Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 4:12

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

12. Neither is there salvation in any other ] Rather, And our salvation is not in any other. The article with the noun ( ) seems thus better expressed. St Peter thus intimates that the cure of the lame man is only a sign of the power of salvation for the soul which was in Jesus. The people were to draw from the effect produced by “Arise and walk,” the conclusion that the same power could as surely give the greater blessing, “thy sins be forgiven thee” (Mat 9:5).

given among men ] Communicated to men by God, as a means of salvation.

whereby we must be saved ] Through whom we must of necessity seek our salvation if we would be saved.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Neither is there salvation – The word salvation properly denotes any preservation, or keeping anything in a safe state; a preserving from harm. It I signifies, also, deliverance from any evil of body or mind; from pain, sickness, danger, etc., Act 7:25. But it is in the New Testament applied particularly to the work which the Messiah came to do, to seek and to save that which was lost, Luk 19:10. This work refers primarily to a deliverance of the soul from sin Mat 1:21; Act 5:31; Luk 4:18; Rom 8:21; Gal 5:1. It then denotes, as a consequence of freedom from sin, freedom from all the ills to which sin exposes man, and the attainment of that perfect peace and joy which will be bestowed on the children of God in the heavens. The reasons why Peter introduces this subject here seem to be these:

(1) He was discoursing on the deliverance of the man that was healed – his salvation from a long and painful calamity. This deliverance had been accomplished by the power of Jesus. The mention of this suggested that greater and more important salvation from sin and death which it was the object of the Lord Jesus to effect. As it was by his power that this man had been healed, so it was by his power only that people could be saved from death and hell. Deliverance from any temporal calamity should lead the thoughts to that higher redemption which the Lord Jesus contemplates in regard to the soul.

(2) This was a favorable opportunity to introduce the doctrines of the gospel to the notice of the Great Council of the nation. The occasion invited to it; the mention of a part of the work of Jesus invited to a contemplation of his whole work. Peter would not have done justice to the character and work of Christ if he had not introduced that great design which he had in view to save people from death and hell. It is probable, also, that he advanced a sentiment in which he expected they would immediately concur, and which accorded with their wellknown opinions, that salvation was to be obtained only by the Messiah. Thus, Paul Act 26:22-23 says that he taught nothing else than what was delivered by Moses and the prophets, etc. Compare Act 23:6; Act 26:6. The apostles did not pretend to proclaim any doctrine which was not delivered by Moses and the prophets, and which did not, in fact, constitute a part of the creed of the Jewish nation.

In any other – Any other person. He does not mean to say that God is not able to save, but that the salvation of the human family is entrusted to the hands of Jesus the Messiah.

For there is none other name – This is an explanation of what he had said in the previous part of the verse. The word name here is used to denote the person himself (i. e., There is no other being or person.) As we would say, there is no one who can save but Jesus Christ. The word name is often used in this sense. See the notes on Act 3:6, Act 3:16. That there is no other Saviour, or mediator between God and man, is abundantly taught in the New Testament; and it is, indeed, the main design of revelation to prove this. See 1Ti 2:5-6; Act 10:43.

Under heaven – This expression does not materially differ from the one immediately following, among men. They are designed to express with emphasis the sentiment that salvation is to be obtained in Christ alone, and not in any patriarch, or prophet, or teacher, or king, or in any false Messiah.

Given – In this word it is implied that salvation has its origin in God; that a Saviour for people must be given by him; and that salvation cannot be originated by any power among people. The Lord Jesus is thus uniformly represented as given or appointed by God for this great purpose Joh 3:16; Joh 17:4; 1Co 3:5; Gal 1:4; Gal 2:20; Eph 1:22; Eph 5:25; 1Ti 2:6; Rom 5:15-18, Rom 5:21; and hence, Christ is called the unspeakable gift of God, 2Co 9:15.

Whereby we must be saved – By which it is fit, or proper dei, that we should be saved. There is no other way of salvation that is adapted to the great object contemplated, and therefore, if saved, it must be in this way and by this plan. The schemes of peoples own devices are not adapted to the purpose, and therefore cannot save. The doctrine that people can be saved only by Jesus Christ is abundantly taught in the Scriptures. To show the failure of all other schemes of religion was the great design of the first part of the Epistle to the Romans. By a labored argument Paul there shows Rom. 1 that the Gentiles had failed in their attempt to justify themselves; and in Rom. 23 that the same thing was true also of the Jews. If both these schemes failed, then there was need of some other plan, and that plan was that by Jesus Christ. If it be asked, then, whether this affirmation of Peter is to be understood as having respect to infants and the pagan, we may remark:

1. That his design was primarily to address the Jews, Whereby we must be saved. But,
2. The same thing is doubtless true of others. If, as Christians generally believe, infants are saved, there is no absurdity in supposing that it is by the merits of the atonement. But for that there would have been no promise of salvation to any of the human race. No offer has been made except by the Mediator; and to him, doubtless, is to be ascribed all the glory of raising up even those in infancy to eternal life. If any of the pagan are to be saved, as most Christians suppose, and as seems in accordance with the mercy of God, it is no less certain that it will be in consequence of the intervention of Christ. Those who will be brought to heaven will sing one song Rev 5:9, and will be prepared for eternal union in the service of God in the skies. Still, the Scriptures have not declared that great numbers of the pagan will be saved who have not the gospel. The contrary is more than implied in the New Testament, Rom 2:12.

Neither has the Scripture affirmed that all the pagan will certainly be cut off. It has been discovered by missionaries among the pagan that individuals have, in a remarkable way; been convinced of the folly of idolatry, and were seeking a better religion; that their minds were in a serious, thoughtful, inquiring state; and that they at once embraced the gospel when it was offered to them as exactly adapted to their state of mind, and as meeting their inquiries. Such was extensively the case in the Sandwich Islands; and the following instance recently occurred in this country: The Flathead Indians, living west of the Rocky Mountains, recently sent a deputation to the white settlements to inquire after the Bible. The circumstance that led to this singular movement is as follows: It appears that a white man (Mr. Catlin) had penetrated into their country, and happened to be a spectator at one of their religious ceremonies. He informed them that their mode of worshipping the Supreme Being was radically wrong, and that the people away toward the rising of the sun had been put in possession of the true mode of worshipping the Great Spirit. On receiving this information, they called a national council to take this subject into consideration. Some said, if this be true, it is certainly high time we were put in possession of this mode. They accordingly deputed four of the chiefs to proceed to Louis to see their great father, General Clark, to inquire of him the truth of this matter.

They were cordially received by the general, who gave them a succinct history of revelation, and the necessary instruction relative to their important mission. Two of them sunk under the severe toils attending a journey of 3,000 miles. The remaining two, after acquiring what knowledge they could of the Bible, its institutions and precepts, returned, to carry back those few rays of divine light to their benighted countrymen. In what way their minds were led to this State we cannot say, or how this preparation for the gospel was connected with the agency and merits of Christ we perhaps cannot understand; but we know that the affairs of this entire world are placed under the control of Christ Joh 17:2; Eph 1:21-22, and that the arrangements of events by which such people were brought to this state of mind are in his hands. Another remark may here be made. It is, that it often occurs that blessings come upon us from benefactors whom we do not see, and from sources which we cannot trace.

On this principle we receive many of the mercies of life; and from anything that appears, in this way many blessings of salvation may be conferred on the world, and possibly many of the pagan be saved. Still, this view does not interfere with the command of Christ to preach the gospel, Mar 16:15. The great mass of the pagan are not in this state; but the fact here adverted to, so far as it goes, is an encouragement to preach the gospel to the entire world. If Christ thus prepares the way; if he extensively fits the minds of the pagan for the reception of the gospel; if he shows them the evil and folly of their own system, and leads them to desire a better, then this should operate not to produce indolence, but activity, and zeal, and encouragement to enter into the field white for the harvest, and to toil that all who seek the truth, and are prepared to embrace the gospel, may be brought to the light of the Sun of righteousness.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Act 4:12

Neither is there salvation in any other.

Salvation in none other

This is–

1. The substance of every apostolic announcement.

2. The experience of every pardoned sinner.

3. The strength of every courageous confession.

4. The foundation of all missionary preaching of the Church. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)

Salvation in Christ alone

I. Salvation is a subject of world-wide interest, for all need it.

1. The infant at birth needs salvation, and unless kindly hands save it, and minister to its necessities, it must perish. Through Childhood the saving interposition of others is needed. Even in manhood there is constant exposure to dangers, salvation from which is required. In age, sickness, and sorrow, how great is the need of temporal succour and salvation!

2. The unhappy fall of our first parents has involved all their descendants in ruin. By it the human race has been brought into imminent peril (Rom 3:10; Rom 3:23; Eze 18:4). Nor is the danger of sinners the less real because they are ignorant of it, or affect to make light of it. See to it that you neglect not so great salvation. To give prior consideration to any earthly consideration, however pressing, is a terrible mistake.

II. Salvation in Christ.

1. With the general outlines of the plan of salvation in Christ we are all happily familiar. We know how the Divine pity was extended to man in his fallen estate (Job 33:24). Christ undertook our cause, and purchased our salvation by His death (Isa 53:5; Rom 5:6; Rom 5:8; 1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18). Now, since Christ was really God, His sufferings had an infinite value, and His life might well be regarded as more than an equivalent for the life of guilty man; and since He was perfectly man, it was both possible and proper for Him to take mans place, endure his punishment, and procure his salvation, so that God can be, and is just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Rom 3:26).

2. The conditions on which this salvation is bestowed are also familiar, viz., repentance and faith (Act 20:21). Compliance with these conditions is necessary. Nor can you justly complain of this. The seaman, provided with chart and compass, and instructions as to their use, who refuses to follow his instructions, and perishes, has only himself to blame. The man who has taken poison, and refuses the antidote, will have but scant pity.

3. And how much does the expression salvation in Christ include?

(1) By it the mind is brought in contact with the entire range of human history. We are led to think of the fall of our first parents, the promise of a Deliverer in the seed of the woman, the types and shadows of the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations, the incarnation of the Messiah, His atoning death, His triumphant resurrection and ascension, the mission of the Holy Spirit as His representative and administrator until He shall come again, His high-priestly intercession and mediatorial reign, the coming judgment of quick and dead.

(2) Nor are thoughts connected with the salvation of the individual less full of interest. Salvation in Christ comprehends the first dawn of conviction of sin, the apprehension of the plan of salvation, the exercise of repentance and faith, the joy of forgiveness, adoption, and renewal, a life of holiness and usefulness, with its vicissitudes, its conflicts, and its triumphs, conquest of death, entrance into heaven, everlasting life in Gods presence, where there is fulness of joy, the light of perfect knowledge, the glow of perfect love, the rapture of perfect felicity, and all this for ever.

4. This salvation, as it is needed by all, is adapted to all. Of all so-called faiths the gospel alone is equally suited to all latitudes and Lives. Some religions can only flourish in certain countries, just as some kinds of food are peculiar to certain climates; but this seed of the kingdom is like corn–wherever man lives it will grow.

5. And this greatest of all blessings, while adapted to all, is intended for all. It is cause for thankfulness that the chief blessings even of this world are not the exclusive property of the great and wealthy. And salvation may be the portion of the poor as well as of the rich. Moreover, it may be embraced by the illiterate as well as by the learned.

6. This salvation is in the name of Christ. Amongst the Jews a mystic virtue was supposed to be attached to certain names (chap. 19:14-16). And we rejoice to know that the name of Jesus is still the most potent of charms, and is invested with glorious mystic and saving properties.

III. Salvation in Christ alone.

1. With regard to the salvation of the race, of no other being except Christ has it ever been affirmed, He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2). Christ, however, having redeemed all, claims the homage and the hearts of all (1Ti 4:10).

2. As to the salvation of the individual, this, too, is to be had in Christ alone.

(1) We cannot save ourselves. The poor sinner under conviction resolves, it may be, to turn over a new leaf, but the first thing he does is to make a blot at the top of the next page. But even supposing he could succeed, what would it profit him while his former sins still cried for vengeance? For a sinner to undertake to lead a moral life henceforward is merely like a bankrupt promising his creditors that for the future he will always pay cash. Nor can we save ourselves by the merit of our penitence and faith. Impenitence is a perpetuation and aggravation of sin; but penitence has in it no atoning efficacy. And unbelief–the refusal to accept Christ–is a sin; but faith is not a meritorious act which earns salvation.

(2) And as we cannot save ourselves, so also no other human being can save us. We would not undervalue the loving efforts of others for our salvation. Who can tell how much those of us who are now saved owe to the examples, counsels, prayers, and faith of pious parents and devoted friends? The conditions of salvation cannot be fulfilled by proxy.

(3) Nor can any human system save us.

(a) Look at the various systems of heathenism. How degrading and demoralising their teaching and tendency!

(b) Sometimes an impious priesthood has professed to dispense salvation by external religious rites and sacramental efficacy; but such a claim is mere blasphemy.

(c) Philosophy has often made proud pretensions as to the elevation and salvation of mankind, but her actual performances have not been such as to warrant boasting. Education and civilisation may do much for man; but with regard to his sorest need they are helpless. The greatest benefits which it is in their power to bestow may be enjoyed, and enjoyed to the full, by sinners whose end is everlasting destruction. In the great work of human redemption Christ is absolutely alone (Isa 63:1-3; Isa 45:22; Mat 1:21; Heb 7:25). (A. O. Smith, B. A.)

Salvation by Christ alone

I. What is implied. That there is salvation for us in Christ, we appeal–

1. To the typical representations of Christ. There were a great variety of sacrifices under the law which typified the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. To the positive declarations concerning Him. Nothing can be conceived more clear and strong than the Scripture declarations of Christs sufficiency to save. How forcibly has the prophet marked the extent (Isa 45:22), the fulness (Isa 1:18), and the freeness (Isa 55:1-2) of His salvation!

3. To matter of fact. We can draw aside the veil of heaven, and point to some before the throne of God who are such monuments of grace as leave no doubt respecting the sufficiency of Christ to save any others whatsoever. Let us now turn our attention to–

II. What is expressed. It is of infinite importance to every one of us to know that, as there is salvation for us in Christ, so there is no salvation in any other.

1. There is not.

(1) In whom else can we find the requisites of a Saviour? In whom can we find a sufficiency, either of merit to justify, or of power to renew, a sinner? If we should apply to the highest angel in heaven to give us of his merit, he would tell us that he himself is only an unprofitable servant; for that he does no more than is his duty to do (Luk 17:10). If we should intreat him to change our hearts, he would confess his utter inability to effect so great a work. Shall we then look to ourselves? We are full of sin.

(2) If there were any other Saviour, the most eminent of Gods servants would have had some intimation of it. Abraham (Rom 4:3-5); David would probably have been acquainted with such an important fact in order to his own salvation; but he sought refuge in none but Christ (Psa 51:7). We might hope at least that some information of this kind would have been given to the Apostle Paul (Php 3:9; 1Co 2:2).

2. There cannot be. We are warranted by the Scriptures to say that, consistently with His honour, as the Moral Governor of the universe, man could not have been saved without a Mediator: nor could any Mediator besides Jesus have been found to execute all that was necessary for our salvation. But there is yet another ground on which we may deny that any other could save us, namely, that if we were indebted to any other, either for righteousness or strength, we could not join in the songs of the redeemed in heaven, but must separate from the heavenly choir (Rev 7:9-10), and ascribe to ourselves, or to some other, the honour of our salvation. And how would this comport with the dignity of Jehovah, who has determined that no flesh should glory in His presence?

Address–

1. The careless. Wherefore are men so indifferent about their spiritual concerns? Is it that they are in no danger of perishing? Surely the very circumstance of Christ being sent down from heaven to die for us is enough to alarm all our fears, and to convince us that, if the salvation offered us could be procured by none but Him, the danger of those who are not interested in Him must be inexpressibly great.

