‘Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved’ is the memorable bridge sometimes sung by the worship group Hillsong when performing the well-known hymn, Here I Am to Worship. It comes, of course, from Romans 10:13. But you might have noticed that several Bible translations of this verse put the phrase in quotation marks; this is because Paul is directly quoting from the Old Testament – the only Bible available to him at the time – from a famous prediction of the minor prophet Joel.¹

What is Paul up to here?  

Well, first of all, Paul wants to emphasise the universal accessibility of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, and repeating what, to the Jewish members of his audience, would be a well-known passage of Hebrew scripture, gives his statement greater credibility.

At the same time, however, his words are controversial, because they are not exactly the same as Joel’s. Joel’s prophecy uses a Hebrew word, sometimes written as Yahweh, which is the revealed name of the God of Israel. Whereas, Paul changed the subject to the Greek word, Kyrios, which means Lord or Master, and primarily is the word in the New Testament which refers to Jesus Christ.

In doing so, Paul is declaring Jesus as divine, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, while at the same time emphasising he is the Messiah, the Saviour of the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike. As he earlier states in Romans 10, verse 11: “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” Here he again quotes an Old Testament scripture, Isaiah 28:16, to reinforce the point that whoever believes in him – Jesus – is standing firm on the solid rock and precious cornerstone and will not be shaken. 

This wonderful passage, and the verses that surround it, clearly demonstrate what Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones described as, ‘The riches of God’s grace’.²  Grace extends from the Old Testament into the New: beyond God’s chosen nation Israel to encompass every nation, every tribe and every tongue, that together make up the entirety of the human race.

All those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. All those who understand what Jesus’ sacrifice means for humankind, and who follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, will live in glory for all eternity under the lordship of his Royal Majesty, Jesus.

¹  Joel 2:32
²Martyn Lloyd-Jones Sermons  https://www.mljtrust.org › sermons › the-riches-of-his-gr…

Local congregation:
Grace Communion International Central Glasgow 
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Peter Mill
Email: edinburgh@gracecom.church

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