When he is giving testimony in Acts 4, Peter asks if the healing of a lame man is a good deed or not. If this is an act of kindness, then it must come from God. The obvious answer seems to be yes, it is a good deed from God. If they agree it is a good deed from God, then they have a problem: Peter states the man was healed by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the one put to death by this very council only two months before!
The problem for the High Priest is obvious. If Peter healed the man “in the name of Jesus” that means that Jesus was, at the very least, an innocent man and God is now doing miracles “in the name of Jesus.” If Jesus was innocent, then the High Priest is guilty of killing an innocent man. If he was Messiah and actually raised to the right hand of God, then the messianic age has begun and the High Prist finds himself ”on the outside.”
The last line of Peter’s defense is a classic statement of the gospel: “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). This is a strong statement of total dedication to Jesus Christ. There is no possibility of religious pluralism, Jesus is in fact the only way, truth and life. If humans (these people before Peter or any human) expect to be right with God, they can only do it through the name of Jesus. This is really an outgrowth of the belief that God raised Jesus from the dead and seated him on his right hand (Marshall, Acts, 100). The name of Jesus is now the highest authority possible, so that Paul can say in Phil 2 that at the name of Jesus every knew will bow.
There is a remarkable boldness in this statement, but from the modern perspective of religious pluralism. The boldness is that Peter is saying this to a group of highly religious Jews who thought that they were the ones who held the right way to salvation. If you wanted to be right with God, you had to come to them and hear their interpretation of the Law and participate in worship only in the Temple, which they control.
Peter is saying that salvation now comes through Jesus, not the Temple. Little wonder why these men were shocked at Peter’s boldness!
I think this is what bothers me about popular Christianity and the rather flippant use of the “Name of Jesus.” We have turned praying in the “name of Jesus” into code words for “I am done praying now, look up.” People claim all sorts of goofy things in the “name of Jesus” without giving much thought at all to what that means. It does not help to write “Jesus” out in Hebrew and tattoo it on your ankle. This sort of thing diminishes what the name meant when Peter said, “there is no other name under heaven by which men may be saved.”
Jesus is not a magic word we use to invoke divine power, it represents the power of God for salvation.
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January 28, 2013 at 8:09 am
heatherjoyy
It is no wonder that the Sanhedrin were surprised when they saw that all of the people were praising God for the miracles that had just taken place. (4:21) They could not deny it, yet they did their best to stop Peter and John from proclaiming that salvation is truly found in “no other name but Jesus” (4:12) At this point, the fact that the Sanhedrin could not deny the miracles that were done in the Name of Jesus might allude to their guilt over killing the Messiah. Maybe the Sanhedrin came to this realization, and the only way that they could handle their guilt (if in fact Jesus was an innocent man, the Messiah) was to do everything they could to stop them. In spite of this opposition, Peter and John gather with other believers and pray for boldness. When this occurs, the Holy spirit comes down to fill them with such boldness so that they can continue to proclaim that salvation is found in Jesus, not in man.
January 28, 2013 at 9:17 am
nick_mascorro
One of the most interesting things to me about this chapter was the clear stance that Peter took proclaiming Jesus is the one and only savior. This was so amazing to me because he did this in front of the very people that hated Jesus, the people that put Jesus to death. The courage and like the post says, “Boldness” that Peter displayed was nothing short of remarkable. Because Peter is now claiming that these religious Jews are wrong, that the only way to God is through Jesus, “Salvation us found in no one else” (Acts 4:12). For me personally this is so encouraging as a Christian to see one of our founding fathers in the faith take this type of stance in front of powerful people. This is because Peter did not back down from his beliefs or convictions just because they weren’t popular or because he could be punished, but instead he stood for what he believed in. As Christians in a secular society I think that we can learn a lot from Peter and the boldness that he displayed. Because as Christians we are constantly tested by society to conform but we need to have boldness and courage as Peter had to stand up for what we believe in and not waiver. Furthermore, when it comes to the name of Jesus, I too think our society has made it into somewhat of an everyday typical word. But the fact of the matter is that Jesus is the name by which we are saved and it has immense power. Like is discussed in the post, “Jesus is not a magical word that we use to invoke divine power. “ I too think that people overuse and misuse the name of Jesus, we as Christians need to take the bold stance of preserving the holy name of Jesus and recognizing its saving grace.
