Acts 4:8-12: a reflection

8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people and elders of Israel, 9if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10may it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands here before you whole in him. 11He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’ 12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”

Standing before the very council that had condemned Jesus, Peter, filled with the Spirit, speaks with striking boldness. This crippled man stands healed, he says, by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. And he presses further, applying a line from the Psalms: this Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. And then the sweeping claim: there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Notice the two moves Peter makes. First, the great reversal: the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The very Jesus these leaders had discarded and crucified is the one God has made the foundation of everything; what they threw away, God made the cornerstone. And second, the exclusivity and sufficiency of that name: salvation is found in Jesus alone, no other name. Not one of many options, but the one name under heaven by which we are saved.

That is a bold and central claim, and it is meant to be rested on, not just debated. The rejected stone is the cornerstone; the one the world discarded is the foundation God has laid, and there is no other. Salvation is not a matter of many names and paths but of one name, Jesus, sufficient and exclusive. If you are looking for salvation, for a foundation to build your life on, Peter points to one place: the name of Jesus, the rejected stone become the cornerstone. Build on him; there is no other name, and no other is needed.

Lord Jesus, the stone the builders rejected, you have become the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no other name under heaven. Thank you that the one the world discarded is the foundation God has laid, sufficient and complete. Keep me from looking elsewhere for what is found only in you. Let me build my life on your name, the rejected stone become the cornerstone. In you alone is salvation, and in you it is full.