Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).
For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.”
Regarding this verse the New World Translation study Bible states:
“Calling on Jehovah’s name is broad in meaning and involves more than just knowing and using God’s personal name. The expression “to call on (someone’s) name” has its background in the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul is here quoting from Joel 2:32, where the context stresses true repentance and trust in Jehovah’s forgiveness. (Joel 2:12-13) At Pentecost 33 C.E., Peter quoted the same prophecy of Joel and exhorted his listeners to repent and take action to secure Jehovah’s approval. (Acts 2:21, 38) Other contexts show that calling on God’s name involves knowing God, trusting in him, and looking to him for help and guidance. (Psalm 20:7; 99:6; 116:4; 145:18) In some contexts, calling on the name of Jehovah can mean declaring his name and qualities. (Genesis 12:8; compare Exodus 34:5, where the same Hebrew expression is rendered “declared the name of Jehovah.”) In the verse that follows Romans 10:13, Paul connects calling on God with putting faith in him.—Romans 10:14. NWT study Bible
And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, just as Jehovah has said, The survivors whom Jehovah calls.” (Joel 2:32)
However, the context of Romans chapters 9 and 10 shows that rather than needing to know and use the Tetragrammaton, and put faith in God, Paul is merely using Joel’s saving-language to point to the Lord who saves, and in Romans 10 that saving lordship is inseparable from Jesus.
Romans 9:33 states:
as it is written: “Look! I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, but the one who rests his faith on it will not be disappointed.” (Romans 9:33)
All Christians understood that it was God that was laying in Zion that stone of stumbling and that the rock of offense was Jesus. (see Isaiah 28:16)
Romans 10:4-11 states:
For Christ is the end of the Law, so that everyone exercising faith may have righteousness. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the Law: “The man who does these things will live by means of them.” But the righteousness resulting from faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ that is, to bring Christ down, or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your own mouth and in your own heart”; that is, “the word” of faith, which we are preaching. For if you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation. For the scripture says: “No one who rests his faith on him will be disappointed.” (Romans 10:4-11)
It was prophesied that all nations would rest their hope on Jesus.
“Look! My servant whom I chose, my beloved, whom I have approved! I will put my spirit upon him, and what justice is he will make clear to the nations. He will not quarrel nor cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the main streets. No bruised reed will he crush, and no smoldering wick will he extinguish, until he brings justice with success. Indeed, in his name nations will hope.” (Matthew 12:18-21)
He was given the name of his father, meaning he was his father’s representative, . (John 17:12; Philippians 2:9-11)
Hence it is not surprising to see, according to 1 Corinthians 1:2, that first century Christians were known for calling upon his name.
In early Christianity, “calling on the name of the Lord” meant invoking the Lord in prayer, worship, appeal, and allegiance, not merely pronouncing a sacred syllable. In the New Testament it also functions as a marker of Christian identity and trust in Jesus as Lord.
The phrase comes from the Hebrew Bible, where it means to appeal to God, worship him publicly, and seek his help. That older usage provides the backdrop for Acts and Romans, so the early Christians were inheriting a familiar biblical idiom.
In the New Testament, especially Acts 2:21, Acts 22:16, and Romans 10:13, the phrase is tied to salvation, baptism, and confessing Jesus as Lord. The emphasis is on calling upon the Lord with faith and submission, not on exact pronunciation of the divine name.
Because Jesus is identified as Lord, “calling on his name” became a way of describing prayer and worship directed to him, as well as public identification with his people. That is why early believers could be described as “those who call on this name”.
It does not appear to mean that Christians had to recover or pronounce a particular Hebrew form of the divine name in order to be saved. The focus is relational and covenantal: trusting, worshiping, and submitting to the Lord who saves.
So the best summary is: to call on the name of the Lord is to invoke him in faith, worship, and obedience, seeking salvation and publicly belonging to him.
Peter also quoted Joel’s prophecy:
And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.”’ (Acts 2:21)
The Jews, who already knew God’s name, now needed to recognize Jesus as God’s representative, his Messiah.
Peter said to them: “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit. (Acts 2:38)
So placing the name Jehovah in Romans 10:13 really misleads the reader and obscures the role that Jesus plays, that it is important to call upon him as God’s representative.
So the New World Translation note is right that “calling on a name” in biblical usage can mean trusting, appealing to, and worshiping the one named, not just pronouncing a word. It is also right that Romans 10:9–14 links salvation to faith, confession, and proclamation, so the idea is relational and covenantal, not merely phonetic.
But the claim that “Jehovah is the Lord mentioned at Romans 10:13” is interpretive. Many scholars and Christian interpreters read the verse in light of Romans 10:9–11 as referring to Jesus as Lord, while also echoing Joel’s language about the saving Lord in the Old Testament. So it is not merely a matter of “Romans needed to call Jehovah’s name”; the immediate context strongly connects the saving appeal with Christ’s lordship.