One Implication of the Birth of Our Savior – “There Is No Other Name Under Heaven Given Among Men by Which We Must Be Saved” (Acts 4:1-22; Isaiah 41-45 selected texts)
Jesus Came to Save us from Our Sins
Jesus is the eternal word, who took to himself a true human nature, and was born of a virgin. Jesus did this to save us from our sins. The incarnation is truly a wonder of wonders, but one implication of our Lord’s birth the first Christmas often goes unspoken. If Jesus is the only savior and salvation can be found in no one else, then Christianity is the only true religion and we as Christians are making the claim that all other religions are false no matter how sincere non-Christians may be, and despite how much self-flattery and false comfort these religions bring to their adherents. But to dare say such a thing (and to make such an exclusive claim to truth) is to commit the unpardonable sin in modern America. So this implication which arises from Jesus’ birth is a point well-worth considering now that Christmas has come and gone. The birth of Jesus Christ—that mere babe in the manger—changes everything, for Christians and non-Christians alike.
We are not the first Christians to face these implications of Christmas and we won’t be the last. In fact, the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and the importance of his incarnation as a truth claim becomes clear in the opening chapters of the Book of Acts when the apostles begin proclaiming the gospel to the Jews. Jesus had been crucified and buried just weeks earlier, although his followers believed that he had risen from the dead.
Better Than Silver or Gold
The first 22 verses of Acts chapter 4 record some of the fall-out associated with the dramatic events which just transpired in Acts 3, where we read that near the gate called “beautiful” (which was between the inner and outer court of the Jerusalem temple), Peter and John encountered a man who had been handicapped from birth. When this man (who survived by begging for alms) asked Peter and John for money, we read in Acts 3:4ff that . . .
Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, `Look at us.’ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, `I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!’ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
Those who knew the man and had passed him daily came running to see what was going on. According to Luke, the people “were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”
The Messianic Age Has Come
Peter saw a stunned and confused crowd gathering in Solomon’s Colonnade as the people witnessed or heard about what happened. The apostle declared to those assembling that this is what Israel’s own prophets had predicted; that even though the Jews had Jesus arrested and put him to death, since Jesus was God’s servant, the Holy and Righteous One, the author of life, God had raised Jesus from the dead. It is only through faith in the name of Jesus that the crippled man had been healed. Many of those present knew that Isaiah had predicted that in the messianic age the blind would receive sight, the deaf would hear, and the lame would leap like a deer. In light of what just happened, it was obvious to all (or at least should have been) that the messianic age had arrived because Jesus had come.
But this was not what the religious leaders of Israel wanted to hear. When Peter pointed out the ignorance of the Scriptures of Israel’s teachers, and then demanded that Israel repent so as not to be cut off from the promises of God, it is no wonder that those same individuals responsible for our Lord’s arrest and crucifixion became upset and angry. Right before their very eyes a man crippled from birth was miraculously healed, now running and leaping like a deer, just weeks after all of this talk about Jesus rising from the dead. This was yet another major threat to the established religious order. Prestige, pensions, and paychecks were in danger. Something must be done to keep this from getting out of hand.
Peter and John Arrested
In Acts 4:1-22, Luke describes for us the arrest of Peter and John after the healing of the crippled man. In verse 1-2, we read “as [Peter and John] were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” The Sadducees “were greatly annoyed” for obvious reasons. The apostles were “speaking to the people.” This was a direct threat to the authority of the Sadducees, who apparently regarded themselves as the keepers of religious orthodoxy. The extent of the negative reaction on the part of the Sadducees is certainly connected to the size and enthusiasm of the crowd that the apostles had attracted. As Calvin put it, the priests and the captain of the temple guard came running “in haste as though there were a fire to be put out.”[1] How dare these uneducated fishermen preach in their temple and challenge their authority.
