Salvation in the Bible is not based on a magical formula or superstitious name-calling. In Scripture, “name” usually stands for a person’s character, mission, and authority.
In the Old Testament, a name can express who it is (Gen 27:36; 1 Sam 25:25), reputation (Gen 11:4; 2 Sam 8:13), authorized agency (“speaking in someone’s name,” 1 Sam 25:9; 1 Kgs 21:8), or ownership/claim (“calling a name over” something, 2 Sam 12:28). The same idea applies when calling on the Name of the one God.
In Psalm 54 David prays, “Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your power” (Ps 54:1). In Hebrew parallelism, “Your name” corresponds to “Your power,” showing that vindication is God’s work, not ours (Ps 54:5–7). Judgment belongs to God, and our response is trust, thanks, and worship “to Your name, O Yahweh, for it is good.”
Jesus takes up this OT “name” principle when he teaches us to pray:
“Our Father in heaven, may Your name be held in honor. May Your Kingdom come. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:9–10).
Honoring the Father’s Name means honoring Him as our Father, looking forward to His coming Kingdom when His will, power, will rule this world.
In John 17, Jesus says, “I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave me out of the world” (John 17:6), and prays, “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given me… While I was with them, I kept them in Your name which You have given me” (John 17:11–12). “Your name” here means the Father’s revealed character and protective authority, entrusted to the Son as His representative. The one God—the Father—remains the ultimate source; the Messiah His one and only appointed channel.
This same structure appears in Jesus’ teaching on prayer:
“If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).
“Whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you… Ask and you will receive” (John 16:23–24).
Jesus does not mean spiritual power lies in the exact vocalization of “Jesus” or “Yeshua.” To pray “in Jesus’ name” is to approach the Father on the basis of Jesus’ person, teaching, and mission. The Father, “the only true God” (John 17:3), chooses to work through the name of His anointed human Son because “there is one God and one mediator between that one God and humanity, Messiah Jesus, who is himself human” (1 Timothy 2:5).
After his resurrection, Jesus summarizes the church’s mission so “that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). Forgiveness, which belongs to God alone (Isa 43:11), is now found in His Son, "in his name," because God has invested that authority to this one person.
Likewise, Jesus says "signs will accompany those who have believed in my name…” (Mark 16:17). Hence, the Apostles are amazed and say to Jesus:
“Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (Luke 10:17) meaning by the authority God has uniquely invested in the person of His Son.
At Pentecost, Peter applies Joel 2 to Jesus:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the lord [Messiah] will be saved” (Acts 2:21), and commands to “repent and be baptized…in the name of Jesus Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).
Acts 4:12 sums it up:
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”
Thus the church is defined as those “who in every place call on the name of our lord Jesus Messiah” (1 Corinthians 1:2), and church discipline is carried out “in the name of our Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:4; cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:6).
So in Psalm 54, salvation is “by Your name,” Yahweh’s name; in Acts, salvation is by the name of Jesus Messiah—by the authority God has given him. The one true God has not ceased to be the only Savior (Isaiah 43:11); He has made Jesus “both lord and Messiah” (Acts 2:36) and now saves through the one man He raised from the dead (Romans 10:9–13).
The apostles and early church use Jesus’ name to:
Preach and offer salvation – Acts 2:21, 38; 4:10–12; Romans 10:13
Baptize – Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; 22:16
Heal and cast out demons – Acts 3:6, 16; 4:30; 16:18; 19:13
Issue commands and discipline – 1 Corinthians 1:10; 5:4; 2 Thessalonians 3:6
Frame thanksgiving, worship, and daily life – Ephesians 5:20; Col 3:17
Describe suffering and mission – Acts 5:41; 15:26; 21:13; 1 Pet 4:14; 3 John 7
This is why baptism and discipleship are bound up with Jesus’ name. To be baptized “in the name of Jesus Messiah” is to come under his authority—just as, in the OT, having a name called over something marked it as claimed (2 Samuel 12:28). So that Paul can later say:
“You belong to Messiah, and Messiah belongs to God.” (1 Corinthians 3:23).
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