A lot of expressions used in one language and culture aren’t used in another. Where but in Australia would you find, no worries; fair dinkum; rigididge; bonzer etc. The terminology for lifestyle in the New Testament is the word walk. We constantly come across passages telling us how to walk (walk in the light; walk worthy; walk uprightly etc), but they have nothing to do with our physical gait. They are to do with how we live.
As with all words used metaphorically, they retain their natural or literal use where context dictates. What does the expression, call on the name of the Lord mean? The expression call upon the name of the Lord may indeed refer to an audible calling out to God on occasion, but often not. Even in English there are differences: we might say we called upon so and so and we would mean a visit, not a verbal calling out. Or the chairman of a meeting may ask, I call upon the Treasurer to bring us the annual report, which simply means to ask, rather than a visit. Note 1 Cor. 1:2:- Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians calling them sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be sanctified means to be set apart for a purpose, or consecrated. A saint is one who is holy, another term for a Christian. How were they sanctified? How were they called to be saints? By the gospel (2 Thess. 2:14). This is a holy calling (2 Tim. 1:9). They had been born again through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15). In doing this they were in the same category with all those who call upon the name of the Lord. “Those who call upon the name of the Lord” is another description of a Christian (Acts 9:13,14). What is a Christian? – one who is not trusting in himself for salvation, but has appealed to Christ:- ie. one who has called upon the name of the Lord.
God is the only Saviour (Isa. 43:11; 45:22). This might seem strange in that God is also the Judge:- when someone conceptualises God they see Him not as the Saviour but as the Great Condemner. Others see Him equally in the roles of Accuser and Saviour:- trying to keep people out of Heaven and suffering some to enter Heaven – like being the striker for one team and the goalie for the other. This is not so. He is not the Accuser (John 3:17). Now, God has absolute respect for the demands of justice, and will pass judgement based upon the demands of justice, but He is not the Accuser (John 12:47,48). Another is given the name of Accuser – the Devil. God has no delight in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11). He is not trying to keep people out of Heaven – He’s trying His hardest to purify people, justify people, within the limits of their free-will so that He might welcome them into Heaven. It is He alone who can save. He wants us to call on Him. He’s on our side!
God had placed Israel, not in splendid isolation like the big island called Australia, but as a land-locked country surrounded by hostile nations. In this grand experiment and demonstration, God was to show forth His power. In Ex. 34:23,24 God said He would protect them when they went to the temple three times a year – no one would desire their land at that time, and they didn’t. You can imagine nations wondering “Why didn’t we attack Israel,when they were all up at Jerusalem?” We know why – God promised (cf. Isa. 43:12). The Assyrian intelligence didn’t understand this (cf. 36:7). They had seen Hezekiah’s reforms and thought that Jehovah would have been offended, but the reverse was true. God is different from the idols.
Being in such a position does test one’s faith. There were some glorious occasions of faith in God in Jewish history such as when Hezekiah withstood the army of Assyria, in excess of 185,000 men who had encircled Jerusalem and were ready to drop on her like an eagle upon the prey. Judah was tempted to call on Egypt, but Egypt was described by Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, to be like a cracked rod that, if leaned upon, would break and pierce the hand (Isa. 36:6). Hezekiah, encouraged by Isaiah, told the city to trust in God, which they did, and they were delivered by a plague that wiped out the army.
They didn’t always do so well. Often, when things got tough, they would appeal to other nations and not to God (eg. Isa.31:1). In like manner, we cannot successfully call upon any other name: not self (Rom. 10:1-4); not Paul or Apollos (1 Cor. 3:4-6). Who are you going to call upon?
Four passages are worthy of our attention. The first is Joel 2:32. This is the passage that prophesied of salvation coming through calling upon the name of the Lord. The Old Testament is the New Testament prophesied, while the New Testament is the Old Testament realised, and we look to the New Testament to see how we are saved by calling on the name of the Lord.
The next is Acts 2:21. This is where Peter quotes from Joel 2 on the day of Pentecost. Note that the audience soon asked “What shall we do?” (v.37). They understood that calling on the name of the Lord was something other than an utterance of His name (note Matt.7:21; Luke 6:46). Note Isa. 55:6,7: v.6 contains parallelism – to call upon the Lord is to seek the Lord (v.7) and then he explains how they were to seek the Lord – so to call upon the Lord is to trust in Him and be obedient to Him. This explains Peter’s answer in v.38 – “repent and be baptised in the name of the Lord”. This is not contradictory to v.21. Everyone who rejects the answer Peter gave in v.38 cannot call upon the name of the Lord, for he thus rejects the name, or authority, of the Lord. What Peter told the people to do in v.38 was in the name of the Lord, that is, by His authority. For a person to call upon the name of the Lord he must rely completely upon the Lord and His authority, and conform to what the Lord commands.
Now, let us look at Rom. 10:13. Paul quotes Joel 2:32, but note the verses that follow. Vs. 14-16 show that gospel obedience is not by a verbal calling out. Any plan involving fewer conditions of pardon than enjoined in the following scriptures cannot be of God. It must rather be a satanic shortcut. Note the following comparison:
Rom. 10:13,14: Saved; calling; believe; hear; preacher; sent.
Mark 16:15,16: saved; baptism; believe; (hear); preach; go
Now, using the maxim that things equal to the same thing are equal to each other, we are forced to conclude that we cannot have the salvation of one verse without complying with the conditions of the other.
Turning to Acts 22:16 where we find Saul had already called out to the Lord: Who are you Lord? This is what he had said on the road to Damascus. The Lord had told him to go to Damascus where it would be told him what he must do (Acts 9:6). He did as he was told and in Damascus Ananias came to him with this instruction in Acts 22:16: he was to arise and be baptised and wash away his sins. Note this was to be done calling on the name of the Lord. How could being immersed in water wash away a life of sin?
No works or deeds of man could ever earn salvation. But when the Lord sanctifies the deed it becomes a work of God (John 6:29). And what the Lord commands men to do must be attainable else salvation is impossible.
The Lord told Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River to cleanse his leprosy (2 Kings 5). The water didn’t cure him, God did. But God specified what he had to do and when Naaman obeyed, God cleansed him. This act of obedience was not a great thing, as Naaman’s servants pointed out, but something simple. God has sanctified simple things for man to do to be saved:
1. Hear: we can hear many things but we must hear the gospel
2. Believe: we can believe many things but we must believe God sent Jesus to be the Saviour (else we won’t come to Jesus)
3. Repent: we can change our minds about many things, but we must change our mind about sin
4. Confess: we can confess many things but we must confess Christ as Lord
5. Be baptised: we can be immersed for many reasons but we must be immersed for the remission of sin
When we do these things in obedience to the Lord we are calling upon the name of the Lord. This is how we are saved by calling on the name, that is, the authority and power, of the Lord.