I remember memorizing Romans 10:13 when I was a little kid in the Awana program at our Church: “For everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” It is a simple phrase, but with such profound promise.

I always assumed that calling on the name of the LORD meant the ‘Sinner’s Prayer,’ asking Jesus to save us from our sins. This certainly fits within the context of verse 9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

However, I was far into my adulthood when I finally realized the deeper roots of this phrase that stretch all the way back to the first book of the Bible. After making the connection, it drove me deeper into discovering what the Apostle Paul was drawing on when he used this quote in his letter to the Romans. 

I remember memorizing Romans 10:13 when I was a little kid in the Awana program at our Church: “For everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” It is a simple phrase, but with such profound promise.

I always assumed that calling on the name of the LORD meant the ‘Sinner’s Prayer,’ asking Jesus to save us from our sins. This certainly fits within the context of verse 9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

However, I was far into my adulthood when I finally realized the deeper roots of this phrase that stretch all the way back to the first book of the Bible. After making the connection, it drove me deeper into discovering what the Apostle Paul was drawing on when he used this quote in his letter to the Romans. 

THE FIRST GOSPEL

After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God explained the consequences to them. But, in the midst of the curse, there is a brief glimpse of hope: “The LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel’” (Genesis 3:14-15).

God announces that Eve will experience pain in childbirth, but out of that pain will come the savior. The seed of the woman would conquer the curse of the serpent. 

It is a vague prophecy, and as clear as it might seem to us now in hindsight, it would have remained a mystery to Adam and Eve. Yet, they took this promise literally, and after giving birth to their firstborn son, they named him Cain, which means ‘acquired,’ and said, “I have acquired a man of the LORD” (Genesis 4:1). There is good reason to believe that Adam and Eve thought that Cain would be their savior, defeat the serpent, and lead them back into the Garden of Eden. 

Except, that wasn’t the case. Cain would go on to murder his brother Abel, whose name means ‘breath or vapor.’ Neither Cain, nor Abel would be capable of fulfilling the prophecy. Where Adam and Eve had been right to trust in the promise of God, they had erred in their interpretation. But God gave them a third son, whom they named Seth, meaning ‘appointed,’ saying, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him” (Genesis 4:25). 

Then, after all of this, Seth had a son named Enosh, meaning ‘frailty,’ and it says, “At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26).

Calling on the name of the LORD is a prayer, but within this context, it is a very specific prayer. It is, at its core, an acknowledgement that they needed God to act on their behalf. This is not a prophecy that they could fulfill on their own. Therefore, to call on the name of the LORD is a prayer of faith. It is a reliance upon God to do what He said He would do. It is an admission that we cannot save ourselves by our own works. Although their expectations on God’s timeline were way off, they continued to trust in God by calling on the name of the LORD as an acknowledgement of their need for a savior. 

A LEGACY OF FAITH 

This phrase pops up again in the story of Abraham. After leaving his homeland to go to a land that God had promised to him, it says, “There he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:8). Abraham remembered the promise that God had made to Adam and Eve. Although his wife, Sarah was barren, he believed that God would give him a son. Just as his ancestors had hoped and prayed, he longed to see the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. 

Abraham is recognized as the father of our faith because, “He believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Throughout his life, Abraham’s faith was tested. He fell into sin on numerous occasions, but God did not break his end of the covenant. 

Interestingly, this same expression is picked up by Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant who was offered up as a surrogate to provide them an heir. However, after Hagar became pregnant, Sarah was jealous and mistreated her. Eventually Hagar fled into the wilderness to escape the abuse. There, the Angel of the LORD appeared to her, told her to go back, and offered a prophecy over her son, Ishmael. In response, Hagar, “Called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me’” (Genesis 16:13). 

Here, calling on the name of the LORD is not simply about a future hope for salvation, but a very present help in times of trouble. This is often seen throughout the Psalms as a prayer of faith and trust in the faithfulness of God to sustain us as we walk in obedience. Again, this teaches us about faith in the promises of God by showing that we must depend upon the Lord day by day. 

Abraham’s story shows us that calling on the name of the LORD is not just something we do once in our lifetime. It is a continued expression of trust in God as we walk by faith. In other words, we need to keep revisiting the promises of God and clinging to the gospel every day. 

THE DAY OF THE LORD

The portion of Scripture that the Apostle Paul is quoting in Romans 10 comes directly from the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” (Joel 2:28-31).

Joel is prophesying about the day of the LORD, the final culmination when all of God’s promises will be finally fulfilled. Parts of these promises have already begun. This is why the Apostles say that we are living in the last days. Jesus is the seed of the woman who crushed the head of the serpent by dying on the cross, rising from the dead, and ascending to the right hand of the throne of God. Yet, this promise is not fully realized because Jesus has said that He will return and make all things new, recreating heaven and earth. 

At Pentecost, in the book of Acts, Peter would also quote Joel 2 in his sermon as a reference to how the Kingdom of God was at hand, the Spirit was being poured out as the disciples were speaking in tongues with flames of fire above their heads. Peter would go on to explain what it means to call on the name of the LORD by telling the people to, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). 

In this, the Apostles Peter and Paul agree that to call on the name of the LORD means to put our faith in Jesus Christ alone as the hope for our eternal salvation. 

The idea to call on the name of the LORD reaches all the way back to the very first promise in Scripture. It was upheld by Abraham as the model for obedience and faith in God. Although the prophecies were vague, Jesus brought them to light. Today, we continue in the tradition of the Patriarchs and the Apostles to call on the name of the LORD as we put our faith in the work of Christ day by day.  

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