What was especially offensive to the Sadducees was that they believed that the messianic age had begun in the Maccabean period a century and a half earlier, and was not to be understood in terms of the coming of a personal Messiah, but in the realization of an ideal–a time of peace and prosperity–an ideal which the Sadducees saw as their mission to defend. In the words of one commentator, “as priests of the tribe of Levi, [the Sadducees] claimed to represent ancient orthodoxy and were uninterested in innovations. Thus they opposed any developments in biblical law (i.e., the Oral Law), speculations about angels or demons, and the doctrine of the resurrection.”[2] The Sadducees saw themselves as continuing what their fathers, the Hasmoneans (the ruling dynasty of Judea) had begun. They opposed the Pharisees, whom they saw as religious and political rivals, and who believed in angels and the resurrection from the dead.
According to verses 3-4, the Sadducees “arrested [Peter and John] and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” It was bad enough that the apostles presumed to teach the people and proclaim that the messianic age had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, it was worse they were proclaiming that Jesus, the one that they had put to death, had risen from the dead, and now healed the handicapped man everyone had seen begging. Not only did the Sadducees reject the idea of a resurrection altogether, they dreaded any more talk about the resurrection of Jesus since rumors of this were rampant throughout Jerusalem.
The Sanhedrin’s Growing Concern
We read in verses 5-7, “on the next day their rulers and elders and scribes 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?’” The rulers and elders and teachers of the law, collectively known as the Sanhedrin, (or council of the seventy) met in Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin was, in effect, the equivalent of the senate and supreme court of the nation of Israel. Composed of the high priest, Caiaphus, and seventy others, the membership of the Sanhedrin was drawn from the ranks of both the Sadducees and Pharisees, and included “teachers of the law,” known elsewhere as “the scribes.” They were determined not to let Peter and John go without a stern warning. Dominated by the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin met in a hall near the temple, and it was here that Peter and John were brought before the council for questioning: “By what power or name did you do this?”
Apparently, Jewish law held that people who had violated any stipulation of the law were to be made aware of their wrong-doing, before they could be punished for committing a crime. Since Peter and John were regarded as uneducated Galilean fishermen without formal Rabbinic training, they were to be given an official warning in the presence of witnesses before they could be formally charged with a crime, should they commit the same act again.
The Warning Not to Preach the Gospel
We will return to verses 8-12, momentarily, but in verses 13-22, we read of how this encounter with the Sanhedrin turned out.
Now when they {the Sanhedrin] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
A formal warning was issued by the Sanhedrin to Peter and John, and by implication to all the apostles, as well as the burgeoning number of new Christians, to stop this teaching, or else face the full wrath of the Sanhedrin.
But the Apostles Did Not Heed the Warning
That the apostles did not heed this warning will become clear in Acts 5:12 ff., when the apostles are arrested again and this time flogged for continuing to perform miracles and to teach in the temple. But here in Acts 4, as again in Acts 5, the basis for the apostles’ actions is that “we must obey God, rather than men.” Returning to the text we skipped in Acts 4:8-12, we read that Peter had plenty to say which provoked the Sanhedrin to fear and anger.
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 crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you 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 Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 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.”
There are a number of important points here.
First, this Spirit-filled defense of the uniqueness of Jesus as risen Lord and the one who healed the beggar was in direct fulfillment of Jesus’ words uttered to the disciples just months earlier and recorded in Luke 21:12-15. It was our Lord himself who warned them,
but before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.
Here, before the Sanhedrin, we find Peter and John in this very circumstance, and as Jesus had promised, he did indeed give them words to say; words that the ruling council could not refute. Before them stood a forty year-old man, who had been crippled from birth, miraculously healed in the name of Jesus. There was nothing the Sanhedrin could say or do to stop them.