2. The self-righteous. It is difficult to convince those who are looking to Christ in part that they are really renouncing Christ altogether.

3. The desponding. By nature and practice. Let none complain as though they were beyond the reach of mercy: for there is nothing impossible with Jesus: with Him there is mercy; with Him is plenteous redemption; and He shall redeem Israel from all his sins (Act 3:16; Act 4:10). (Theological Sketch-Book.)

Salvation only from above

In Germany there was a prison of exquisite beauty; its floors and walls were highly polished; it was roofless, and the prisoner could look out upon the beautiful sky. A prisoner was placed therein, and for a moment congratulated himself upon the polish and splendour of his apartments; he could freely breathe the fresh air and see the stars that decked the brow of night, or the sun that rose in glory; but after a time he observed that the walls were gradually approaching him, softly as the fall of the dew from the hand of night; noiselessly, as by the force of gravitation, those walls drew nearer, inch by inch, and as they came closer and closer the cold sweat stood upon his brow, for he saw that those walls were soon to embrace him in the arms of death. There was but one way of escape, and that was from above; a friendly hand might possibly be put down, but there was no such friendly hand for him. That represents the condition of humanity; the walls are approaching, there is but one way of escape, and the relief comes from above. The Son of the Highest from His Fathers throne is reaching down His hand of power into our dungeon; our hope is to grasp it, or the walls of our dungeon will crush us to death. There is none other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved. (J. P. Newman, LL. D.)

Salvation in Christ alone

You have been a good child to your parents, said the venerable George

III. to his daughter, the Princess Amelia; we have nothing for which to reproach you; but I need not tell you that it is not of yourself alone that you can be saved, and that your acceptance with God must depend on your faith and trust in the merits of the Redeemer. I know it, replied the dying princess, with gentle resignation, and I could not wish for a better trust.

Christ the only Saviour

Believe a dying man, said Dr. Johnson in his last days to his physician. There is no salvation but in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Christ the only Saviour found out too late

It is not long since that a prominent business man, when closely pressed by his pastor, who had lately come to the church, replied with a call force which was meant to put an end to further pertinacity: I am interested in all religious matters; I am always glad to see the ministers when they call; but I have in the years past thought the subject over long and carefully, and I have come to the decision deliberately that I have no personal need of Jesus Christ as a Saviour in the sense you preach. Only two weeks from this interview, the same man was suddenly prostrated with disease; the illness was of such a character as to forbid his conversing with any one, and the interdict from speaking was continued until he was within an hour of death. A solemn moment was that in which a question was put to him, intimating he might talk now if he could–nothing would harm him. The last thing, and the only thing, he said was in a melancholy and frightened whisper, Who will carry me over the river? (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

Christ the only Saviour

A young French nobleman, a particular friend of Napoleon III., becoming unaccountably gloomy in mind, and threatened with insanity, was urged by the Emperor to apply for advice and treatment to the celebrated Dr. Forbes Winslow. He came to London, and the great doctor, after careful questioning, discovered the character of his disease. He was tormented with a thought–and the thought was Eternity! where shall I spend it? This haunted him day and night. Dr. Winslow told him he could not help him. He had sought in the wrong quarter for his cure. Is there no hope, then! exclaimed the nobleman in despair. Yes; listen to me, and I will tell you how I was helped and healed said Dr. Winslow. When I was younger I had your complaint; and I tried every resource but the right one. At last I carried my case to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, and He gave me health and peace. Go thou, and do likewise. The nobleman was astonished, but he stayed while the doctor read to him the portions of Scripture that had been blessed to himself, and after prayer, light and comfort came to him. The new medicine had cured him.

The way of salvation

Salvation is the total restoration of man from his fallen estate; and yet it is something more, for Gods salvation fixes our standing more secure than it was before we fell. It first heals our wounds, removes our diseases, takes away our curse, puts our feet upon the rock Christ Jesus, and baying thus done, at last it lifts our heads to be crowned with the King of heaven. Some people, when they use the word salvation, understand nothing more by it than deliverance from hell and admittance into heaven. Now, that is not salvation: those two things are the effects of salvation. We are redeemed from hell, and enter heaven because we have been saved. Observe here–

I. A negative fact. Neither is there salvation in any other.

1. Did you ever notice the intolerance of Gods religion? In olden times the heathen respected the gods of their neighbours: but Jehovah put this as one of His first commandments, Thou shelf have none other gods besides Me. The Christian religion is just as intolerant. The Brahmin may admit that there is salvation in fifty religions besides his own; but we admit no such thing. There is no true salvation out of Jesus.

2. What is the reason of this intolerance?

(1) Because there is the truth with the Jew and the Christian. A thousand errors may live in peace with one another, but truth is the hammer that breaks them in pieces. A hundred lying religions may sleep peaceably in one bed, but wherever the Christian religion goes as the truth, it is like a fire-brand. Truth cannot afford to be yoked with error- it gives to error its due, declaring that it hath no salvation.

(2) Because we have here the sanction of God. It would be improper in any man who had invented a creed of his own to state that all others must be damned who do not believe it; but since this religion is revealed from heaven, God, who is the author of all truth, hath a right to append to this truth the dreadful condition. We are not really intolerant, for we are but echoing the words of Him that speaketh from heaven, that there is no salvation out of Him.

3. Now persons say, Do you imagine, then, that none are saved apart from Christ? I reply, I dont imagine it, but I have it here in my text. Well, but how is it concerning the death of infants? Are they saved? and if so, how? I answer, Saved they are beyond a doubt; but not apart from the death of Christ. Another says, But how about the heathen? Holy Scripture saith but very little concerning them; but there are texts which lead us to believe that there are some who, led by Gods Spirit, are seeking after Him; and it may be that the God of infinite mercy is pleased to make to them revelations, so that they may be made partakers of the blood of Jesus Christ, without having such an open vision as we have received. But this much is certain: no heathen, however moral–whether in the days of their old philosophy, or in the present time of their barbarism–ever did or ever could enter the kingdom of heaven apart from the name of Jesus Christ.

4. But it is a great deal better not to talk upon speculative matters, but to come home personally to ourselves. And let me now ask you this question, have you ever proved by experience the truth of this great negative fact? Once I thought there was salvation in good works, and I laboured hard to preserve a character for integrity and uprightness; but when the Spirit of God came into my heart, sin revived and I died; wherein I thought I had been holy I found myself to be unholy. After that I thought, surely salvation might be obtained, partly by reformation, and partly by trusting in Christ; so I laboured hard again. But after fagging on for many a weary day, like a poor blind horse toiling round the mill, I found I had got no farther, for Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. Perhaps I have in my presence some who are trying to gain salvation by ceremonies. You have been baptized; you take the Lords Supper; you attend church; and if you knew any other ceremonies you would attend to them. As well might you labour to build your house with water, as to build salvation with such poor things as these. These are good enough for you when you are saved, but if you seek salvation in them, they shall be to your soul as wells without water, clouds without rain, and withered trees, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.

II. A positive fact, viz., that there is salvation in Jesus Christ. Thou hast long been trying to find the road to heaven, and thou hast missed it. Guilt, like a heavy burden, is on thy back, and thou darest not yet cry for pardon. Satan whispers, It is all over with thee; there is no mercy for such as thou art: Christ is able to save many, but not thee. Poor soul! Come to the Cross of Christ, and thou shalt there see something which shall remove thine unbelief.

1. Come now with thy defilement, and look at Christs purity; and as thou lookest at that purity, like the lily, and thou seest the crimson of His blood overflowing it, let this whisper be heard in thine ear–He is able to save thee, sinner, inasmuch as though He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet He was without sin; therefore the merit of His blood must be great. Oh, may God help thee to believe on Him!

2. But this is not the grand thing which should recommend Him to thee. Remember, He who died upon the Cross was no less than the everlasting Son of God. If He were a mere man, a Socinians or an Arians Christ, I would not bid thee trust Him; but since He is none other than God Himself incarnate in human flesh, I beseech thee cast thyself upon Him: He is able, He is willing, doubt no more. He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.

3. Recollect again, as a further consolation for your faith, that God the Father has accepted the sacrifice of Christ. It is the Fathers anger that you have the most cause to dread. Now, Jesus was punished in the stead of every sinner who hath repented, and God the Father hath accepted Christ in the stead of sinners. Ought not this to lead you to accept Him? If the Judge -has accepted the sacrifice, sure you may accept it too; and if He be satisfied, sure you may be content also. If the creditor has written a full and free discharge, you, the poor debtor, may rejoice and believe that that discharge is satisfactory to you, because it is satisfactory to God. But do you ask me how I know that God has accepted Christs atonement? I remind you that Christ rose again from the dead.

4. Another argument is this–many have been saved who were as vile as thou art, and therefore there is salvation. The chief of sinners was saved years ago; that was the Apostle Paul: but even if thou should exceed him, still that word uttermost goes a little beyond you. I could turn to you myself, and tell you that surely there must be salvation in Christ for you, since I have found salvation in Christ for myself. Often have I said, I will never doubt the salvation of any one, so long as I can but know that Christ has accepted me.

5. To quicken thy diligence, however, I will conclude by noting that if you do not find salvation in Christ, remember you will never find it elsewhere. What a dreadful thing it will be for you if you should lose the salvation provided by Christ! For how shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

One only way of salvation

I. Other way of salvation there cannot be, for that one way is Gods way; its divinity necessitates its exclusiveness. It is clear, that when man fell, he lay at the mercy of his Sovereign. To Him alone it pertained to determine these two points-whether the offender should have means of salvation at all; and then, what those means should be. If, in the exercise of the mercy in which He delights, Jehovah determined on mans salvation, and appointed and revealed the way, how can the conclusion be resisted that that way is the only way? The name by which we are to be saved must he given; i.e., it must have Divine appointment. If Jesus be the name given, then must it be the only name that can furnish any valid and satisfactory plea at the throne of the eternal God? If men could have been saved in ways of their own, God would not have devised one of His; and the very fact of His having done so is sufficient to show that men cannot be saved in ways of their own. It is related of Alphonsus, of Castile, that on having the Ptolemaic system of astronomy explained to him, he jeeringly said, that had he lived at the time, to give the Almighty counsel, he could have instructed Him to make a universe better. We now know that the scoff of presumptuous profanity was founded in sheer ignorance. And so it is in every one who fancies that he can dictate to God the way to save him. Men calling themselves philosophers have speculated whether God could have saved men in any other way than that which Christianity reveals, so as to forget the necessity of an interest in the way which He has accomplished. The question with us should be, what God actually has done, and if you admit that God has done what was best, you admit that He has done what alone He could do without ceasing to be God.

II. We argue the same thing from the Divinity of the Executor of the plan; that is, from the person of the Redeemer. He is God manifest in the flesh. Now if this is true, then that there can be no other Saviour must of necessity be as true. Either such a Mediator and such means of salvation were necessary, or they were not. If they were not, God could never have had recourse to them, for He is infinitely wise, doing nothing in vain, never using great means for little ends; and if they were, then all others must have been not only inadequate, but infinitely inadequate. The Mediator between God and man must either have been created or Divine. Then if a creature were sufficient, no matter how exalted, a Divine Mediator was infinitely above the exigency of the case; and if, on the contrary, a Divine Mediator was requisite, then was a created infinitely beneath the exigency of the case. We might base our argument, with equal conclusiveness, on the wisdom or the goodness or the justice of God. Take, in connection with the Divinity of the Saviours Person, the sufferings which He endured. Then, if all this was not necessary, the adoption of such a plan was at variance with the Divine justice and goodness.

III. We argue exclusiveness, on the ground that the plan revealed is the only one that bears to be tested by the principle of adaptation to what the existing case requires. This principle of adaptation is largely appealed to, as exhibiting the evidence of Divine perfection in the works of creation. This principle is as applicable in the moral world.

1. The gospel plan of salvation is in the essential and elementary principle of it, as well as in its provisions, adapted to the circumstances of man as the party to be saved. As guilty and condemned, he needed pardon and justification; and these are provided for by the mediatorial propitiatory obedience unto death of the divinely constituted and Divine Saviour. As depraved and sinful, he needed renewal in the spirit of his mind, sanctification; and this is provided for him by the work of the Holy Spirit in association with the work of Christ.

2. It is the only scheme adapted to the character of Him who saves. There is no salvation in any other, because He is the only Saviour by whom, and His the only name by which, in saving the lost, the glory of God is in every point secured.

IV. The last ground on which we rest the exclusiveness of the gospel method of salvation is the completeness of the salvation itself. It is a salvation worthy in all respects of God, and fully meeting the wants of man. It is a salvation from guilt, sin, suffering, death, hell, to a state of pardon and acceptance and favour, to the exercise of holy principles and holy affections, to life, to happiness, to usefulness, to heaven, and all for eternity. All Gods works are perfect, and this not less than others. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)

Jesus the only Saviour

This passage is remarkable as forming part of a sermon by Peter–who thrice denied this very Jesus–and as having been first delivered in the hearing of the judges and murderers of Jesus. When Jesus stood before their tribunal, He told them that hereafter they would see the Son of Man standing on the right hand of power, and when the sacred writer speaks of His second coming, he says, Every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him. Now, it must have been a foretaste of this fearful truth when His apostles stood in their presence. In illustrating this subject, let us–

I. Remove an objection. A difficulty arises in the minds of some, as if the doctrine savoured of intolerance. They rest satisfied with the general idea that Christianity is true and important, but do not feel that it is the only Divine religion. Now these views are precisely those of the ancient heathens, who would have allowed an image for Jesus as one amongst many idols. What they found fault with was the universal demand that every idol should be destroyed, and that Jesus alone should be regarded as the object of worship and the author of salvation. But this is evidently the very spirit of Christianity. No blood can cleanse sin but that which was shed on Calvary; no power can open the gate of heaven but that of Him who hath the key of David, opening so that no man can shut, and shutting so that no man can open; no power can overcome the strong man armed, but the power of Him who binds Satan in chains and bruiseth him under the feet of His people. If men would only meditate on the solemn truth, that God spared not His only-begotten Son, who died the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, he would see that it is blasphemy to imagine that the salvation of man can be secured in any other way. For if so, God would have spared His only-begotten Son. Nor is there any ground for imagining that the doctrine of the text is at all inconsistent with just views of the benevolence of God. Suppose a body of men cast ashore on a desert island, smitten with disease, and famishing, and that in such circumstances one solitary ship was descried making towards the island, loaded with bread, but carrying an infallible physician, who offered to supply and heal the diseases of the people and to carry them to a land where they should hunger no more, and where there should be no more death–what would you think of the perishing men if they objected to all this because there was only one ship by which to escape, only one physician, only one supply of bread–because vessels had not been sent to all sides of the island, and bread of various kinds, and physicians of various qualities? Would you not think them insane and deeply ungrateful? Now this is the very case before us, only not nearly so strong. And what are we to think of such as object solely on the ground that God has not sent many deliverers instead of one; and instead of hailing the glorious offer, stand by callous and indifferent, and imagine that somehow or other they will escape, although death and famine are raging around.

II. Explain the truth.

I. We are said here to be saved by the name of Christ. This is a mode of expression sometimes used in Scripture; as, e.g., The name of the Lord is a strong tower; where by the name of the Lord is meant God Himself. We speak of the greatest names of antiquity, and of men filling the world with the terror of their names, when in both cases we mean not the names but the persons. And so we are saved by Christ Himself, although in Scripture we are said to trust in His name. In His name shall the Gentiles trust.

