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30 Days of Salvation: Day 17–Acts 4:8-14
Day 17—Acts 4:8-14
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
” ‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved.”
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
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The upshot of healing the begging man and causing a commotion by teaching about Jesus was overnight in jail for Peter and John. However, they were rewarded in the morning by an audience of the Jewish elders, Annas the high priest of the Jews, and other important Jewish rulers. This was yet another great opportunity for Peter and John to proclaim the salvation message of faith in Jesus; but this would take courage and dedication, characteristics Peter and John certainly have already proven to possess.
Once again Peter gives all the credit to Jesus for the miracle, blames the Jews for crucifying Jesus, and claims that God raised Jesus from the dead. Then Peter verbally draws the challenge line again and forces his audience to deal with making some sort of decision about what he is teaching. After referring to and Old Testament text that he believes points directly at Jesus, Peter hits them with a poignant fact: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved.” There is real power in his name—salvation power!
Here, Peter makes it as clear as possible that unless you believe in Jesus and put your faith in him, you will not be saved. There is no one other than Jesus that holds salvation, no one. That is a tough pill to swallow when you have lived your entire life thinking that if you lived your life according to the Old Testament law you would be saved. These learned men already had all of that figured out and these “ignorant” unschooled followers of Jesus were teaching them! I imagine Peter’s audience had to deal with their pride in this moment.
After Peter makes these statements in connection with the miracle, his Jewish audience was tongue-tied. What could they say in response when the proof of the miracle was directly in front of them? The man was clearly healed, and the only reason given was it was done by the power of the Holy Spirit of God in the name of Jesus. I think these Jews understood this fact and maybe even believed it, but their pride wouldn’t let them accept this truth. Pride and salvation don’t seem to be a good combination.
2 Responses to “30 Days of Salvation: Day 17–Acts 4:8-14”
Lee,
Yes, I have been reading, studying, thinking, listening, and praying. We are now over halfway through our study, “30 Days of Salvation”, and I am “still” at peace with my beliefs.
I have been “quiet” with my thoughts worrying about what others might think, but as you said, “Pride and salvation don’t seem a good combination.” With that being said….
here are just a few of my thoughts I’ve had:
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Day 6: Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” is one of my favorite scriptures. It wasn’t actually included on day 6, but in between some of the verses mentioned. One of the last gifts I gave Kelly before he was killed seven years ago this week was a picture frame with this verse and that year’s school pictures of all three of our daughters. The frame/scripture always reminded me of Mark 10:13-16.
I have always believe this childlike faith Jesus speaks of is believing in someone my eyes have never seen and even my mind cannot completely comprehend, but my “heart” feels the knock and I answer His call by inviting Him into my heart by faith. 1 John Chapter 3 also speaks of having a pure heart as living a righteous life. I have told all three of my girls over and over that the “most” and at the end “only” goal that really matters in life is that we live our lives in such a way that we will all spend eternity in heaven together. With this being said, sin will always work it’s way back into our daily lives. Christian life is a journey of desiring to be more and more like Christ by living a righteous life with a pure heart.
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Day 12: Wow…. is all I can say. Here was my favorite part of your thoughts:
“What does baptism have to do with our salvation? From this text I think it is good to conclude baptism is where we make our covenant with God, where we make our heart’s pledge to follow Jesus and live a new life in the light, symbolically and certainly out of the faith in Jesus existing in our heart.”
I still believe that salvation happens the moment we “believe” in Jesus and “invite” Him into our hearts through faith. We believe Christ willingly died on the cross as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. It is just too hard for me to comprehend that salvation would have to wait one, two, maybe even three weeks until it was “convenient” for the church and everyone involved. If our heart is sincere in this action, then it will come natural to desire to follow his commands….. ex.. the covenant of baptizing cleansing us of our sins and publicly announcing our faith.
I have oftened wondered… I know my heart is sincere in living my life more like Christ, so why it it so HARD to keep sin (gossip, anger, etc.) out of my life. It shouldn’t be that hard to simply keep my mouth shut.
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Day 9: Day 9—Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The educator in me looks at the grammatical structure of verse 19. The use of commas and verbs cannot be ignored in Jesus’ words. The use of commas represents a list of things (in this case, commands). Also, the use and order of several verbs- “go and make” disciples, “baptizing” them, and “teaching” them. Notice the pronoun, them, is referring back to disciples. So it makes sense to me that one is dependent upon the other.
Okay, it’s after 2:00 a.m., and I am getting too tired to think.
So many more questions???
Thanks, Lee, for being so dedicated with your time in this study. I am growing from your wisdom.
Susan
Susan,
Your points are well made. In my mind I keep going back to Paul’s thoughts in Romans chapters four and five. Our faith as “Gentiles” is the bottom line. Faith in the heart is so crucial in our salvation. Everything means nothing if it’s not in the heart first. Even yesterday I saw that in Simon.
The question of when exactly does God save us is still in question in my mind. I do think the fog is slowly lifting on that question a little in respect to what and when God does his part, and what Jesus expects us to do via command.
You said in regard to baptism as “cleansing us of our sins” and I think you are on to something. It does appear that when we enter the covenant with God and pledge our hearts to live in the name of Jesus, he then washes our sin away. I’m hoping further study will answer some more questions in this regard.
There are other scriptures that I plan to look at regarding the Spirit’s role in our salvation and I think they will be enlightening.
I’m so glad you are working through all this stuff with me. You have inspired me to press on to the end.
Cheers!
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