Rom 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The salvation that comes from calling upon the Lord, what is it?
How does calling upon the name of the Lord save?
Context:
In Romans 9-11 the Apostle Paul is dealing with the mystery why God's children among the Jews are unbelieving.
One basic on salvation:
Only those whom the Lord has saved - i.e. justified, regenerated, and adopted and given the Spirit of adoption to dwell in them - are able to call upon, and believe the Lord.
"Except a man be born again, he CANNOT..." Period. So, before a natural man is capable of performing any spiritual activity, like calling upon the name of the Lord, he must first be saved by God, freely and sovereignly, effectually called out of his native state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ. Then and only then he is capable of calling upon the name of the Lord.
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1Cor 2:14.
Believing the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the promised Messiah from God, will save them from lies, falsehood, superstitions, fables, unrighteousness, old covenant laws, etc, and the horrid destruction in AD 70 when the unbelieving ones were either slaughtered and roasted, or captured and sold as slaves by the Romans.
The salvation which the Lord wrought for us is the eternal salvation from the lake of fire. It is distinct from the temporal salvation which God's children have to work out for themselves with fear and trembling through their obedience to their Father's will for them.
God's children among the Jews in the apostolic times were in a unique situation, they were caught within the transition period between the passing of the old covenant and the establishment of the new covenant, between AD 30 and AD 70, the 40 years of reformation of the old covenant. "Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation." Heb 9:10
Many of them found it hard to move out of the old dilapidated crumbling house built through Moses (old covenant, to which there had been so accustomed) into the brand-new mansion built by the Lord Jesus Christ (new covenant which has been established by Him). Those unbelieving ones who persisted to dwell in the old house were burned and roasted when the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in AD70, just as the Lord Himself had prophesied, and His Apostles taught and warned. Many scoffed and mocked at the prophesied coming judgment in AD 70. See 2Pet 3:1-4.
The book of Hebrews deals with that subject in details in great length; the Apostle Paul demonstrating the superiority of the new covenant over the geriatric old covenant. The Hebrew believers were tempted to revert back to the old covenant. Paul warned, "You turn back, you will perish!"
The believing ones who had taken heed of the warning saved themselves (see Mt 24:15f) from that horrendous destruction in AD 70, see Mt 24:21.
Calling upon the name of the Lord will save God's children from temporal destruction, and secure temporal salvation, i.e. blessings their spiritual well being and usefulness in this present life.
