Day 950: The good confession - Acts 4 vs 5 - 12

5-7 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they enquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

8-10 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead - by him this man is standing before you well. 11This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. (The head of the corner) 12 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 4:5-12 English Standard Version

When Jesus was still in the world He sent His twelve close disciples on a mission to their fellow Jews to announce the arrival of God's Kingdom. But He warned them that they would be brought before courts and even be flogged in synagogues. He said also that they would be dragged before governors and kings because of Him. (Matthew 10:5-18) That's exactly what we see in today's reading. Peter and John were called to testify before men who had authority and power to do them bodily harm.

But Jesus also told His disciples: “Don't fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:28-33)

The word 'acknowledge' is translated in other places as 'confess'. The Greek word meant to 'speak the same', or 'agree with'. By implication it means 'to identify with'. So when Peter and John were asked “by what power or name” they had healed a man who'd been lame for over forty years, they immediately confessed that it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that the miracle had taken place. They took it further by declaring that there is no other name under heaven by which men and woman can be put into a right relationship with God! What was the strong charge Peter then made against the leaders? (vs 11)

He quoted a verse from Psalm 118 (which speaks of a gate in a city or building through which the righteous could enter God's presence), and pointed out that, by crucifying Jesus, the leaders had rejected the key part of that building. So Peter and John were asserting that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the only Saviour for sinful men and women, and that He should be believed upon as such.

This goes to the heart of what it means to become, and to be, a Christian. The apostle Paul wrote: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord - and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead - you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.'” (Romans 10:9-11)

Continuing as a Christian involves clinging to this confession of Christ as Saviour and Lord which we made at the start of our journey. Paul said this to a disciple named Timothy. He wrote: “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Timothy 6:12-13)

When Christ was on trial, rather than backtrack to save His life, He acknowledged before Pilate that He had come into the world to bear witness to the truth. As Christians, we are called to bear witness that Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.