Peter Was “Filled With the Spirit”
Second, Luke’s use of the phrase, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” is significant since it brings out the notion of a momentary endowment of the Spirit, in addition to the abiding character of a Spirit-filled Christian.[3] The once cowardly Peter (who had three times previously denied even knowing Jesus) is led by the Spirit to boldly answer the charges of the Sanhedrin, in direct fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy. Peter’s defense before them focuses upon two things: (1) the beggar being healed as an act of God’s kindness–and who among the Sanhedrin could argue that the healing was a bad thing,and (2) that the healing had taken place in the name of Jesus. Both of these were difficult to dispute even in the presence of witnesses, explaining Peter’s consistent appeal to the common knowledge of the events that had transpired. Peter’s defense is, in part, to appeal to the name of Jesus, the very one the Sanhedrin had crucified, and who had not only risen from the dead, but had healed the man standing before them. In fact, notes Peter, there is no name under heaven whereby men may be saved but the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Third, as occurs frequently throughout Acts, Spirit-led utterance leads the speaker to appeal to Old Testament texts that pointed forward to Jesus Christ. The first passage cited by Peter is Psalm 118:22-23, which is a well-known messianic Psalm, and a Psalm which Jesus had applied to himself (by implication) as recorded in the parable of the Vineyard in Mark 12:10-11— “Have you not read this Scripture: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” The teachers of Israel understood this Psalm to be a reference to their own nation, not the Messiah, since in their minds Israel was the rejected stone “despised by the nations but chosen by God for the accomplishment of his purpose. But, as so often in the New Testament, God’s purpose for Israel finds its fulfillment in the single-handed work of Christ.”[4]
Fourth, in his “Spirit-filled” response, Peter makes the point that the teachers of the law had misinterpreted the Psalm: The nation of Israel, not the pagan nations around them, is the builder who rejects the stone, the stone who in turn is understood to be Jesus of Nazareth, who in his Resurrection and Ascension is given by God the place of highest distinction - seated at God’s right hand, and is given the name that is above every other name. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.” The one whom the Sanhedrin had executed, is now raised, ascended, and exalted. It is Israel that has departed from God’s purposes. It is Israel, not the apostles, which must repent and turn to God. Peter’s words would have absolutely infuriated the members of the Sanhedrin!
Fifth, not only is Jesus the rejected one, now the exalted one, but salvation is found in him and in him alone, specially through calling upon his name (i.e., through his person and work). It is clear from a number of Old Testament texts, especially from Isaiah’s prophecy, that salvation (which is deliverance from God’s wrath) is one of the great blessings of the messianic age. Peter’s defense then is as follows: salvation is found in no one else but God, and there is no other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved from the wrath of God than by the name of Jesus. Peter is declaring that the messianic age has come in Jesus, and that Israel’s salvation is found only in the name of the one (Jesus) whom the Sanhedrin had ordered crucified just weeks earlier.
Echoes from Isaiah in Peter’s Defense
Finally, there are a number of echoes in Peter’s defense from Isaiah chapters 40-45, wherein it is clear that there is one God, YHWH, and that salvation comes from him. An echo is an allusion to an Old Testament text even though no specific verse is cited. Consider some of these echoes from Isaiah for a minute, and think about some of the texts that those in the Sanhedrin (who very likely knew Isaiah from memory) would have certainly had in mind when hearing Peter’s defense:
Isaiah 41:4 – “I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.”
Isaiah 41:9-13 – “I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, [the Sanhedrin would have thought this was referring to Israel - Peter says this is referring to Jesus], I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” YHWH is with Peter–this is why Peter is not afraid to stand before the Sanhedrin.
Isaiah 42:5-9 – Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” If there are no gods beside the Lord (YHWH) and salvation is found only in him, Peter’s words can only amount to a declaration that Jesus is the one speaking in Isaiah.
Isaiah 43:10-13 – “`You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, `and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior. I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, `and I am God. Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?’” If there is no savior beside Yahweh, and Peter says there is no savior but Jesus, then Jesus is not a foreign God, but the God of Israel.
Isaiah 44:6-8 – “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: `I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.” Notice here that the one speaking is God, there are no others, and that YHWH is the rock, and there is no doubt that Peter has this in mind here in Acts 4 when he speaks of Jesus as the stone who was rejected.
