Acts 2:21

Act_2:21

Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Salvation

I. Its nature.

1. Deliverance from--

(1) The guilt of sin.

(2) The power of sin.

(3) The punishment of sin.

2. Deliverance to--

(1) Acceptance with God.

(2) Conquest of evil.

(3) Heaven.

II. Its Condition. Calling on the name of the Lord, involving--

1. A sense of helplessness. A man in the water will not cry if he can wade to dry land, but only when he feels in danger of drowning without assistance.

2. A conviction of His power to help on whom we call. A beggar will not waste time in asking alms of another beggar; a sick man will scarcely rouse himself to seek medical help from one in the same condition.

3. An assurance that He on whom we call will help us when we call. This is faith. The call should be earnest and persevering.

III. Its score. Whosoever.

1. Poor as well as rich.

2. Ignorant as well as learned.

3. Bad as well as good. What an encouragement to convinced sinners, Sunday-school teachers, preachers, and missionaries. (J. W. Burn.)

Calling on Christ

There is a story concerning the father of Thomas a Becket, who went into the crusades and was taken prisoner by the Saracens. While a prisoner, a Turkish lady loved him, and when he was set free and returned to England, she took an opportunity of following him. But she knew not where to find him she loved: and all she knew about him was that his name was Gilbert. She determined to go through all the streets of England crying the name of Gilbert till she found him. She came to London first, and passing every street persons were surprised to see aa Eastern maiden crying, Gilbert! Gilbert! And so she passed from town to town, till one day as she pronounced the name the ear for which it was intended caught the sound, and they became happy. And so, sinner, to-day thou knowest little perhaps of religion, but thou knowest the name of Jesus. Take up the cry as thou goest along the streets, and say to thy heart, Jesus! Jesus! And when thou art in the chamber, say it still, Jesus! Jesus! Continue the cry and it shall reach the ear for which it was meant. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The secret cry to God

