In today’s society it is far more common to hear about someone “asking Jesus to come into their heart” than it is to hear about the plan of salvation. This is a shame, because unless one fulfills all of the components of the plan of salvation one cannot be saved.
This “asking” of Jesus is often put forth as “calling on the name of the Lord.” We are indeed supposed to “call on the name of the Lord”, but in order to do so we must find out exactly what that means. Here is a verse from Acts 2 that seems to back up the fact that we simply call upon His name:
Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Peter here is talking to those at Pentecost and it seems that he has directly told them the key to salvation. But alas, just a few verses later we find that those at Pentecost asked Peter for further information. Why? It seems they must have sensed that there was a deeper aspect to this “calling on the name of the Lord.”
Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
According to most denominations Peter should have said, “I already told you what to do, call upon the name of the Lord and be saved!”
But he didn’t. This is what he said:
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, 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.
It’s pretty simple really. In the middle of this century a lot of men “called on” a girl, which mean’t a lot more than walking up to the door and saying “Hey Mary Jo!” It meant he wanted to be their suitor – possibly ending in marriage. This “calling on” would include dates, dinners, conversations, and eventually the ceremony of the wedding.
Here Peter was telling those at Pentecost (those who were ready to accept the doctrine of the New Covenant) to “call on” the Lord. They instinctively knew (as mentioned above) that this meant more than just asking Jesus to save them. This is why they then asked Peter “what shall we do?”
Yes, they sensed that calling on the Lord meant a lot more than just saying “Lord, Lord”. By the way, didn’t Jesus tell us that?
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many critics of the Bible claim that the verses that say to simply “call on the Lord” to be saved (Rom 10:13, Joel 2:32) are contradictory with what Christ said in Mat 7:21. Indeed, these verses would be contradictory if one believed that calling on the Lord was the only necessary component to salvation.
Thankfully, we know that there are multiple meanings to statements (just like the ‘calling on’ dating example above) and the rest of the Bible clearly tells us every component of the plan of salvation. If one does the research and looks over the plan of salvation put forth by the church of Christ they will come away convinced of the true pathway to heaven:
First, you need to HEAR and BELIEVE, Rev 22:17, Mark 16:16, Acts 16:31; you need to REPENT, Acts 2:38; Acts 17:30, Luke 13:3; you need to CONFESS, Mat 10:32; Rom 10:10, you need to be BAPTIZED, Gal 3:27; 1 Pet 3:21, Acts 8:38-39, Col 2:12, Eph 4:5, John 3:5, Acts 22:16, then you need to LIVE FAITHFULLY 1 Cor. 15:58; Rom 6:1-2, Rev 2:10.
We should only trust the inspired Word of God when it comes to our salvation. We should never trust man to tell us the truth on these matters – we should always check the Bible for ourselves.
Peter was a man but on Pentecost he spoke with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Today, we have that same inspiration – and it is found in the Bible. Let us always use God’s inspired Word as our compass and North Star:
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and isprofitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
