The great news prophesied by Joel in 2:32 and preached by the apostles on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:21, is both wonderful and disturbing. Wonderful because it promises salvation to the lost; disturbing because those who read this passage do not agree on what God is telling us that we need to be doing to receive the salvation which is promised.

Since people understand and teach the meaning of this phrase differently, the question needs to be asked, what message were the New Testament writers trying to communicate?

The Bible, Old and New Testaments use the phrase "call upon" 26 times, each time the object called is deity. "Calling upon" is used only once in Acts 7:59. "Calling on" again only once is used in Acts 22:16.

From these passages we can draw some important points. First, from Psalms 145:18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. We see here that to "call upon him in truth" brings us nigh to God while any attempt to call upon him not in truth offers no such promise. Without the element of truth no amount of calling on the Lord will assure us of anything. This same sentiment is clearly stated in John 9:31 "Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth." Therefore to successfully call upon the name of the Lord requires that we be a worshipper of the Lord and God requires two things of proper worship to him stated in John 4:23 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." Therefore, to call upon the Lord requires us to worship him is spirit and in truth.

From these passages we can conclude that the phrases "call upon," "calling on," or "calling upon" are generic terms meaning proper worship to God and do not indicate the details of that worship. Of course to a true worshipper of God, one who is obedient to his commandments, this phrase can and often does simply mean prayer or the act of praying. Keep in mind, however, that the prayer of a sinner accomplishes nothing towards salvation as Acts 2 clearly points out. When sinners on that day asked "men and brethren what shall we do" were they told to pray, certainly not. Their answer was "repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." In addition to repentance and baptism, Rom 10:14 adds hearing and believing to proper calling on the Lord and according to Acts 8:37 confession that we believe Jesus is the Son of God is a requirement before baptism.

In summation, calling upon the name of the Lord means to hear the gospel, believe the gospel, repent of our sins, make the good confession of our faith and to submit to water baptism. Having done this we have called upon the name of the Lord, read Acts 22:16. Don’t call upon the Lord in vain. Be a true worshipper of the Lord and receive salvation by obeying the gospel and becomming a Christian.

Send comments or questions to the Clintwood Church of Christ, POB 746, Clintwood, Va. 24228 or E-mail me at bryanwa@ntelos.net Check out our web page at clintwoodchurchofchrist.com