Some years ago a young man was going home one night from the house of business in which he was engaged. The thought occurred to him that he was becoming more careless each year about his souls salvation, and that he would soon become utterly hardened. And he said to himself, Why should this be? Why not seek the Lord now? So he lifted up his cry secretly as he walked through the street, Lord, forgive me, and help me to love and serve Thee. The Holy Spirit, to whose voice he was then listening, inspired the cry for mercy; and the prayer thus offered was answered. The sleeper was awakened, and Christ gave him life. Let your conduct be like that young mans, for the Holy Spirit is calling you now. If hitherto you have rejected the message, now determine to hear and obey it. An effectual cry:--I heard of two millers who used to keep the old mill going day and night, and at midnight one miller would go down the stream, pull his boat up two or three yards above the dam, and the other miller would come along the other way. One night the miller was going down as usual, and he fell asleep, and when he awoke, it was the water over the dam that woke him. He knew that if he went over he would be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. He seized his oars and he tried to pull back, but he found that it was too late. But he got hold of a little twig between the rocks. It began to give way; and if that twig had come away he would have been swept over the dam and lost; but there was just enough strength in the root to hold him; and so he sat there in that boat and held on, and he cried, Help! help! help! and he kept crying, until at last the cry of distress was heard by the brother miller, and he found out the situation, and he got a rope and threw it, and the man let go of the twig and laid hold of the rope, and they pulled him out of the jaws of death. He saved his life because it was an honest cry for help. And there is not a man or woman in this house to-night but that shall be eternally saved if he or she will send the cry up to heaven, Lord, help me. Lord, remember me. Lord, save me, or I perish. It shall come to pass that whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Put the promise to the test. (J. McNeill.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 2:21. [Πᾶς, every one) All men of this kind, and they alone.—V. g.]—ἐπικαλέσηται, shall invoke, shall call upon) All kinds (species) of prayers are included in this word. Melancthon especially delighted in the term invocation. [Such an invocation is meant as is made in spirit.—V. g.]—σωθήσεται, shall be saved, shall be made safe) shall escape all penalties; shall attain to blessedness. [Even in the very end, which shall be so terrible to the whole creation. V. g.] Luk 21:36.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_2:21. And every one who shall have invoked the name of the Lord,this Peter wishes to be understood, according to the sense of the prophetic fulfilment, of the invocation of Christ (relative worship: see on Act_7:59; Rom_10:12; Php_2:10; 1Co_1:2); just as he would have the σωθήσεται understood, not of any sort of temporal deliverance, but of the saving deliverance of the Messianic kingdom (Act_4:12, Act_15:11), which Jesus on His return will found; and hence he must now (Act_2:22-36) demonstrate Jesus the crucified and risen and exalted one, as the Lord and Messiah (Act_2:36). And how undauntedly, concisely, and convincingly he does so! A first fruit of the outpouring of the Spirit.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 2:21 . ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα , the usual LXX rendering of a common Hebrew phrase. The expression is derived from the way in which prayers addressed to God begin with the invocation of the divine name, Psa 3:2 ; Psa 6:2 , etc., and a similar phrase is found in classical writers, ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τοὺς θεούς , Xen., Cyr. , vii., 1, 35; Plat., Tim. , p. 27, c.; Polyb., xv., 1, 13. From this it was an easy step to use the phrase as meaning the worshippers of the one God, Gen 4:26 ; Gen 12:8 , 2Ki 5:4 . It is therefore significant that the Christian converts at Corinth are described by the same phrase, 1Co 1:2 . But just as in Rom 10:12 this same prophecy of Joel is beyond all doubt referred by St. Paul to the Lord Jesus, so here the whole drift of St. Peter’s speech, that the same Jesus who was crucified was made both Lord and Christ, points to the same conclusion, Act 2:36 . In Joel Κύριος is undoubtedly used of the Lord Jehovah, and the word is here transferred to Christ. In its bearing on our Lord’s Divinity this fact is of primary importance, for it is not merely that the early Christians addressed their Ascended Lord so many times by the same name which is used of Jehovah in the LXX although it is certainly remarkable that in 1 Thess. the name is applied to Christ more than twenty times but that they did not hesitate to refer to Him the attributes and the prophecies which the great prophets of the Jewish nation had associated with the name of Jehovah, Zahn, Skizzen aus dem Leben der alten Kirche , pp. 8, 10, 16 (1894), and for the force of the expression, ἐπικ . τὸ ὄνομα , in 1Co 1:2 , see Harnack, History of Dogma , i., p. 29, E.T. ὃς ἂν ἐποκ ., “whosoever”: it would seem that in St. Peter’s address the expression does not extend beyond the chosen people; cf. Act 5:36 . σωθήσεται : to the Jew salvation would mean safety in the Messianic kingdom, and from the penalties of the Messianic judgment; for the Christian there would be a partial fulfilment in the flight of the believers to Pella for safety when the Son of Man came in the destruction of Jerusalem; but the word carries our thoughts far beyond any such subordinate fulfilment to the fulness of blessing for body and soul which the verb expresses on the lips of Christ; cf. Luk 7:50 . And so St. Luke places in the forefront of Acts as of his Gospel the thought of Jesus not only as the Messiah, but also as the Σωτήρ , Luk 2:14 ; cf. Psalms of Sol. , Act 4:2 (Ryle and James).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The chiefest use of all the gifts of the holy Ghost, is to bring men to salvation by faith.

This word, Call on, signifieth in holy Scriptures, an earnest praying and craving for help at God’s hand.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved--This points to the permanent establishment of the economy of salvation, which followed on the breaking up of the Jewish state.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.] The predicted ruin is now impending; and only such as receive the Gospel of the Son of God shall be saved. And that none but the Christians did escape, when God poured out these judgments, is well known; and that ALL the Christians did escape, not one of them perishing in these devastations, stands attested by the most respectable authority. See Clarke on Mt 24:13.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. Whosoever shall call upon An excellent place. For as God doth prick us forward like sluggish asses, with threatenings and terrors to seek salvation, se, after that he hath brought darkness upon the face of heaven and earth, yet doth he show a means whereby salvation may shine before our eyes, to wit, if we shall call upon him. For we must diligently note this circumstance. If God should promise salvation simply, it were a great matter; but it is a far greater when as he promiseth the same amidst manifold dungeons of death. Whilst that (saith he) all things shall be out of order, and the fear of destruction shall possess all things, only call upon me, and ye shall be saved. Therefore, howsoever man be swallowed up ill the gulf of miseries, yet is there set before him a way to escape. We must also note the universal word, whosoever For God admitteth all men unto himself without exception, and by this means doth he invite them to salvation, as Paul gathereth in the tenth chapter to the Romans, and as the prophet had set it down before,

“Thou, Lord, which hearest the prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come,” (Psalm 65:2.)

