Acts 4:10-12 Bible Teaching

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Okay . . . last week we left off with Peter preaching to the rulers that had gathered to try him and John for preaching in the temple and teaching the resurrection.

Last week we read the following:

Acts 4:7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, “Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
9 If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.”

At this verse we said last week that Peter was quoting from Psalm 118 and that the Jews applied this verse to King David.

But we also noted that in the New Testament Jesus assigned the passage to Himself – as Peter does here, saying to the rulers who had put them on trial:

10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.”

What does it mean?

Let’s let scripture tell us.

In Matthew 21:33 Jesus said to a gathering of Pharisees not unlike this group and said:

“Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

(NOW LISTEN)

42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, (this is the meaning of the saying) The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

Using the imagery of stone masons laying a sure foundation Isaiah said in Isaiah 28:16:

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”

In other words, Peter here in Acts is appealing to the scripture and citing what has been said about God laying a sure foundation, a rock – the Rock – upon which the Nation could stand – but they rejected it – these very men standing around Peter and John.

What’s interesting is when Jesus told the parable to the Pharisees in Matthew, after he asked them:

Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, (this is the meaning of the saying) The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

He said this (giving more meaning to Jesus as the cornerstone they as the builders of the Nation rejected)

44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”

After Jesus said this we read:

45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.”

And so back to Acts 4 we have Peter and John who have had hands laid on them, and they have been put in jail and are now on trial, and they (AGAIN!) are telling these very leaders that (verse 10) Jesus of Nazareth, whom they crucified, is the one responsible for making the man born lame whole and then they add:

11 This (meaning Jesus) is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.”

And then Peter adds:

12 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
December 27th 2015

Now remember the context.

In Acts chapter two – the Day of Pentecost – we recall that Peter said to those Jews in that day and age:

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

I want you to ask yourselves, what was Peter telling them that they would be saved from?

I know we could automatically think that Peter was speaking to them of being saved from hell – and there are other passages that seem to intimate this, but is this the context?

We also know that Luke wrapped chapter two up and said that the new believers were

Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Again . . . saved from (and/or) saved to what?

When Jesus was speaking harshly to the Pharisees and scribes in the King James of Matthew 23:33 He said:

“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

In the face of this could we say that Peter was telling these men here in Acts that they can escape the damnation of hell – that they can be saved from that experience?

It seems like it doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, the King James takes some horrendous liberties in its English translation of this passage because what Jesus actually asked was (and I say actually because this is what the Greek actually means):

“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can you escape the judgement of Gehenna.”

That is a VERY different question that Jesus asks, isn’t it?

To be judged is one thing to be damned is another. To call the judgement of a place that burned trash that was located in the south of the city, “the damnation of hell” really causes us to imagine some things that may not be so, doesn’t it?

So we need to understand what the Jews of that generation are being saved from (by having faith on Jesus) and then we have to ask if this is the same thing all people ever since will be saved from too (by faith on Jesus).

The word “salvation” (in the Greek) is
“so-tay-ree-ah” (which is where we get the big theological word soteriology which is the study of salvation).

So-tay-ree-ah comes from the root word “so-tare.” That word means to deliver, be delivered or deliverer.

So-tare comes from “sode-zoe” which means everything from

“safe,” “save,” (as in deliver or protect) and “heal, preserve, make whole, do well, or rescue.”

Throughout scripture these words are applied to every kind of “saving or preserving” that can happen in the existence of human beings – physical saving, materially safety, spiritual salvation, being delivered from enemies, from illness, from death, from gehenna, from torments – you name it.

So when Peter, speaking of Jesus, says in verse 12:

“Neither is there salvation (soteria) in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (sode-zo).”

Those terms “soteria” and “sodezo” are used and applied in every conceivable way and do not just mean, “escaping from hell.”

For example, in Acts chapter 27 at verses 33-34 Paul was with some men after a shipwreck and we read:

“And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, “This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health.”

