Calling on The Name of The Lord (Romans 10:9-15)
There are words I hear a lot in my house, “Daddy, please help me.” Those words get old sometimes, and I expect the kids to use them less and less as they get older. But I love the words because they mean that I am relied on. There may come a time in my life where my kids become self-reliant and don’t call me for help when they need to. That will make me sad.
Everyone believes in and relies on something. Perhaps it’s family members, friends, your own hard work, luck, or a sports team. We tattoo our loyalties, chase our securities, but when the real storm hits, these people and things we put our trust in will struggle to help us, if they try at all. Only one name has the power to answer: the name above all names.
That's the heartbeat of Romans 10:9-15. He's describing the cry of a soul turning to Jesus for help, not as a distant fan but as a desperate sinner willing to surrender all.
How Can We Be Saved?
To unpack this, let’s turn to one of the Bible's most used passages: Romans 10:9–13. Paul describes a beautiful, intertwined response to Jesus: inward belief that spills out in confession and calling on his name.
Romans 10:9–13 (ESV) — 9 because, 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. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
It's not about mustering superhuman strength or checking off a list—it's about trusting God to handle what we can't, a far cry from the exhausting grind of trying to earn righteousness through the law every single day. This path saves us from the wrath our sins deserve (Romans 5:9), open to anyone, anywhere.
Believing In Your Heart
Let’s take a look at belief in this text. Believe is a verb, an inward action. It is something we choose to do or to not do. Faith is something you have or don’t have. It’s a noun. You have faith when you choose to believe what you hear. Here we find the explanation of faith when he says, “Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.” He repeats for emphasis, “With the heart one believes and is justified.”
The word faith is sometimes a confusing word to people. Some think having faith simply means you believe that something is true. But faith is deeper than mental agreement. James tells us that even the demons believe and shudder, but they don’t have faith. This text shows us that saving faith is rooted in the heart. It’s about being so convinced something is true that you bet your life on it. In this case, the truth is that Jesus is who he claimed to be because God raised Him from the dead.
If you want to be justified and stand as righteous before God, you must believe in your heart that Jesus has been resurrected from the dead. If you believe this, then it should follow that the rest is true: Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
Believing in your heart is the first and most critical step. It is the point where one is counted as righteous and experiences justification. Abraham believed and was counted as righteous for that belief. Paul will go on to say that this is the critical issue with the Jews. They refuse to believe this in their hearts. The book of John is full of people who believe, but not in their hearts. The great thing about this is that it’s something everyone old enough to understand can choose to do. But we will see next how Paul doesn’t only say believe and you will be saved. He tells us to do something else. Faith is the first and most critical step, but there is another.
Confessing Jesus is the Lord
The first thing he mentioned is, “Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.” Belief obviously comes before confession. If you confess something you don’t believe, it’s of no value. But what does he mean here? Do we just say these words, “Jesus I believe you are the Lord of my life” and, abracadabra, we are saved? Some might read this in that way. But that’s not the point of what Paul is saying at all. Much like belief is given the qualifier, “In your heart.” This confession is more than merely saying words.
In Matthew 7, Jesus says, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord! Lord! Did we not cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?’ And I will pronounce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.’” Jesus is not going to be impressed by people who say certain phrases or call Him Lord.
So what is this about? Calling someone Lord is about submitting to their rule and authority, not just recognizing it. Everyone will recognize that “All power in heaven and on earth” has been given to Jesus on judgment day, “every knee will bow.” (Phil 2:9-11) So Paul isn’t just telling us to recognize Jesus is the Lord in order to be saved. It’s about accepting Jesus as Lord over all areas of our lives. We see more about this when we keep reading.
What saves?
Pause for a second and think about some ideas in this text. He says those who believe will be justified. Then, he says that confessing Jesus is Lord saves you. Then, he says everyone who calls on the name of the Lord is saved. These are different ideas, but they are all linked. They are talking about the same events. Let me explain.
Imagine a person who goes to the doctor and finds out they have cancer. They are going to die if nothing is done. But there’s good news. The doctor knows where the cancer is and it can be easily removed.
Now, we come to the first choice. Do you thank the doctor for finding this and having a plan to solve it or do you argue with him in disbelief? That act of complimenting the doctor is faith and belief that you have a problem and that he can solve it for you. Rejecting him would show the doctor that you are stubborn and defiant. He has all the facts on his side. He knows what this is and how to treat it.
Then, we have the second choice. Will you allow the doctor to surgically remove the cancer or will you go home and forget it ever happened? After you recognize that you have cancer and believe that the doctor can fix it, you have to call for him to do it. You call on his name or call on his authority to cut away your cancer and make you healthy.
This is what we must do once we believe in our hearts that Jesus is the resurrected Son of God and Lord of Lords. We must call on the name, the authority of the Lord to forgive our sins. We must humble ourselves and submit to the surgery with faith that He can cut away our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. Is that what you’ve done?
Making The Choice
It’s important for us to see salvation as a process. Paul describes it this way.
Romans 10:14–15 (ESV) — 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
It begins with someone being sent to preach. Those being sent must preach. Then the hearers must listen and believe the message in their heart. Once they believe the message, they have to call on His name, call for Jesus to save them and be the Lord of their lives.
Notice that this simple process does not include becoming a really good person. Jesus doesn’t hold back salvation until we have our lives figured out. He’s not creating hoops for us to jump through. But the act of calling on the name of the Lord does imply a willingness to change and submit to His Lordship.
The surgery we actually need is a heart transplant. If you are going to surrender yourself to Jesus, you need to surrender everything. Jesus has to become the Lord of your mind, your thoughts, and your desires. His thoughts have to become your thoughts. His ethics and values must become your own. Everything we think and do must be subject to His will and desire. When we go to work, when we speak to family or friends, when we spend our time pursuing fun things or doing work for Him, it has to be about Him. He isn’t saving us so we can go on living with a get out of jail free card. He is saving us so we can serve His purpose and bring others who are lost into the fold.
Making the choice to receive salvation is making the choice to follow Jesus, repenting of all your sins and working for His glory and praise. If we make that choice, we will find that His way is better. His thoughts are higher than ours, and his blessings are more valuable than anything we could ever earn without Him. Peter calls it an imperishable and unfading inheritance.
Have You Called On His Name?
Some of you might already believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and be working to make Him the Lord of your life. You have taken the first step on the path to salvation. Did you call on His name? You might say, "Yes, I said a prayer" or "I confessed my belief." That is good. That is what David seemed to do when he was told by Nathan that he had sinned. We can read his prayer in Psalm 51. But in the New Testament, we are told that baptism is how we “call on the name of the Lord.” When we baptize someone we say, “I baptize you ‘in the name of’ the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” or “in the name of Jesus.” Both are examples we find in the book of Acts. Both indicate we are calling on his name when we baptize. In baptism, we are appealing to God for a clean conscience (1 Peter 3:21), asking Him to wash our sins away.
In Colossians, Paul speaks about baptism being a surgery made without hands, a spiritual circumcision where God cuts away the flesh and we are raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. In baptism, Paul says we are putting our faith in the powerful working of God.
Similarly, Ananias told Paul in Acts 22:16, “Why do you wait, rise and be baptized, washing away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” If you believe, why are you waiting? Call on His name and receive the gift of the renewal that is promised in scripture. Crucify yourself and be renewed by God’s Spirit today. Have faith in Jesus and make Him the Lord of your life.
If you have already put on Christ in baptism, are you living for Him? Is there some part of your life that you haven't submitted to Him? Tell us what you need so we can help you and pray for you.