To call (on)/name
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G1941 can mean to call or name someone, call upon or invoke a person, make a solemn appeal, or exercise a legal appeal. Acts uses it for surnames and identifying names, for calling on the Lord, and repeatedly for Paul's appeal to Caesar.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐπικαλέομαι (G1941) · Open the biblical lexicon
G1941 can mean to call or name someone, call upon or invoke a person, make a solemn appeal, or exercise a legal appeal. Acts uses it for surnames and identifying names, for calling on the Lord, and repeatedly for Paul's appeal to Caesar.
The BSB source-word alignment has 30 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include called (4), is called (3), [who] call on (2), appealed (2), call (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 10:25. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (20), Romans (3), 1 Corinthians (1), 1 Peter (1).
G1941 can mean to call or name someone, call upon or invoke a person, make a solemn appeal, or exercise a legal appeal. Acts uses it for surnames and identifying names, for calling on the Lord, and repeatedly for Paul's appeal to Caesar. Paul calls God as witness in 2 Corinthians 1:23. Romans, Corinthians, 2 Timothy, and 1 Peter use it in contexts of calling on God or the Lord, while Hebrews and James speak of a name being called over people.
The verb does not always mean prayer and does not make spoken words a saving mechanism. Speaker, object, legal or relational setting, and surrounding response govern each use.
The thirty-one governed forms fall into four connected but distinct groups: naming or being called by a name, invoking or calling upon the Lord, legal appeal to Caesar, and solemn appeal to God as witness. Acts contains all three of the first groups. Romans 10 and Acts 2 join calling on the Lord with the gospel promise, but Romans also places hearing, preaching, believing, and confession around that call.
Other passages identify believers as people who call on the Lord. Legal and naming uses prevent the verb from becoming a technical prayer term in every occurrence.
Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus
The passive form supplies an identifying name. It is an ordinary naming use, not prayer or invocation.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved
Peter cites Joel inside his Pentecost proclamation. The call belongs to the gospel setting and must not be reduced to repeated wording.
While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit
Stephen directly calls upon Jesus in the moment of death, with the content of his appeal stated.
I appeal to Caesar
Paul invokes his legal right of appeal. The same verb can describe juridical recourse rather than worship.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved
Paul places the promise within a sequence involving the proclaimed message, hearing, believing, confession, and calling.
Together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
Calling on Jesus' name characterizes the wider sanctified community to whom the church belongs.
I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you
Paul makes a solemn appeal to God concerning his pastoral decision. This is not a general authorization for manipulative oath-taking.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God
The passive naming construction describes God being called their God within the pilgrimage and promise context.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. To call upon in prayer or invocation; to appeal to someone for help or authority.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 32 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseI call by an additional name, appeal to
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this verb appears across 21 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Representative Scripture witnesses for this entry: passage, original form, and sense in context.
ἐπικαλέομαι is built from these roots:
Expresses personal trust and appeal to the Lord for salvation.Acts 22:6-16
Formal invocation of Roman legal right.Acts 25:1-12
The verb's range protects gospel teaching from mechanical language. Acts and Romans proclaim salvation for those who call on the Lord, yet the surrounding passages speak of the Spirit's outpouring, repentance, proclamation, hearing, believing, and confession. The call is a dependent response to the revealed Lord, not a magical sound sequence. Acts also uses the same verb for people's surnames and for Paul's appeal to Caesar, proving that context must identify the act.
Second Corinthians presents a solemn appeal to God as witness, while Hebrews and James use naming constructions. A preacher can therefore invite people to call on Christ with genuine faith and dependence without promising salvation through repetition detached from the gospel. The same range also illuminates Christian identity: believers are described as those who call on Jesus together and pursue righteousness with others who call from a pure heart.
Acts.2.21
G1941 occurs in active, middle, and passive forms. Middle forms frequently express calling upon or appealing, while passive forms often describe being called by a name. These patterns are helpful but not mechanical; the object, complement, and legal or devotional context remain decisive.
Acts and Romans explicitly take up Joel's promise concerning those who call on the Lord. The Old Testament also uses naming to mark identity and covenant belonging and records legal or solemn appeals. Those canonical patterns illuminate the range, but direct G1941 claims remain governed by the thirty-one New Testament forms.