2. The form of expression, also, in the first part of the verse, is peculiar. The apostle does not represent Christ as giving salvation as a thing disconnected from Himself, but as a thing existing in Him, as a great treasure-house of spiritual blessings in Christ, from whom all the members united to Him by faith derive strength, nourishment, and salvation. The general doctrine here is, that Christ is the only Redeemer as He was the only Creator; and that He only is able to create us again, as He was to make us at first. The special doctrine is, that this fulness of mediatorial power is laid up in Christ as the Head of His Church, and that it descends from Him upon all His members, like the holy anointing oil from the head of Aaron, which flowed down to the skirts of his garments. The general truth is, that Christ alone hath removed the curse of the law and silenced the accuser of the brethren. He hath died, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to God, and is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. The special truth is that it hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, and that we become partakers of all the blessings which He hath purchased only when by faith we become branches of the true vine, living stones in the spiritual building of which Christ is the chief corner-stone. And these blessings are in no other. The merits of saints only exist in the imaginations of blinded idolaters; for every saint is by nature a child of wrath, even as others. If we desire blessings we must go to the Master of the house direct, for none of the servants can supply our wants.

III. Show the concurrence of scripture in this truth. The whole stream of revelation from the beginning points to Jesus and His finished work. The law which was given by Moses pointed to that grace and truth which were to come by Jesus Christ. The prophets prophesied beforehand His coming and sufferings. The angels of heaven filled the air with melody at His birth, and announced that the great Deliverer had at length arrived. The Spirit of God descended like a dove, and rested on His head, and a voice from heaven said, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. John, who baptized Him, said, Behold the Lamb of God, etc. Old Simeon said, Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, etc. Philip said to Nathanael, We have found, etc. And what was the uniform doctrine of the apostles? Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And the song of heaven is full of Christs atonement. (J. Begg, D. D.)

Salvation exclusive but comprehensive

I. The nature of this salvation. St. Peter might well have meant–

1. Salvation from physical discomfort and pain. The circumstance was the healing of the cripple which the judges thought was effected by magic, but which the apostles ascribed to the name of Jesus, who had simply employed them. Pain and discomfort, although they may be transfigured by resignation, may yet crush out heart and hope, and our business in imitating God is to cure it if we can. Our Lord did by His apostles what He still does by generous hearts. The inspiring force of our hospital system is the grace and charity of Christ.

2. National salvation. This was the point of the reference to Psa 118:1-29. Christs way of delivering the nation was by becoming the corner-stone of its hope. For Israel was the real cripple. As a political body the Roman power had broken it. Still more was it crippled morally. The devotion of prophets and psalmist had died away, and in its place were Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. The old heart had been eaten out. What Israel wanted was new life, and its only Saviour was He who had healed the cripple.

3. Spiritual salvation. This was implied by the national, and the spiritual salvation of the nation implied that of the majority of its members. A nation is but an aggregate of individuals seen as such by God. To save men they must be taken one by one. Did not the Redeemer, who gave Himself a ransom for all, love me and give Himself for me? Does not the Spirit, by whom the whole Church is governed and sanctified, dwell in each separate soul? Does not a mother deal with her children personally? So Christ dealt with Peter, Thomas, Mary Magdalene, as if there were no other souls in existence.

II. Salvation in this sense is no monopoly of Israel. What was Israel that she should claim the sole monopoly of the saving name? The final absolute religion could not but be universal. The question of the Gentiles had not been raised, but there was behind the apostles the broad commission. The old infection of nature still remains in the world. Who mill save it? Now, as eighteen centuries ago, Jesus washes out the stains of a guilty past, and gives new desires, aims, hopes, enthusiasms, and renews by His eternal Spirit what His enemies have destroyed.

III. Salvation was exclusively confined to the power of the Lord Jesus. Christ was not one among many possible saviours; He was the only Saviour. And the ground of Peters confidence was that he had not a human speculation or theory, but, as he firmly believed, the final, absolute, one truth. Error may pay its insincere and splendid compliments to that which contradicts it. Truth can only firmly, tenderly, unvaryingly say, It is I who save; neither is there salvation in any other. No man cometh to the Father but by Me. The apostles speak as men who had found the secret of life, hope, happiness, salvation, and their highest ambition was that others might share their privilege.

1. When we affirm that there is salvation in none other than Jesus, we do not deny that other religions than Christianity have in them certain elements of truth. They would not exist if they had not. The element of truth in them enables them to resist dissolution. But they cannot save.

2. When we affirm that Christ alone can save men, we do not deny that other agencies can improve mankind. Education, etc.

3. But such influences as these are bounded by the horizon of time; they have no effects in the great hereafter. They are not opponents nor rivals; they move in a different sphere.

4. There can be no doubt that this conviction was in the first ages of Christianity, and has been since a great motive power in urging devoted men to spread the religion of their Master. (Canon Liddon.)

Christ our only home

On a huge cross by the side of an Italian highway hung a hideous caricature of the Beloved of our souls, who poured out His life for our redemption. Out of reverence to the living Christ we turned aside, disgusted, from the revolting image, but not until we had espied the words Spes unica, in capitals ever its head. Here was truth emblazoned on an idol. Yes, indeed, Jesus, our now exalted, but once crucified Lord, is the sole and only hope of man. Assuredly, O Lord Jesus, Thou art spes unica to our soul.

Other refuge have we none,

Hangs our helpless soul on Thee.

We found this diamond in the mire of superstition: does it sparkle any the less? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

None other name

A few persons were collected round a blind man, who had taken his station on a bridge in the City Road, and was reading from an embossed Bible. Receiving from the passers-by of their carnal things, he was ministering to them spiritual things. A gentleman on his way home from the City was led by curiosity to the outskirts of the crowd. Just then the poor man, who was reading from Act 4:1-37., lost his place, and, while trying to find it with his fingers, kept repeating the last clause he had read, None other name,–None other name,–None Some of the people smiled at the blind mans embarrassment, but the gentleman went on his way musing. He had lately become convinced that he was a sinner, and had been trying in many ways to obtain peace of mind. But religious exercises, good resolutions, altered habits, all were ineffectual to relieve his conscience of its load, and enable him to rejoice in God. The words he had heard from the blind man, however, rang their solemn music to his soul–None other name. When he reached his home and retired to rest, the words, like evening chimes from village towers nestling among the trees, were still heard–None other name–None other name. And when he awoke, in more joyful measure, like matin bell saluting the morn, the strain continued, None other name–None other name. The music entered his soul, and he awoke to new life. I see it all; I see it all! I have been trying to be saved by my own works–my repentance, my prayers, my reformation. I see my mistake. It is Jesus who alone can save me. To Him I will look. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name–none other name–none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

The power of the name of Jesus

A brave cavalry officer was dying of his wounds. He thought himself on the field, at the head of his gallant men, and fancied that a heavy gun was just in front of them ready to be fired. His distress was great. At length he thought the gun had been fired, and his men, badly cut up, were retreating. Here I interposed, saying, There is no gun there; you are safe among friends. Let me alone, he sternly replied; I must recover my command and renew the attack. No, said I, let us not think of battle scenes. You are soon to die. Let us talk of Jesus. The mention of that name seemed to exert the powerful influence I had often heard ascribed to it. His agitation ceased at once; his delirium passed away; a smile lit up his pallid features. After a moments silence, he said in a low tone, Jesus, Jesus! It is He who said, Come unto Me, etc. I want rest, I am weary. Soon after he entered the glorious rest of heaven. (W. Baxendale.)

The one saving name

The text declares that Christs is the only saving name on earth. Other terms are used elsewhere to indicate the paramount value of His religion over all other instrumentalities for mans well-being in this world and in that to come. But, either from an inadequate idea of moral evil, or from a failure to see the perfect fitness of Gods remedy for it, this truth is yet widely unfelt or denied. Men resort elsewhere, and apply to this or that pretender, instead of the only infallible Physician. With some insufficient and temporary expedient, they patch up evils which the miraculous touch of the Son of God is requisite to cure. Lanterns and lamps are of no little use, but he would not be accounted wise who should propose to substitute them for the sun. Let us consider some of the substitutes which have been proposed by some men for the great instrument of mans highest good.

I. Liberty–the goddess, as Mammon is the god, of the present civilisation. Summoned upon the theatre of Europe by the fearless voice of Luther, breaking forth in the tremendous throes of successive French revolutions, and winning her more complete triumph in the New World, liberty is one of the strongest passions of modern history. And no wonder. When you have entered the house of human bondage, and remembered its dreadful secrets, no wonder your blood boils. The Bastiles of tyranny have fallen before this potent indignation. Let them fall. All honour is due to those who have lifted the yoke from the neck of humanity, and said to myriads, Ye are men, go free. But then we need only glance at the condition of the freest nations to see that Liberty can be no substitute for the gospel. Under her dominion men may know their rights, but they need another master to teach them their duties. Liberty must take law into her partnership, or she is but another name for license. And when the general relations of society are equitably adjusted, and justice done between man and man, what a wide empire of character is beyond her reach! National liberty, glorious boon as it is, is external. But the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free is carried into the inmost recesses of the mind. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty–Liberty from anger and malice and lust and drunkenness, and the whole legion of evil spirits wherewith society is possessed.

II. Modern civilisation. The crying demand for a spiritual regeneration is postponed for external ease and luxury. When the sacred writer wished to describe the growing degeneracy of the chosen people, he said, Jeshurun [a term of endearment for Israel] waxed fat, and kicked. That phrase describes the two great eras in a nations growth: first, of prosperity; and secondly, of insolent power, forgetting right. Thus modern civilisation has woven so thick a veil, that many seem to be incapable or indisposed to see underneath the living texture of Divine laws, and our accountableness to the will of the Supreme. Strange and deplorable result, if home become so attractive that it should prove a rival to heaven! Sad mistake, if the charms of earthly friendship and comfortable life should dull our sensibilities to our holy relationship to God and Christ! We need to know that what is best and safest in this modern civilisation has flowed from Christianity; but that, so far as it is disconnected from Christ, as its controlling principle and sanctifying motive, it is base and soulless and dangerous; that there is hazard of entombing our souls in this magnificent earthly good. The splendid gift of life was not bestowed that we might dress in purple or fine linen, or fare sumptuously every day, or even that we might ride a mile a minute, cross the ocean in ten days, or send a despatch round the globe in the twinkling of an eye. He who rides a mile a minute ought to be using that grand conveyance on no fools errand. He who can cross the Atlantic in ten days should feel himself commissioned to do some great and good work for man, when the Almighty has thus put in his hands the sceptre of the winds and waves, and they obey him. He who can send swifter than the suns flight messages from clime to clime ought to charter the telegraph with some good tidings of good. Modern civilisation is all good and safe, when kept down at the proper secondary mark; but if it arise, and assume prouder titles, and the privilege of monopolising immortal capacities for mortal uses, the watchmen must cry aloud, and spare not. For none can look abroad, and not see that the world, so called, has got a fearful hold of mens minds. Everything, even virtue, is to be turned to profit. What does not bring money is not, in general, thought to be worth anything. Then is there no fear that we have another God than the Lord of heaven and earth, even Mammon, as the actual deity of our worship! Tried by every rule, and weighed in every balance, modern civilisation, as such, is found wanting. Ill can it suffice for its own temporal needs, and keep itself out of fire and water; how much less meet the great need of immortal man! Ill can it stand in the place of Christ for the healing of the nations. Its god is gold, its aim is self; too many of its governments are tyrannies; too many of its cities Sodoms; its highest honours are military butcheries; and its only tolerable deserts are discoloured reflections from His glory who died on the Cross.

III. Reformation, philanthropy, a new organisation of society. The plea is ingenious, because it has some truth to give it countenance, that, notwithstanding Christianity has existed so many centuries, the dreadful evils of society have gone unreformed. True, but it is because it has been corrupted, both under Greek, Catholic, and Protestant forms. But there it is, in the life of Christ, in the books of the New Testament, and it will never suffer man to give sleep to his eyes until it has made all things new. It is said, also, by the reformer, that though men make institutions, institutions, in turn make men. For example, that you may preach heavenly-mindedness, but how can you expect any considerable amount of spirituality in the brutal camp, or in the damp, cold cellars of city pauperism? We confess we cannot. It becomes, accordingly, a matter of the last consequence that the permanent institutions of society, and the customs of the time, should all square with the Christian standard, Christ must sit as sole and final umpire upon all the great questions that now agitate society. And in this just judgment, whatever Christ, by His Word, rejects, we, who are His followers, must reject; and whatever He commands we must do, let whoever will say nay. So much we yield to reformation. But what we protest against is, simply, that moral reformation, or any new organisation of society, can take the place of the religion of Christ. For, in the outset, how could these great moral movements start, unless there were the heaven-derived and omnipotent influences of Christian ideas acting behind? This is the ever-flowing river that sets in motion all the wheels and complicated machinery of practical philanthropy. This is the exhaustless reservoir and lake that fills all the pipes, aqueducts, and fountains, and quenches a citys thirst, and cleanses a citys impurity. Christ is the reformers wisdom and guidance and strength, and without Him he could do nothing. Then, again, grant that you could by a possibility get the world all reformed, the timepiece wound up and running well, properly more equalised, education and happiness universal. How long would the millennium last without Christ? Self is still there, and passion is busy, and the old man will again come to life though he has once been crucified with the lusts thereof; and then the world is as bad as it was before, and you have all your work to do over again. No; Christ is the only Sovereign and legitimate Reformer, as He is the Saviour of the individual soul, and those only who go forth in His name and spirit are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.

IV. Education. We grant, indeed, that if the world is ever to be better and happier, it must be in no slight measure by a better family and common school nurture. But education, like all other great movements of benevolence, is powerless of good when disjoined from Christ. The culture of the mind exclusively becomes a doubtful good, if moral training keep not an even pace with it. Jesus, as the perfect representative of our spiritual nature, encourages the earliest moral training, He called children to Him, and pronounced His blessing upon them. At one time He set a little child in the midst, and bade His disciples be converted and become like little children, or they could not enter His kingdom. And He left it in charge to His apostles, Feed My lambs. Education, then, in its higher forms, has the explicit encouragement of Him who knew what was in man. (A. B. Livermore.)

One saving name

We can destroy ourselves and each other, but we cannot save ourselves or each other. There are some dangers and evils from which we can save both ourselves and our fellows, but from the worst we can neither save ourselves nor others. All that in this case we can do for ourselves is to look to a Saviour, and for others to direct them to a Redeemer. We are seldom satisfied with what we have. Eve desired the forbidden fruit; and the Jews desired a Saviour entirely different from Him to whom the prophets had given witness, and whom God had sent. To this fact Peter calls attention, and then adds, Neither is there salvation in any other, etc. Note here–

I. Salvation.

1. Ignorance with respect to the highest subjects is compared to darkness; to be called out of darkness into marvellous light, is in part salvation.

2. Foolishness is ever attendant upon sinfulness. To receive wisdom from above, and to be made, concerning the highest ends and the best means, truly wise, is in part salvation.

3. The imagination is a faculty ever busy for good or evil. Unless connected with knowledge and wisdom, its fabrications are vain and wicked. To have all such imaginations cast down, is in part salvation..

4. The heart of man is a tree bearing corrupt fruit, and a fountain pouring forth bitter water. To have created within us a clean heart and a right spirit, is in part salvation.

5. The will of man was created to correspond to the will of God, as a wheel within a wheel, but it has fallen from its place and revolves out of its sphere. Like the rudder of a ship, the will was intended to keep men true to the glory of God while compassing the broad way of Gods commandments. But the helm is in the hands of pirates, and the vessels prow is to the rock, or the quicksand, or the iceberg. To be delivered from a rebellious and wayward will, and to be made ready to do the will of God as an obedient child, is in part salvation.

6. Conscience is a faculty which many suppose can never become corrupt. But a man may do evil when he acts conscientiously, for there are evil consciences. To have the conscience cleansed and healed by the precious blood of Christ, and rectified by the Holy Ghost, is in part salvation.

7. God created man in His own image (Gen 1:27). As the painting or the statue to its subject, as the mirror to the spectator, so was the first man, in the beginning, to his God. But the mirror is broken, and the statue is defaced, and the painting is rent, and the child has fallen and is disfigured and maimed. To have the mirror replaced, the picture renovated, the child healed, and the Divine likeness restored, is in part salvation.