January 28, 2013 at 9:46 am
cameronlowe5
I have never really given much thought to the whole “In Jesus’s name” thing. It is very interesting to read this and really see how we have missed used the name of our LORD, the most revered. He is our way to salvation and we use His name as if it is a word to be thrown around if we need help, almost like a magic lamp scenario. Looking at the current body of Christ and seeing how we have lost the true reverence of our LORD and Saviors names is a sad thing to think on. We are the ones charged with spreading that name all over the world and we take the true meaning out of it. Peter was so bold and knew the true weight of Jesus’s name that he used it to heal people and to do many other things. Jesus is our rock and we should be treating Him as such. I agree when you were saying that “In Jesus’s name, Amen” has turned into a church code for look up now we can continue on with our lives, type of thing. When in actuality you are saying, by the grace and love of God the Father and Jesus we are saved, this prayer is possible because Christ is interceding for us every minute of every day. We can come to our God unless we go through Jesus, that’s what we are saying. We are not using His holy name in a way that respects the sacrifice that He went through to bring us the freedom we have now. We need to reset our minds and start taking Jesus’s name and using it in the way of the early church, as something to be revered.
January 28, 2013 at 6:49 pm
arenberg93
I love the movie, “Kingdom of Heaven.” I don’t know if it is the action or what, but i have always thought that this movie was great! but one thing that always bothered me was the terrible things that people did for the name of God or Jesus. During the crusades we see thousands upon thousands of Muslims murdered by Christians for “God.” During the crusades, it seemed that the people of the day did whatever they wanted and then tagged God onto it to justify it. Today, we are not so different as we used the name of Jesus just as loosely. We use it to sound spiritual, or intelligent, or we even use it as a filler in our prayers instead of Umm or Uhh. Since when did the name of God and Jesus become so generic? These names carry so much more weight than that of a normal word. But they are used flippantly because we have lost our respect for Jesus Christ and God the Father. In our individualistic, “Jesus is a friend of mine” viewpoint, we forgot that God is to be feared more than anything we have ever known. I cringe when i hear hillsong sing scream “Jesus” in between songs because it seems as if they missed the point. We must now and forever fear and revere the holy name of Jesus and God. And this reverence will transform our spiritual walk and lives as that fear is necessary for true worship. These names should be respected, and not used flippantly or loosely.
January 28, 2013 at 8:03 pm
anthonybeaulieu
I like that Peter stumps them with his first response to them that completely shuts them down. He simply states that if this man was healed, it was a good deed, and if it was a good deed, then it must come from God. Obviously it was not a bad deed that healed the man so the only explanation is that it came from God that the man was healed. This also puts them in a bad position since they put to death the person with the name by which the man was healed. The High Priest takes this statement the hardest because he is the one that is guilty of killing an innocent man and not just an innocent man, but the Messiah. What I like the most, is Peter’s boldness in saying that “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). Even though Jesus is not there, and they didn’t see Him ascend to heaven like Peter did, he is still bold enough to stand firm on the truth that Jesus has given him and is declaring that they killed the Messiah and that He raised from the dead and that he is the only name under heaven given to be saved. When it comes to the overuse or misuse of the name Jesus, I never really thought about how it can be misused or overused or just become some kind of code word without meaning. I agree that people do claim goofy things in the name of Jesus without thought but I do believe there is power in the name of Jesus but that comes with believing and with faith when using the name of Jesus.
January 28, 2013 at 8:05 pm
nfisher2013
Adam brings in good examples of the misuse of Jesus’ name. The Hillsong example is especially interesting. When you go to any worship service, the chances of hearing someone shout Jesus’ name are good. I also find it interesting that we are okay with shouting Jesus’ name in worship, but we are not comfortable shouting God’s name (Yahweh, Elohim, etc.) Though distinctly different Persons, are not God and Jesus one and the same God? Should we not treat both names with equal awe and fear? Why are we okay with shouting Jesus’ name in worship, but are hesitant to shout God’s name in worship? My pondering draws me to the Ten Commandments. God commands us to never use His name in vain. (Exodus 20:7). In the King James, it says to not use the name of the Lord your God in vain. Do we not call Jesus Lord? Is He not our God? Now, most of the time, we use this commandment to rebuke shouting God’s name as an interjection. I do not think we have even begun to understand what the commandment is referring to. Even the Israelites were not allowed to say God’s name! It was considered holy. Now, today, we say that it is holy, but we certainly do not treat God’s name as such. We seem to shout it whenever we please. Peter understood the power of Jesus’ name enough to know that His name was not some word to throw around. God’s name is pure holiness, and we shout treat it as such. The mere fact that we are not stricken with fear at the sound of Jesus’ name is disturbing. Have we grown that cold? Has humanity really turned away from God to the degree that we no longer fear Him, even at the sound of His name? The Lord’s Prayer even puts great emphasis on the name of Jesus. The second line says, “Hallowed be thy name.” The beginning of the Lord’s Prayer acknowledges the holiness of God’s name. In summary, the name of God, whether it be Yahweh, Elohim, Jesus, or any other name, is pure holiness and should be treated with the utmost respect, honor, and fear. His name affects this creation that we consider real. His name drew spirits out of people. It healed people. This power is something that humanity need to learn to fear again.
