Acts 4:12

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.

In none other is there salvation ... As McGarvey wrote:

This declaration is universal; and it shows that every human being who is saved at all will be saved in the name of Christ. If any who do not know him or believe in him are saved, still in some way their salvation will be in his name.[19]

Wherein we must be saved ... Concerning this clause Boles pointed out that:

In the Greek, the "we" is the last word of the Greek sentence; it means, "we priests, elders, scribes, fishermen - all of us" must be saved by faith and obedience in the Christ.[20]

Thus, Peter included his wicked judges in those invited to participate in the new life in Christ. The priests, however, rejected the way of salvation taught by Jesus. They were among those such as were mentioned by Walker:

Who imagine themselves so lovely in God's sight, that he simply could not afford to damn them. Such loveliness may be either of character or culture; and both classes of these self-righteous bigots are equally certain that heaven would be impoverished without them. They feel that they need no forgiveness.[21]

Peter preached the same plan of salvation to the Sanhedrin which he had proclaimed on Pentecost, and before the Gate Beautiful of the temple; but our own age, no less than that, prefers some other way of salvation. For example:

Daniel Soper, speaking of the crowd whose questions he has sought to answer for so many years, says, (men have) "no time for a religion which confines itself to the work of converting individuals and has nothing authoritative to say about war or unemployment."[22]

Soper certainly read the popular mind accurately; but the truth is that the church's business is not concerned with social or political issues at all, except in a peripheral sense. Like Christ himself, the church must teach men regarding the salvation of their souls. Let churches leave the social problems to the government, which can botch them up better than any church could! Loving concern for brothers and sisters in the Lord is taught and is mandatory for Christians; but involvement in the social issues of the times is always, for the church, a sacrifice of first priorities for those which are secondary.

The unique and glorious message of salvation in Jesus' name, through faith and obedience to the gospel, has no parallels.

The study of the history of religion has amassed countless "parallels and analogies" to the message of Jesus ... Yet the more analogies we amass, the clearer it becomes that there are no analogies to the message of Jesus.[23]

How precious, how glorious, how past all human ability fully to comprehend it, is the name of Jesus!

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 morning - all is packed into one word, a Name, the Name of Jesus![24]

[19] J. W. McGarvey, Commentary on Acts (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1892), p. 72.

[20] H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 68.

[21] R. E. Walker, op. cit., p. 33.

[22] Daniel Soper, as quoted by William Barclay, Turning to God (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1964), p. 102.

[23] Joachim Jeremias, translated by Norman Perrin (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1964), p. 20.

[24] J. Hastings, Great Texts of the Bible (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911), Acts and Romans, p. 79.