8. With a sinful nature we are born. To have our sinfulness crucified and its dominion destroyed, is in part salvation.

9. The position of man was, in his first estate, righteous and filial. But we have fallen from our position by sin, and are accounted guilty and ungodly. To be justified, is in part salvation.

10. There is an evil spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience. To be delivered from his presence and power, is in part salvation.

11. There is evil in all human institutions and arrangements. Gods world is good, but mans has much evil. To be made to overcome the world, is in part salvation.

12. Death has crept over our human nature, spiritual death. To be morally and religiously quickened, is in part salvation.

13. Punishment hangs over our guilty heads like a thunder-cloud pregnant with storm, and the impending tempest murmurs in our present sorrows. The wages of sin is death, and all the evils to which flesh and soul are heir are as instalments of the wages of sin. To have the firmament of life cleared of these clouds by the forgiveness of sins, is in part salvation.

14. Such are the derangements of evil, that the forgiven and regenerated are exposed to affliction, and it is appointed that they too should die. To be sustained in the hour of tribulation, to go down into our grave and to rise again, shouting, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? is in part salvation.

15. Paradise was lost by Adam, but paradise is regained by Jesus Christ. To enter that garden as our own, and enjoy its innumerable delights, and to realise therein everlasting life, this is the consummation of salvation. This salvation God promised at the beginning, this God has provided, and this we offer you in the preaching of the gospel.

II. Salvation in a person.

1. Deliverances are sometimes wrought by things. The shipwrecked one is saved by clinging to a floating spar, the tenant of a house on fire by the trap-door in the roof. And deliverances are effected by things employed by persons, as by a crew in a lifeboat, a fireman and the fire-escape, a physician and his medicines. There are, moreover, persons whose profession is some work of salvation, as the medical practitioner, the fireman, and the lifeboat crew.

2. The salvation of which we have been speaking is not in the Divine purpose, or in the Divine fiat, or in anything, but in a living Saviour.

3. To be saved by a Saviour.

(1) This shows our weakness, and in our weakness we see our wretchedness. We are like one drowning, bound hand and foot. We are like one exposed to the flames, and paralysed in every limb. We are like one poisoned, upon whom the sleep of death is already creeping.

(2) This arrangement removes all cause of boasting from the saved.

(3) It places the redeemed under special obligations. They are indebted to their Saviour as to none other. Father, mother, husband, wife, have done nothing for us compared with Him who saves us.

(4) It renders the actual work of salvation a service of sympathy and love. Salvation comes not from a mere power or force, but it is connected with intelligence, affection, and volition, and is therefore not liable to failure.

(5) it creates a new relation and connection. By our existence we become the offspring of God. By our entrance into life we have parents of the flesh. And these and other connections are natural. We have Creator, mother, father, perhaps brothers, sisters, in the ordinary course of providence. But a Saviour is distinct from all other relations. Blessed is the man who, looking toward one mighty to save, can say My Saviour. A man may be an orphan and friendless, but with a Saviour anything but desolate, while he who, in the midst of the largest and most loving circle, has no Redeemer is not only a forlorn, but a lost man.

III. Salvation in a person whose name is made known.

1. Six thousand years ago the Saviour of men was simply called the seed of the woman. Then He was denominated the Shiloh, the Prophet, Wonderful, Root of Jesse, Righteous Branch, Jehovah our Righteousness. And the angel who announced the conception said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, etc.

2. Jesus is the name given among men as the name of the Saviour. To this Jesus give all the prophets witness as the Christ of God. This Jesus was proclaimed Saviour by the angel Gabriel, by another angel, and by a multitude of the heavenly host. This Jesus was introduced by one of the greatest prophets the earth has ever known. The works He wrought bare witness of Him. The heavens were thrice rent, and from the excellent glory a voice came, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Eclipse and earthquake saluted Him as the Saviour when He died; resurrection revived His renown, and ascension established it for ever, That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. It is an interesting fact that the name Jesus occurs nearly seven hundred times in the four Gospels, Christ alone some sixty times in the Gospels and in the Acts, Jesus Christ but five times in the Gospels, and Christ Jesus not once in those books. We may regard Jesus as therefore the name given among men.

3. Joshua, to which name Jesus corresponds, is composed of a portion of the name Jehovah, and of a word which signifies salvation. So that the etymon would signify the Lords salvation, or Lord of salvation. This name was given to the Son of Man, to a Bethshemite in the time of Samuel, to a governor among the cities of Judah in the days of Josiah, and to a high priest in the days of Haggai. The name, though in use, was not common, and it was given the Son of Mary with a special signification.

4. But who is this Jesus? He is God manifest in flesh. He has all the attributes and properties of God, but while on earth He made Himself of no reputation, etc. He has all the attributes and properties of humanity, but without sin. In Him is all that is requisite for complete redemption. God has given this name–in writing to be read, by preaching to be heard; given it Himself that it may never be forgotten, and that it may be above every name; given it among men, that men may read and hear it, learn and repeat it, incorporate it with their prayers and their songs, and that it may become as familiar in their mouths as any household word.

IV. Salvation limited to this person.

1. There have been other names under heaven given among men. The Pharisees gave the name of Abraham, and said, We have Abraham for our father, and the name of Moses, saying, We are Moses disciples. The false prophet of the sixth century gave his own name. The Church of Rome gives the name of the Holy Catholic Church, the names of angels, saints and martyrs, and above all, the name of Mary. But Abraham was the ancestor of the Saviour, not the Saviour; Moses was a prophet of the Saviour, not the Saviour; Mahomet was self-deceived and a deceiver; the Church is composed of the saved, not of saviours; the angels minister to the heirs of salvation, they cannot save them; and Mary is indebted for her own salvation to her own son Jesus.

2. But not only have other names been put forward, but things have been presented as saviours. Thus, sacraments are given among men as means of salvation, and men-made creeds, and membership with particular churches, and good works. But these are given among men by men, and not by God.

3. It would be interesting to inquire into the causes of other names and things being put forward. Perhaps the chief cause is pride. We shrink from the practical acknowledgment of entire and absolute dependence upon the grace of God for our redemption; we despise the simplicity of faith, or we are not prepared to follow after holiness. But, however, this may be, neither is there salvation in any other.

4. There is much mystery surrounding this name, the mystery of the holy incarnation, of the union of the Divine and human natures, of oneness with the Father, co-existing with subjection to the Father, of the temptation and agony, and of the Eloi, Eloi, of the grave, and resurrection and ascension; but we cannot afford to neglect the name Jesus because of the mystery which surrounds it, because neither is there salvation in any other.

5. There are differences of opinion concerning Him who bears this name Jesus. Some deny His Deity, others His true humanity. Some refuse to recognise Him as victim and priest, and do Him homage only as a teacher; others leave Him in the sepulchre among all the mighty dead. The unbelieving Jew still accounts Him an impostor, the believing Gentile crowns Him Lord of all. But amidst this diversity of opinion we may not say, I suspend my judgment. We must on this subject make up our minds. Nor can we hold error without fearful peril, for neither is there salvation in any other.

6. Many who say they are saved by Christ show no signs of redemption. As we look at them we say, Saved from what? If they be saved, what must they have been before? There are men who boast that they are saved, who are such children of the devil, that many have said, If this be salvation, may Heaven keep it far from me! But what then? Although many who say they are saved exhibit no signs of salvation–yea, more, although but few be saved–yea, more, if as yet not one soul has been saved, my text abides true, Neither is there salvation in any other.

7. Many men think their own cases too singular to be saved by Christ Jesus. One man is sceptical, and his doubtings are, in his judgment, of the most extraordinary character. There have been sceptics many, but none like himself. A second was once an atheist or a deist, and in the denial of religious truth proceeded farther than he can conceive it possible for an infidel to go. A third has been a blasphemer. A fourth has been a licentious profligate. A fifth has been more cruel than a beast of prey. A sixth once wore the form of godliness while destitute of the power. A seventh once heard the Word with joy, but endured only for a while; tribulation arose and he was offended. The eighth has been a bitter persecutor. Now, each of these say, Jesus may save others, but He cannot save me. But whatever eminence a man may have in that which is sinful, if he be saved at all, he must be saved by the Redeemer of the least of sinners. There is one sun to rule our day, one moon to rule our night, one atmosphere round our globe in which to breathe and move, and not another. Neither is there salvation in any other.

Conclusion:

1. And are there any persons here who believe not on Jesus? If there be, who can they be? Surely not the children of believing parents? Not those who are now, or who have been, in our Christian schools? Not the possessors of a New Testament? Not those who regularly or even occasionally hear the gospel? Not such as know this name Jesus? Or is it so, that the unbelievers here consist of these very classes? Not believe! Why do you not believe? This name, by faith in this name, saves. The ignorant by faith come to this Jesus as a teacher; the unwise by faith come to this Jesus as wisdoms fountain; the foolish builders by faith come to earths Creator; the impure by faith come to this Jesus, as to a fountain opened for sin and all uncleanness; the conscience-wounded creature comes by faith to this physician of souls, that He may make him whole; the fallen come by faith to this Jesus, mighty to save, that He may lift them up; and if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved.

2. My brothers, believe. Do I hear you say, Go thy way for this time? For this time! Why for this time? Ah, I know why–that you may drink more freely of this worlds pleasures.

3. Believers in this name, do your utmost to make it known. When you see it, does it not sparkle beneath your eye as the gem of gems? When you hear it, does it not sound as heavens sweetest music in your ear? and in your heart of hearts, do you not feel it to be the power of God to your salvation? Then do your best to sustain the men by whom, and to uphold the places in which, this name of names is preached. (S. Martin.)

Only one way in

Standing opposite Fort William, a missionary heard the Mussulmans and Chinamen saying, There are very many gates into Fort William–there is an hospital gate, a water, gate, and others. Now, Sahib, it is just the same in regard to heaven. Chinamen get in at one gate, Mussulmans in at another, and Hindoos in at another! Yes, the missionary said, that is true; but there is a sentinel at every gate, and every sentinel has the same watchword, and you cannot get into it without that watchword. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

Christianity the only reformatory force

1. Four great facts confront us at every turn.

(1) There is that in the world which men have consented to call vice.

(2) There is that in the world which men have consented to call virtue.

(3) This vice and virtue has its residence not in the human physique or intellect, but in that which you and I have consented to call character.

(4) The power to suppress vice and to develop virtue is not in man nor of man, but from God.

2. These are four facts, confirmed by the whole race, that stand to-night unchallenged. And we stand here to advocate the great thought in the text that the only power whereby vice can be suppressed and virtue developed is the power of Christianity, manifested through a personal Christ, resident in the human heart.

I. The liberalism of to-day is opposed to such a thought, and points us to other sources of reformatory power.

1. Our attention is directed to China, where a name is held as sacred as the name of Christ by us. Once a year the Emperor, surrounded by his court, enters a temple, and exclaims: Confucius, Confucius, how great is Confucius; before Confucius there was no Confucius, and since Confucius there has been no Confucius; Confucius, Confucius, how great is Confucius! Now what was the radical conception of humanity by Confucius? It was that humanity is radically good, that it is capable of the highest form of virtue, independent of any external force; hence he gives to his countrymen the five relations. The great reformatory force of Confucius was subordination; the obedience of the wife to the husband; of the child to the parent; of the youngest brother to the eldest brother; of the youngest friend to the oldest friend; and of the subject to the Emperor. Let us honour Confucius for the moral principles he gave his countrymen; but those principles have been tested under the most favourable circumstances, and what are the results? Go all through the Chinese Empire, and what do you find? Lying and theft, and all forms of dissipation; the degradation of women; and an expenditure of 33,400,000 annually in one branch of idolatry.

2. Then in the East there is another rival name, the name of a man who sways his sceptre over more than 100,000,000 of people in China, Japan, the Isles of the Sea. Sakya-Muni went forth with the two great ideas that vice is the result of the change that is apparent all around us, and that to secure virtue the mind must rise to that law under which no things change. Hence the name Buddha is given to one who ascertains that changeless law. I have no interest in misrepresenting this great man. I would estimate him a providential man, as Socrates and Plato. But when he is brought as a rival against my Master I am bound to sit in judgment upon his proposals to make humanity better. He gave noble precepts to his people, and that six hundred years before Christ came into the world. He issued His commandments, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not commit adultery, all of which, however, can be traced to Moses. But now go all through where Sakya-Muni has swayed his religious sceptre. Here not only are his precepts violated, but all the precepts in our Ten Commandments.

3. In India we find another rival to our Master in the form of Brahma. The great theory in Brahminism for the elevation of humanity is that as sin abides in the flesh, and virtue in the intellect, we must reduce the physical to the minimum, and exalt the intellect to the maximum, and then we suppress vice and develop virtue. Well, let us judge of Brahminism by its results. Let us go to that fair land, where all nature is lovely and only man is vile. Look at the idolatry–360,000,000 of gods! Woman is degraded; childhood, especially female child-hood, is sacrificed; Thuggism prevails, and there vices are dominant. And all this is the result of the insufficient reformatory force in Brahminism.

4. I do not mention Mohammedanism, for Mohammedanism is not original; it is plagiarism.

II. Now turn to Christianity. What is Christs radical idea of the condition of humanity? It is that human nature is bad, and that this badness is in the condition of the will, conscience, and affections, and that out of this moral condition flows vice, and that out of vice comes the misery of the world. Now, what does He propose to do? To transform by a supernatural power.

1. We must not look upon Him as a mere philanthropist; Christs philanthropy is subordinate to His supernatural power. Christ did not come to improve the physical condition of man. Do you tell me that He performed miracles? True; but not as a philanthropist. He did not raise all the dead, or heal all the sick; but only where He could write a credential for His great mission to renew the human heart. The significance of the miracles of Jesus Christ is this, that all through the East there prevailed the idea that sin was in matter, and that there was no power in the universe by which matter itself could be controlled. Hence He performed His miracles simply to prove that He was higher than nature, and that matter was subject to Him. He was not a philanthropist in the ordinary sense. The orphans cried in the streets of Jerusalem, but He erected no orphan asylum; He never founded a college. He might have given to the world a perfect system of science and a Materia Medica that would have alleviated the sufferings of humanity. But He did nothing of the kind. He might have anticipated great inventors; whatever to-day seems to be the glory of our civilisation must have floated through His Divine imagination. But this was not the purpose of His coming. Nor did He come as a statesman. Twice He was invited to be a judge, but He declined; once He was asked to be a king, but He refused. He expressed no preference for this form of government or that. He knew that government was oppressive, and slavery fearful, but He issued no proclamation of emancipation. The social evil prevailed, but He organised no meetings for reclamation. Intemperance prevailed, yet He never offered the pledge of total abstinence to any. War prevailed, yet He did not organise peace societies. Even idolatry cursed every hill and valley, yet He organised no crusade against idolatry. What He did not do is as remarkable as what He did do. The infidels of to-day arraign Him because He did not do these things.

2. But listen! His eye looked down the ages, and, passing over China, saw what subordination or subjugation had failed to do; over the region swayed by Buddha, and saw what his teaching had failed to do; over India, and saw that intellectual culture had proved a failure; over Rome, and saw that law had failed to suppress vice or develop virtue; ever Greece, where art was in its glory; and there He saw that the aesthetics of civilisation had failed, and that art was not a reformatory force. Then He said, I will now enter the citadel of man; I will come to each individual, and ask him to permit Me to incarnate Myself in him; to enchain his conscience to My severe morality, to harmonise his will with Mine, to enthrone Myself in his affections; I will make each man a living, walking, speaking Christ.

