Salvation Summaries

Is “calling on the name of the Lord” the only thing a person must do to become a Christian?  Can it really be that simple, and that easy?

Acts 2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

The answer to this question is yes and no. A person is saved by calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus, but “calling” likely means more than what most people think it means.

To understand the idea of calling upon the name of the Lord, we can turn to Romans 10:9-14.

• ⁹ That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ¹¹ As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile– the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

From reading verse 14, we see that a person does not call on the name of the Lord unless that person hears the gospel message about Jesus, and then believes in Him. As you may recall from reading my posts on the book of John, when a person believes in Jesus (not an intellectual belief, but one that involves trust from the heart), that person receives eternal life and becomes a Christian (and this is why it so important for Christians and churches to spread the gospel, or good news, for it appears to be the main tool God uses to save His people).

In addition to hearing about Jesus and believing in Him, the person who calls on Jesus trusts in Him (verse 11).

And last, I think it’s reasonable to interpret verse 11 – about trusting in Jesus – as a conclusion to what was said in verses 9 – 10.  In these verses, we see that a person must believe that God raised Him from the dead and confess that Jesus is Lord.

So, what does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord?

Calling upon the Lord means that you ask Him to save you, but calling is not done by just anyone. A person who calls upon the Lord is one who has heard the gospel message about Jesus, and now believes in Him. It is someone who trusts in Jesus, and confesses Him to be Lord.  And, it is a person who believes in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  If this describes you, then when you call upon the name of the Lord, you will be saved according to Acts 2:21.

Now, I’d like to make one more comment about the concept of calling.  A person is not the only one who calls; Jesus does too. He calls His people to become saved. We see this in the following three verses:

• Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 
• Acts 2:39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off– for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 
•  Acts 13:46-48 ⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.  ⁴⁷ For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”  ⁴⁸ When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

Taking these verses and others about God’s sovereignty into account, I believe the best way to understand the concept of “calling” is as follows:

The Lord Jesus calls sinners to repentance and gives them the promised Holy Spirit at the time that they are saved. The same people that Jesus calls are those who, in turn, call upon Him for salvation. In short, Jesus calls, and the people He calls respond by calling upon Him. I’ll have more to say on this later.