टीका वर्तमान में केवल अंग्रेज़ी में उपलब्ध है। हिन्दी अनुवाद प्रगति पर है।
Acts 4 — We Cannot But Speak the Things Which We Have Seen and Heard
The priests and Sadducees seize Peter and John for preaching the resurrection. Many of the hearers believe — the number of men comes to about five thousand. Brought before the council, Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, names Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the only name under heaven by which men must be saved. The rulers, unable to deny the healing, command silence. Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. Released, they pray for boldness; the place is shaken; they continue with great power. The believers share possessions; Barnabas is introduced.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
— Acts 4:12
- v.1-4 Arrest; many believe
- v.5-12 Before the council; the only name
- v.13-22 Commanded to be silent
- v.23-31 Prayer for boldness
- v.32-37 Common life; Barnabas
They had been with Jesus. The single explanation for unschooled fishermen out-speaking the Sanhedrin. Being with Christ marks a person; it leaves an unmistakable trace.
Bookish credentials do not produce this. Time with Jesus does. The world recognizes the boldness it cannot account for, and traces it back to the source — the company kept with the risen Lord.
Civil disobedience grounded in obedience to God. When human authority forbids what God commands, the lower must yield to the higher. The apostles do not riot; they simply continue.
They throw the moral question back at the council — judge ye. The conscience of the rulers is not blank; they know what God commands. To forbid the proclamation of His salvation is to put themselves above God.
They did not pray for the threats to stop; they prayed for boldness with the threats continuing (vv.29-30). The Spirit answered the prayer that was asked. He often does — and rarely the prayer not asked.
The shaking is the Spirit's confirmation. The room moves; the disciples move. The cure for fear of opposition is not removal of the opposition but a fresh filling for the work.
Verse 12 is one of the most difficult verses to confess in the present age. Many would prefer Christianity if it would drop its exclusivity. Peter would not. Decide where you stand. Either Jesus is one path among many — in which case the gospel collapses into preference — or He is the only name under heaven, and your witness must say so plainly and lovingly. The verse forces the choice.
Acts 4 is the early church's first collision with the world's authority — and the apostles' answer is to put Christ at the center. He alone is the name that saves. Time with Him is the only explanation for the boldness. Prayer for His sake brings the room-shaking Spirit. The chapter is a portrait of a church whose entire life is gathered around the person of Christ, and whose witness will not be silenced.
The exclusive claim of Christianity stated under oath. None other name. All other paths are closed; this one is open. The verse is unfashionable in pluralist cultures and indispensable to the gospel.
Peter speaks this before the very court that condemned Jesus. He gives no diplomatic softening. The name they tried to silence is named as the only hope of salvation for them and for everyone.