> Download these notes in PDF here: https://www.studyyourbible.org/new-testament/acts/2026/handouts/session-15-no-other-name/ --- flow1: Preaching Opposed flow2: Authority Questioned flow3: Jesus Vindicated flow4: No Other Name --- # Session 15 No Other Name ## Before You Read **Big idea:** The healing in Acts 3 brings Peter and John before Israel’s rulers. The council asks whose power and name stand behind the deed. Peter answers with the crucified and risen Jesus, identifies Him as the stone the builders rejected, and declares that salvation is found in no other name. **How to use this guide:** Read Acts 4:1–12 with the healing and Peter’s temple sermon in mind. Mark **name**, **resurrection**, and the references to Israel. Follow the movement from one man’s physical healing to everyone’s need for salvation. **Four movements to keep watching** - **Preaching opposed (vv. 1–4):** The authorities arrest the apostles, but many who heard the word believe. - **Authority questioned (vv. 5–7):** Jerusalem’s leaders demand the source of the healing. - **Jesus vindicated (vv. 8–11):** Peter identifies the risen Jesus and applies the rejected-stone Scripture to the rulers. - **No other name (v. 12):** The leaders who rejected Jesus need the salvation found only in Him. **A simple right-division reminder:** Peter addresses Israel’s rulers in Jerusalem and explains the sign through Israel’s Messiah and Scriptures. This is still the prophetic kingdom setting of early Acts. Preserving that setting does not weaken the universal truth that no one has another Saviour. ## Acts 4:1 > And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, **What does the passage say?** - Peter and John are speaking to the people when the temple authorities approach. - The priests, temple captain, and Sadducees are the groups named in the intervention. - The confrontation grows out of the healing and sermon of Acts 3; the chapter division does not begin an unrelated event. **Words to notice** - **As they spake** — The authorities intervene while the public witness is underway. - **Priests** — An office, whereas **Sadducees** identifies a religious party. The categories could overlap, but priesthood did not by itself establish a man’s position on resurrection. - **Captain of the temple** — An official concerned with temple order; this is not a Roman army captain. - **Sadducees** — Acts 23:8 identifies their denial of resurrection. That belief matters to the complaint in verse 2. **Cross-references worth marking** - Acts 3:11–12 — The crowd gathers in Solomon’s porch, where Peter explains the healing. - Luke 22:52 — Temple captains also appear among those who came to arrest Jesus. - Acts 23:8 — Luke later states the Sadducean position on resurrection. **Do not miss** - The first resistance here comes from Jerusalem’s religious authorities. Luke does not say that all the people reject the message. ## Acts 4:2 > Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. **What does the passage say?** - The priests, captain, and Sadducees jointly oppose the apostles’ public teaching and proclamation of resurrection through Jesus. - Grammatically, “being grieved” describes the group named in verse 1. Luke does not assign an identical doctrinal position or motive to every participant. - The proclamation directly contradicts Sadducean denial of resurrection and confronts the leadership that rejected Jesus. It does not establish that Jewish priests generally denied resurrection. **Words to notice** - **Being grieved** — Here the word describes vexation or displeasure, not sympathetic sorrow. - **They taught the people** — Concern about teaching authority or temple order is a reasonable inference; Luke does not assign separate motives to each group. - **Through Jesus** — This qualification matters. A person could believe in a future resurrection yet reject the claim that God had raised Jesus and authorized His witnesses. - **Resurrection from the dead** — The Sadducees’ general denial and the leaders’ resistance to this particular proclamation overlap here; they should not be treated as identical positions. **Cross-references worth marking** - Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15 — The apostles proclaim that God raised the Jesus whom His hearers rejected. - Acts 5:17 — Luke explicitly connects the high priest’s circle with the Sadducean sect; he does not identify every priest as a Sadducee. - Acts 6:7 — Many priests later become obedient to the faith, demonstrating that the priesthood should not be treated as one uniformly unbelieving group. - 1 Corinthians 15:20–23 — Paul later explains Christ’s resurrection as the firstfruits of those who will rise. **The history before this arrest** - **Sadducean denial during Jesus’ ministry — Luke 20:27–38; Matthew 22:23–33.** The Sadducees challenged Jesus about resurrection using a woman married successively to seven brothers. Their denial predates Acts 4. - **Priestly opposition concerning Lazarus — John 12:9–11.** The chief priests planned to kill Lazarus because, on account of him, many were believing in Jesus. This is resistance to evidence leading people to Jesus, not a statement that every chief priest rejected resurrection in principle. Lazarus’s restoration to mortal life should also be distinguished from Christ’s resurrection victory over death. - **Priestly suppression of the resurrection report — Matthew 28:11–15.