be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean, whom *ye* have crucified, whom God has raised from among [the] dead, by *him* this [man] stands here before you sound [in body].
Peter and John stand under arrest. The same council that condemned Jesus now asks by what power a lifelong cripple can walk. Peter's answer names the one they killed, and points to the man standing in front of them as the evidence.
Peter had once denied his Master to a servant girl. One thing accounts for the difference now.
The secret of Peter's power here was that he was full of the Holy Spirit.
His own ability was not what carried him.
Faced with rulers like these, the man who had trembled with fear and denied his Lord at the taunt of a servant girl would have had little to say, if he stood there in his own natural ability and strength of purpose. But Peter neither trembles nor hesitates. He is the master in that assembly. He makes the truth known with the clearness of a trumpet. He exposes their folly and guilt. He states exactly the terrible question that lay between God and them, and he exalts the name of Jesus.
Peter does not drop the title men used to sneer at Him.
If this title is one of dishonour and disrepute among men, angels are not ashamed to use it. The angel at the tomb said to Mary Magdalene, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here" (Mark 16:6). The apostles used this same name in their preaching. They testified to Jesus of Nazareth as the crucified but risen and glorified Messiah and Lord (Acts 2:22; Acts 3:6; Acts 4:10; Acts 10:38). More striking still, the exalted One Himself took that name of reproach. Speaking from the glory to Saul of Tarsus, that determined Jew and proud Pharisee, He said: "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 22:8).
One name did the healing, and that name carries two verdicts.
And what had done it? The power of the Name of that Jesus "whom you crucified" — that was their guilt — "whom God raised from the dead" — there was God's righteousness.
Peter's answer also leaves the rulers themselves looking powerless.
These rulers of the people, with all their learning, had let the lame beggar lie at the gate of the temple. They made no effort to help him. For all their pride and pretension, they were the powerless men. But Jesus of Nazareth was not powerless, for by His name the helpless cripple was made completely sound. These rulers had crucified Him. If they had had their way, mankind would have lost forever the power that was in His name. They were His enemies, the ones who said, "When will He die, and His name perish?" (Ps. 41:5). But God had raised Him from the dead, plainly showing what He thought of their great sin, what He thought of Christ, and His way of blessing for men.
Peter's last words point to a living body in the room.
But then there is another thing. There was the very man who had been made strong, and they could not get rid of this evidence. They had him before them, but he was there as the witness of the power of God. "Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it." You see, it is not ignorance which is the terrible and damning thing in men's hearts. It is the will that wants to drive the testimony of God, the grace of God, and the power of God out of God's own world, if it could. That was their case. But God made them feel it.
Peter has now said the same thing three chapters in a row.
In Acts 2 we had Peter's testimony to the death and resurrection of Jesus as the only way of salvation for the remnant. In Acts 3 he brings the same testimony forward again, as the only way the blessings promised to the nation can reach them. In this fourth chapter, when they stand before the religious rulers, their testimony is the same. They present the miracle of the healed body of the man who had been lame as the witness to the grace of Him whom these builders in their folly had rejected.
- Filled — Peter's clarity was not natural nerve. He was full of the Holy Spirit, and so he mastered that courtroom.
- Guilt — "Whom you crucified" names their crime, and Peter says it to the rulers and to all Israel.
- Righteousness — "Whom God raised" is God's verdict. It reverses their plan and shows what He thinks of their sin and of His Son.
- Name — The healing came through a despised name. Even the risen Christ used it of Himself from the glory.
- Proof — The healed man was evidence they could not remove. Their problem was not missing facts but an unwilling heart.
*He* is the stone which has been set at nought by you the builders, which is become the corner stone.
Peter stands on trial before the council that condemned Jesus. Instead of defending himself, he quotes a line from Psalm 118 and tells them they are the builders in it.
The ESV says the builders "rejected" Him. Older translations read "set at nought." One writer traces that word through the Gospels:
He was "set at nought" by men (Mark 9:12); by Herod's men of war (Luke 23:11); and by the religious leaders in Acts 4:11. The verb here signifies "utterly worthless"; contemptible! So man, seeking his own glory, has no appreciation of One whose every motive, every word and every action had the glory of God in view.
Peter does not say "the builders." He says you builders. One writer explains what that job involves:
Religious teachers are builders, whether in Judaism or in Christendom. They construct what will either last or perish, as the Lord may judge later on (1 Cor. 3:9-17). God's foundation stone is Jesus; on Him alone can men safely build. But Israel's leaders had treated Him with contempt. God's answer to them was the exaltation of His Son. God has now made Him the Corner-stone of a new structure; so the office of Peter's opponents was gone, however fiercely they might contend for it.
Peter's charge rested on a scripture these men already knew:
The words of Peter in verses 10 to 12 certainly ought to have burned into the hearts and consciences of the council. No cunning lie could ever have given Peter such straightforward boldness. He preaches not himself, but Christ, the Stone despised by these very builders, but established by God as head of the corner. No doubt they knew this scripture (Psalm 118:22); and the application was so clear they could answer nothing to it.
One writer lays out the whole line the Stone follows:
There is first His relation to Israel. Then comes His rejection by the chiefs, and His exaltation despite it. Next is Jehovah's commendation of Him to the believer in the face of divine judgment. Last is His establishment of God's kingdom here below.
Rejection was not an oversight. It was a decision about what they wanted their structure to be.
The poor blind builders of the great world-system did not see the one stone they could not do without in Jesus. Or, if any light reached their minds, they saw this: if they accepted Him, they must stop their own building, admit their own ruin, and be born again. This they would not do. They could find no place in their building for Him, and so they cried, "Away with Him." There was room for Herod and Pilate, for Priests, Pharisees and people. There was room even for Barabbas, but none for Jesus in their building.