3. He resolved not to do what men could do. He knew that man, unaided by Him, could educate the mind, could bless the orphan and comfort the widow; but He resolved to touch the fountain of life that all the streams might be pure, and just in proportion as He is received as the regenerator of the human heart, in that proportion do public charities become facts, and benevolence is a sublime truth in the world. A learned Chinese in Philadelphia wrote a series of articles to this effect–that in his country there were houses of charity for the reception of the widow and the aged, but he should have had the honesty to tell two facts–first, that in his country there is no house of charity which antedates the introduction of Christianity; and, secondly, that on the banks of the Yang-tse-kiang there is a house of charity for animals which antedates Christianity. Those Chinese are in advance of Darwin, for they say these animals are to be men in the next world. In the same city I attended the semi-centennial of the Bible Society. First came upon the stand a mute, who, in his graceful language, recited to us the Beatitude, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Then came a beautiful girl born deaf, but Christian science had taught the mute lips to speak, and she whispered, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Then came a Chinese lady who was born blind, brought to this country and converted, and Christian science had taught her fingers to read deftly in the language of the blind, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Christian science is doing to-day what Christ did in His person. The genius of Christianity working through renewed hearts is writing its credentials in favour of our Divine Lord. Is it true He did not found a college or a university? He did something better; He placed in the hands of each man a book that should tell men of the character and the claims of Almighty God; that should inform man of his own origin, that he is immortal, and responsible to the ages as he is to God; a book that should present to him the noblest specimen of virtue and the grandest laws of morality, and wherever this Book has spread its banner of wisdom and love knowledge has been diffused, universities founded, and science advanced. Christ did not come as a statesman? He declared the brotherhood of mankind; He announced the eternal principles of truth and justice, and He knew that wherever these principles were accepted, from a heart that had been renewed by Him, there government would be modified, oppression would cease, and liberty would be enjoyed. Is it true He did not organise missions to reclaim the poor courtesan? He knew it was necessary to create a new affection in the heart of men and of women, for Him to be received into the human heart, to restrain passion; and He knew that, having been thus received, there would come a reformation of this fearful class in society. Only in a Christian land, and as Christianity becomes a living force in society is the social evil branded and banished. Is it true He did not offer the pledge of total abstinence to any? He knew that antecedent influences would be at work at first, and that great moral forces must operate. Is it true He did not organise peace societies? He whispered that Beatitude, Blessed are the peacemakers, and He very well knew that only as humanity is transformed by His power would war-passions cease and men live in sweet harmony together. Christian men have organised the only peace societies in the world. (J. P. Newman, LL. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other] No kind of healing, whether for body or soul, can come through any but him who is called JESUS. The spirit of health resides in him; and from him alone its influences must be received.

For there is none other name] Not only no other person, but no name except that divinely appointed one, Mt 1:21, by which salvation from sin can be expected-none given under heaven-no other means ever devised by God himself for the salvation of a lost world. All other means were only subordinate, and referred to him, and had their efficacy from him alone. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and no man ever came, or can come, to the Father but by him.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Neither is there salvation, for soul or body, in any other person or thing.

For there is none other name; because in distress men did usually call upon their false gods by name, as, O Baal, hear us, 1Ki 18:26.

Under heaven; whether patriarch or prophet, priest or king; especially referring unto Moses, in whom they did trust; and therefore under the gospel especially we must lift up our hearts.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. Neither is there salvation inany other; for there is none other name under heaven given among menwhereby we must be savedHow sublimely does the apostle, inthese closing words, shut up these rulers of Israel to Jesus forsalvation, and in what universal and emphatic terms does he hold uphis Lord as the one Hope of men!

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Neither is there salvation in any other,…. Meaning not corporeal healing, but spiritual and eternal salvation; the Syriac version renders it, neither is there , “redemption in any other”: Christ is the only Saviour and Redeemer, who was promised and prophesied of as such; who has saved and redeemed his people from the law, sin, and Satan; nor is salvation to be sought and hoped for from any other; not in a man’s self, nor in any other creature, angels or men; not in and by his own works, and legal righteousness; not by obedience to the law of Moses, moral or ceremonial; nor by the light of nature, much less by an observance of the traditions of the elders:

for there is none other name; thing or person, be it ever so great, or whatever show of power and strength, of holiness and religion, it makes; as the name of kings, princes, and the great men in the world; or of ministers and preachers in the church; or even of Christians and believers, which may be only a name to live; none but the name of Jesus, his person, blood, and righteousness:

under heaven: throughout the whole earth, in all the nations and kingdoms of it; nor even in heaven itself, among all the mighty angels there, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers; none but the Father and the Spirit, who are one with Christ: there is none but he

given among men; and he has been freely given by his Father, as an instance of his matchless love to the world; and also freely given by himself, to be a sacrifice for the sins of his people; and is freely preached among men, as the only Saviour of them; for there is no other,

whereby we must be saved: God resolved in his purposes and decrees, in his council and covenant, upon the salvation of his chosen people; and he appointed his Son to be the salvation of them, and determined he would save them by him, and by no other, and in no other way; wherefore, whoever are saved, must be saved by him, see Ho 1:7 the Arabic version adds, “unless by him only”.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Salvation ( ). The Messianic salvation as in Acts 5:31; Acts 17:11 and as Jesus meant in Joh 4:22. It is amazing to see Peter speaking thus to the Sanhedrin and proclaiming the necessity of salvation ( ) in the name of Jesus Christ and in no other. If this was true then, it is true today. There is no second () name to go beside that of Jesus in India, China, Japan, or America.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Salvation [ ] . Note the article : the salvation; the Messianic deliverance.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Neither is there salvation in any other: (kai ouk estin en allo oudeni he soteria) “And there does not exist salvation in another, (among men) not even one,” or salvation does not exist in any other person, place, source, or thing. For “Salvation (deliverance) is of the Lord,’ Jon 3:9; of which none should be ashamed, Rom 1:16; 1Ti 2:5-6.

2) “For there is none other name under heaven,” (oude gar onoma estin heteron hupo ton ouranon)’ there is not any other kind, order, rank, (of) name under the highest heaven,” that can keep men from dying in sin and going to hell, Joh 8:24; Col 3:17; Act 10:43.

3) “Given among men,” (to dedomenon en anthropois) “That has been given among men,” conferred as rank or order of honor among men for regal honor, or religious position existing among the ranks of humanity, Mat 1:21; Isa 9:6-7.

4) “Whereby we must be saved,” (en ho dei eothenai hemas) “By which it behooves (becomes) us to be saved,” Joh 3:16. He is the only perfect human being who has ever lived and died, who came to seek and to save the lost, Luk 19:10; who bore their sins in His body on the tree, 1Pe 2:24, and who intercedes and advocates for sins of the redeemed at the Father’s right hand today, Heb 1:3; Heb 7:25; 1Jn 2:1-2.

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST

Christ is a rare jewel, but men know not His value; a sun which ever shines, but men perceive not His brightness, nor walk in His light. He is a garden full of sweets, a hive of honey, a sun without a spot, a star ever bright, a fountain ever full, a brook which ever flows, a rose which ever blooms, a foundation which never yields, a guide who never errs, a friend who never forsakes. No mind can fully grasp His glory; His beauty, His worth, His importance, no tongue can fully declare. He is the source of all good, the fountain of every excellency, the mirror of perfection, the light of heaven, the wonder of earth, time’s masterpiece, and eternity’s glory; the sun of bliss, the way of life, and life’s fair way. “He is altogether lovely,” says the saint; a morning without clouds, a day without night, a rose without thorns; His lips drop like honeycomb, His eyes beam tenderness, His heart gushes love. The Christian is fed by His hands, carried in His heart, supported by His arm, nursed in His bosom, guided by His eye, instructed by His lips, warmed by His love, His wounds are His life, His smile the light of His path, the health of His soul, His rest and heaven below. – Balfern.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

12. Neither is there salvation in any other. He passeth from the species [salvation] unto the genus, [or more particular,] and he goeth from the corporal benefit unto perfect health, [or general.] And assuredly Christ had showed this one token of his grace, to the end he might be known to be the only author of life. We must consider this in all the benefits of God, to wit, that he is the fountain of salvation. And he meant to prick and sting the priests with this sentence, when as he saith that there is salvation in none other save only in Christ, whom they went about to put quite out of remembrance. (210) As if he should say, that they are twice damned who did not only refuse the salvation offered them by God, but endeavor to bring the same to nought, and did take from all the people the fruit and use thereof. And although he seemeth to speak unto deaf men, yet doth he preach of the grace of Christ, if peradventure some can abide to hear; if not, that they may at least be deprived of all excuse by this testimony.

Neither is there any other name He expoundeth the sentence next going before. Salvation (saith he) is in Christ alone, because God hath decreed that it should be so. For by name he meaneth the cause or mean, as if he should have said, forasmuch as salvation is in God’s power only, he will not have the same to be common to us by any other means than if we ask it of Christ alone. Whereas he saith under heaven, they do commonly refer it unto creatures, as if he should say, that the force and power to save is given to Christ alone. Notwithstanding, I do rather think that this was added, because men cannot ascend into heaven, that they may come unto God. Therefore, seeing we are so far from the kingdom of God, it is needful that God do not only invite us unto himself, but that reaching out his hand he offer salvation unto us, that we may enjoy the same. Peter teacheth in this place, that he hath done that in Christ, because he came down into the earth for this cause, that he might bring salvation with him, Neither is that contrary to this doctrine, that Christ is ascended above all heavens, (Eph 4:10.) For he took upon him our flesh once for this cause, that he might be a continual pledge of our adoption. He hath reconciled the Father to us for ever by the sacrifice of his death: by his resurrection he hath purchased for us eternal life. And he is present with us now also, that he may make us partakers of the fruit of eternal redemption; but the revealing of salvation is handled in this place, and we know that the same was so revealed in Christ, that we need not any longer to say, “Who shall ascend into heaven?” (Rom 10:6.) And if so be this doctrine were deeply imprinted in the minds of all men, then should so many controversies concerning the causes of salvation be soon at an end, wherewith the Church is so much troubled. The Papists confess with us, that salvation is in God alone, but by and by they forge to themselves infinite ways to attain unto the same. But Peter calleth us back unto Christ alone. They dare not altogether deny that we have salvation given us by Christ; but whilst they feign so many helps, they leave him scarce the hundredth part of salvation. But they were to seek for salvation at the hands of Christ wholly; for when Peter excludeth plainly all other means, he placeth perfect salvation in Christ alone, and not some part thereof only. So that they are far from understanding this doctrine.

(210) “ Extinguere,” to extinguish or annihilate.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(12) Neither is there salvation in any other.Here the pregnant force of hath been made whole, in Act. 4:9, comes out; and St. Peter rises to its highest meaning, and proclaims a salvation, not from disease and infirmity of body, but from the great disease of sin. The Greek has the article before salvation. That of which Peter spoke was the salvation which the rulers professed to be looking for.

Given among men.Better, that has been given. The words must be taken in the sense which Peter had learnt to attach to the thought of the Name as the symbol of personality and power. To those to whom it had been made known, and who had taken in all that it embodied, the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the one true source of deliverance and salvation. Speaking for himself and the rulers, Peter rightly says that it is the Name whereby we must be saved. Where it is not so known, it rises to its higher significance as the symbol of a divine energy; and so we may rightly say that the heathen who obtain salvation are saved by the Name of the Lord of whom they have never heard. (Comp. 1Ti. 4:13.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

12. Salvation in any other As the building cannot be saved without the corner stone, so the world cannot be saved without this name.

Be saved From the fact that the Greek word for saved is applied to the restoring of the lame-born, some commentators have thought that the salvation here named must also be of a temporal nature. But it is plain that Peter passes from a salvation which only the lame-born needs to a salvation they all needed, and that all men need. It is very absurd to suppose that Peter meant that in Jesus’ name we all are to be saved from bodily disease or any other temporal evil. Peter meant the same salvation as is ever implied in the very name of Jesus he shall save his people from their sins. For man there is no Saviour but Christ; no salvation but from his atonement. Even those who never heard his name, if saved, are saved by his gracious power.

Actual faith by those who truly know him, and virtual faith, “the spirit of faith,” in those who know him not, are the tie which binds the sinner to the cross and its salvation.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“And in none other is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.”

Then he applies the words to his hearers. There is no salvation in anyone else. Jesus is God’s capstone, His cornerstone. There is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved. Eternal life and eternal forgiveness is only available through Him. The question had been in what name the lame man had been healed. This reply states that it is only in that Name that any of mankind can be healed. His appeal to them is clear although cleverly worked in as part of his explanation.

‘Salvation’ would have a Messianic ring to his listeners, especially when connected with Psalms 118. In the scrolls from Qumran ‘Salvation’ and ‘God’s Salvation’ are designations of the Messiah. This is also true in other inter-testamental Jewish literature, and it appears later in the Rabbinic writings. In their view the Messiah was to be God’s means of salvation. He was to be Salvation. Thus Peter’s words are a further claim of Jesus’ Messiahship, linked with the salvation which will bring men into the everlasting kingdom. Furthermore the name Jesus means ‘Yahweh is salvation’. Salvation is thus closely paralleled with the name of Jesus in all its senses.

But ‘salvation’ can also mean ‘making whole’ (compare the same word in Act 4:9). So there is the implication that the Jesus Who had made this man whole could also make the world whole. Let them then consider that what had happened to this man should make them recognise just what Jesus could do.

Thus these words of Peter were not just a challenge, they were central to the whole question of the Name of Jesus. He was Salvation because He was the Messiah, He was Salvation because that was His name given to Him by God, and He was salvation because He brought salvation to all who needed healing, whether in body or soul.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Act 4:12 . To the foregoing figurative assurance, that Jesus is the Messiah, Peter now annexes the solemn declaration that no other is so, and that without figure.

And there is not in another the salvation, i.e. the Messianic deliverance (Act 2:21 ). Comp. Act 5:31 , Act 15:11 . This mode of taking is imperatively demanded, both by the absolute position of the word with the force of the article, and by the connection with the preceding, wherein Jesus was designated as Messiah , as well as by the completely parallel second member of the verse. Therefore Michaelis, Bolten, and Hildebrand err in holding that it is to be understood of the cure of a man so infirm . Nor is the idea of deliverance from diseases generally to be at all blended with that of the Messianic salvation (in opposition to Kypke, Moldenhauer, Heinrichs), as Peter had already, at Act 4:11 , quite departed from the theme of the infirm man’s cure, and passed over to the assertion of the Messianic character of Jesus quite generally , without retaining any special reference to bodily deliverance.

] no other is the ground, on which salvation is causally dependent. Soph. Aj. 515: . Eur. Alc. 279: . Herod. viii. 118: .

] annexes a more precise explanation, which is meant to serve as a proof of the preceding. For also there is no other name under the heaven given among men, in which we must obtain salvation .

(see the critical remarks): for also not . The reading would not signify namque non (so Hermann, Opusc. III. p. 158), but would indicate that a further clause corresponding to the was meant to follow it up (Klotz, ad Devar. p. 716; Khner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 2. 31; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 444 f.), which, however, does not suit here, where the address is brought to a weighty close. The use generally doubtful, at least with prose writers, of instead of (Baeumlein, Partik. p. 222), is here excluded by , which makes the notion of neither nor inapplicable.

] a name different from that name. On the other hand previously: ., in no one but in Him . Comp. on Gal 1:7 .

. ] which is granted by God given for good among men , in human society. The view adopted by Wolf and Kuinoel, that . stands for the simple dative, is erroneous. Winer, p. 204 [E. T. 273].

] in this generic reference did not require the article. See Ast, Lex. Plat. I. p. 177 f.; Khner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 4. 14; Stallb. ad Plat. Crit. p. 51 A; Prot. p. 355 A. . ., which might in itself be dispensed with, has solemn emphasis. Comp. Act 2:5 .

] as formerly . The name is to be conceived as the contents of the believing confession. Fides implicita (in opposition to the Catholics) cannot here be meant; Act 3:19 ; Act 3:26 .

