In no other name is salvation! ( Acts 4:1-21)

[Stephan Choe]

Feb 4, 2023

Key verses

12:       "And in no other is salvation, neither is there any other name under heaven given           among men by which we shall be saved."

19-20:  “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.>"

The chapter of Acts tells us that Peter and John were tried before the Sanhedrin, the highest administrative and court of the Jews, because of their proclamation of Jesus Christ. The dark powers wanted to shut the mouths of Christians so that they would no longer spread the Good News out of fear.

But the Holy Spirit helped both of them, in the power of the Holy Spirit, fearlessly to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ. This chapter describes the spread of the gospel by Christians.

May God help us through the Holy Spirit so that with the power of the Holy Spirit we can overcome fear and actively preach Jesus' name.

1. In the name of Jesus Christ (1-12)

When the gospel is preached, many people are saved from sin and are blessed as God's children. Among them there is joy and life.

But there is one who is angry at this work. His name is Satan. He tries everything to prevent the work of God.

But God is Lord and no one can prevent His work.

We will learn about this in this chapter.

While Peter and John were preaching the gospel to the people, the priests, the centurion of the temple, and the Sadducee’s came up to them.

The Sadducees were the members of the High Council. The High Council is also called the Sanhedrin. The Romans forbade the High Council to pass the death sentence. But the High Council often ignored it, as was the case with Stephen's martyrdom.

The incumbent High Priest presided over the High Council, which consisted of 71 members. Among 71 members were the followers of the party of Sadducees, those of Pharisees and the clergy of the high priests.

The Sadducees were considered the ruling party. The chief priests, most priests and the aristocratic family members belonged to this party. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, were seen as the opposition party. They believed in the resurrection of the dead. But because Jesus preached them to repent for their hypocrisy, they voted to kill Jesus.

Let us now consider the narration of the text. The Sadducees now heard that the two apostles were teaching the resurrection of Christ in the temple. They were outraged. They sent their people, arrested the two and put them in prison.

Verse 4 tells us that the number of people who heard Peter's word and believed in Jesus Christ increased to about 5000 men. This shows that God is working mightily despite the persecution of His Holy Spirit. Even adverse situations can hardly prevent the spread of the gospel.

The next morning, the high priest convened the meeting of the High Council. All members of the High Council were assembled. They asked the two apostles:

"From what power or in what name did you do that?" (7).

What did Peter answer?

Filled with the Holy Spirit, he answered them:

“You leaders of the people and You elders! When we are questioned today about these blessings to the sick man, in whose name he was healed, let it be known to you and to all the people of Israel: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; through him this one stands healthy before you. This is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone” (9-11).

And Peter proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ:

“And there is no salvation in any other man, for there is no other name under Heaven given to the children of men by which it is necessary to receive life.” (12).

Peter said here that only the name of Jesus Christ can give us salvation and eternal life. That is why Peter and John clearly proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ, despite the danger to their lives. They wanted to save people from sin and hell. That is why they proclaimed Jesus' name as the only power of salvation.

Only through faith in the name of Jesus Christ, we can receive forgiveness of their sins and eternal life.

Pluralism reigns everywhere in the world today. Pluralism rejects any absolute religion. He claims there are multiple ways of salvation. This pluralism is not new. In the time of the apostles, there were many religions in the Roman Empire, and the Romans permitted these religions because they believed there were multiple paths of salvation.

But Christians believed there was only one way of salvation: through faith in the name of Jesus Christ. That is why Romans persecuted Christians.

The situation today is the same. Today, the pluralistic spirit reigns in the world. In the United States, the law forbids to pray in Jesus' name at public events.

For example, at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, the Christian pastor blessed the President in the names of various regions.

In the pluralistic zeitgeist, everyone believes in his god. But the Bible is clear that there is only one way to salvation for all people: Jesus Christ, as Peter said:

“And there is no salvation in any other man, for there is no other name under Heaven given to the children of men by which it is necessary to receive life.”

Jesus Christ Himself said in John 14:6:

“I am the way and the truth and the life; none comes to the Father except through me.”

Only the name of Jesus Christ can save us from sin and give us eternal life. Jesus is the only Son of God and the only Savior. God gave us the name of Jesus Christ solely so that by believing in His name, we might be saved from sin and hell and have eternal life.

Praise God who gave us the name of Jesus Christ.

2. We cannot stop talking about Jesus (13-22)

The members of the Sanhedrin were surprised by the boldness of Peter and John. They marveled at her frankness; and they knew that the two were unlearned and simple people. They also knew that the two had been with Jesus. They could not contradict the healing because the healed one was standing in front of them.

