Romans 10:13
King James Version
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Does this mean that everyone who has ever called upon the name of Jesus will be saved?
We do not save ourselves. God saves us. We are dead people, before that point! Dead people can't make choices!
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this worldand of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." Eph 2:1-6
So, just calling on the Lord is not enough! God must call us. Then, we call upon him! If a person who is unsaved calls upon the name of the Lord, are they truly believing in God? Plus, what do other scripture in say? And not just in Scripture, but more specifically, what do the verses around Roman's 10:13 say?
You simply cannot pull one verse out of context, then say Romans 10:13 says anyone who calls upon the Lord willl be saved. IN CONTEXT, Romans 10 is a great chapter about salvation. Romans is a systematic treatise in the nature of salvation. The entire purpose of Romans is to lay out a clear understanding of salvation. So, one verse, must be read in light of the verses around it, the passage, but all of Roman's 10, and all of Romans.
Only a few verses earlier, Paul says:
"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." Roman's 10:9-10
So, there is another condition! You must declare with your mouth is first. Any unsaved person can do that. But the next phrase, "you must believe in your heart!" Why? Because the heart believes, the mouth justifies.
So verse 13 in Roman's 10, is declaring again, that we must confess Jesus with our mouths. But, if we don't believe with our hearts, all the confessing in the world will not save us.
My general piece of advice to anyone who has questions like this about a verse like this, the way to go about it, is to read the whole passage or chapter. So read all of Romans 10. Then you would have seen on your own, that without belief, which is truly a gift of God, no one is saved. Confessing or saying something you don't believe does not save you. That is how to correctly interpret any passage. Look at the verses around us. Remember that the verses were added by Stephanie, over a 1000 years after they were put to the Greek and Hebrew texts. And sometimes, the verses aren't divided in the right place. Originally, in Koine Greek, it was just all one flowing piece of writing! Paul was writing about, how to be saved.
But from personal experience, I witnessed and prayed for my parents salvation from the time I was saved in 1980. In seminary, around 2010, I was taking evangelism. One of our assignments was to witness to 3 people. I chose my parents, because they weren't saved. I gave them my testimony. That was very eye opening to my father, because he had seen such a huge change in my life, and he understood that I felt that Jesus had changed me. Which he had! He even told me to hold onto my religious beliefs because they had helped me. Well, it was never about me holding into my beliefs, but rather Jesus and the Holy Spirit holding onto me! But my father chose not to pray with me to accept Christ. Why? Because he knew in his heart, he didn't believe.
My mom did chose to confess with her mouth. But she didn't believe either. And I always knew in my heart, that despite her calling in the name of the Lord, she did not believe. And not believing, made her words null & void. My father got very sick with heart disease in 2011. He had an incident in the hospital where he almost died. He was scared. He knew he didn't know where he would go if he died. So, my husband & I explained the gospel. I told him about Jesus dying in the cross for our sins. My husband told him about the need for repentance. He praying, confessed Christ. But at that moment, God gave him
the faith to believe. He was truly saved. After that, he told every one he met in the hospital about Jesus. He told me they didn't know about Jesus. His transformation was amazing! From an atheist to a believer who believed. He died 5 months after that. I read him the Bible daily, played Christian hymns for him, and prayed with him every day till he passed away. I know he is with Jesus!
My mom is now 93 and dying. She has told my sister & I that she doesn't believe in God. She is not interested in God. So, despite her calling upon the Lord 13 years earlier, she is not saved. Not a Christian. Doesn't believe! This grieves me terribly. But it is not up to me. It is between her & God. She has rejected Jesus, and his atoning work on the cross! Calling upon God was not enough without believing in Christ!
I hope that answers your question!