What is the meaning of Acts 4:11? This Jesus Peter has just declared that the man crippled from birth now walks “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4:10). By saying “This Jesus,” he nails down the identity of the One at the center of everything happening in Jerusalem: • Not one of many options, but the very Person the leaders had recently condemned (Acts 2:36). • Alive and acting in power, as the risen Lord promised (John 14:18-19). • The only Savior, “for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The statement rests on the literal, historical reality of Christ’s death and resurrection. is the stone Peter reaches back to Scripture to show that Jesus fulfills prophecy. The “stone” image pulses through the Old Testament: • “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’” (Psalm 118:22). • “Behold, I lay in Zion a precious cornerstone” (Isaiah 28:16). • Jesus applied these texts to Himself in the temple courts (Matthew 21:42). By calling Jesus “the stone,” Peter affirms that every promise and pattern of redemption in God’s Word converges on Him. you builders rejected The leaders standing before Peter were the “builders” responsible for guiding God’s people, yet they had cast Jesus aside: • “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). • Jesus foretold that “the Son of Man must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes” (Mark 8:31). Their rejection was not a surprise to God; it was foreseen and folded into His plan. Still, the phrase confronts each listener—and every reader today—with the sobering reality that we either receive or reject the Son. which has become the cornerstone God overturned human rejection by exalting Jesus: • “God has made Him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). • “Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). • “The stone...a chosen and precious cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6-7). Bullet-point implications: - The cornerstone sets the lines, angles, and strength for the whole structure. Jesus defines truth and life. - Remove a cornerstone and the building collapses; remove Christ and salvation collapses (1 Corinthians 3:11). - Because His place is secure, so is the church that rests on Him (Matthew 16:18). summary Acts 4:11 announces that the very Jesus whom the rulers crucified is the prophesied Stone—rejected by human builders yet installed by God as the indispensable Cornerstone. His resurrection validates every promise, His position guarantees the church’s stability, and His name alone secures salvation for all who believe. |
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