AN EXCELLENT ANSWER
Acts 4:7-12 nkj
And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”
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, 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. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
In the last chapter we read about the Lord healing a man who was lame from birth. Peter and John were used by God to bring healing to a man who had never walked in his life. That was an undeniable miracle, and it resulted in Peter preaching to the Jews that witnessed the great event and about five thousand were saved. Yay, everybody is happy! No. The Jewish religious rulers were not happy that Peter and John were preaching Jesus and the resurrection from the dead. So Peter and John were arrested. And when the rulers brought them out of custody, they asked the question that set Peter off. In a good way.
“By what power or by what name have you done this?” I am sure Peter thought thank you for asking. Peter filled with the Holy Spirit; we might say, inspired by the Holy Spirit, began to preach. He mentioned they were being judged for the good deed done to a helpless man. Healing is a good deed. Peter clarified that they were operating in the name or in the authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Peter reminded these rulers that this was the man they had crucified. And this Jesus God had raised from the dead. And this Jesus was the reason the formerly lame man was now whole. Peter never took credit for the healing. He also quoted an Old Testament prophecy found in Psalms 118:22 “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” Signifying that Jesus was the stone rejected by the religious leaders of Israel and this Jesus was the stone that God’s salvation is built upon.
Peter’s next statement takes the guesswork out of Christianity. Some people wonder why Christianity is so exclusionary. Aren’t there many paths to God? The short answer is no. There is not salvation in any other. There is only one cornerstone. “For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” And there we have it. No other name, no other one can offer mankind salvation. No other religion that suggests an alternate way is accurate. No other religion has had their leader raised from the dead. Good works will not work. The name of any other god simply comes up short. Jesus is the way the truth and life and no one comes to the Father God except by Him.
I am amazed at two changes I see in Peter since the Day of Pentecost when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He is now very bold and unafraid to face the very leaders he once ran from. And Peter is quoting scriptures left and right. Peter the fisherman has become Peter the bold preacher. But isn’t that what Jesus said would happen when the Holy Spirit came. The Holy Spirit will bring what Jesus said and God’s word to our remembrance. And the Holy Spirit is not a spirit of timidity but of power andlove and of a sound mind. The Holy Spirit was most definitely showing up in the lives of the apostles, and the world has never been the same.