** After the guards reported what had happened, the chief priests and elders paid the soldiers to say that the disciples stole the body. Their action opposed the testimony concerning Jesus’ resurrection; the passage does not give every participant’s general doctrine of resurrection. - **The same conflict reaches the apostles — Acts 4:1–2.** The leadership now confronts public resurrection preaching through Jesus. Later, Acts 23:6–8 explicitly contrasts Sadducean denial with Pharisaic belief, confirming that denial was a party position rather than a belief shared by all Jewish leaders. **Josephus’s historical witness** - In *Antiquities of the Jews* 18.16–17, Josephus reports that the Sadducees held that souls perish with their bodies. He describes their adherents as comparatively few but socially prominent. - He also says that, when exercising public office, they had to accommodate Pharisaic views because the populace would not otherwise tolerate them. Influential Sadducean leaders did not represent everyone’s beliefs. - This supports the distinction between party doctrine and public office. Josephus does not identify the beliefs of every priest present in Acts 4, and his later historical account should not be treated as a transcript of this hearing. Source: [Josephus, Antiquities 18.11–17, text reproduced by the Center for Online Judaic Studies](https://cojs.org/josephus-_antiquities_xviii-_11-17-_more_about_the_pharisees_and_sadducees/). **Do not miss** - This is neither the first biblical appearance of Sadducean denial nor the first account of priestly resistance to resurrection evidence associated with Jesus. - The precise claim is that these authorities jointly opposed resurrection preaching **through Jesus**. Luke does not say that every priest present denied resurrection in general. ## Acts 4:3 > And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. **What does the passage say?** - The authorities seize Peter and John and keep them in custody. - Because it is evening, the detention continues until the next day. - The narrative moves from public teaching to an official hearing. **Words to notice** - **Laid hands on them** — In this setting the expression means arrest, not blessing or appointment. - **In hold** — In custody or confinement. - **Eventide** — Evening. Luke gives the reason the hearing occurs the following day. **Cross-references worth marking** - Luke 21:12–15 — Jesus warned His disciples that they would be brought before authorities for His name’s sake. - Acts 5:17–18 — The apostles later face another arrest associated with the high priest and Sadducees. **Do not miss** - The apostles’ faithfulness does not spare them confinement. Their detention also does not undo the word already heard by the crowd. ## Acts 4:4 > Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. **What does the passage say?** - Many who heard the message believe despite the arrest. - Luke reports about five thousand men. - The response belongs to those who heard the word; amazement at a healing and belief in the message should not be treated as identical. **Words to notice** - **Howbeit** — Nevertheless: Luke contrasts the arrest with the continuing fruit of the preaching. - **Heard the word believed** — The message about Jesus is central to the response. - **The number of the men** — Luke uses *anēr*, ordinarily referring to males, rather than the “souls” counted in Acts 2:41. The most natural reading is approximately five thousand male believers, with women additional to that count. Some interpreters understand the term more broadly as “people,” so the male-only reading should not be presented as beyond dispute. Luke gives no figure here for the women or for the combined total. - **About five thousand** — This is an approximate number. It most naturally describes the total now reached, rather than five thousand explicitly added that day. **Cross-references worth marking** - Acts 2:41 — About three thousand souls were added at Pentecost. - Acts 2:47 — The Lord continued adding to the believing company. - Acts 5:14 — Luke explicitly mentions both men and women among those added. - Acts 6:7 — The word later increases in Jerusalem, and many priests obey the faith. **Do not miss** - Do not add the figures into an exact membership total. The count is approximate and probably counts males; it does not establish an exact total of every man, woman, and child. - Israel’s rulers and Israel’s believing hearers are not responding in the same way. ## Acts 4:5–6 > And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, > > And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. **What does the passage say?** - The hearing takes place the following day. - Rulers, elders, and scribes gather as the recognized leadership. - Annas, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and members of the high-priestly family gather in Jerusalem. - The naming of individuals makes the confrontation concrete. - Peter and John face a leadership circle connected with the earlier proceedings against Jesus. **Words to notice** - **On the morrow** — On the next day, after the overnight custody. - **Rulers and elders** — Leaders whom Peter will address as representatives of Israel. - **Scribes** — Men associated with the study and interpretation of the law. - **Annas the high priest** — Retain Luke’s title. Luke 3:2 also names Annas and Caiaphas together in the high-priestly setting. - **Caiaphas** — John 18:13 identifies him as Annas’s son-in-law and as high priest that year. - **Kindred** — Family or relatives. Luke draws attention to the high-priestly family. - **John and Alexander** — Their names are given without enough detail here to build certain biographies. **Cross-references