Therefore, forasmuch as no man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men; neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief. I speak of all unto whom God doth make himself manifest by the gospel. But like as those which call upon the name of the Lord are sure of salvation, so we must think that, without the same, we are thrice miserable and undone. And when as our salvation is placed in calling upon God, there is nothing in the mean season taken from faith, forasmuch as this invocation is grounded on faith alone. There is also another circumstance no less worthy the noting; in that the prophet doth signify, that the calling upon God doth properly appertain and agree unto the last days. For although he would be called upon in all ages, notwithstanding, since that he showed himself to be a Father in Christ, we have the more easy access unto him. Which thing ought both the more to embolden us, and to take from us all sluggishness. As he himself doth also reason, that by this privilege our forwardness to pray is doubled to us: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; ask, and ye shall receive;” as if he should say, theretofore, although I did not yet appear to be a mediator and advocate in the faith, yet did ye pray; but now, when you shall have me to be your patron, with how much more courage ought ye to do that?

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(21) Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord . . .—Singularly enough, the precise phrase, to “call upon” God, common as it is in the Old Testament, does not occur in the Gospels. With St. Luke and St. Paul it is, as it were, a favourite word (Act_7:59; Act_9:14; Rom_10:12; 1Co_1:2). Its Greek associations gave to the “invoking” which it expressed almost the force of an appeal from a lower to a higher tribunal. (Comp. Act_25:11; Act_25:21; Act_25:25.) Here the thought is that that Name of the Eternal, invoked by the prayer of faith, was the one sufficient condition of deliverance in the midst of all the terrors of the coming day of the Lord.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. shall be saved] Eusebius (H. E. iii. 5. 3) tells how the Christians were warned to leave Jerusalem before the destruction, and went into a city of Perea called Pella.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it shall come to pass,.... Even at that time, when these signs shall appear, and the destruction is hastening on, that

whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord; shall believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with the heart, and shall confess him with the mouth, and shall worship him in Spirit and in truth, and submit to all his ordinances and commands; for invocation of the Lord includes the whole of worship, internal and external:

shall be saved; or delivered from that temporal destruction which came upon the Jews, as the Christians were by removing from Jerusalem to Pella, as they were directed (u); and shall be saved with a spiritual and everlasting salvation by Jesus Christ; see Gill on Rom 10:13.

(u) Vid. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Ver. 21. Shall be saved] Therefore to be able to pray is better than to be able to prophesy, Mat 7:22.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whosoever shall call - In the midst of these wonders and dangers, whosoever should call on the Lord should be delivered (Joel). The name of the Lord is the same as the Lord himself. It is a Hebraism, signifying to call on the Lord, Psa 79:6; Zec 13:9.

Shall be saved - In Hebrew, shall be delivered, that is, from impending calamities. When they threaten, and God is coming forth to judge them, it shall be that those who are characterized as those who call on the Lord shall be delivered. This is equally true at all times. It is remarkable that no Christians perished in the siege of Jerusalem. Though more than a million of Jews perished, yet the followers of Christ who were there, having been warned by him, when they saw the signs of the Romans approaching, withdrew to Aelia, and were preserved. So it shall be in the day of judgment. All whose character it has been that “they called on God” will then be saved. While the wicked will then call on the rocks and the mountains to shelter them from the Lord, those who have invoked his favor and mercy will find deliverance. The use which Peter makes of this passage is this: Calamities were about to come; the day of judgment was approaching; they were passing through the last days of the earth’s history, and therefore it became them to call on the name of the Lord, and to obtain deliverance from the dangers which impended over the guilty. There can be little doubt that Peter intended to apply this to the Messiah, and that by the name of the Lord he meant the Lord Jesus. See 1Co 1:2. Paul makes the same use of the passage, expressly applying it to the Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 10:13-14. In Joel, the word translated “Lord” is יהוה Yahweh, the incommunicable and unique name of God; and the use of the passage before us in the New Testament shows how the apostles regarded the Lord Jesus Christ, and proves that they had no hesitation in applying to him names and attributes which could belong to no one but God.

