"In None Other Is There Salvation"

"And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

This story begins in Acts 3:1.  Peter and John were on their way to the temple and encountered a lame man, who was laid daily at the temple door to ask for alms.  Through the instrumentality of Peter, God healed this man and produced an occasion where the gospel of Christ was preached (3:11- 26).  The priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees united to arrest these apostles and brought them before the Sanhedrin the next day, inquiring, "By what power or in what name have ye done this?" (4:7).  Peter answered:  "...in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand here before you whole" (4:10). 

Peter declares there is no other name given by which man can be saved.  A consideration of this text will give us a better understanding of what is included in "the name of Jesus".  Ponder the following...

HIS SACRIFICE. God "glorified" his Servant Jesus, who was delivered up by the Jews to be crucified and who "fulfilled" all the prophecies God had revealed concerning his suffering (3:13, 18).  He was offered as "the Lamb of God" (John 1:29); his blood sacrifice, the only means whereby God could justify the sinner (Romans 3:24-26).

HIS WORD. Peter spoke of how Jesus fulfilled God's prophecy by Moses of "a prophet...like unto me" (Acts 3:22-23).  He is God's spokesman to man now (Hebrews 1:2).  The "name of Jesus" entails all that He was revealed, in contrast to Moses' law (cf. Romans 3:21; Colossians 2:14), human traditions (Matthew 15:6-9), and the perverse religious doctrines of man (2 Timothy 4:1-4; Galatians 1:6-9).  We are now under law to Christ (Romans 8:1-2), as recorded in the pages of the New Testament.

HIS BLESSINGS. Also, Peter shows Jesus as the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham:  "...in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities" (Acts 3:25- 26).  Paul said this promise had specific reference to Christ (Galatians 3:16).  Every spiritual blessing is in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), not the least of which is forgiveness of sin.

HIS AUTHORITY. We are commanded, in all that we do, to act in "the name of Lord Jesus" (Colossians 3:17).  To do so is to act within the realm of that which Christ authorized in His word of truth.  We are warned not to pervert the gospel (Galatians 1:6-9), add to or take from God's word (Revelation 22:18), nor "go beyond" what is written (1 Corinthians 4:6).  Based on these divine warnings and the eternal consequences for disobedience, we must always submit to the authority of God's word.  The assurance that what we believe and practice is the truth of God comes when we give diligence that it is authorized by:  1) A direct command or statement, 2) An approved example, and 3) A necessary inference.  May we be careful and "rightly divide the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

                                                                                               - Dan Richardson