The Greek word here for the word “health” is “so-tay-ree-ah,” the same word translated salvation in many other places in scripture.

So we can see that Paul was telling them that eating meat would provide them “sotayreah” – health or salvation from disease.

Additionally, when Paul talks about women being “saved” in child bearing the word is “sode-zo” (the very same word we use to describe our escaping hell after this life) but in that case it means that women in general won’t universally lose their lives in bearing children.

Will they suffer? They can and do. But we can see that sode-zo there means saved from death but not from pain.

So, again, what does Peter mean when he says (speaking of Jesus) “the Rock,” “the chief cornerstone whom the builders rejected,” that

“Neither is there salvation (so-tay-ree-ah) in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must (or can) be saved (sode-zo).”

I would strongly suggest that speaking of a salvation applicable to them there but when we read it today it has a different but similar meaning for us.

First, let’s talk about what this meant to these men of that age.

Jesus came to them (as prophesied and promised). Quite frankly He ONLY came to them during His earthly ministry – He made this plain in Matthew 15:24 where we read:

“But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

I’ve always been troubled by that line because it either intimates that all the House of Israel were lost sheep OR that He was not sent to the sheep that had not lost their way.

In any case, God has made promises to them – to the house of Israel – this literal material Nation. I believe that those promises were kept by God despite their rebellious nature and that He has never let any of them go – though He has allowed them to suffer materially for their rebelliousness.

One of the things that the Nation was promised was a material Messiah who would come and save them.

From what?

From their sin (of course)
From the effects of sin, and
From actual literal destruction.

I strongly suggest that God and His Messiah did not fail them on doing what He promised –

Saving them from sin – this was accomplished. But I think those who would not receive His solution by faith were not saved from physical destruction.

And I am personally convinced that it was this coming physical destruction that Peter was telling them that they could be saved – if they repented and turned.

I support this with some events from scripture. For instance, have you ever wondered about the thief on the cross and his conversation with the Lord?

The fact that simply after asking, according to one account (Lukes), “that Jesus would remember him when he enters into His kingdom” that Jesus replied:

“Today you’ll be with me in paradise.”

Why was this so easy? Why didn’t the thief need to repent, confess Jesus name, ask to be forgiven, or have Jesus give Him new life or any of the other elements we tell people they need in order to be saved?

I believe that the answer lies in that fact that Jesus was God’s promised Messiah to His people and that God delivered on His promise. Period – to redeem Israel.

But as we said one of the promises the Nation had been given was they would have a Messiah come to them – materially – and they had to receive Him – or they would experience material destruction.

In other words if they wanted to escape material destruction – if they wanted to be “saved,” they needed to repent and turn and they would not be destroyed.

By the way, as a side note, the Greek word translated “destroyed” in the King James is “apollumai” and it more often means to mar or harm than to obliterate.

Just an FYI.

And so those of the builders of the nation who rejected the stone, who would NOT fall on Him and be broken, HE would fall upon them – and grind those who were around . . . to literal, physical powder.

They would not be saved from this grinding. They would not be preserved, they would not be healed. They would experience a literal physical rubbing away of themselves at the end of that age.

Still with me? When Peter tells them “to repent and change and be saved,” when he tells them that they as the builders of the nation had rejected the stone and added

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

There was a direct, literal meaning to these words from Peter to them –

“You will never escape the coming judgement of Gehenna unless you receive Him. Believe and receive – be broken by falling upon Him – and you will not be broken by the Romans, but if you continue to reject Him as your Messiah, He will fall on you and you will be ground to powder.”

There is historical context. This is the actual meaning of these words to them.

I am sure that there is also application of the term saved for them after this life as well as Jesus told them plainly:

“If you don’t believe that I am you will die in your sin.”

And so those are the two ways Peter was speaking when he told them that Jesus was the only means of being saved.

But the words of Jesus (to the Pharisees in Matthew) and the words of Peter to the ruling Jews LISTEN are just as meaningful and applicable to ALL PEOPLE today!

