The salvation that comes from calling upon the Lord, what is it?
How does calling upon the name of the Lord save a man?
Context:
In
Romans 9-11 the Apostle Paul is dealing with the mystery of 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 enabled 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 detail 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. their spiritual well-being in this present
life.
