In the opening verses of Acts 4, we read that Peter and John were arrested by the Jewish religious leaders before a large crowd soon after healing a lame man at the temple in Jerusalem. But the main reason they were arrested was not because they healed the man, but (v. 2): because they were teaching the (large crowd of) people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. The following day the two men were brought from prison before the religious leaders who asked them (v. 7): By what power, or in what name, have you done this? Peter’s bold reply is in verses 8-12, the essence of which was:
By the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, who you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by this name this man stands here before you in good health.
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 (vv. 10, 12).
There are at least four things in these verses that are good for us to remember as we seek to witness for Jesus Christ:
1) Verse 8 says that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit before he made his reply. In other words, Peter did not speak by his own power, but the Holy Spirit testified through him, exactly as Jesus told the disciples just before His ascension (see Acts 1:8).
2) Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter did not claim to have healed the man by his own power, but let everyone know that it was the work of Jesus. As Jesus told His disciples: the Holy Spirit would glorify Jesus, not men (see John 16:14).
3) Peter testified of who Jesus was: namely, He was the Christ – God’s Messiah. Imagine how hard it was for the Jewish leaders to hear that truth. He also testified of Jesus’ work: namely, His death on the cross, and that God raised Him from the dead.
4) Peter connected Jesus’ person and work with God’s salvation, and in particular, that salvation was in the name of Jesus of Nazareth…alone!
May we go in the power of the Holy Spirit, give testimony of how Jesus has changed lives including our own, proclaim the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and declare that He is God’s only way of salvation (John 14:6).