How?

What do the words of Jesus that we read today mean to us?

“And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”

AND of Peter saying:

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

I believe that those in this life who “fall on Him” (the Rock) “will be broken” (and having been broken by the fall will also be healed and saved after this life from “torments” – remember that word) but that those who refuse to be broken by Him in this life will join the ranks of “whomsoever the Rock shall fall it will grind him to powder.”

Again, for those of the Nation of Israel who had a material relationship with God the wicked of that generation who rejected Christ were literally ground to powder when He returned with judgment.

But if this imagery also applies to us in this day and age when and how will this happen?

A majority of Christians believe these words have application in two distinct ways.

The first way many believe Jesus will grind unbelievers to powder will be when He comes back with judgment.

The second application (which I see as all together illogical when we think about it) suggests that all who do not receive Him here will experience literal physical eternal torments in the afterlife places called hell and/or the lake of fire.

The part about the torments that is illogical to me is that we are supposed to enter a spiritual realm, a place that flesh and blood cannot inherit, but the rebellious are supposed to experience severe physical suffering (like that of burning flesh forever) once there.

Are there afterlife torments? I believe there are – and it is these torments that all believers on Him escape (and from which we are saved).

But I do not believe in them the way Evangelicals have long preached and described them. Let me explain why.

Have you ever heard of brimstone in scripture? The stuff is tied to torments when it is mentioned. Let’s talk about brimstone and torments for a minute.

There are four passages in the Book of Revelation (which, by the way, is the only book that mentions the Lake of Fire) but there are four passages that mention brimstone in relation to fire and torments.

The passages are Revelation 14:10, 19:20, 20:10 and 21:8.

The word brimstone is translated from the Greek word “theion” – T-H-E-I-O-N.

You probably recognize the Greek word “theos” right? It means God – and it’s where we get the word “theology,”(which means the study of God).

THEIOS in Greek means “divine.” So it is really easy to see that the word translated to brimstone in English (and comes from the Greek word THEION) is firmly related to God – not rocks, not Sulphur, not fiery hail.

I would suggest that “theios” or brimstone is synonymous with the presence of God Himself.

In Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament the word brimstone is defined as (ready?) “fire from heaven used to purify.”

Again, if you check Strong’s Concordance or Thayer’s Concordance you will discover that brimstone is connected to God’s divine power to purify NOT to punish.

This starts making sense when it is an actual product coming from a God of love.

So at this point we have to also ask:

Is the fire from God for
punishment or purging,
for torture or trying,
for cruelty or for correction?

In fact, we might even consider the fire of God to “simply be” and it’s our condition – and our saved or unsaved relation to it – that determines whether we will be able to bask in it or be purged by it.

Then we also gain insight into the Lake of Fire (where brimstone is spoken of existing) by asking where the Lake of Fire is actually located?

Revelation 14:9 “and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:”

From this we can clearly see that those tormented in fire and brimstone are “in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb!”

The suffering or purging is being done IN THEIR PRESENCE!

I have been taught from almost every faction of modern Christianity that the Lake of Fire is God a place God uses for torturing evil men and that it is in a place below the earth.

Apparently not.
It’s in His presence.

Well, we might still maintain, those within the fire are tormented so we know it is a bad situation no matter where it is, right?

Let’s take a look at that word “tormented” in Revelation 14:10 – at the passage that says

“they will be tormented by fire and brimstone in the Holy Angels and Lambs presence.”

Ready for this?

The word translated “tormented” in Strongs, Vines, and Thayer’s Concordance is “basinidzo.”

It comes from the Greek word that literally means “to put to the test by rubbing on the touchstone.”

Touchstones are pieces of rock or flint that are used to grind off elements or particles in the processing of alloys or other metals.

From this definition we can see that what the King James says is “the torturous exposure to fire and brimstone in the Lake” does not seem to be one of a mindless, endless torture (for the sake of cruelty) but one of refining, purging, rubbing off the rough edges, so to speak.