] namely, according to God’s unalterable destination.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1748
SALVATION BY CHRIST ALONE

Act 4:12. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

FROM the account given us of the miracles wrought by our blessed Lord, we should be led, not only to acknowledge him as the true Messiah, but to consider what we ourselves may expect at his hands. His Apostles, Peter and John, had healed a man who had been lame from his birth. The spectators, filled with astonishment, were ready to ascribe the honour of this miracle to them: but they told them by whom it had been effected, even by Jesus, whom they had rejected; but who, notwithstanding their contempt of him, was, and by this miracle had proved himself to be, the head-stone of the corner [Note: ver. 11.]. They then directed the attention of their auditors to their own eternal interests, and assured them, that as Jesus alone restored the cripple to the use of his limbs, so Jesus alone could save them from everlasting perdition [Note: It is evident that the text refers, not to bodily healing, but to a salvation which the Apostles themselves, and all their hearers, stood in need of.].

In discoursing upon the words before us, it will be proper to notice,

I.

What is implied

Nothing can be more clearly implied than that there is salvation for us in Christ. It may be thought that it is unnecessary to insist upon so plain and obvious a truth, more especially among those who call themselves Christians: but this truth is far from being universally known; and the grounds on which it stands are very little considered: and, if it were as well understood as we are apt to imagine, still there would be a necessity for dwelling frequently upon it, on account of its vast importance, and of determining with St. Paul to know nothing among our people but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

In confirmation of it, we shall appeal,

1.

To the typical representations of Christ

[There were a great variety of sacrifices under the law, which typified the Lord Jesus Christ. The lamb that was offered every morning and evening, foreshewed the Lamb of God that should take away the sin of the world: and the scape-goat, which bore the iniquities of all Israel into an uninhabited wilderness, exhibited in yet more striking colours the removal of our guilt by a transfer of it to the head of Jesus. To dwell on all the ceremonies that were appointed on different occasions for the expiation of sin, is needless: suffice it to observe, that the blood of bulls and of goats could not take away sin; and that if those offerings had not respect to Christ, they were altogether unworthy, either to be prescribed to man, or to be accepted for him. But the efficacy of those sacrifices for the ends for which they were instituted, proves, beyond a doubt, the infinitely greater efficacy of that sacrifice which Christ in due time offered on the cross [Note: Heb 9:13-14.].]

2.

To the positive declarations concerning him

[Nothing can be conceived more clear and strong than the Scripture declarations of Christs sufficiency to save. How forcibly has the prophet marked the extent [Note: Isa 45:22.], the fulness [Note: Isa 1:18.], and the freeness [Note: Isa 55:1-2.] of his salvation! He invites all the ends of the earth, even persons defiled with crimson sins, to accept all the benefits of the Gospel, without money and without price. In the New Testament the same things are spoken with all the energy that language can afford. All, without exception, are exhorted to come to Christ [Note: Mat 11:28. Joh 6:37.], with all assurance that he will cleanse them from all sin [Note: 1Jn 1:7 Act 13:39.], and bestow upon them freely all the blessings of grace and glory [Note: Joh 4:10; Joh 7:37; Joh 7:28.]. Is all this a mere mockery and delusion? It surely is so, if Christ be not able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him [Note: Heb 7:25.].]

3.

To matter of fact

[We can draw aside the veil of heaven, and point to some before the throne of God, who are such monuments of grace as leave no doubt respecting the sufficiency of Christ to save any others whatsoever. Behold that man, a murderer; a murderer of no common stamp: he was not satisfied with shedding the blood of a few of his fellow-creatures, or of those who were deserving of death; but he made the very streets of Jerusalem to run down with blood, and that with the blood of innocents. Moreover, this was but a small part of the guilt he had contracted; so various and so enormous were his crimes. Yet is he, even Manasseh, a chosen vessel, in whom God is, and for ever will be, glorified.
Seest thou that woman also? We know not the particulars of her conduct; but she was so vile and notorious a sinner, that it was a disgrace to notice her, yea, our Lords condescending to notice her was made a ground of doubting his divine mission: nevertheless she also, though once possessed by seven devils, is now in glory. She received, while yet upon earth, an assured testimony, from our Lord himself, that her sins, numerous as they were, were all forgiven [Note: Luk 7:47-48.]: and now is she singing the triumphs of redeeming love, as loud as any in heaven.

We could easily refer to a multitude of others, whose enormities were beyond all measure great, who nevertheless were washed, justified, and sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God [Note: 1Co 6:9-11.]. But enough has been said to put out of all question the blessed truth we are insisting on, namely, that Jesus is a Saviour, and a great one, and able to deliver all who trust in him [Note: Isa 19:20.].]

Let us now turn our attention to,

II.

What is expressed

What solemn asseverations are these in the text! One would have supposed that the former of them would have been quite sufficient: but the Apostle thought no repetitions superfluous, nor any accumulation of words too strong, on such a subject as this. Indeed, it is of infinite importance to every one of us to know, that, as there is salvation for us in Christ, so there is no salvation in any other.

1.

There is not

[In whom else can we find the requisites of a Saviour? In whom can we find a sufficiency, either of merit to justify, or of power to renew, a sinner? If we should apply to the highest angel in heaven to give us of his merit, he would tell us that he himself is only an unprofitable servant; for that he does no more than is his duty to do [Note: Luk 17:10.]. If we should entreat him to change our hearts, he would confess his utter inability to effect so great a work. Shall we then look to ourselves? We are full of sin. Our merit is foundwhere? not in heaven truly, but in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone [Note: Rom 3:19.]. Nor have we in ourselves a sufficiency even to think a good thought [Note: 2Co 3:5.]; much less to renew ourselves after the Divine image. None but Jesus could atone for sin: none but Jesus could yield such an obedience to the law as should be capable of being imputed to others: none but Jesus can send down the Holy Spirit into the souls of men, or say to them, My grace is sufficient for you [Note: 2Co 12:9.]: and therefore there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved.

If there were any other Saviour, the most eminent of Gods servants would have had some intimation of it. Abraham, the friend of God, and the father of the faithful, would probably have heard of him: but he knew of none other; for he sought acceptance through Christ alone, and was justified solely through faith in him [Note: Rom 4:3-5.]. David too, the man after Gods own heart, who was inspired to write so much respecting Christ, would probably have been acquainted with such an important fact in order to his own salvation; but he sought refuge in none but Christ; Purge me with hyssop, says he, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow [Note: Psa 51:7.]. We might hope at least that some information of this kind would have been given to the Apostle Paul, who was more fully instructed in the mind and will of God than any other person: yet he knew of no other name but that of Jesus; he renounced all hope in his own righteousness, that he might be found in Christ [Note: Php 3:9.]; and he determined to insist on nothing, in all his ministrations, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified [Note: 1Co 2:2.].

Whether therefore we consider the insufficiency of all the creatures to stand in the place of a Saviour to us, or the utter ignorance of all the Prophets and Apostles respecting the appointment of any creature to sustain that office, we may be sure that there is none other than the Person mentioned in the text, who is a man indeed, but is, at the same time, God over all blessed for evermore.]

2.

There cannot be

[We presume not to be wise above what is written; or to say what God might have done if he had pleased: but we are fully warranted by the Scriptures to say, that, consistently with Gods honour, as the Moral Governor of the universe, man could not have been saved without a Mediator: nor could any mediator besides Jesus have been found to execute all that was necessary for our salvation. It was necessary that the justice of God should be satisfied for the violations of his law; that his holiness should be displayed in a marked abhorrence of sin; that his truth should be kept inviolate by the execution of his threatenings; and that his law should be honoured, as well by an obedience to its precepts, as by an enduring of its penalties. Now none but Jesus, who was God as well as man, could effect all these things, and therefore none but he could save us.
But there is yet another ground on which we may deny that any other could save us; namely, that if we were indebted to any other, either for righteousness or strength, we could not join in the songs of the redeemed in heaven, but must separate from the heavenly choir [Note: Rev 7:9-10.], and ascribe to ourselves, or to some other, (inasmuch as we were indebted to ourselves or them,) the honour of our salvation. And how would this comport with the dignity of Jehovah, who has determined that no flesh should glory in his presence? It is in vain to say that the glory would ultimately accrue to him: for if we be saved by, or for, any thing of our own, we may, and must, so far take the glory to ourselves [Note: Rom 4:2.]: and that would create discord in heaven, and be irreconcileable with the honour of the Divine Majesty.]

Address
1.

The careless

[Wherefore are men so indifferent about their spiritual concerns? Is it that they are in no danger of perishing? If that were the case, why is so much said respecting salvation? and why are we cautioned so strongly against relying on any but Jesus Christ? Surely the very circumstance of Christ being sent down from heaven to die for us, is enough to alarm all our fears, and to convince us, that, if the salvation offered us could be procured by none but him, the danger of those who are not interested in him must be inexpressibly great. Let the careless then consider this; and flee for refuge to the hope that is set before them.]

2.

The self-righteous

[It is difficult to convince those who are looking to Christ in part, that they are really renouncing Christ altogether. But the Scriptures are so plain on this point, that there cannot be the smallest doubt respecting it. Salvation is of faith, on purpose that it may be by grace [Note: Rom 4:16.]: and if it be, whether in whole or in part, by our own works, it ceases to be of grace: it must be wholly of grace, or wholly of works [Note: Rom 11:6.]: it must exclude boasting altogether, or else admit it. But boasting must be excluded wholly [Note: Rom 3:27.]: and therefore all dependence whatsoever on our own works must be wholly and for ever renounced [Note: Rom 3:8.]. If we will not accept salvation on these terms, Christ shall profit us nothing [Note: Gal 5:2; Gal 5:4.].]

3.

The desponding

[The person healed by Peter and John was a very fit emblem of our state by nature and practice. We are transgressors from the womb. But, desperate as in appearance our condition is, there is in Jesus a sufficiency of power and grace to make us whole: his name, through faith in his name, shall give us a perfect soundness in the presence of God and man [Note: Act 3:16; Act 4:10.]. Let none complain as though they were beyond the reach of mercy: for there is nothing impossible with Jesus: with him there is mercy; with him is plenteous redemption; and he shall redeem Israel from all his sins [Note: Psa 130:7-8.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Ver. 12. For there is no other name ] We have no co-saviour, we need no other master of requests in heaven, but Christ. Say we of Popish saints and mediators, as that heathen did, Contemno minutulos istos deos modo Iovem propitium habeam. William Tracy, Esq., in Henry VIII’s time, made it in his will, That he would have no funeral pomp at his burial, that he passed not upon a mass, that he trusted in God only, and hoped by him to be saved, and not by any saint, &c. Hereupon his body was taken up and burnt as a heretic, A.D. 1532. Some schoolmen (saith Acosta) promise salvation without the knowledge of Christ. And Sleidan telleth us, that at the Council of Trent, the salvation of heathens, by the sole strength of nature without Christ, was much talked of. And Venator, the Arminian, saith, I deny this proposition, no man can be saved that is not set into Christ by a lively faith. The various of Collen set forth a book De Salute Aristotelis. And Erasmus a (whether in jest or earnest I know not) useth this litany, Vix possum me continere quin dicam Sancte Socrates ora pro nobis. But if any do seriously fancy any other way to salvation besides Christ, that proverb mentioned by Aristotle in his Meteorology, is verified of him, viz. , , he is a wicked and Wretched miscreant.

a Erasm. in Praef. ad Tusc. Cic. Quaestiones.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

12 .] In Jos. Antt. iii. 1. 5, Moses, praying to God for Israel, says, , . is used here in the higher sense of salvation , not with reference to the healing of the lame man. See reff. The article implies, ‘the salvation for which we all look;’ our salvation : . is paraphrased in the next clause by .

] lit. for neither is there another name under heaven (which is) given (by God) among men (not ‘ to men ,’ Vulg., Beza, Kuinoel), whereby we must be saved : i.e., as E. V. Dr. Burton’s rendering, ‘For neither is the name which is given among men, whereby we are to be saved, any other than this,’ is ungrammatical.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Act 4:12 . , cf. Act 5:31 , Act 17:11 , i.e. , , the Messianic salvation. The interpretation which would limit . to bodily healing is less satisfactory; infinitely higher than the healing of one man, Act 4:9 , stands the Messianic salvation, for which even the Sanhedrists were hoping and longing, but see also Rendall’s note, in loco . A parallel to the expression is found in Jos., Ant. , iii., 1, 5, but there are many passages in the O.T. which might have suggested the words to St. Peter, cf. Isa 12:2 ; Isa 49:6-8 ; Isa 52:10 . , see on Act 1:15 , Act 2:21 . is the best reading, Winer-Moulton, liii. 10, “for not even is there a second name” the claim develops more precisely and consequently from the statement , , ( cf. 1Co 12:8 , 2Co 11:1 , Gal 1:6-7 ), Ammonius, quoted by Bengel. : on the force of the article with the participle, see Viteau, Le Grec du N. T. , pp. 183, 184 (1893) = , . , and Blass, Grammatik des N. G. , p. 238; cf. Luk 18:9 , Gal 1:7 , Col 2:8 . : “Jesus when He spoke of the rejection as future, predicted that the stone would be a judgment-stone to destroy the wicked builders. But Peter takes up the other side, and presents the stone as the stone of Messianic salvation; this name is the only name under heaven that is a saving name. Here Peter apprehends the spiritual significance of the reign of the Messiah,” Briggs, Messiah of the Apostles , p. 34, and the whole passage.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Neither is there, &c. = And there is not (App-105) in any (Greek. oudeis). A double negative, for emphasis.

other. Greek. allos. App-124.

there is none = neither is there. Greek. oude.

other. Greek. heteros. App-124.

under. Greek. hupo.

heaven = the heaven. See note on Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10.

among. App-104.

whereby = in (App-104.) which.

be saved. Greek. sozo, as in Act 4:9.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

12.] In Jos. Antt. iii. 1. 5, Moses, praying to God for Israel, says, , . is used here in the higher sense of salvation, not with reference to the healing of the lame man. See reff. The article implies, the salvation for which we all look; our salvation: . is paraphrased in the next clause by .

] lit. for neither is there another name under heaven (which is) given (by God) among men (not to men, Vulg., Beza, Kuinoel), whereby we must be saved: i.e., as E. V. Dr. Burtons rendering, For neither is the name which is given among men, whereby we are to be saved, any other than this, is ungrammatical.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Act 4:12. , in none other) i.e. it is wholly in Him alone that salvation is. Hereby the question, Act 4:9, by what means, is clearly set at rest (is a fixed point).- , the salvation) which was promised, and long wished for, whereby we escape every misery: the salvation (health) of body and soul: with which comp. Act 4:9. There is great force in the article.-, for) It is necessary that there should be divinely given and proclaimed a name, wherein there is salvation. It belongs not to us to mark out, or devise, a name whereby to obtain salvation: it belongs not to Rome to canonise the departed.-, other such [alterum, second]) This has the force of Epitasis (augmentation of the force of what precedes, by addition), in relation to the [alio] preceding. Ammonius observes: is used in the case of two; , in the case of more than two.[35] Comp. 1Co 12:8-9, – ; 2Co 11:4; Gal 1:6-7, notes.- , under heaven) i.e. in all the earth: ch. Act 2:5. The dwellers on the earth had need of salvation; and it behoved the Saviour to establish (plant) salvation on the earth. Mat 9:6, The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive.- , given) Which has been given, viz. from heaven.- , among men) There is one Mediator: there is no second one in the whole human race. 1Ti 2:5.-, us) viz. all men.

[35] Not merely is there the wished for salvation in none other (of many), but there is no second name, besides that of Jesus, whereby we must be saved. has more the sense, different, than .-E. and T.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

salvation

(See Scofield “Rom 1:16”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

The Saving Name

And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.Act 4:12.