So they let the two go out of the boardroom and negotiated with each other.

What was the result of their negotiation?

Verses 16-17 state:

"Saying, what shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us strictly threaten them, so that they speak henceforth to no man in this name." (16-17).

They called the two and strictly forbade them to speak anymore, in the name of Jesus Christ. So the Lords of the Sanhedrin said to the two apostles that the two could believe in Jesus Christ themselves, but that they could neither profess their faith nor teach it publicly. This was/is the devil's cunningest strategy against the gospel since Christ's ascension. The devil is not afraid of those who believe in Jesus Christ and do not confess their faith; but he is very afraid of those who profess their faith in Jesus Christ.

That is why Paul says:

“If one believes from the heart, one is justified; and if one confesses with the mouth, one will be saved” (Romans 10:10).

We are to confess with our mouths and our lives that we believe in Jesus Christians.

How did the two apostles respond to? Forbidding?

Did the two apostles become afraid?

Look at verses 19 and 20:

“But Peter and John answered and said to them, Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight that we should obey you rather than God.

We can't stop talking about what we've seen and heard."

The two apostles answered clearly that they wanted to obey God rather than men. That is why they want to continue teaching faith in Jesus Christ so that as many people as possible believe in his name and are saved.

The leaders of the Sanhedrin threatened the two. But they had to release the two because of the people, for they found nothing that deserved punishment.

Persecution could not stop the apostles from sharing the Gospel.

The Gospel is shared where persecution occurs.

Today, Christians in Europe enjoy freedom of religion. But the number of European Christians is constantly decreasing. On the other hand, the number of Christians in Africa is constantly increasing despite the adverse circumstances. Among the world population of about 8 billion people, Christians in the world are about 2.56 billion (32%) in 2021: 0.84 billion Christians live in the Northern Hemisphere and 1.72 billion in the Southern Hemisphere. In Africa alone, 0.69 billion people are Christians and the population of Christians is increasing dramatically.

The behavior of the two apostles towards the Sanhedrin is similar to that of John Yun, a Chinese pastor. In China, despite the persecution by the communist government, the number of Christians is constantly growing. Christians are about 10 percent of the total population of China. In his book <Heavenly Man>, John Yun wrote about his arrest and release, something like this:

In March 1997, he was arrested for the third time in his Hunan province when he wanted to attend a meeting of the 11 house church leaders and to talk about the federation of the different churches. During the interrogation, the judge asked if he would try to escape from prison if the opportunity arose. He replied: He didn't want to lie. He was called by God to proclaim the good news everywhere. That is why he wants to do everything to fulfill the task of the called one. The judge was outraged. He yelled angrily,

"You bad guy! Your legs should be completely broken so that you can no longer run away."

People dragged him to an interrogation room and abused him horribly, especially on his legs. After that, he was imprisoned in a most secure prison. Because both of his legs were broken from the abuse, he was in great pain and had to be carried by others at all times. Because of the pain, Yun could hardly sleep.

On May 5, 1997, God gave him as the first sign Words of God from the Bible, specifically Heb. 10:45,

"Do not therefore throw away your confidence, which has a great reward."

And early in the morning that day, John Yun saw a supernatural vision as the second sign from God. In the vision he saw his wife Derling. She anointed both his legs and said to him,

 "You can open the iron door of the prison."

And she went out of the prison. The vision was over.

John Yun called the guard and said he had to go to the restroom. He called Brother Suh, a pastor in the next cell, and asked him to carry Yun to the restroom. Suh carried him out of his cell and let him go. Now, Yun should run independently and pass three doors to free himself. Yun started walking. A miracle happened. He could walk independently. When he wanted to go through the first door, the door was just open because another prisoner was just going through the door. At the second door, the guards just stared into space, as if they didn't see anyone. There was no guard at the third door. Yun went out and ran to the main door. It was open. And as soon as he walked out the main door of the prison, there was a taxi waiting for a customer. He took the taxi and drove to a Christian. It just started to rain heavily, and all police searches for him with dogs were in vain.

Chinese Christians today send out missionaries to the Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist worlds. About 10,000 Chinese missionaries are currently active in the world. Chinese Christians, together with all Christians from other countries, want to reach everyone in the world with the Gospel so that they will believe and be saved.

Praise God! He lives and works mightily today to save lost people. He loves all people and wants to save them. We are to trust and obey him.