The title is not only an honour. It names a place in the building:
The rejected stone had become the corner stone. They had handed Him over and cast Him out. He received the prominent place of the corner stone. On Him, as the foundation stone, everything rests, and He unites the building.
The Stone Peter names is Christ in glory, and the same building goes on today:
And what was the stone? Christ, of course, but Christ in glory, as the Head Stone of the corner. Here Peter is in conflict with these poor, foolish builders, and there are plenty of them in our days, people who are building without Christ. The Lord had spoken of Himself as the Stone: "And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him" (Matt. 21:44). The corner stone that is about to fall is the exalted Christ. He is coming in glory later on, to destroy the godless Gentiles in the day of His wrath. Those who fell over the stone and were broken were the Jews, stumbling over Jesus in His humiliation.
Peter quotes Psalm 118 as already true of the exalted Christ. One writer notes the same psalm looks ahead to the day Israel sings it:
Here the nation of Israel welcome Him back. It fits that they welcome Him as the "head-stone of the corner," for that is what His earlier exaltation in heaven had made Him. (Acts 4:11) It is the language of Israel, ready at last for Jesus and His kingdom.
- Rejected. The word Peter uses means treated as worthless. Herod's soldiers showed that contempt, and so did the religious leaders.
- Reversed. God answered their contempt by exalting His Son and making Him the corner stone of a new structure. Their office as builders was gone.
- Refused. Their building had room for Herod, Pilate, even Barabbas. Accepting Jesus would have meant admitting their own ruin.
- Resting place. As corner stone He is the one on whom everything rests and who unites the whole building.
- Repeated. People still build without Christ. One day Israel will welcome as head-stone the very One they set aside.
And salvation is in none other, for neither is there another name under heaven which is given among men by which we must be saved.
Peter and John are on trial before the rulers who had condemned Jesus. They must explain what power made a lame beggar walk. Peter's answer moves from one healed man to the whole human race: salvation is found in one name, and nowhere else.
The tone here is not the same as before. One commentator explains what changed.
And you will notice that he does not soften it here. Now these guilty leaders stand in front of him. He does not say, "I know that you did it in ignorance." They were making it plain that there was a will behind what they did — a wicked will. So he allows no excuse, and it is always so with God. When He first meets people, He meets them as they are, with nothing but grace. But when they keep on rejecting Christ, there is no denying a rebellious will.
The picture behind this verse is a stone the builders threw away. The men judging Peter were putting up a building of their own, and it had no room for Jesus.
The blind builders of the great world-system could not see that Jesus was the one stone they had to have. And if any light did reach their minds, they saw the cost. To accept Him, they would have to stop their own building, admit their own ruin, and be born again. This they would not do. They could find no place for Him in their building. So they cried, "Away with Him." There was room for Herod and Pilate, for the priests, the Pharisees and the people. There was room even for Barabbas, but no room for Jesus.
God's reply to that rejection reached the men judging Peter.
God's foundation stone is Jesus; He is the only safe foundation to build on. But Israel's leaders had treated Him with contempt. God's answer to them was the exaltation of His Son. God has now made Him the cornerstone of a new building. Peter's opponents no longer held any office, however hard they argued for it.
The healing was a single, visible case. Peter turns it into a universal claim.
They had just seen the power of that Name in one case — the lame man healed. That same power saves people everywhere. The healing of his body was a sign of the healing of soul that the name of Jesus brings. The despised Jesus of Nazareth is the only door into salvation.
Commentators differ on how wide Peter meant these words to reach. One reads the immediate force of them as aimed at the nation Peter was addressing.
Above all, these words meant there was no other name for Israel. He alone was to be their Saviour and Restorer. As He had restored the lame man so that he leaped and rejoiced and praised God, so He alone could restore Israel. There is no other name.
The name belongs to a Man now in heaven, yet God has put it within reach of people on earth.
God has set Him at His own right hand in heaven. Yet He gives His name under heaven, among people on earth. What a blessing! It is the one name that saves us, if we are saved at all. We must be saved here and now, by grace and through faith. There is no other name — our own least of all; and no other way, for He is the way. Faith exalts the Saviour and the God who gave Him, and leaves no room for any good works of our own.
Peter says "we must be saved," not "you." His accusers are not outside the offer.
Peter closes with the statement that salvation is only in the One they had treated as worthless. There is no other name given to men by which a person can be saved, and that is the name of Him who had made this lame man whole. Salvation they all needed. They too — rulers, elders, chief priests — must be saved. But only in Him had God provided salvation, free and complete, for all who will have it by believing on Him.
People often wish the door were wider. The verse closes that wish.
Some people think God ought to have opened a dozen ways into His blessing, so they could pick the one that suited them best. They turn away from the blessing because they do not like the way to it. But there is no other way. God has bound up the blessing of sinners with the glory of His Son, and never will one of them be saved apart from Him... God has spoken, and His word is final.
One writer carries the same claim into our own day.
The faith of Christ, and the gospel which proclaims it, have today just this exclusive claim... It is this exclusive claim, inherent in the gospel, which provokes the opposition.
- Rejected. The builders found room for Barabbas but none for Jesus. They threw away the one stone their building had to have.
- Exalted. God answered their contempt. He raised Jesus and made Him the cornerstone of a new building, which left His judges with no office at all.
- Given. Though He is at God's right hand, His name is given under heaven among men, so salvation is by grace and faith, here and now.
- Offered. Peter says "we," and that includes the rulers in front of him. They needed saving too, and the salvation they had rejected was still open.
- Only. One healed body was the sign; one name is the door. God has tied every blessing for sinners to the glory of His Son. That exclusive claim is what the world still resists.