These words were uttered by St. Peter, as representing the young Church of Christ, when, for the first time after her foundation, she stood fairly face to face with the hostile power of the world. On the Day of Pentecost she had encountered some playful or scornful mockery, which was silenced when St. Peter came forward and explained the true cause of the occurrences which excited it. But when the cripple was healed on the Mount of the Temple, the Jewish world roused itself in earnest. The miracle was performed in the most public place in Jerusalem; and immediately afterwards St. Peter had addressed a large multitude which gathered round him. He pointed out that Jesus, by the might of His Name, was the real worker of the miracle; that His exaltation and power were in accordance with prophecy; that it was a fact of the utmost moment to every one of his hearers. Hereupon three classes of persons became alarmed. The priests saw in the Apostles of Christ dangerous rivals to their own office and authority. The Sadduceesthe unbelieving section of the literary classwere angered at the public discussion of a miracle, which, if true, condemned their own denial of a resurrection, and which they would gladly have buried beneath a contemptuous silence. The Captain of the Temple, as the guardian of public ordera sort of chief commissioner of policewas apprehensive that the excitement might lead to disturbances. These several personages and classes might well have taken the miracle to heart; they might at least have asked the question why it had so impressive a significance for an increasing section of the people. But questions of this kind are not often considered in moments of passion. The prejudices of the past, combined with fears and resentment, carried the day; and they cast the Apostles into prison.

This done, it became necessary that the Apostles should be examined in courtthe Court of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was solemnly convoked; it had, according to the law of Deuteronomy, to decide the point whether the Apostles were to be regarded as true prophets or as seducers to idolatry. The Court knew that the cripple had been healed by the Apostlesnot in the Name of Jehovah, but in the Name of Jesus. And this seemed to establish the charge of idolatry; since nothing could be plainer to the Jewish mind than the distinction between Jesus the Crucified Prophet and the Almighty Jehovah. The first question, therefore, which the Court asked the Apostles was, By what power or by what name have ye done this? The Court, you will observe, does not enter upon the general question of the Apostles teaching; it asks only who had been invoked to work the miracle. And St. Peter, standing before men who had his life in their hands, speaks directly to the point: Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. And then he adds, Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

The text contains two important topics

I.Salvation.

II.The Saving Name.

I

Salvation

What a great word that word salvation is! It includes the cleansing of our conscience from all past guilt, the delivery of our soul from all those propensities to evil which now so strongly predominate in us; it brings in, in fact, the undoing of all that Adam did. Salvation is the total restoration of man from his fallen estate; and yet it is something more than that, for Gods salvation fixes our standing more securely than it was before we fell. It finds us broken in pieces by the sin of our first parents, defiled, stained, accursed: it first heals our wounds, it removes our diseases, it takes away our curse, it puts our feet upon the rock Christ Jesus, and having thus done, at last it lifts our heads far above all principalities and powers, to be crowned for ever with Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven. Some people, when they use the word salvation, understand nothing more by it than deliverance from hell and admittance into heaven. Now, that is not salvation: those two things are the effects of salvation. We are redeemed from hell because we are saved, and we enter heaven because we have been saved beforehand. Our everlasting state is the effect of salvation in this life. Salvation, it is true, includes all that; but still it would be wrong for us to imagine that that is all the meaning of the word. Salvation begins with us as wandering sheep; it follows us through all our many wanderings; it puts us on the shoulders of the shepherd; it carries us into the fold; it calls together the friends and the neighbours; it rejoices over us; it preserves us in that fold through life; and then at last it brings us to the green pastures of heaven, beside the still waters of bliss, where we lie down for ever in the presence of the Chief Shepherd, never more to be disturbed.

Let us group the uses of the word salvation under these three classes(i.) Salvation from physical infirmity; (ii) National Salvation; (iii.) Salvation from Sin.

i. Salvation from Physical Suffering

The healing of the cripple was on the face of it a physical salvation. Bodily pain and discomfort, continued through many years, unless it be transfigured by patience and resignation into a consummate blessing, may crush out its very heart and hope from a human life. And anyhow, pain is a disorder and anomaly in nature. When it is inevitable, we may be sure that God has some high and merciful purpose in inflicting it. When it is not inevitable, our business is, if we can do so, to cure it. Our Lord worked then by the agency of the Apostles what He works now by the generous hearts, and kind hands, and cultivated understandings of those whom He guides, in hospitals and elsewhere, to the relief and cure of bodily pain. His precepts, His charity, His unseen but energetic Spirit, are the source of the best and noblest inspirations of our modern philanthropy, even where the cause is unrecognized or unsuspected. And as the result is, in its degree, a salvation, so the inspiring force is the grace and charity of the Saviour.

Europe was thrilled by the story of the steamer Berlin which fought its way from Harwich across the North Sea to the Hook of Holland in the teeth of a terrible gale. At half-past five in the morning (February 20, 1907) it was dashed on the North Pier and broken up. The fore part of the steamer went under and carried the greater part of the passengers and crew to death. On the following day eleven survivors were rescued. Three women remained behind, exposed to the biting cold and the terrific lash of the breakers. It seemed impossible that they should survive the long and exhausting exposure, and hope of their being saved almost died out. But Captain Sperling, as noble a hero as ever faced the perils of the deep, determined to make an effort on their behalf. We are told he could not sleep for thinking of the awful plight of these women, alone there on the wreck for two days and a night. And so he matured his plans, and when the moment for action arrived dared everything, swam through seething billows to the wreck, and passed the women one by one along the rope to safety. And next day the world rang with the news that the three women were saved by the heroic deed of this noble man. Saved! Yes, it was a real salvation. There was no doubt about the meaning of the word and the significance of the transaction. They were saved from hunger, saved from cold, saved from death by exhaustion or by drowning. We can all appreciate the nature of this salvationthe saving of human lives from the angry sea.1 [Note: A. R. Henderson.]

ii. National Salvation

When St. Peter talked of the salvation in the Court of the Sanhedrin, he would have meant and he would have been understood to mean something much greater in itself, and much wider in its range of application, than any bodily cure; something of which a bodily cure was a mere figure and presentment.

1. Salvation was already a consecrated word in the language of Israel. It had been so for centuries. It meant very generally the deliverance of Israel from outward and inward enemies; it meant the deliverance of Israel as a whole; it meant especially a national salvation. That was the point of St. Peters reference to Psalms 118., which was composed for the first observance of the Feast of Tabernacles in the newly rebuilt Temple, after the return from the Babylonish captivity. St. Peter quotes the famous lines in which Israel, lately restored to the land of her ancestors, is spoken of as a stone which the builders rejected, and which had been made the head of the corner. The new Temple would have naturally suggested the figure. Israel, rejected and downtrodden by the proud nations who aspired to build up the future of the Eastern world, had been lifted by God into a place of honour: Israel was to be in some way the corner-stone of that temple of souls which God would build for the future of humanity.

2. The deeper Jewish commentators saw that the words must really apply, not to Israel as a whole, since the nation had morally fallen too low for such high distinction, but to the expected Messiah, its ripe product and its splendid Representative. And accordingly our Lord Jesus Christ, just after His public entry into Jerusalem, when the people had saluted Him in other words of this Psalm, applied to Himself what was said about the corner-stone; He was Himself the corner-stone; and Israel, in rejecting Him, was repeating the crime of the Gentiles in rejecting Israel.

3. When, therefore, St. Peter, standing before the Court of the Sanhedrin, said that Jesus was the stone set at nought by you builders, he was following His blessed Masters guidance. It had been Christs own way of saying as vividly as He could to His countrymen, that although rejected and crucified, He was the true Hope and Deliverer of Israel. And thus the salvation of which St. Peter speaks was the salvation which Messiah was to bring. It was the salvation to which Israel was looking forward. It was the salvation of which the healing of the cripple had been a figure. Israel was the real cripple after all, and her rulers knew it.

4. To the nation, then, St. Peter preaches that the present is a time of repentance, during which God gives to Israel opportunity to return to Him, and the Apostle consequently renews the call to repentance given by Jesus Himself, promising to those who repent and are baptized the advent of the great Messianic salvation. But the repentance required is no longer only the general repentance taught by Jesus. It is the specific wickedness of the Jewish nation, misguided by their rulers, in crucifying Jesus, that requires to be repented of; and the positive side of this repentance is faith in Jesus as the Messiah. He is proclaimed as the only Saviour in the approaching day when those who reject Him will be cut off.

iii. Salvation from Sin

There is one theological word which has found its way lately into nearly all the newer and finer literature of our country. It is not only one of the words of the literary world at present, it is perhaps the word. For it represents something, the reality of which, its certain influence, its universality, have at last been recognized; and in spite of its being a theological word it has been forced into a place which nothing but its felt relation to the wider theology of human life could ever have earned for a religious word. That word, it need scarcely be said, is Sin. Even in the lighter literature of our country, and this is altogether remarkable, the ruling word just now is Sin. Years ago it was the gay term Chivalry which held the foreground in poem and ballad and song. Later still, the word which held court, in novel and romance, was Love. But now a deeper word heads the chapters and begins the cantos. A more exciting thing than chivalry is descried in the arena, and love itself fades in interest before this small word, which has wandered out of theology, and changed the face of literature, and made many a new book preach.

Professor Henry Drummond says that there are three deadly facts about sinits guilt, its stain, and its power; and there are three facts of salvationforgiveness, healing, redemption. These facts are stated in Psa 103:3-4 : Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction.

1. The first deadly fact of sin is its guiltthat is, the blameworthiness that follows the doing of it. When we say that the sinner is guilty, we mean that he is to blame for his sin. The responsibility for it abides on him. The wickedness of it is his. And this guilt, this blameworthiness, is all the more terrible from the fact that we are responsible to God. This is the most tragic thing about sin. It is not merely a violation of our own nature or a breaking of an abstract law. Sin is against somethingit is a pushing of the will against something. Yes, against some one. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, cries the Psalmist, and all who have read deepest into the human heart agree with him. Sin is against God. It is a violation, a setting aside of the will of the living God, that will in which alone we can have eternal life. God is absolutely holy and good. And sin is an offence against Him, a disobedience to Him, a separation from Him, a breaking up of the harmony that ought to be between man and God.

Now the question which we must ask in order to meet this first fact of sin is, Where can I get pardon? This is a question asked by conscience, and the questions which conscience sends up to us are always the deepest questions. The man who has never sent up the question, Where can I get pardon? has never been into his conscience to find out the deepest want he has. It is not enough for him to look lifeward; he must also look Godward. And it is not enough to discover the stain of his past, and cry out, I have sinned. He must see the guilt of his life and cry, I have sinned against God. Now the punishment of sin is death. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Therefore death is the punishment which must be in one of the facts of salvation. It will not meet the case if the sinner professes his penitence and promises humbly never to do the like again. Death, and nothing less than death, must be in the fact of salvation from the guilt of sin, if such salvation is to be. This fact, this most solemn necessity, understood and felt, the rest is plain. We all know who deserved to die. We all know who did die. We know we were not wounded for our transgressions, we were not bruised for our iniquities. But we know who was. The Lord hath not dealt with us according to our iniquities; but we know with whom He has. We know who bare our sins in His own body on the treeOne who had no sins of His own. We know who was lifted up like the serpent in the wildernessHe who died, the just for the unjust. If we know this, we know the great fact of Salvation, for it is here.

2. The second fact about sin is its stain. The soul is defiled by it. All sin is a defilement. Your most respectable sin leaves a mark on the soul. The soul is tainted by it as a glass of pure water is tainted by a drop of ink. The virgin beauty of the soul is lost. And sometimes the stain becomes so foul that we are shocked by the uncleanness of the sinners speech and taste and actions. And the stain of sin, like the spot of blood on Lady Macbeths hand, is something that we cannot wash out.

What must I do to be saved from the stain of sin? Gather up your influence, and see how much has been for Christ. Then undo all that has been against Him. It will never be healed till then. This is the darkest stain upon your life. The stain of sin concerns your own soul, but that is a smaller matter. That can be undonein part. There are open sores enough in our past life to make even heaven terrible. But God is healing them. He is blotting them from His own memory and from ours. If the stains that were there had lingered, life would have been a long sigh of agony. But salvation has come to us. God is now helping us to use the means for repairing a broken life. He restoreth thy soul, He healeth all thy diseases. But thy brothers soul, and thy brothers diseases? The worst of our stains have spread far and wide beyond ourselves; and God will only heal them, perhaps, by giving us grace to deal with them. We must retrace our steps over that unburied past, and undo what we have done.

A young man once lay upon his death-bed. He was a Christian, but for many days a black cloud had gathered upon his brow. Just before his last breath, he beckoned to the friends around his bed. Take my influence, he said, and bury it with me.1 [Note: Henry Drummond.]

The lost days of my life until to-day,

What were they, could I see them on the street

Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat

Sown once for food but trodden into clay?

Or golden coins squanderd and still to pay?

Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet?

Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheat

The undying throats of Hell, athirst alway?

I do not see them here; but after death

God knows I know the faces I shall see,

Each one a murderd self, with low last breath.

I am thyself,what hast thou done to me?

And Iand Ithyself (lo! each one saith),

And thou thyself to all eternity!1 [Note: D. G. Rossetti.]

3. The third deadly fact about sin is its power. The sinner soon finds that he is in bondage to a habit. Sin has an enslaving power. The tragedies that have arisen from this deadly fact of sin! The tyranny of evil that began with a single sinful act! All human experience testifies to the fact that one sin makes another sin easier. Each sin weaves another thread in the rope that binds us, the liberty is lost, and sins tyranny is complete, and the sinner seems to have ceased to be master in his house of life.

The third fact of salvation which is to be brought to bear upon this third great fact of sin is not our own efforts, our own religiousness, our own doctrine, the Atonement, or the death of Christ, but the power of the life of Christ. He redeemeth my life from destruction. How? By His life. This is the fact of salvation. It takes life to redeem lifepower to resist power. Sin is a ceaseless, undying power in our life. A ceaseless, undying power must come against it. And there is only one such power in the universeonly one, which has a chance against Sin: the power of the living Christ. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Power to become the sons of Godthe great fact of salvation. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

II

The Saving Name

The words of St. Peter are emphatic. The clause blends together two statements: (1) There is no other name in which men can be saved, and (2) This is the name given in which men must be saved.

1. Had St. Peter lived among us now, would he have put the matter in this way? Would he not have avoided any appearance of comparison or rivalry between the Gospel and other religious systems? Would he not have said: It is enough for me to proclaim that there is salvation in Christ; I do not know, I am not concerned to determine whether other prophets, other doctrines, other agencies can save. I do not wish to claim for Him any monopoly of saving power; I have no inclination to dispute the pretensions of Jewish rites or of Greek philosophies. No doubt there is much to be said for every religion in the world, and the professors of a religion have only to be sure that they are consistent; that they are careful to fashion their lives according to its law and the light of nature. It is enough for me to say that the religion of Christ will save you if you choose: I am not so illiberal as to maintain that you cannot be sure of salvation without it? Why did not St. Peter say this? Why did he state the very converse of itNeither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved? It was because he had in his heart and on his lips, not a human speculation or theory, but, as he held, the Truththe One, Final, Absolute Truth. The proof of that to his mind, the overwhelming proof, was the life and teaching of his Master, crowned, attested, by the miraclethe recent, the certain, the unassailable miracleof the Resurrection.

We are able without confusion to associate faith in the All-Father with much of the picturesque and poetic beliefs of the ancient world. They, too, through the flimsy veil of grotesque mythology, looked into the heavens, and believed God to reign there, with power over human destiny, the Arbiter of fate and the Rewarder of the righteous. They, too, felt beneath the outspread beauty of the earth a living presence of God. God is in everything you see, the world is only the shrine of His presence and the veil of His glory. So with many of the great systems of nature-worship with which we are brought into contact to-day in the march of our civilization: beneath them there is the sense of an overshadowing majesty which can be used and elevated and stripped of its superstitious adjuncts and purged from its materialism. But I believe in Jesus Christ, God of God, Light of light, very God of very God, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things are made, is at once to bring in a different element altogether. This sad, attenuated figure, with arms outstretched upon the Cross, seems at once to drive away the nymphs from the fountains, the dryads from the groves, and to pass like a cloud across the sun, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, crowned with thorns, not with roses; outcast, despised, rejected, crucified; at one time enwrapped in the miraculous, at another apparently overwhelmed with humanity and its capacities for suffering. At once we introduce with this Divine figure a history which is challenged at every step, a history which cannot be dissolved into poetry, or relegated into a mythology dear to the souls of those who think they can believe and disbelieve at the same time.1 [Note: W. C. E. Newbolt.]

