Daily Truth Bible Study Acts 4:1-22

The text for today is Acts 4: 1 – 22    Let’s begin the study…

My, how things have NOT changed… Look at the first few verses of today’s text. The religious political power base of the time is concerned because the disciples are teaching that Jesus is the only way that God has made for men to be redeemed. That is what is going on in this part of the text. The preaching was not the main problem- the problem is found in that they were teaching in the name of Jesus.

Jesus is the line of division between all false movements and the only true way to God. Today, many people get rich from promoting all sorts of religious concepts that lack the truth about Jesus. Millions of people follow these counterfeit disciples. People who preach the truth about Jesus are maligned, insulted, beaten, and killed…not much has changed since the first century when you consider the reaction caused by preaching the truth of Jesus.

What does the Bible have to say about the subject? The Bible is very specific and unambiguous about the subject. Jesus is the only way to Heaven. He is the only way prepared by God through which we can be saved. There is salvation in none other than Him. If you are unsure, please read the New Testament and you will be told this many, many times.

In today’s ‘why can’t we all just get along’ world, divisive issues are conveniently tossed aside for the sake of concensus. Yet Jesus Himself said that He was a divisive issue. He said that He had not come to restore peace and order to the political and religious systems of His day but He had come to be a point of division between temporal thinking and eternal truth (my paraphrase of Matthew 10:24 and surrounding verses for context).

Back to the text and we see that Peter gets another chance to give a defense of his belief in Jesus. No wonder he would later write that we are to be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks about the hope (salvation in Jesus) that is within us in (1Peter 3:15). Peter boldly tells the rulers of the religious and political powers of his day that Jesus, whom they crucified, is the principal cornerstone that all truth and power is built upon. The powers he stood before could have sent him to be killed had they chosen to do so yet Peter boldly proclaims that Jesus is the only way of salvation.

At a slight disadvantage due the boldness of Peter and John and the credibility that went along with having the man who had been healed in Jesus’ name present, the rulers command them to leave and to cease speaking and/or preaching in Jesus’ name. Peter and John inform the rulers that they cannot stop speaking of and preaching in Jesus’ name despite threats and insults.

What was the result of their preaching to the crowd that had gathered earlier in the text? Verse 4 said that many who heard their message believed (indicating belief unto salvation not mere factual assent).

So, what are we to do in our modern, post-modern, post-Christian, post-good sense day? Considering the fact that God is timeless, changeless, sovereign, and omnipotent, it seems that we should behave much in the same way as Peter, John, and the others. We should preach and serve in the name of Jesus.

May God bless the study of His word.

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