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Acts 4:12

in Acts 4

Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

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.

KJV

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

This verse in Acts 4

Commentary

20 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Neither is there salvation in any other - No kind of healing, whether for body or soul, can come through any but him who is called Jesus. The spirit of health resides in him; and from him alone its influences must be received. For there is none other name - Not only no other person, but no name except that divinely appointed one, Mat 1:21, by which salvation from sin can be expected - none given under heaven - no other means ever devised by God himself for the salvation of a lost world.

This site's exposition

Salvation exists in no one else

Peter makes this claim of the only saving name to Israel's highest court, the men who had condemned that name to death. It is the name in which the lame man was just healed (4:10).

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Acts · Written before 550.

proposed

For "There is no other name," that is, no venerable glory, unless this one faith centered on Christ the cornerstone alone favors and accepts the other faiths, as if the saving grace were given only in it.

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Acts · Written before 550.

proposed

Consider also that where it is fitting to teach, they even bring forward prophecies, as in the earlier sermon: but when they speak freely alone, they express an opinion: "For there is no other name given," he says. And what this is has already been …

A commentator

Shepherd of Hermas

Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 4 · Written before 160.

proposed

Well did you escape from it, because you cast your care on God, and opened your heart to the Lord, believing that you can be saved by no other than by His great and glorious name. On this account the Lord has sent His angel, who has rule over the beasts, and whose name is Thegri, and has shut up its mouth, so that it cannot tear you.

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

ON ORIGINAL SIN 2.24.28 · Written before 430.

proposed

For "there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus," since "there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved," and "in him God has defined to all men their faith, in that he has raised him from the dead." Now without this faith, that is to say, without a belief in the one Mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus; without faith, I say, in his resurrection by which God has given assurance to all people and which no one could of course truly believe were it not for his incarnation and death; without faith, therefore, in the incarnation and death and resurrection of Christ, the Christian truth unhesitatingly declares that the ancient saints could not possibly have been cleansed from sin so as to have become holy and justified by the grace of God. And this is true both of the saints who are mentioned in holy Scripture and of those also who are not indeed mentioned therein but must yet be supposed to have existed—either before the deluge or in the interval between that event and the giving of the law or in the period of the law itself—not merely among the children of Israel, as the prophets, but even outside that nation, as for instance Job. For cleansing from sin was by the self-same faith. The one Mediator cleansed the hearts of these too, and there also was "shed abroad in them the love of God by the Holy Spirit," "who blows where he wills," not following people's merits but even producing these very merits himself. For the grace of God will in no wise exist unless it be wholly free.

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 10 · Written before 407.

proposed

"Neither is there salvation in any other," Peter says. What wounds, think you, must these words inflict on them! "For there is none other name," he continues, "under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Here he utters also lofty words. For when the object is, not to carry some point successfully, but only to show boldness he does not spare; for he was not afraid of striking too deep. Nor does he say simply, "By another;" but, "Neither is there salvation in any other": that is, He is able to save us. In this way he subdued their threatening.
13 more voices on this verse

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 10 · Written before 407.

proposed

And when there was need to teach, observe how they speak and allege many prophecies; but when the point was to use boldness of speech, then they only speak peremptorily. Thus "Neither," says he, "is there any other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." It is manifest to all, he says, because not to us alone was that Name given; he cites even themselves as witnesses. "For there exists not another name under heaven, whereby we must be saved." This is the language of a soul which has renounced this present life. His exceeding out-spokenness proves here, that when he speaks in lowly terms of Christ, he does it not of fear, but of wise forbearance: but now that it was the fitting time, he speaks not in lowly terms: by this very thing intending to strike dismay into them.

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Acts · Written before 550.

proposed

Observe also that the psalmist saying, "there is salvation in no one else," is purely clear: "This came from the Lord" is as it were the logic and the salvific bond, by which every person is not saved by any other than by the one …

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Acts · Written before 1107.

proposed

"And there is salvation in no one else." Here lofty truths are already being proclaimed. Yes, as soon as the hour came to teach, the apostles set aside the prophecies; and when the time came to speak with boldness, they were already setting forth their …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Acts · Written before 735.

proposed

And there is no salvation in any other. If salvation is in no other, but only in Christ, then the fathers of the Old Testament were saved by the same Redeemer's incarnation and passion, in which we believe and hope to be saved. And though …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

There is no other name whereby we must be saved - The apostle uses a beautiful gradation, from the temporal deliverance which had been wrought for the poor cripple, by the power of Christ, to that of a much nobler and more important kind, which is wrought by Christ for impotent and sinful souls.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

It is given among men, who need salvation, men who are ready to perish. We may be saved by his name, that name of his, The Lord our righteousness; and we cannot be saved by any other. How far those may find favour with God who have not the knowledge of Christ, nor any actual faith in him, yet live up to the light they have, it is not our business to determine.
Neither is there salvation in any other,....