This verse teaches us:

1. That in prospect of the judgments of God which are to come, we should make preparation. We shall be called to pass through the closing scenes of this earth; the time when the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, and when the great day of the Lord shall come.

2. It is easy to be saved. All that God requires of us is to call upon him, to pray to him, and he will answer and save. If people will not do so easy a thing as to call on God, and ask him for salvation, it is obviously proper that they should be cast off. The terms of salvation could not be made plainer or easier. The offer is wide, free, universal, and there is no obstacle but what exists in the heart of the sinner.

And from this part of Peter’s vindication of the scene on the day of Pentecost we may learn also:

1. That revivals of religion are to be expected as a part of the history of the Christian church. He speaks of God’s pouring out his Spirit, etc., as what was to take place in the last days, that is, in the indefinite and large tract of time which was to come, under the administration of the Messiah. His remarks are by no means limited to the day of Pentecost. They are as applicable to future periods as to that time; and we are to expect it as a part of Christian history, that the Holy Spirit will be sent down to awaken and convert people.

2. This will also vindicate revivals from all the changes which have ever been brought against them. All the objections of irregularity, extravagance, wildfire, enthusiasm, disorder, etc., which have been alleged against revivals in modern times, might have been brought with equal propriety against the scene on the day of Pentecost. Yet an apostle showed that that was in accordance with the predictions of the Old Testament, and was an undoubted work of the Holy Spirit. If that work could be vindicated, then modern revivals may be. If that was really liable to no objections on these accounts, then modern works of grace should not be objected to for the same things. And if that excited deep interest in the apostles; if they felt deep concern to vindicate it from the charge brought against it, then Christians and Christian ministers now should feel similar solicitude to defend revivals, and not be found among their revilers, their calumniators, or their foes. There will be enemies enough of the work of the Holy Spirit without the aid of professed Christians, and that man possesses no enviable feelings or character who is found with the enemies of God and his Christ in opposing the mighty work of the Holy Spirit on the human heart.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

That he may prepare thus a people for the Lord, the apostle shows by what means they and we may escape. Pray in faith unto him. The name is that whereby any one is known; and the Lord’s name is his attributes, goodness, power, wisdom, faithfulness, &c.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe, Pro 18:10.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. Shall be saved—And this for his listeners the truest glory of the notable day. It is a day of an offered Saviour, and all these signs are proclamations of a day for men to repent, and accept him of whom the prophets spake.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be for come to pass, A.V.

The common salvation.

"And it shall be," etc.

I WHAT IT IS.

1. Salvation, both present and eternal, in the great day of the Lord; amid the terrors of judgment.

2. Spiritual life, given by God, given to all and of every condition, manifested in the life and in the character, opening the eyes of the soul to Divine realities and future glories; flesh receives it, and is made spiritual; a new creation is pledged by it; flesh lifted up into the immortality of heaven.

3. Salvation through the Name of the Lord, wrought by him, illustrated by the wonderful facts of his history, secured by his infinite merit.

II THE SIMPLE CONDITION. "Call on the Name of the Lord;" another description of faith in Old Testament language, including:

1. The soul"s cry for help in the sense of sin and misery; call as one dying.

2. Apprehension of the Savior. The name is the person, the character, the claim, the authority, the promise.

3. Prayerful consecration in response to the Divine grace. The day of salvation is light around us. We accept the light as the light of life.