worth marking** - Luke 22:66 — Elders, chief priests, and scribes gathered for Jesus’ hearing. - Acts 3:17 — Peter had already spoken of the people and their rulers in connection with rejecting Jesus. - John 18:13, 24 — Jesus was taken to Annas and then sent bound to Caiaphas. - John 11:49–53 — Caiaphas counseled that Jesus should die for the people. - Luke 3:2 — Luke names Annas and Caiaphas in describing the earlier priestly setting. **Do not miss** - The apostles now address the leadership directly. The setting remains Israel’s capital and religious institutions, rather than a hearing before Rome. - The John listed among these leaders should not be confused with the apostle John standing before them. Shared names do not establish identity. ```{=latex} \end{multicols} \newpage \begin{multicols}{2} ``` ## Acts 4:7 > And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? **What does the passage say?** - The apostles are placed before the assembled leaders. - The council asks what power or name enabled them to do this deed. - Peter’s answer in verses 9–10 identifies the deed as the healing of the man who had been lame. **Words to notice** - **In the midst** — Peter and John stand before the gathering for examination. - **By what power** — What is the source of the ability displayed in this healing? - **By what name** — Whose authority do the apostles represent? The question prepares for the repeated emphasis on Jesus’ name. **Cross-references worth marking** - Acts 3:6 — Peter commanded the man to rise in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. - Acts 3:12, 16 — Peter denied that personal power or holiness had accomplished the healing. - Luke 20:1–8 — Leaders had also questioned Jesus about His authority. **The scriptural background of “by what name”** - Israel’s Scriptures already connect God’s name with His presence, authority, and effective action. This supplies a background for the council’s question; Luke does not say that the rulers are quoting a particular passage or endorsing a magical theory of names. - **Exodus 23:20–21** — God commands Israel to obey His angel because “my name is in him.” The name marks the messenger’s divine authorization and the seriousness of hearing him. - **Deuteronomy 18:19–22** — A prophet speaks in the LORD’s name, but claiming that name does not establish that God sent him. Israel must distinguish God’s actual word from a presumptuous claim. Whose name a speaker invokes is therefore a question of religious authority and accountability. - **1 Samuel 17:45–47** — David confronts Goliath in the LORD’s name and credits the LORD with the victory. The power belongs to the God whom the name identifies. - **Luke 10:17** — Before Acts, the disciples report that demons submit through Jesus’ name. Acts 3:6, 12, 16 then supplies the immediate background: Peter invokes Jesus’ name and attributes the healing to Him, while denying personal power or holiness as its cause. **Do not miss** - The name is not a magical set of syllables. It identifies the living person whose authority the apostles announce. ## Acts 4:8 > Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, **What does the passage say?** - Peter answers as the spokesman, filled with the Holy Ghost. - He addresses the officials as rulers of the people and elders of Israel. - His respectful address prepares for a direct statement of their responsibility. **Words to notice** - **Filled with the Holy Ghost** — Peter had already been filled at Pentecost, yet Luke identifies the Spirit’s enabling here as he answers Israel’s rulers. Acts 4:31 records another filling after prayer. Filling should therefore not be treated as merely another word for initial Spirit baptism or as proof of an uninterrupted condition beginning in Acts 2. Here the emphasis is the Spirit’s provision for testimony under examination, consistent with Jesus’ promise in Luke 12:11–12. - **Said unto them** — The arrest becomes an occasion for testimony before the leaders. - **Elders of Israel** — The audience is explicitly identified; this is not a speech to an undefined religious gathering. **Cross-references worth marking** - Luke 12:11–12 — Jesus promised the Holy Ghost’s help when His disciples were brought before authorities. - Acts 2:4, 14 — The earlier filling accompanies Peter’s public witness at Pentecost. - Acts 4:31 — Following prayer, the assembled believers are filled and speak God’s word boldly. - Acts 13:9 — Paul is described as filled with the Holy Ghost when confronting Elymas. **Dispensational caution: description and doctrine** - Historical accounts do not, by themselves, establish a doctrine prescribing the same experience for believers today. Acts records inspired and profitable history, but a report of what God did is not automatically a command or promise that He will do the same for us. - Peter is an apostle addressing Israel’s rulers within the early Jerusalem ministry. This filling corresponds to a promise Jesus made to His disciples for such hearings. Do not extrapolate from it a present-day requirement to seek repeated crisis fillings or a guarantee of specially supplied speech whenever a Christian is questioned. - Establish the doctrine and practice of the Body of Christ from the instructions addressed to it, giving their proper place to Paul’s teaching on the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 gives an actual instruction concerning filling; Acts 4:8 should not be used to prescribe an identical experience or method for fulfilling it. **Do not miss** - Bold testimony need not be insulting. Peter recognizes the rulers’ position while speaking plainly about what they have done. - This promised apostolic provision does not make careful Bible study unnecessary. ## Acts 4:9 > If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; **What does the passage say?