The Nineteenth Century5 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the captain--of the Levitical guard. of the temple--annoyed at the disturbance created around it. and the Sadducees--who "say that there is no resurrection" (Ac 23:8), irritated at the apostles "preaching through (rather, 'in') Jesus the resurrection from the dead"; for the resurrection of Christ, if a fact, effectually overthrew the Sadducean doctrine.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved--How sublimely does the apostle, in these closing words, shut up these rulers of Israel to Jesus for salvation, and in what universal and emphatic terms does he hold up his Lord as the one Hope of men!
IT IS A VERY HAPPY CIRCUMSTANCE when the servants of God are able to turn everything to account in their ministry. Now, the apostle Peter was summoned before the priests and Sadducees, the chief of his nation, to answer for having restored a man who was lame from his mother’s womb.
IT IS A VERY HAPPY CIRCUMSTANCE when the servants of God are able to turn everything to account in their ministry. Now, the apostle Peter was summoned before the priests and Sadducees, the chief of his nation, to answer for having restored a man who was lame from his mother’s womb. Whilst accounting for this case of cure, or, if I may use the expression, for this case of temporal salvation, the apostle Peter had this thought suggested to him, “While I am accounting for the salvation of this man from lameness, I have now a fine opportunity of showing to these people, who otherwise will not listen to us, the way of the salvation of the soul.” So he proceeds from the less to the greater, from the healing of a man’s limb to the healing of a man’s spirit; and having informed them once that it was through the name of Jesus Christ that the impotent man had been made whole, he now announces that salvation,—the great salvation, must be wrought by the selfsame means; “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” What a great word that word “salvation” is! It includes the cleansing of our conscience from all past guilt, the delivery of our soul from all those propensities to evil which now so strongly predominate in us; it takes in, in fact, the undoing of all that Adam did. Salvation is the total restoration of man from his fallen estate; and yet it is something more than that, for God’s salvation fixes our standing more secure than it was before we fell. It finds us broken in pieces by the sin of our first parent, defiled, stained, accursed: it first heals our wounds, it removes our diseases, it takes away our curse, it puts our feet upon the rock Christ Jesus, and having thus done, at last it lifts our heads far above all principalities.
Neither is there salvation - The word “salvation” properly denotes any “preservation,” or keeping anything in a “safe” state; a preserving from harm. It I signifies, also, deliverance from any evil of body or mind; from pain, sickness, danger, etc., Act 7:25. But it is in the New Testament applied particularly to the work which the Messiah came to do, “to seek and to save that which was lost,” Luk 19:10. This work refers primarily to a deliverance of the soul from sin Mat 1:21; Act 5:31; Luk 4:18; Rom 8:21; Gal 5:1. It then denotes, as a consequence of freedom from sin, freedom from all the ills to which sin exposes man, and the attainment of that perfect peace and joy which will be bestowed on the children of God in the heavens. The reasons why Peter introduces this subject here seem to be these: (1) He was discoursing on the deliverance of the man that was healed - his salvation from a long and painful calamity. This deliverance had been accomplished by the power of Jesus. The mention of this suggested that greater and more important salvation from sin and death which it was the object of the Lord Jesus to effect. As it was by his power that this man had been healed, so it was by his power only that people could be saved from death and hell. Deliverance from any temporal calamity should lead the thoughts to that higher redemption which the Lord Jesus contemplates in regard to the soul. (2) This was a favorable opportunity to introduce the doctrines of the gospel to the notice of the Great Council of the nation. The occasion invited to it; the mention of a part of the work of Jesus invited to a contemplation of his whole work. Peter would not have done justice to the character and work of Christ if he had not introduced that great design which he had in view to save people from death and hell. […]

Modern Voices1 voice

There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. I want to instill into you a sense of the power, the virtue and the glory of that name.

The words behind it

25 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    John 14:6

    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

    it leads to

    • John 10:9

      I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture.

    • Ephesians 2:18

      For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

    • John 11:25–26

      Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

    • John 1:4

      In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

    • 1 John 5:20

      And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son…

  • Through

    John 3:36

    Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

    it leads to

    • John 5:24

      Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 3:11

    For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 2:20

      built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.

    • Isaiah 28:16

      So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Pentecost, El Greco, about 1600, Museo del Prado. Public domain.
The Pentecost, El Greco, about 1600, Museo del Prado. Public domain.
This page draws on 16 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Acts of the Apostles; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, ON ORIGINAL SIN 2.24.28; Bede, Commentary on Acts; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 209: “The Way of Salvation” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 10; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts; Shepherd of Hermas, Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 4; Smith Wigglesworth, Ever Increasing Faith, Chapter 3: "The Power of the Name" and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.