Isaiah 45:5-8 – “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. `Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it.” Here, Isaiah says YHWH brings salvation, but Peter says salvation is only in the name of Jesus.
Salvation Is Found Only in the Name of Jesus
When Peter says that salvation can be found in no name under heaven but the name of Jesus, he is declaring, for all intents and purposes, that Jesus is not only the Messiah, and that Jesus ushers in the messianic age of salvation, but that Jesus, the Holy One, the Righteous One, the author of life, is God, the God of Isaiah, the God of Israel, the God who knows of no other. We can only imagine how the Sanhedrin would have reacted to Peter’s words had not a man who had been crippled for forty years been standing right there in front of them. It is clear that the purpose of the miracle–the healing of this poor beggar–was to confirm the content of Peter’s preaching. For all the people were praising God, and even though Peter stood before them, proclaiming Jesus as Nazareth as the only one in whom men and women can find salvation–the members of the Sanhedrin could not decide how to punish them, because they were afraid of how the people would react. The scene is utterly amazing.
It is important to remember that no matter how hard the forces of Satan and unbelief try and stop the spread of the gospel and the word of God, God’s Word will not return void. Luke mentions in verse 4 that many who heard the message believed in Jesus as Messiah and savior and the number of men grew to about 5000, not including women and children. Calvin’s comments here are certainly appropriate:
Here we see Satan and the wicked have freedom given them to rage against the children of God, yet by all their machinations they cannot prevent God from advancing the kingdom of his Son, or Christ from gathering together his sheep, or a few unarmed men and with no warlike resources from revealing more power, by their words alone, than is possessed by the whole world raging against them.[5]
This then, is the basis for our confidence in the evangelistic and missionary enterprise of Christ’s church.
There may be many points we can take from this text, but the most obvious point, and the one upon which we concentrate after Christmas, is that Jesus Christ is the only way to be “saved” and delivered from the wrath to come. Peter’s words are clear and direct; “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” The only way anyone will ever enter heaven is through the name of Jesus. What does this mean for us two thousand years later?
The Implications of the Birth of Jesus—He Came to Save us From Our Sin
Jesus is the only mediator between God and sinful men and women. Given the Old Testament background to Peter’s assertion here, there is no doubt that in Jesus of Nazareth, God’s promised righteousness and salvation is revealed. There will be no one in heaven who is not trusting in Jesus Christ and in him alone. For it is only through the redemption purchased for us by Christ–in his sinless life and sacrificial death–and through faith in him (i.e. in his name) that sin can be forgiven, and that men and women can be accounted righteous. There is no other way.
Those who contend that men and women are saved through the name of Jesus, but that there are many different roads to Jesus, do not have a theological leg to stand on. It is Paul who explicitly makes this point in Romans 10 when he says, “how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” It is clear from texts like Acts 4:12, that Christianity makes an exclusive truth claim to be the only true religion, and that we cannot remove the scandal of the cross, simply because it is such an offense to those Americans who think all religions are good since they contribute to public morality, or because they give people meaning and purpose.
Scripture says that there is only one way to God, and because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, all races, tribes and tongues, are called to embrace God’s only savior. Indeed, the multitude before the throne worshiping the only Savior come from every race and tribe upon the earth.
There is no way into eternal life in the presence of God but through the sinless life and sacrificial death of Jesus. This exclusive claim is not bad news, or a sign of God’s narrowness. In both the creche and the cross we see the picture of God’s love for a sinful and fallen world. God came to earth as a child of the virgin and through the cross God was reconciling sinners unto himself. Through the preaching of that cross, God freely gives salvation in Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven whereby men and women may be saved.
Yes, the first Christmas has profound implications, and this is one of them.
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[1] Calvin, The Acts of The Apostles, I.111.
[2] Richard Longenecker, Acts, 301.
[3] F. F. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 92.
[4] F. F. Bruce, Acts, NICNT, 93.
[5] Calvin, The Acts of the Apostles, I.113.