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.
Read Full Chapter →Commentary for this Verse
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.
Spoken to the Men Who Crucified Him
The tone here is not the same as before. One commentator explains what changed.
William KellyAnd 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 Stone the Builders Threw Away
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.
J. T. MawsonThe 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.
W. W. FeredayGod'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.
From One Healed Man to All Men
The healing was a single, visible case. Peter turns it into a universal claim.
F. B. HoleThey 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.
H. J. VineAbove 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.
No Other Name, No Other Way
The name belongs to a Man now in heaven, yet God has put it within reach of people on earth.
William KellyGod 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.
The Judges Included in the Offer
Peter says "we must be saved," not "you." His accusers are not outside the offer.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinPeter 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.
One Way Only
People often wish the door were wider. The verse closes that wish.
J. T. MawsonSome 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.
F. B. HoleThe 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.
Summary
- 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.