Act_2:21 - "Whosoever" Means "Anyone."
13. Acts 2:21 - "Whosoever" Means "Anyone."
"And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
"Whosoever" means anyone who wishes to do so. The same invitation appears in two other places, Joel 2:32 and Romans 10:13. As we continue in Acts 2:1-47, we find out that Peter was speaking to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost and in Acts 2:22-23 we are told:
"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus and Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: (22) him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." (23)
How could God say they had "wicked hands" when He predestinated them to do what they did? If that were true, then it would be God Himself who had wicked hands!
Here we can see the folly of predestination. Keep in mind that Peter is addressing those Jews on the day of Pentecost who had rejected Christ and yet, in Acts 2:21, he advises this same group:
"And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Even though they had crucified Christ over a month-and-a-half previously, they could still be saved--they could still change their minds and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. As we look at Acts 2:41, we find there were about 3,000 who put their trust in Christ after hearing Peter preach.
"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Our point is simply this, if God had predestinated them to be saved--then why were they not saved when they heard Christ, Himself, preaching? Why, after all the evidence that was given to them by signs and miracles, would they not have believed that Christ was their Messiah--especially if they were predestinated to do so. In other words, they could have resisted the grace that Christ offered to them, which was--Himself, as payment for their sins. You see, they had all the proof that anyone would ever need by the miracles that were done, as Peter reminds them in Acts 2:22 of this chapter. If they were elected to be saved, then why were they not saved when hearing Christ, Himself. No, one can easily see that election to salvation is not a Biblical doctrine; but, rather a sectarian philosophy of Satanic origin.