2. If we believe in Christ only as our Teacher, although we spoke of Him as the greatest of all Teachers the world has ever had, we should stop short of the conclusion at which St. Peter arrived. If we believe this, and observe all that this belief in His teaching involves in our life and actions, it is much, but it is not enough. We must believe in Jesus not only as our Teacher and Master, but as our Saviour. May we not think that this is the very ground reason which led St. Peter to put his proposition in this form which has been called narrow and exclusive? Neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved. We must be careful, while we call Christ Jesus the Teacher, not to forget that He is also our Saviour. That postulates a great truth which we cannot push aside with the Athanasian Creed. We listen to Him, it may be, as One who has said some very beautiful things and has given us some very useful advice. Jesus Christ is placed, as we may see, in a beautiful building near London, as one of the great teachers of the world, with Socrates and Confucius and Buddha and Muhammad. But it is not what Christ has taught us, but what Christ has done for us, that the Church and our Bible put before us as the object of our belief: I believe in Jesus Christ our Saviournothing short of this.

The boldness of Peter and John in making this assertion appears no less amazing to us, after these centuries have passed, than it did to the men of their time. We can explain it only by the statement in Act 4:8, that they were filled with the Holy Ghost. To venture on the morrow of a criminals execution, in the city where he was executed, and before the persons who had condemned him, not only to vindicate his memory, and to assert his innocence, but to set him forward as the headstone of the corner the one man under heaven whereby we must be saved, argues an inspiration from God. If there had been no truth in the bold attribution, it would have been the raving of hallucination, and the world would have heard no more of it. But, as the claim has been in these nineteen centuries substantiated by many and various evidences, we may be sure that a power and knowledge more than human instructed the minds of the Apostles.1 [Note: R. F. Horton.]

Did you ever notice the intolerance of Gods religion? In olden times the heathen, who had different gods, all of them respected the gods of their neighbours. For instance, the king of Egypt would confess that the gods of Nineveh were true and real gods, and the prince of Babylon would acknowledge that the gods of the Philistines were true and real gods; but Jehovah, the God of Israel, put this as one of His first commandments, Thou shalt have no other gods before me; and He would not allow them to pay the slightest possible respect to the gods of any other nation: Thou shalt hew them in pieces, thou shalt break down their temples, and cut down their groves. All other nations were tolerant the one of the other, but the Jew could not be so. One part of his religion was, Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one: and as the consequence of his belief that there was but one God, and that that one God was Jehovah, he felt it his bounden duty to treat all other gods with contempt. Now the Christian religion, you observe, is just as intolerant as this. If you apply to a Brahmin to know the way of salvation, he will very likely tell you at once that all persons who follow out their sincere religious convictions will undoubtedly be saved. Here, says he, are the Muhammadans; if they obey Muhammad, and sincerely believe what he has taught, without doubt, Allah will glorify them at last. And the Brahmin turns round upon the Christian missionary, and says, What is the use of your bringing your Christianity here to disturb us? I tell you our religion is quite capable of carrying us to heaven, if we are faithful to it. Now hear the text: how intolerant is the Christian religion! Neither is there salvation in any other. The Brahmin may admit that there is salvation in fifty religions besides his own: but we admit no such thing. There is no true salvation out of Jesus Christ. The gods of the heathen may approach us with their mock charity, and tell us that every man may follow out his own conscientious conviction and be saved. We replyNo such thing: there is no salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]

Swami Vivekananda, the hero of the Chicago parliament of religions, preaches to his fellow-countrymen the sinlessness of man: The worst lie that you ever told yourself was that you were a sinner or a wicked man. It is the greatest of all lies that we are men; we are the god of the universe. Meanwhile Krishna, the favourite god of India, is the incarnation of abandoned immorality. When some Hindus were remonstrated with for worshipping a being guilty of these shameless vices, they replied, These are but his sports, you English have your sports, you have the railway and the steamboat and the telegraph, and no one blames you. Why should you blame Krishna for sporting in his way?2 [Note: R. F. Horton.]

3. Why does St. Peter say, There is no other name? Christ Himself suggests to us the reason. When He said in His last prayer, I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me, He did not mean that He had made known simply what we call the name of God. Men already knew that. He meant rather that He had revealed the fatherly character of God, the eternal principles which the name of God represents. In modern speech a name is merely a sort of tag or label. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. In the Scriptures a name connotes something characteristic of the thing or person named. Thus Jesus helps us to the clue that leads out of all misunderstanding of the Apostles teaching. The name of Christ is the saving name because it stands for the saving thing.

The victory has been enshrined in a Name. All the power of the Nazareth victory, and of the Wilderness victory, all the power of the great climax victory of Calvary, and of the Resurrection morningall is packed into one word, a Name, the Name of Jesus. There is far more, infinitely more, practical help and power in that Name than we have dreamed of; certainly far more than we have ever used. The Name of Jesus is the most valuable asset of the Christian life.3 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks about the Tempter, 202.]

I remember a young man coming up to me at the close of a service in London. He told me how sorely he had been tempted, how he seemed to make no headway against the struggle in his Christian life, until the suggestion came to him of the practical value of that Name above every name. Instantly he began using it, reverently, prayerfully, eagerly, and relief and victory came. And the look of eye and face revealed how real was the victory and peace that had come to him.1 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks about the Tempter, 203.]

In One Name I have round the all in all.

It is enough, and It will never fail.

Here on the height, or there within the vale,

In this my strength I shall not greatly fall.

If on the dark hills here thy fears appal,

O thou mine Enemy! or there assail

My fainting heart, yet shall they not prevail,

For on the Name thou dreadest I will call.

Oh then rejoice not! for I shall arise,

And heavenly light shall stream across the gloom,

And heavenly music drown the voice of doom,

And a most blissful prospect cheer mine eyes:

All from that Name belovd and adored,

Thy sweet great Name, O Jesus Christ, my Lord.2 [Note: S. J. Stone, Poems and Hymns, 202.]

4. How shall we prove the truth of Christs claim? We shall prove it in our life. As the Cross is the price of salvation, so, too, a cross will mark the life of the Christian. The words of Jesus are: Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. Salvation from sin means power over sin, and this salvation Christ gives in His name. But the distinguishing marks of Christianity are sacrifice and struggle. A Christian will be known from a non-Christian as one who, having taken a right view of life, knows that it means a long struggle and perpetual sacrifice. Do not make the mistake of thinking that Christianity means the pale face and the lacerated body and the constant thwarting of desires. If you cannot escape into life without these sacrifices, it does so mean, but not otherwise. It means death to the lower that we may live in the higher. It means a sacrifice of much which the world values, because the Church has found something higher. It means that the soul loves to be with God better than eating the forbidden fruit. It means that the soul would rather be an outcast with Christ than be popular without Him. A Christian is one who is able to say with all his heart: Thou art worthy for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.

Christs Heart was wrung for me, if mine is sore;

And if my feet are weary, His have bled;

He had no place wherein to lay His Head;

If I am burdened, He was burdened more.

The cup I drink He drank of long before;

He felt the unuttered anguish which I dread;

He hungered who the hungry thousands fed,

And thirsted who the worlds refreshment bore.

If grief be such a looking-glass as shows

Christs Face and mans in some sort made alike,

Then grief is pleasure with a subtle taste:

Wherefore should any fret or faint or haste?

Grief is not grievous to a soul that knows

Christ comes,and listens for that hour to strike.1 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]

5. And so the final thought is that this life of sacrifice is maintained by looking unto Jesus. Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Php 2:5). It is the mind that was in Christ Jesus, when for us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven, and was made Man, and suffered for us. Here was at once model and motive for the Philippian saints; for Euodia, and Syntyche, and every individual and every group. Nothing short of the mind of the Head must be the mind of the member; and then the glory of the Head (so it is implied) shall be shed hereafter upon the member too: I will grant to him to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Oh, reason of reasons, argument of argumentsthe Lord Jesus Christ! Nothing in Christianity lies really outside Him. His Person and His Work embody all its dogmatic teaching. His Example, His Love which passeth knowledge, is the sum and life of all its morality. Well has it been said that the whole Gospel message is conveyed to us sinners in those three words, Looking unto Jesus. Is it pardon we need, is it acceptance, free as the love of God, holy as His law? We find it, we possess it, looking unto Jesus crucified. Is it power we need, victory and triumph over sin, capacity and willingness to witness and to suffer in a world which loves Him not at all? We find it, we possess it, it possesses us, as we look unto Jesus risen and reigning, for us on the Throne, with us in the soul. Is it rule and model that we want, not written on the stones of Horeb only, but on the fleshy tables of the heart? We find it, we receive it, we yield ourselves up to it, as we look unto Jesus in His path of love, from the Throne to the Cross, from the Cross to the Throne, till the Spirit inscribes that law upon our inmost wills.1 [Note: H. C. G. Moule, Philippian Studies, 102.]

O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me,

And all things else recede;

My heart be daily nearer Thee,

From sin be daily freed.

More of Thy glory let me see,

Thou Holy, Wise, and True;

I would Thy living image be

In joy and sorrow too.2 [Note: From the German of J. C. Lavater.]

The Saving Name

Literature

Bamford (J. M.), The Burning Heart, 115.

Book (W. H.), Columbus Tabernacle Sermons, 200.

Franks (R. S.), Man, Sin, and Salvation, 78.

Henderson (A. R.), God and Man in the Light of To-day, 157.

Herford (B.), Anchors of the Soul, 210.

Horton (R. F.), The Trinity, 191.

Jeffrey (R. T.), The Salvation of the Gospel, 104, 125.

Liddon (H. P.), Sermons on Special Occasions, 267.

Martin (S.), Rain upon the Mown Grass, 225.

Newbolt (W. C. E.), The Gospel Message, 136.

Spurgeon (C. H.), New Park Street Pulpit, iv. No. 209.

Williams (T. L.), Thy Kingdom Come, 67.

Christian World Pulpit, xlii. 162 (Whiton); lxx. 184 (Meyer); lxxvii. 392 (Guttery).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

is there: Act 10:42, Act 10:43, Mat 1:21, Mar 16:15, Mar 16:16, Joh 3:36, Joh 14:6, 1Co 3:11, 1Ti 2:5, 1Ti 2:6, Heb 2:3, Heb 12:25, 1Jo 5:11, 1Jo 5:12, Rev 7:9, Rev 7:10, Rev 20:15

under: Act 2:5, Gen 7:19, Job 41:11, Psa 45:17, Col 1:23

Reciprocal: Exo 15:2 – my salvation Lev 16:17 – no man Num 35:32 – General Psa 3:8 – Salvation Isa 28:16 – Behold Isa 43:11 – General Hos 13:4 – for Jon 2:9 – Salvation Mar 6:56 – touch Mar 12:10 – The stone Luk 24:46 – General Joh 4:42 – and know Joh 6:68 – thou hast Joh 7:15 – How Joh 8:24 – for Joh 15:5 – without Act 2:36 – that same Act 7:27 – Who Act 13:23 – raised Act 16:31 – Believe 2Co 11:4 – preacheth Gal 2:16 – we have Gal 3:14 – through Eph 1:21 – every Eph 2:20 – Jesus 1Th 2:16 – that Heb 5:9 – he became Jam 2:7 – worthy 1Pe 2:4 – disallowed 1Pe 2:7 – the stone 1Jo 2:12 – your 1Jo 5:13 – believe

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

2

Act 4:12. All of the discourses of the apostles contained the same thoughts, even though they were not always worded alike. This verse corresponds to chapter 2:36, 38 and 3:16, 19, and is similar in thought to the “closing exhortations” of evangelistic sermons today. Peter made a strong and exclusive claim for Christ. He not only declared that salvation could be had in Him, but that no salvation could be found in any other. Under heaven given among men. There is much truth involved in this phrase, for it designates the only part of the universe where any means of salvation is being offered. Under heaven would denote that no salvation is planned (or needed) for beings living in Heaven. Among men restricts. the realm outside of heaven to the place where men live as human beings, and that would exclude those in the unseen world or Hades, even though they are “under heaven.” Must is from DEI which Thayer defines, “It is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper.” Robinson gives the general definition, “It is binding on anyone, it behooves one to do, i. e., one must, one ought.” He then says that in the New Testament it means, “It. behooves, it must needs, one must or ought.” The passage does not teach that anyone must be saved at all, for the matter of accepting salvation is one to be decided by man; “Whosoever will may come.” The verse means that if a man is saved, it must be through the name (or authority) of Christ.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Act 4:12. None other name under heaven. The apostle has ceased altogether referring to the case of the lame man made whole, and is here proclaiming before the assembled Sanhedrim his Masters name, not only as a name in the strength of which the diseases of the poor body might be healed,that was a small matter,but as the only name on which men might rest when they thought of eternity. This famous passage occupies a prominent position in the Smalcald Articles drawn up by Luther and adopted in A.D. 1537. It has been said, with some truth, that the adoption of these articles completed the Reformation, and was the definite declaration of the separation of the signataries from Rome.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. A positive assertion, that there is no salvation but by Christ; or, that besides, or without him, there is no possibility of salvation, either for Jew of Gentile; both those under the Old Testament have, one and the same common Saviour.

Observe, 2. The ground and reason of this confident assertion, That there is no salvation but by Christ; namely, because there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved:

That is, no other person designed or appointed by God, to be the author of redemption to, and procurer of salvation for, a lost and miserable world, but only Christ.

Take we good heed then, that we do not reject or set him at naught; for in rejecting of Christ, we reject the wisdom of God, the authority of God, the love of God, yea, the salvation of God.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

See notes on verse 11

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other {f} name {g} under heaven {h} given among men, whereby we must be saved.

(f) There is no other man, or no other power and authority at all; and this kind of speech was common among the Jews, and arose from this, that when we are in danger we call upon those at whose hands we look for help.

(g) Anywhere: and this shows us the largeness of Christ’s kingdom.

(h) Of God.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The verses immediately following Psa 118:22 in the Book of Psalms refer to Messiah’s national deliverance of Israel. It seems that Peter was referring to both national deliverance and personal salvation in this address, as he had in the previous one. The former application would have been especially appropriate in view of his audience here. The messianic age to which the Jews looked forward could only come if Israel’s leaders repented and accepted Jesus as their Messiah.

Peter boldly declared that salvation comes through no one but Jesus, not the Maccabean heroes or the Sadducees or anyone else. Zechariah (Luk 1:69), Simeon (Luk 2:30), and John the Baptist (Luk 3:6) had previously connected God’s salvation with Jesus. Peter stressed that Jesus was a man: He lived "under heaven" and "among men." Jesus, the Messiah, the Nazarene (Act 4:10), is God’s only authorized savior. Apart from Him there is no salvation for anyone (cf. Joh 14:6; 1Ti 2:5).

"Peter (and/or Luke) is no advocate of modern notions of religious pluralism." [Note: Witherington, p. 194.]

". . . when we read the speech of Peter, we must remember to whom it was spoken, and when we do remember that it becomes one of the world’s great demonstrations of courage. It was spoken to an audience of the wealthiest, the most intellectual and the most powerful in the land, and yet Peter, the Galilaean fisherman, stands before them rather as their judge than as their victim. But further, this was the very court which had condemned Jesus to death. Peter knew it, and he knew that at this moment he was taking his life in his hands." [Note: Barclay, p. 36.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)