Acts 4:5-13.  

Here is the stumbling block for many; the claim that there is salvation in no other name than Jesus. They ask, “What about other great teachers? Are they all not all different paths up the same mountain?”

Peter makes this claim in the context of the healing of a man who had been lame from birth (3:1-10). His miraculous healing was accomplished through “the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (v. 6). This caused a great tumult. The disciples were arrested by the ruling authorities and placed in jail overnight. The next day, they were brought before the council.

Peter, along with John, explained that Jesus’ name was singularly powerful because of His death and resurrection. It was through faith in Him alone that the lame man was healed. When the council saw the disciples were “unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and took note that these men had been with Jesus” (4:13). “Since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say” (v. 14).

A transformed life is hard for the world to dismiss. How are these transformations possible except by the singularly powerful name of Jesus? There is no other.

Author: Duane Brush