The Name Above All Names Text: Acts 4:5-12
Introduction: The Unavoidable Confrontation
We live in a soft and sentimental age. Our culture, and sadly much of the church, values niceness above truth, and tolerance above conviction. The prevailing spirit of our day is that all roads lead to God, that every man's belief is his own private castle, and that the most grievous sin is to suggest that someone else is wrong. Into this gelatinous consensus, the book of Acts lands with the force of a cannonball. It is a book of sharp edges, clear lines, and unavoidable confrontations.
Here in Acts 4, we see the first great clash between the fledgling church and the established powers. Peter and John, fresh from healing a man lame from birth, are not given a civic award. They are not invited to a multi-faith dialogue. They are arrested. They are dragged before the very men who orchestrated the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This is not a misunderstanding. This is a head-on collision of two kingdoms, two authorities, and two gospels.
The Sanhedrin, the religious Supreme Court of Israel, represents the pinnacle of human authority, tradition, and religion. They have the robes, the titles, the buildings, and the political clout. Peter and John are uneducated fishermen from Galilee. By every worldly metric, this is a mismatch. But the apostles have something the Sanhedrin does not. They have been with Jesus, and they are filled with His Spirit. And so, what should be an interrogation turns into a proclamation. What was intended to be an intimidation becomes a declaration of war.
This passage is a tonic for our timid times. It reminds us that the gospel is not a polite suggestion; it is a royal summons. It is inherently exclusive because its central claim, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, is a historical fact that reorders all of reality. If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not. If salvation is in His name alone, then all other names, all other systems, all other saviors are fraudulent. This is the offense of the gospel. And it is an offense we must never, ever seek to soften.
The Text
Now it happened that on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. And when they had placed them in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man, as to how this man has been saved from his sickness, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
(Acts 4:5-12 LSB)
The Power Players and the Pointed Question (vv. 5-7)
The scene is set with a formidable display of earthly authority.
"Now it happened that on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. And when they had placed them in their midst, they began to inquire, 'By what power, or in what name, have you done this?'" (Acts 4:5-7 LSB)
Luke wants us to feel the weight of this room. This is not a local committee meeting. This is the Sanhedrin, the full council. He names the key players: Annas, the shrewd patriarch and former high priest who still pulled the strings, and his son-in-law Caiaphas, the sitting high priest. These are the same men who presided over the sham trial of Jesus. They are gathered in their full pomp and power, and they place these two Galilean fishermen "in their midst." The geography of the room is designed for intimidation. The circle of power surrounds the accused.
Their question is direct and revealing: "By what power, or in what name, have you done this?" They cannot deny the miracle. The healed man is standing right there, a living, walking, leaping exhibit A. So they don't question the "what," they question the "how." They are asking about authority. In the ancient world, a "name" was not just a label; it represented the full authority and power of the person who bore it. To act in someone's name was to act as their official agent. So the Sanhedrin is asking, "Who gave you the right? Who is your sponsor? Under whose jurisdiction are you operating?" They assume that all power flows through their established channels. They are the gatekeepers of religious authority.
This is the fundamental question that every generation must face. Who is in charge here? By what authority do we speak and act? The world believes authority comes from institutions, from governments, from academic credentials, from wealth. But the Christian answers differently.
The Spirit-Filled Answer (vv. 8-10)
Peter's response is not his own. Luke is careful to tell us its source.
"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man, as to how this man has been saved from his sickness, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name this man stands here before you in good health.'" (Acts 4:8-10 LSB)
Notice the first thing: "Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit." This is the key to all Christian boldness. This is the same Peter who, just a few weeks earlier, was so terrified of a servant girl that he denied Jesus three times. What changed? Pentecost. The coward has become a lion. This is not a matter of Peter mustering up his courage. This is the fulfillment of Jesus' promise that when they were brought before rulers, the Holy Spirit would give them the words to say (Luke 12:11-12). True Christian witness is not about human cleverness but about divine empowerment.
Peter begins with a masterful stroke of rhetoric. He frames the entire trial around the undeniable "good deed" done to the lame man. "If we are being examined today for a good deed..." He exposes the absurdity of the situation. They are on trial for an act of mercy. He then uses the word "saved" (sozo in Greek), which can mean both physical healing and spiritual salvation. He is setting them up. You want to know how this man was physically saved? I'm going to tell you how you can be spiritually saved.
