows us that calling on the Name of the Lord involves a change of heart, which is repentance, and it involves publicly confessing faith in Jesus as the Christ, Romans 10:9-10. It involves hearing and believing the Gospel, Romans 10:14. It involves obeying the commands of the Gospel, Romans 10:16 / Romans 10:19-21.
If calling on the Name of the Lord simply meant confessing your sinfulness and inviting Jesus into your heart, then surely, Paul would have told them to do just that, but he didn’t. Paul, after saying, ‘everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved,’ goes on to ask a series of questions which tells us what this phrase means, Romans 10:13-17.
In other words, to call upon the name of the Lord means we must hear the Gospel, believe the Gospel and obey the Gospel. When someone calls upon the name of the Lord, they are simply obeying God’s plan of salvation to hear God’s word, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, repent and be baptised.
Think about this for a moment. Jesus says that ‘whoever believes and is baptised will be saved’, Mark 16:16. Peter told those on the day of Pentecost they need to repent and be baptised for salvation, Acts 2:37-38.
Peter says concerning the ark in Noah’s day, ‘in it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also, 1 Peter 3:20-21. Which one saves us? Belief or baptism?
Paul says, ‘if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, Romans 10:9. And then he goes on to say a few verses later, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’, Romans 10:13. Which one saves us, declaring Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart or calling on His Name?
I hear people arguing over and over again, saying, ‘oh, we just need to BELIEVE to be saved,’ and others say, ‘no, we just need to INVITE JESUS INTO OUR HEARTS to be saved,’ which incidentally is a practice and teaching found nowhere in the New Testament.
Still others say, ‘ we just need to REPENT to be saved’, and still others say, ‘we just need to CONFESS OUR SINS to be saved’, and others still say, ‘we need to be BAPTISED to be saved’, but which one is it?
We can’t say, ‘I’m going to believe in Christ but ignore his command for me to repent, Luke 13:3 / Acts 17:30. We can’t say, ‘well, I’m just going to confess Christ as Lord but ignore His command for me to be baptised, Matthew 28:19-20 / Mark 16:16.
The answer to the above questions is ALL OF THEM because ALL OF THEM are requirements for salvation. We simply can’t pick and choose which one we like and ignore the ones we don’t like.
I’ve personally met many tremendously sincere people over the years, and sadly, many are not being honest with the Scriptures, and so by default, they are not being honest with themselves. The chart below shows us what everyone did after Jesus rose from the grave in order to be saved.
Notice how what starts off by hearing the Gospel naturally leads to believing, repenting, confessing, baptism and eternal life.
1. We must hear the Gospel, Romans 10:17 / John 8:32.
2. We must believe the Gospel, Hebrews 11:6 / John 20:31.
3. We must repent of our past sins, Luke 13:3 / Acts 17:30.
4. We must confess faith in Jesus Christ, Romans 10:10 / Matthew 10:32.
5. We must be baptised ‘full immersion’ for the forgiveness of our sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 29:19-20 / Mark 16:16 / Acts 2:38 / Galatians 3:27 / 1 Peter 3:20-21.
6. We must be faithful unto death, Revelation 2:10.
As I mentioned earlier, there are thousands of people in the religious world today who sincerely believe they are saved because they’ve called upon the name of the Lord. Sadly, calling upon His or even saying the name ‘Lord’ won’t save anyone, Matthew 7:21-23, it won’t save anyone unless it’s accompanied by obedience to the Gospel.
The six items listed above are all requirements to obey the Gospel, and each one is as important as the other for salvation. It’s one thing to read about what we need to do to be saved, but it’s another thing actually obey each of them, Luke 6:46.