** - Peter describes the inquiry as an examination about a good deed. - The question concerns how a physically disabled man has been made whole. - His sentence continues into verse 10, where he supplies the answer. **Words to notice** - **Examined** — Questioned or investigated in this official proceeding. - **Good deed** — Peter makes clear that the act under investigation benefited the man. - **Impotent man** — The man lacked bodily strength or ability; Acts 3 specifies lameness from birth. - **Made whole** — The immediate subject is physical healing. Keep that meaning in view as Peter moves toward salvation in verse 12. **Cross-references worth marking** - Acts 3:2, 7–9 — The man’s lifelong disability gives way to immediate walking and public praise. - John 10:32 — Jesus asked His opponents for which good work they intended to stone Him. **Do not miss** - Peter pushes back. His opening exposes the incongruity: Jewish leaders are examining Jewish apostles over a good deed done to a disabled man. “If we this day be examined of the good deed done” is a pointed challenge to the council’s priorities. Peter respects their office, but he is no wallflower; he makes them face the character of the deed they are investigating before naming the One who accomplished it. ## Acts 4:10 > 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. **What does the passage say?** - Peter identifies Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the source of the healing. - He contrasts the rulers’ crucifixion of Jesus with God’s raising Him from the dead. - The healed man is present, standing whole before them. - Peter addresses both the assembled officials and all the people of Israel. **Words to notice** - **Be it known** — The answer is a public declaration, not a reluctant admission. - **Whom ye crucified, whom God raised** — Human rejection and divine vindication are placed side by side. - **Even by him** — The healing belongs to Jesus’ authority, not to Peter’s independent power. - **Stand here before you whole** — The once-lame man supplies visible evidence in the hearing itself. **Cross-references worth marking** - Acts 2:36 — Peter had already identified the crucified Jesus as Lord and Christ. - Acts 3:13–16 — The earlier sermon contrasts Israel’s denial with God’s glorification of Jesus. **Do not miss** - Peter answers the exact question of verse 7. The sign and the message belong together. - The charge addresses responsible leaders in this event; it is not a warrant for hostility toward Jewish people across the centuries. ## Acts 4:11 > This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. **What does the passage say?** - Peter identifies Jesus as the rejected stone of Psalm 118. - He identifies the rulers themselves as the builders who treated that stone as worthless. - God has assigned the rejected One the chief place. **Words to notice** - **This is the stone** — The image refers to the Jesus just named in verse 10. - **Set at nought** — Rejected or treated as having no worth. - **Of you builders** — Peter directly confronts the leaders charged with responsibility for the people. - **Head of the corner** — The image gives the rejected stone the principal place in the building. Its force is God’s reversal of the builders’ verdict. **Cross-references worth marking** - Psalm 118:22–23 — The rejected stone becomes the head stone of the corner through the LORD’s doing. - Luke 20:17–19 — Jesus used this same Scripture where the chief priests and scribes understood His parable against them. - 1 Peter 2:4–8 — Peter later develops the contrast between human rejection and God’s choice of Christ. **Do not miss** - Religious office did not make the builders’ judgment correct. Their rejection did not determine Jesus’ place in God’s purpose. - **Hear the indictment.** In Peter’s earlier public charges (Acts 2:23–24, 36; 3:13–15), as here in Acts 4:10–11, the contrast is that his hearers rejected and killed Jesus, but God raised and exalted Him. For those resisting Him, this is alarming news: look whom you have rejected, and look where God has placed Him. Peter is confronting their guilt, not congratulating them for rejecting the cornerstone. Do not read past that accusation by immediately substituting Paul’s later gospel formulation that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:1–4). This distinction concerns the argument being made: Peter’s speeches also offer forgiveness and blessing (Acts 2:38; 3:19, 26), so “bad news” describes the indictment, not every statement about Christ’s death and resurrection or the whole message. ## 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. **What does the passage say?