and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Acts 2:21

Whatever is meant by “saved” has the condition that the person to be saved must call on the name of the Lord.  Therefore, we must conclude that in this sentence salvation is conditional.

There is only one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. I do not deny that. However, I do believe the Bible teaches multiple types of salvation.

Here are two texts that clearly show that there must be at least two salvations taught in scripture.

I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.

Isaiah 43:11

And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Acts 2:40

In Isaiah, God declares Himself the only Savior. In Acts, Peter tells the young church they can save themselves.

So which is correct?

Well, the Bible either contradicts itself or there are two different salvations under consideration here.

The key to understanding this concept is that God eternally saves His people by grace plus nothing. But here in time, God has declared that He will deliver (save) under certain conditions that we must first meet.

The context in Acts 2 is referring to a prophecy in the Book of Joel. Peter’s application of that prophecy shows that there is a natural deliverance for those in natural Jerusalem at that time. The destruction of 70 A.D. will consume those that are not obeying the Lord.  Therefore, Peter is telling them that if they believe Jesus saved them (the name of the Lord), they should call on Jesus for deliverance from the national judgment about to come upon Israel.  Those that do this will be given the direction to flee Jerusalem before Titus arrives and will therefore be delivered, saved.