Acts 4:1–12

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the morrow, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the morrow their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Healing with Global Effects

In chapter 3 the risen Jesus heals a man through the faith and words of Peter and John. The man had been lame from birth, but he gets up and runs through the temple praising God. A crowd gathers and Peter preaches. As he preaches, you hear that what is at stake here is not a merely a local religious phenomenon. It has to do with everybody in the world.

Peter says: the Jesus who healed this man is “the Author of life” (3:15); he was raised from the dead by God (3:15); he is the fulfillment of 1,500-year-old prophecy (3:22); he is waiting now in heaven until the time when he will come and restore all things to what God meant them to be (3:21); and in the meantime “all the families of the earth are to be blessed” through him (3:25)—including families from Iraq and Saudi Arabia and Israel and America and the USSR. This little out of the way healing that took place in Jerusalem has global significance. Jesus is the Author of all life and the Lord of the universe.

Peter and John Arrested and Interrogated

The priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came and arrested Peter and John and put them into custody overnight. They were angry because Peter and John were telling everybody that Jesus was alive and that they could rise from the dead too if they believed in Jesus.

“By what power or by what name did you do this [that is, heal this man]?” Peter moves again from the local to the universal. Verse 10: “Be it known to you all,” Peter says, “that by the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well.”

“God raised him from the dead.” This is no longer just a local deal. Because God is not local, He is universal. God knows everything and is everywhere and runs the world. If God took note of this man and raised him from the dead, then there is something very non-local, non-provincial, something very global about who he is and what he does.

Peter quotes Psalm 118:22 to say the same thing in a word picture: “This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner.” If you compare the kingdom of God to a building, then the builders are the religious leaders. They examined the stone called Jesus of Nazareth to see if he could be a brick in the wall of truth.

They said No and rejected him and threw him out as unusable. But God, the main architect, came along and saw the stone lying in the grave and picked him up and made him not only a brick in the wall, but the head of the corner—the chief stone in the building. Men rejected Jesus as a merely local menace with no significance beyond the killing hill of Golgotha. But God has made Jesus the universal head over all his house.

Jesus as the Only Way of Salvation

Peter had an obvious illustration that he could use. He was on trial because of the lame man who had been healed. “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole” (v. 10).

What had healed the man?

It was the name of Christ.

The authorities had asked, “By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? Peter was saying here that it was the power of Christ that had done this miracle.

We must keep in front of us that It is Christ who brings salvation, because there is such grievous misunderstanding with respect to this truth.

Some people think of our Lord as someone who teaches us how to save ourselves. “Ah, yes,” they say, “Jesus was a great teacher. I like reading the Sermon on the Mount. That is what I want, and I’m trying to put His ethical teachings into practice.” Their idea is that if you take His teaching and apply it, then you will make yourself a Christian, and you will get to know God.

Christianity is not a course of treatment.

It does not give us instructions on how we can put ourselves right. To a man who was completely paralyzed, who was born lame, the apostle said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” And the lame man did. Immediately!

The very first principle of this Gospel is that Christ is the Savior. He came into the world not to tell us what to do, but to do it for us. He came not to teach us how to save ourselves, but to save us. Salvation is His work; He is the Savior. “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). As Peter used it, he is a Savior. It is by his name that we are saved: “For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby [by which] we must be saved.”

Are you still trying to make yourself a Christian?

Do you think you can ever do that? Do you think that by going through a course of training, you can make yourself good and reconcile yourself to God? Then, You are altogether wrong

This, is the point the modern clever people object to most of all. “All right,” they say, “we are interested in your Christianity, but when you say it is the only way, you are just arrogant and narrow-minded.” But the whole of the Gospel depends upon this claim

Our Lord Himself constantly claimed to be the only Savior. He did not hesitate to say, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5). Now that is as exclusive a claim as you could ever make. Then he said, “I am the bread of life,” (John 6:35, 48) and, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Now either these statements are true, or they are the most arrant nonsense ever uttered.

When Peter said, “there is none other name,” he was insisting that no other individual who has ever lived in this world, or who ever will live here, can make this claim for himself. We maintain that Jesus of Nazareth is unique. He does not belong to any category; you cannot put anybody else in the same class.

Peter draws out the implication of this universal lordship of Jesus in verse 12: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Since God raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead and since God has made him head over all his house, over all the kingdom and all the redeemed, therefore Jesus is now the only way to heaven, and the confession of his name is the only hope of salvation from sin and judgment.

No Other Name

Someone has summarized [the] difference between some of [the] religions of [the] world by comparing [the] advice [they would give] to [a] drowning man (in [the] sea). [The] sinner is like [a] drowning man, floundering helplessly, unable [to swim]:
• Confucius: “Learn by your experience”
• Mohammed: “Islam (resignation); it is the will of Allah”
• Buddha: “Struggle!” (“Walk the noble eightfold path”)
• Zoroaster: “You must suffer the penalty of evil you’ve done”
• Hinduism: “You will be reincarnated”
• Mary Baker Eddy: “There isn’t any sea anyway”
• Only Jesus Christ: “Take my hand; I will lift you out and save you”

That is, every other religion is a system of human effort and merit. Christianity alone is a religion of grace, of [the] initiative of God who comes in Christ to seek and save the lost.

Sometimes people will say, “Yes, Jesus is the only source of salvation, but you don’t have to know him in order to benefit from the salvation he offers. If you are a faithful Muslim or Hindu or Jew or animist, you will be saved by Jesus. There is salvation in no one else, but you don’t have to believe on him in order to be saved by him.”

No! No! That is not what Peter meant. Peter focused on the NAME of Jesus. “There is no other NAME under heaven by which we must be saved.” He is saying something more than that there is no other source of saving power that you can be saved by under some OTHER name.

The point of “There is no other NAME,” is that we are saved by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. His name is our entrance into fellowship with God. The way of salvation by faith is a way that brings glory to the name of Jesus.

Acts 10:43, “Every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” The name of Jesus is the focus of faith and repentance. In order to believe on Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, you must believe on his name. That is, you must have heard of him and know who he is as a particular man who did a particular saving work and rose from the dead.

To talk about a “World Congress of Faiths” and to say, “Yes, we’re very interested to hear about the contribution of Hinduism, what Islam has to say, and interested in the insight that comes from Confucianism,” is to deny Him. If you add anything to Him, you take away from Him altogether.

Why is it that objections are raised when we say that Christ alone is the Savior?

The answer is quite simple: It is entirely due to a failure to realize the nature and depth of mankind’s problem.

Why are any of us ever unhappy?

Why do we do things that we bitterly regret afterwards?

Why do we fail as we do in life? Why is there so much misery and pain? Why is the world as troubled as it is?

That is the great message of the whole Bible, and it is summarized here for us by Peter. It is also summarized in his sermons immediately after healing the lame man and on the day of Pentecost.

When we try to understand the problem, we have to start with God, with the nature of God. Unbelievers do not start here.