January 28, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Sir Lundy
The “Name”, described and illustrated in acts 4 and in P Longs post is most intriguing ideas. Too quickly sum up my thoughts would be to say, I agree about the flippant use of the name Jesus or any other name for God. Though the spot where I am intrigued even more is in the idea of saying “In the name of Jesus” to end a prayer, I had never thought of this phrase as flippant (or at least diminish its meaning) but I can see how it can be used in that way. Looking deeper into this idea, I found that I don’t know if I fully agree that “In the name of God” is diminishing, completely.
arenberg93 said that this idea is similar to the idea of “Jesus is a friend of mine”, that we have forgotten that God should be feared over all else. I don’t disagree that God should be feared over all else, but Jesus is a friend of mine (James 2:23). Also when in prayer when you say “in the name of Jesus, amen” the dependent of if the usage of this phrase is flippant or not is determined not on the phrase but the prayer. What are you prayer? How are you praying it? Surely, if it a sincere and completely outpouring of the heart the correct phrase to use is “in the name of Jesus”, however if it is not sincere or a complete outpouring of the heart then why would you say it? Has it become regular? Has it become a habit?
Really the phrase is important but on the same token so are the prayer itself, heart attitude, and usage of the phrase. This is defiantly an interesting topic that could be brought up in a middle or high school lesson. In what other biblical instances is this phrase used? (Acts 2:38, Acts 8:12, 1 John 5:13). This is in and of itself a very interesting topic, with much more to discuss
January 28, 2013 at 10:10 pm
DJ horsfall
It’s crazy to think about what Peter did. He boldly stood up in front of many people and told them that “salvation is found in no one else”. It is Jesus. He did not question. He just went and did the work. It even said that the people were amazed because they boldly spoke about jesus even though they were not scripture smart. But the Holy Spirit, the same one that is in all of us, worked through him. The Holy Spirit wants to do a work through us too we just have to be bold and courageous and allow the Holy Spirit to come in. That is my prayer for the week that the Holy Spirit will come in and work through me and that I can be bold in whatever it wants me to do!
January 29, 2013 at 12:01 am
leviwood138
I think that Peter understood that we are to speak of our Christ in boldness. Christ was bold and unapologetic in the things he did while on earth. I’m not exactly sure where the weak emaciated image of Him came from, but for some reason that is how I feel most people view Him. Acts 4:29&31, Acts 28:31 are examples of men of God speaking his word with boldness. I think this is another thing that we modern Christians have lost. We have taken the “turn the other cheek” mentality to such a extreme where I am not sure if most would even stand up for their faith that they say they live by.
The point that you bring up about our over use of the name of Jesus brought me to wonder what exactly the Bible says about our prayers and if we are to end every prayer in the name of Jesus. With a brief study of what Jesus teaches about prayer in his name seems to be about the act of perhaps praying for someone else for healing or for things for our own life. John 14:14 is a example of this. I believe that many people do not take prayer as serious as it needs to be. I do not think people realize that we are able to speak to our creator because of Jesus.
January 29, 2013 at 12:02 am
denisenicole141
The name is God is something to be taken seriously. Before I came to Grace, I didn’t think much of ending a prayer with “and in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.” It wasn’t something I really did. Now I often end my prayer with the same sentence. I don’t see anything wrong with ending a prayer by stating that I ask all of those things in his name. There is nothing we can do without Him and we should ask to do all things through Him, in Him and because of Him. Yes it is flippantly used. It says in the 10 commandments “Do not take the Lords name in vain.” The definition of vain is to produce no effort and useless. By simply saying “and in Jesus name we pray” because it ends the prayer is using His name is vain. When used, Jesus name should be strong and with power. We cannot do anything without Him and we need His name.
I love the verse in Proverbs 18 “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10
Just His name! Praise God that just His name is a fortified tower. We can use His name and ask things of Him but not in vain and not flippantly.