** - Peter declares that salvation is found in no other person. - No other saving name has been given among men under heaven. - The need includes Peter and his hearers: “we must be saved.” - The argument reaches beyond one man’s healing to the saving authority of Jesus Himself. **Words to notice** - **Neither … any other** — Every alternative saviour is excluded. The first Greek clause combines *ouk* (“not”) with *oudeni* (“no one”). These negatives work together rather than cancel each other: salvation is in no one else. - **For there is none other name** — “Neither” and “none” in the English belong to separate clauses. The second explains the first: salvation is in no other person because no other saving name has been given. The repeated negatives exclude alternatives; they do not produce a positive statement. - **Under heaven … among men** — The wording gives the claim a reach beyond this one council meeting. - **Given** — The saving name is God’s provision, not the council’s appointment. - **Whereby** — By which; the name represents the person identified in verse 10. - **Must** — Salvation through Jesus is necessary, not one optional path among others. **Cross-references worth marking** - John 14:6 — Jesus declares that access to the Father is through Him. - Acts 2:21, 36–38 — Peter connects the Lord’s saving name with the identification of Jesus as Lord and Christ. - 1 Timothy 2:5–6 — Paul later identifies one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus. **Do not miss** - Keep the Israelite audience and the universal claim together. Right division does not provide anyone with a different Saviour. - Verse 12 names the only Saviour; it does not by itself state every later-revealed detail of Paul’s gospel or establish that every administration is identical. ## Text And Translation Helps - **Grieved (v. 2)** describes the authorities’ displeasure at the teaching, not grief over a bereavement. - **Hold, eventide, and morrow (vv. 3, 5)** mean custody, evening, and the next day. These words establish a simple overnight sequence. - **Howbeit (v. 4)** means nevertheless. The contrast is between the arrested messengers and the hearers who believe. - **Kindred (v. 6)** means relatives. Read verses 5–6 together as one description of the gathering. - **Impotent (v. 9)** means without strength or ability in this context. The familiar narrower modern use is not intended. - **Set at nought (v. 11)** means treated as worthless. **Of you builders** identifies those responsible for the rejection. - **Whereby (v. 12)** means by which. Jesus’ “name” points to His person and authority, not a pronunciation technique. - These explanations concern context and older English. They do not require replacing the KJV text or inventing a manuscript dispute. ## Common Ideas To Test - **“All Jewish priests denied resurrection.”** Priesthood was an office, and Sadducean identity was a party affiliation. Acts 4 records joint opposition to preaching through Jesus, not a doctrinal census of the priesthood. - **“The arrest proves that the message failed.”** Many who heard the word believed. Luke deliberately records the response alongside the detention. - **“About five thousand means exactly five thousand new converts that afternoon.”** The wording most naturally gives the number now reached. It is approximate and does not provide a complete census. - **“Peter healed by his own spiritual power.”** Peter had already denied personal power in Acts 3:12 and now names Jesus as the source of the man’s wholeness. - **“The builders’ rejection made Jesus’ mission a failure.”** Psalm 118 supplies the opposite conclusion: God gives the rejected stone the chief place. - **“Saved in verse 12 means only bodily healing.”** The healing occasions the speech, but Peter moves to the necessary salvation of “we” and excludes every other name “under heaven.” - **“A mid-Acts reading limits Jesus’ exclusive saving name to Israel.”** Peter addresses Israel, yet his wording excludes any alternative Saviour. Distinct revelations and responsibilities do not create distinct saviours. - **“One saving name means Peter has already revealed everything Paul will teach.”** Agreement concerning the person of Christ does not erase the distinction between Israel’s prophetic program and the mystery later revealed through Paul (Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:1–9). ## Session Summary - The temple authorities interrupt resurrection preaching and hold Peter and John overnight. - Many hearers believe, showing that opposition and fruitful witness occur together. - Israel’s rulers ask by whose power and name the healing occurred. - Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, identifies Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they crucified and God raised. - The healed man is present evidence; Psalm 118 explains the leaders’ rejection and God’s vindication of Jesus. - The rulers cannot bypass the One they rejected: there is no other saving name. ## For Long-Term Study **Mark these themes as Acts unfolds** - The difference between the response of Israel’s leaders and that of believing Israelites. - Repeated appeals to Jesus’ name and resurrection. - The movement from public signs to explanation, belief, or resistance. - Israel’s Scriptures as the framework of Peter’s witness. - Truths shared with later Pauline teaching, alongside differences in audience and revealed program. **Questions to keep asking** 1. What two features of the apostles’ activity trouble the authorities? 2. Why does Luke place the report of belief immediately after the arrest? 3. How do verses 5–8 identify the audience before Peter speaks about salvation? 4. How does verse 10 answer the question in verse 7? 5. Who are the stone and the builders, and whose verdict finally stands? 6. How does Peter move from the healing of “this man” to “we must be saved”? 7. How can we preserve both Israel’s setting and the breadth of “none other name under heaven”? **One sentence to remember** Israel’s rulers question the healing, but Peter identifies their rejected and risen Messiah as both the source of the man’s wholeness and the only name by which they themselves must be saved.