🙂 Acts 4:12 | Full-Time Savior

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

We made it to the halfway mark of the week! If you missed earlier emails this week, you can read them here: Monday and Tuesday.

In today’s email…

• 🗣️ What’s in a name?

• 🪓 Jesus is not a Part Savior

• 📚️ Resources to help you dig deeper

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MEMORIZE 🧠 

And there __ _________ __ __ ___ ____, for there is __ _____ ____ under heaven given among men __ _____ we must be _____.

Acts 4:12

CONTEXT 📕 

At the heart of Peter’s bold declaration in Acts 4:12 is a single Greek word packed with meaning: ὄνομα (onoma, pronounced áh-na-ma), translated “name.”

In the ancient world, a “name” wasn’t just a label — it represented a person’s character, authority, and power and carried deep meaning.

To act “in someone’s name” meant to act under their identity and with their backing.

So when Peter says there is no other name by which we must be saved, he’s not just talking about syllables or letters.

He’s talking about the supreme authority of Jesus — his mission, his resurrection, and his role as Lord and Savior.

This Name provides the backing for salvation. We aren’t saved by any other authority. It’s not one path among many.

It’s the only way.

Peter isn’t being narrow for the sake of exclusion — he’s being faithful to what God has revealed: that salvation is found in Jesus alone because only Jesus bore our sin, rose from the dead, and reigns as Lord.

No one else has that resume!

And this name — this identity, this power — is not for a select few.

Acts repeatedly shows that it’s given “under heaven,” meaning it is available to all people everywhere who want to receive it.

We live in a world with many “names” claiming to offer hope, peace, or salvation.

But only one name carries the authority to actually save.

And that’s why we bold proclaim Jesus as our Savior.

APPLY AND RESPOND 🏃‍♂️ 

Peter was fully convinced in the power of Jesus, and spoke under the authority of that name. He knew there is no other name that saves, and that truth shaped everything about how he lived.

We must be shaped by that truth as well.

And it means we need to go all in.

Charles Spurgeon once said:

“If Jesus is not all to you, He is nothing to you. He will never go into partnership as a part Savior.”

There’s no halfway with Jesus.

Either we trust fully, or we’re trusting something else.

The question isn’t whether you believe Jesus exists.

The question is: Do you put your trust in Jesus over anything else?

Reflect on these questions:

1. What “other names” compete for your confidence — career, reputation, relationships?

2. What would it look like for you to trust Jesus more fully today—with your time, your future, or your fears?

RESOURCES 📚️ 

Here are a few resources to help you dig deeper into the verse and its themes:

• 📚 Acts: The NIV Application Commentary by Ajith Fernando (link)

• 📚️ Acts: An Expositional Commentary by R.C. Sproul (link)

• 📚️ Acts: A 12-Week Study by Justin S. Holcomb (link)

• 📚 Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (link)

• 🎥 BibleProject: Acts Overview Part 1 (link)

• 💻 What does Acts 4:12 mean? by BibleRef (link)

• 🎙️ Sermon: The God With a Name by Tim Keller (link)

• 🎵 Acts 4:11-12 by the Verses Project (Spotify | Apple Music | Malachi Daily Playlist)

Everyone who pays-it-forward to support our work gets lifetime access to our course: Renew Your Mind: How to Take Your Thoughts Captive and Make Them Obedient to Christ.

ANSWER KEY ✅ 

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12