Then comes the direct, unblinking, and utterly courageous answer. He gives them the name they are asking for, but he packs it with theological dynamite. It is "by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene." He doesn't just say "Jesus." He identifies Him fully. He is the Messiah (Christ) from Nazareth (the Nazarene). And then Peter turns the tables and becomes the prosecutor. He points his finger at the most powerful men in the nation and declares, "whom you crucified." He lays the guilt for the death of the Messiah directly at their feet. This is not seeker-sensitive language. This is a direct, Spirit-filled accusation.
But he does not stop there. The accusation of their sin is immediately followed by the declaration of God's vindication: "whom God raised from the dead." This is the pivot of all history. You, the rulers of Israel, gave your verdict on Jesus, and you condemned Him. But God, the supreme ruler of the universe, gave His verdict, and He overturned yours. He raised Him from the dead. The resurrection is God's "amen" to Jesus's "it is finished." It is the ultimate proof that everything Jesus claimed is true. And it is by the power of this risen Lord, Peter says, that this man now stands here whole. The healing is the evidence of the resurrection.
The Rejected Stone and the Only Foundation (vv. 11-12)
Peter then drives the point home by quoting their own Scriptures against them.
"He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:11-12 LSB)
This is a quotation from Psalm 118, a messianic psalm. By quoting this, Peter is doing several things. First, he is telling them that their rejection of Jesus was prophesied in their own holy book. They were not acting as independent agents; they were fulfilling a script written long ago. Second, he identifies them as "the builders." They were the ones entrusted with building up the house of Israel. They were the religious experts. And in their expert opinion, Jesus was a faulty stone, to be discarded. They threw Him away on a garbage heap called Golgotha.
But God took that rejected stone and made Him the "chief corner stone." The cornerstone was the most important stone in the entire building. It was laid first, and it determined the alignment and integrity of the whole structure. Peter is telling the Sanhedrin, "You thought you were getting rid of a problem. But God has made that problem the foundation of His new temple, the church. The entire plan of salvation for the world now rests on the one you murdered."
This leads to the magnificent, world-altering climax in verse 12. This is one of the clearest statements of Christian exclusivism in the entire Bible. Because Jesus is the cornerstone, "there is salvation in no one else." This is not arrogance; it is simple architectural logic. If the foundation is built on one stone, you cannot build on another. Peter continues, "for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
Let us break this down. Salvation is found in a "name," the personal name of Jesus Christ. It is not found in a system, a philosophy, a moral code, or a religious ritual. It is found in a person. This name was "given among men" by God. Salvation is not a human invention; it is a divine gift. And notice the final clause: "by which we must be saved." The word "must" denotes a divine necessity. There is no other option. This is not one choice among many. This is the only door to the Father's house. To preach this today is to be called a bigot, a narrow-minded fundamentalist. But to fail to preach this is to be called a liar by the Word of God and a traitor to the King of kings.
Conclusion: The Unanswerable Argument
What we see in this courtroom drama is the collision of two authorities. The Sanhedrin had the authority of position, tradition, and force. The apostles had the authority of the resurrected Christ, demonstrated by a healed man and proclaimed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The world still asks the church the same question it asked Peter and John: "By what name do you do this?" By what authority do you speak about morality? By what authority do you call sin, sin? By what authority do you claim to know the way to God? And our answer must be the same as Peter's. We do not stand on our own wisdom, our own goodness, or our own power. We stand on the bedrock fact of the resurrection and in the authority of the only name that matters: Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the one crucified by men but raised by God.
The healing of the lame man was not simply a random act of kindness. It was a signpost. It was a miniature picture of the gospel itself. A man, helpless and broken, was made whole by the power of the risen Christ. That is the story of every true Christian. We were all spiritually lame, unable to walk in God's ways, sitting outside the gate of His presence. But by faith in the name of Jesus, He has reached down, taken us by the hand, and set us on our feet. He has healed our brokenness and brought us into His temple, walking and leaping and praising God.
Therefore, we cannot be silent. Like Peter and John would say later, "we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). The world may threaten, it may mock, it may try to intimidate us into silence. But we have been commissioned by the King of the universe. We have been filled with His Spirit. And we have been entrusted with the only name by which men must be saved. Let us, therefore, speak it with boldness.