What does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord?

We do not know exactly how the family of Seth arranged their worship and called on the Name of the Lord. Genesis 4 does not give any details. Perhaps this indicates that it was done in all simplicity, without ceremony, or in the words of our Lord when He spoke with the Samaritan woman: “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). This would mean that they worshipped with sincere hearts, fully aware of their own littleness and of God's mercy and truth. It would mean that they worshipped in the power of the Spirit of God, without impressive liturgies. This is how we as Christians ought to call on the Name of the Lord. “Calling on” Him means looking away from ourselves and our weakness and expressing what we have found in Him. It means worshipping Him for all that He has done and for what He is. It implies that we realize His greatness and bow down before Him in adoration.

They call on the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is the revelation He has been pleased to make of Himself. Immanuel, Jesus, "the Lord our righteousness," Jehovah, God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost — these are among His names graciously and gloriously published by Himself. And "to call on the name of the Lord" was service or worship of God in spirit and in truth.

This was the religion of these earliest saints. It was simply the religion of faith and hope. They worshipped God, and, apart from the world, they waited in hope. "The work of faith" and "the patience of hope" are seen in them. Something of the Thessalonian spirit breathes in them. For they served the living and true God, and waited for the Son from heaven, who had already delivered them. 1 Thess. 1. To "call on the name of the Lord" is faith, and salvation, and worship. It bespeaks the standing of a saint, and his spiritual service. It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Joel 2; Rom. 10. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. Psalm 116. And such was their religion, such was their worship. It was worship in spirit. No temples, or costly carnal services, or institutions of man appear.

I make only one further remark on this verse. The calling here spoken of is not the vague cry of an uneasy conscience, but it is the cry of faith. "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst" (Matt. 8:2), is the language of petitioning faith, while as yet no clear indication of the mind of the Lord has been given. "Lord, I believe" (John 9:38), is the glad expression of the same faith, when the revelation of the truth in the person of Jesus lays the believing sinner as a willing worshipper at the feet of the Son of God. Faith lays hold of the person of Christ with the firm grasp of conscious dependence on Him alone — of utter hopelessness of help or safety, from within or from without, save only in Him. The cry, "Lord, Lord," may, alas! as we are solemnly warned, proceed from lips whose sound never came from a believing heart. But the note of true faith is, that its aim is God. Its misery is distance from Him. Its joy is in the blessed Jesus, because by His precious blood the believer is brought nigh in Him (Eph. 2:13).

The "calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" is bowing to authority in the hands of the divinely appointed Ruler. To "call upon the name of the Lord" is the pass-word of salvation; and the apostle has no thought here of a mere lip-confession, although, of course, there may in fact be many who say, "Lord, Lord," while the heart knows Him not. But he credits all with their responsible profession, and from his inmost heart he desires for all that "grace and peace" which have but one source, one channel, — our Father God, and the Lord our Saviour.

Thus salvation must be altogether of grace; and if of grace, distinctions are impossible. Here our second text comes in most blessedly. The atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus has one value for all who believe, whether Jews or Gentiles. The "no difference" doctrine angered the Jewish people deeply. Paul, as its chief exponent, was fiercely persecuted by them on this account. Even Peter, when charged to preach to Cornelius and his company, was slow to admit that the grace of God was for all alike. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Remark in passing one of the many incidental proofs of the Deity of Christ. This verse is cited from Joel 2:32, where manifestly the reference is to Jehovah; in Rom 10 it is applied to the Lord Jesus. Then He is Jehovah! Were He not, He would not possess the competency to be the Saviour of men. He is moreover "Lord over all." Thus every one must bow to Him, either now or in the great hereafter.

What is required of men in order that they might be saved? Simply to "call" upon the name of the Lord This was all Israel could do in the midst of their misery in Egypt. To shake off Pharaoh was impossible; to get rid of the taskmasters was out of the question; but they could cry to God. In like manner to-day, he who calls upon the name of the Lord, acknowledging Him thus as his only hope, will be saved. To all such He is "rich." The blessings bound up in the salvation of God are neither few nor small; no creature tongue could declare them in their blessed fullness.

[1] This expression is used several times in Acts to denote prayer (see 2:21; 9:14, 21; 15:17; 22:16), often using the term ‘calling upon the name of the Lord’ as characterising Christians. It is also used six times for ‘appealing’ to Caesar (25:11; 25:12, 21, 25; 26:32; 28:19), which conveys something of the reality and urgency of it. [2] Here is another instance demonstrating that prayer should be made to the Lord Jesus (as well as the Father) despite the misapplication by some of John 16:23. See also the comments on chapter 1:24. [3] Whilst it is true that we may pray standing, sitting or even walking, the only physical posture for prayer mentioned in Acts is kneeling, and this no less than four times (7:60; 9:40; 20:36; 21:5).

But Cain and his seed do not fill the whole scene here. The forefront they do; and history at the beginning, like all history since, has little to tell of outside their doings. Yet there is a remnant, beginning with one who, by divine appointment, takes the place of the martyred Abel. His son's name, Enos (in a day when names still had meaning), tells us of the acceptance of the humbling reality of man's condition — Enos, "frail man." And "then," we read, "men began to call on the name of Jehovah." God gets his place when man takes his. And so it ever is.

Fifthly, Abraham "called upon the Name of the LORD." This speaks of dependence upon the Lord. Whatever his needs, whatever the privations of his pilgrim journey, whatever opposition he may have to meet, whatever temptations might cross his path, he had an unfailing resource — he could call upon the Name of the Lord.

In every day of difficulty the godly find their resource in the Lord. In the day of ruin before the flood there were those who, like Cain, "went out from the presence of the LORD"; but, there were also the godly who "began… to call upon the Name of the LORD" (Gen. 4:16, 26). So in the dark days of Malachi the godly found their resource in the LORD, for we read, they "thought upon His Name" (Mal. 3:16). In the early days of the Church, believers were known as those who "called on this Name" (Acts 9:21). In the midst of their persecutions it was to the Lord that they turned. And in the midst of the ruin of these last days, we are assured that there will be still those "that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22).

Here, then, we have plain instructions for our individual path in a day of ruin. The instructions, however, do not cease with these individual directions, for, at this point, the Apostle passes from what is individual to what is collective. He tells us that these qualities are to be pursued “with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.” The words “with them” clearly bring in what is collective. This is of the deepest importance, as, without this instruction, we might ask, What Scriptural warrant have we for walking with others in a day of ruin? Here is our warrant: we are not left in isolation. There will always be others who, in a day of ruin, call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. Calling upon the Lord is the expression of dependence upon the Lord and seems specially connected with a day of departure from the Lord. In the evil days of Seth we read, “Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord.” So, too, we read of Abraham, when he came out from country, kindred and father's house, that he “called upon the Name of the Lord.” Thus we have a company who, in loyalty to the Lord, have separated from the corruptions of Christendom and, in this outside place, walk in dependence upon the Lord, and do so as having a pure heart. A pure heart is not one that claims to be pure, but rather one that, under the eye of the Lord, follows righteousness, faith, love and peace.

When we as Christians call on the Name of the Lord, this should be in agreement with God's full revelation in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not call upon God as Yahweh, the eternal I AM, as the children of Israel did. We worship Him as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. This is true Christian worship. And we also call on Christ as our Lord, as we find it for example in the first epistle to the Corinthians: “ … with all who in every place call on the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2).