No Other Name

In Acts 4 the heat is being turned up against the disciples of Jesus. After healing the lame man at the temple, Peter and John are arrested….who knew that healing a lame man could land you in jail??? Anyway, Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin, a religious ruling class of men, and are asked the following question: “By what power or by what name have you done this (referring to the healing)” ? Here is Peter’s answer. I think it’s worth your time to read it: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, 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 stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

 From the very beginning of the preaching of the gospel, echoing the very words of Jesus, Peter makes it clear that through the name of Jesus, and Jesus only, can a person be saved. Only Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead. Only Jesus is the chief cornerstone. If you are a follower of Jesus you have a mandate, a responsibility, a command, not just a suggestion, to proclaim Jesus as the only way to salvation; not as a choice for salvation, not that all will be saved no matter what they believe, but that Jesus is the only way to salvation. It is not enlightened to think or teach something different. It is not compassionate to teach something different. Teaching that there is another way to salvation other than Jesus goes directly against the teaching of the entire New Testament. If you are not a follower of Jesus, then please know that Jesus is the only name under which you can be saved from the eternal penalty of your sin. What else could Peter have meant? What else could Jesus have meant when He said He was the way, the truth and the life and that no man could come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

I pray that you understand this…and believe. If you have questions, please message me.   There really is no other way to view the missionary call to spread the gospel. The truth about salvation through only Jesus Christ is woven through the entire Bible. Will you believe it…and teach it…standing up to the rejection and ridicule that you will face, just as Peter faced in the pages of Acts 4?

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