No other name

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Act 4:12)

I think as Christians, we don’t blink twice at this statement since we’ve heard it so many times. But I was thinking about what the Jewish leaders must have been thinking.

“Salvation in no one else but Jesus? But Yahweh is salvation!”

“No other name by which we must be saved? But Yahweh is our only Savior!”

And there would have been good reason to think that. In Isaiah, God said,

Was it not I, the LORD (direct translation: Yahweh)?

There is no other God but me, a righteous God and Savior; there is no one except me.

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn; truth has gone from my mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow to me, every tongue will swear allegiance. (Isaiah 45:21-23)

But what the Jewish leaders didn’t understand is that God became human. It was no accident that God told Mary to name her baby Jesus. That name itself means, “Yahweh is salvation.”

And that’s why Paul would later take those words from Isaiah and apply them to Jesus (Philippians 2:6-11).

As we think of our loved ones who don’t know Jesus, probably many of us would like to hope, “Well, they don’t believe in Jesus, but I’m sure God will accept them.”

But there is no other name by which they can be saved. Because only Jesus was God in human flesh. Only Jesus paid the price for our sin on a cross. As God, only he could have paid the price for our sin.

So as you pray today, take some time to think about your loved ones who don’t know Jesus.

And pray that God would give you the opportunity and the boldness to share his good news of salvation with them.