Romans 10:13
Romans 10:1313for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The NWT renders this verse as "everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved," inserting "Jehovah" in place of the Greek kyrios. Since the verse quotes , where the Hebrew has the Tetragrammaton, Jehovah's Witnesses argue the insertion is a legitimate restoration of the divine name. They use this verse to reinforce that salvation comes through Jehovah, not Jesus, and that calling on Jehovah's name is essential for deliverance. The effect is to sever the verse from its immediate christological context in .
Paul's argument in forms a carefully constructed christological chain. Verse 9 declares "Jesus is Lord" (kyrios); verse 12 says "the same Lord [kyrios] is Lord of all"; verse 13 then quotes , "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord [kyrios] will be saved." The same Greek word — kyrios — runs through the entire passage, and its referent throughout is Jesus. Paul is identifying Jesus as the YHWH of Joel's prophecy. The Septuagint (translated by Jewish scholars ~250 BC) had already rendered YHWH as kyrios in , and Paul deliberately applied that divine title to Jesus. This is the "call upon the name" worship phrase that in the Old Testament belonged exclusively to Jehovah (, ) — and the NT authors transferred it to Christ, as confirms ("those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"). The NWT breaks Paul's argument by switching terms mid-paragraph: "Lord" in verses 9 and 12 but "Jehovah" in verse 13, severing the chain Paul carefully constructed.
The NWT inserts "Jehovah" at (quoting ) but retains "Lord" at verses 9 and 12, where the same Greek word kyrios refers to Jesus. Paul's argument flows from "Jesus is Lord" (v.9) through "the same Lord is Lord of all" (v.12) to "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (v.13). The NWT breaks this christological chain by switching "Lord" to "Jehovah" only at the OT quotation — the precise point where the identification of Jesus with YHWH becomes explicit. The insertion separates Jesus from YHWH in a passage where Paul is deliberately identifying them.