Listen – those who are saved by grace through faith on Him here have been saved from what has to be this difficult spiritual refining that occurs in the presence of the Lamb and His holy angels.

I find this interesting because in it we discover real meaning – loving meaning – in what Jesus said to the Pharisess in Matthew 21:45.

“whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”

In large part the Nation of Israel refused to fall upon Him (the Rock or touch stone) and to humbly receive Him when He came to them. And He not only gave Himself but twelve witnesses and forty years for them to turn.

Those who did not received the other option – He fell on them and ground them to powder.

I would suggest, in light of the meaning brimstone and torments found in Revelation 14, and the fact that those in the Lake of Fire will be subject to such in the presence of the Holy Angels and the Lamb that again, when it comes to people being saved today we are talking about being saved from AFTERLIFE spiritually refinement – the arduous grinding down of the “will of the willful” – a grinding that, producing friction, simultaneously produces what is emblematic of heat.

I have no idea what this looks like or feels like but it appears it is something nobody wants to experience.

I am further convinced that every single person’s “afterlife proximity” to the throne or presence of God will be directly tied to the resurrected body they receive at death, judgment and spiritual resurrection; meaning those who are His by faith will receive bodies fitted to thrive in the fire, light and love of God and those who rejected Him will be fitted with resurrected bodies that are unable – to some extent or another – to dwell in His immediate presence.

This is what caused Paul to say that he sought “by any means” to attain the resurrection that was Christ’s.

Think about this – this is what all people seek – to experience the resurrection Christ experienced. Why? Because His resurrected body was allowed at the very right hand of God!

We know from Jesus own mouth in John 5:29 that there are different resurrections.

Remember what He said?

“And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

But again, the King James does us an injustice because the Greek word translated damnation there is not damnation but is judgement – there are those who will be resurrected to the life and the living (those who are saved – saved from what? Judgment) and those who are resurrected to (that’s right) judgment.

Where there is judgement there are losses. Jesus had nothing lost in His resurrection. His was the perfect resurrection to life. This was the resurrection Paul sought “by any means to attain.”

So when Peter speaks of being saved or salvation here in Acts I am convinced that the application to us is entirely spiritual – and in that sense, eternal.

That we are either saved from judgment or we are judged and suffer losses – some apparently extreme and apparently related to our ability to dwell in the presence of God.

So Peter has said to THEM there –

“Neither is there salvation (so-tay-reah) in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (sode-zo).”

The other element of salvation that was available to both the Jews of that day, and all people to day from that point forward, is the deliverance of the human soul (our mind, will and emotions) from the bondage of sin.

This is the type presented by Moses leading the Children of Israel out from bondage to Egypt, which is often a type or picture of sin in scripture.

The Nation was in literal physical bondage to the Egyptians but were lead to freedom by Moses and ultimately into the promised land by Joshua.

In this sense we can see that believers then and today are also saved –

We are first saved from afterlife purging (which those who are not prepared to exist in the light are lacking) and we are also saved “to peace and liberation from sin that once held us captive” – a liberation that can begin here and now.

We might even go so far as to say it this way – “Everyone must pass through the purging fire – those who do it here by submitting to the Spirit over the flesh – and/or those who have it happen to them there.

In other words it appears from scripture that all who have been saved from after-life purging and to life eternal have also been equipped to overcome the chains of sin that once held us bound.

Matthew 1:21 speaking of the promised Messiah in Mary said:

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Every single translation I consulted – which is a rarity – retained this language – “for He shall save His people FROM their sins.”

Not just while we are in them but from them – not one bit different than how Moses saved the Children of Israel from bondage to Egypt.

For some the emancipation is immediate – I’ve heard the stories. For others, as the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, the freedom can take some time.

But the promise is there – and salvation “from sin” is another result of placing faith on the Messiah, being born from above, and having God dwell within.

And as Peter said,

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

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