Acts 4:12
“There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!””
Where this sits
Peter speaking to the Sanhedrin, on trial for healing a lame man. He is addressing the same council that had condemned Jesus weeks earlier.
Reflection
The circumstances give this sentence its weight. Peter is under arrest, standing before the council that had condemned Jesus a few weeks earlier, answering the question by what power or what name have you done this.
The question was about a healing. His answer widens it considerably.
And it is worth noticing that he is asked about a name and answers about a name. The council's question was procedural — under whose authority did you act. Peter takes the word and pushes it as far as it will go: not only this healing, but salvation itself, and not only for this man but among men generally.
Must be saved is the phrase that makes this uncomfortable in any era, and it was not more comfortable then. Peter is saying it to the religious authority of his own people, in their own building, having been a fisherman a few years earlier.
What the passage records next is telling. They saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, and they marveled — and they took note that they had been with Jesus.
The council does not refute the claim. They observe that the men making it had no qualifications and had spent time with the person in question, which is the only explanation available to them.
- Theme:
- Salvation
- Book:
- Acts