4. Universality of the proclamationwhosoever. " The spiritual gifts are not poured out upon all, but the moving of a new life is the invitation to growth in grace. The words of Joel remind us that there are special crises of opportunity, which it is awful sin to slight. Where many are "calling on the Lord," shall we be dumb? "Who shall abide the day of his coming? R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But - whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord - This expression implies the whole of religion, and particularly prayer uttered in faith; shall be saved - From all those plagues; from sin and hell.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

saved

(See Scofield "Rom 1:16").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

TIME OF WAITING

21. “And it shall come to pass that whosoever may call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” If the Pentecostians had proved true to the wonderful enduement of the Holy Ghost, they might have peregrinated the whole known world and preached the gospel to every nation, in which case the Lord would have returned to the earth before that generation had all passed away (Mat 14:24; Mat 16:28.) But like humanity in all ages, they failed. Man has always been a failure and always will be. He failed in Eden, winding up with the Fall; he failed in antediluvian times, swept away by the righteous judgments of the flood; he failed in the Patriarchal dispensation, landing in Egyptian slavery; he failed in the Mosaic dispensation, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies and the dispersing of the Jews to the ends of the earth; he also failed in the Savior’s ministry, blindly rejecting and crucifying Him. The prophecies are equally explicit as to his egregious failure in the Gospel dispensation, plunging blindly and precipitately into the horrors of the great Tribulation. Is not this very discouraging? Does it not prove that the plan of salvation is a failure? To both of these questions we respond an emphatic negative. The plan of salvation is a glorious success to all who willingly appreciate it. The very fact of man’s failure in all dispensations, and under all environments, is the grandest incentive conceivable, inspiring all truly and intelligently awakened souls to abandon humanity, world without end, and sink into God. Man never was created for independency. Hence whenever he undertakes it, failure and calamity inevitably supervene. When the Pentecostal generation failed to preach the gospel to every nation, a period came on, designated

“the time of waiting.” Meanwhile the Son is waiting on the Father to verify His promise, “Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy enemies thy footstool” (Act 2:34.) At the same time the Son is waiting on the Church to preach the gospel of the kingdom to every nation (Mat 24:14); while the Church at the same time is anxiously watching and waiting the return of her divine Spouse, who flew up to heaven from Mt. Olivet.

During this period of waiting, in which the Father alone knows the end and the time of our Lord’s return, the commandment is repeated, rigid and explicit: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man cometh.” In this twenty first verse, we have a terse, clear and beautiful revelation of the gracious economy during the time of waiting. In our hurried rush to evangelize every nation on the globe, we have no time to bother with human ecclesiasticisms. They are utterly out of harmony with gospel expedition and New Testament simplicity. What do you mean by human ecclesiasticisms? I mean the human appropriation of the divine ecclesia. This word used by the Holy Ghost simply means the souls He has called out from this wicked world and separated unto God. The Holy Ghost Himself in regeneration and sanctification brings the New Testament church into existence, Himself organizing the same with bishops, i. e., pastors, elders, and deacons. The human usurpation of the ecclesia has girdled the world with popery, prelacy, and priestcraft, locking the nations in the Briarian arms of spiritual Babylon and dumping millions into hell. In this verse, oh! how beautifully, simply and unmistakably does the Holy Ghost define the gospel economy and the plan of salvation: “Whosoever may call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” So what are we to do? Why! simply go to the ends of earth and prevail on the people to “call on the name of the Lord,” i. e., to pray to God. All who fall in line, begin to pray and keep on to the end of probation, fly right up to heaven, as God’s Word is infallible as Himself. Instead of all the Christians on the globe running to the ends of the earth, preaching Jesus and getting all the people to pray, we have the nations humbugged by intriguing priests and tyrannized by ecclesiastical laws unheard of in the Bible. The apostles were “unlearned and ignorant men” (Act 4:13). Yet they were fully competent to the great work of the gospel ministry. Instead of wearing out your nerves, eyes and brain by poring over dry-boned theology, get the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, and run like Samson’s foxes, preaching hell- fire to sinners till you get them all on their knees praying to God to save them from the burning pit. At the same time preach heavenly fire to Christians till you get them all on their knees crying to God for the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire to sanctify them for heaven.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 19

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, etc. To turn to the Lord for salvation in his appointed way. It means far more than simply prayer. He who would call on the name of the Lord for salvation must do more than say, “Lord, Lord, open unto us.” He must hear and obey (Matt. 7:21).

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

21. σωθήσεται. Eusebius (H. E. III. 5. 3) tells how the Christians were warned to leave Jerusalem before its destruction, and went into a city of Perea called Pella.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.