Acts 4:10 says that a man stands healthy before the council because of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the same Jesus they had crucified and whom God raised from the dead. Peter is making a bold public claim: the healing was not his own doing, but the work of the risen Jesus. Peter speaks this to the rulers, elders and scribes of Jerusalem, with the crowd of Israel listening as well.
Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole.
Acts 4:10 (WEB)
What Acts 4:10 Means
Peter opens by saying “be it known to you all,” which tells the council he is about to state something plainly and that they cannot claim ignorance of it. He then names the source of the healing: “the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” In the Bible a name stands for the person’s authority and character, so to act “in the name” of someone is to act with their power and by their authority. Peter is saying the man is well because Jesus is still at work.
The verse then places the accusation and the vindication side by side. The council had handed Jesus over to be crucified, and God answered by raising him from the dead. Peter uses that contrast to show that the same Jesus they rejected has been vindicated. The verse does not promise that every sick person will be healed when someone prays in Jesus’ name, and it does not offer a formula for healing. It makes one claim about one healing and about the authority of the risen Jesus.
The Context of Acts 4:10
Acts was written by Luke, the same author who wrote the Gospel of Luke, and it follows the spread of the church from Jerusalem outward. Luke’s first readers were most likely Gentile Christians who wanted to understand how the good news moved from Jesus to the apostles and beyond. Chapter 4 describes Peter and John arrested after healing a lame man at the temple gate, then brought before the same council that had condemned Jesus.
Just before verse 10, the council asks by what power or name the apostles have done this. Verse 8 tells us Peter speaks “filled with the Holy Spirit,” so his answer is not mere courage but a Spirit-given witness. Verses 11 and 12 follow immediately with the image of the rejected stone that becomes the cornerstone and the claim that salvation is found in no other name. Read with those lines, verse 10 is one step in a clear argument that Jesus is the one the builders rejected and God exalted.
Key Phrases in Acts 4:10
Acts 4:12
There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”
(WEB)
This verse comes just after Peter’s statement and states the conclusion he draws from it, that salvation is found in no other name. Reading the two together shows that the healing in verse 10 is a sign pointing to a larger claim about who Jesus is and what he has done.
Acts 3:16
By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
(WEB)
In this earlier verse Peter gives the same explanation for the lame man’s healing, attributing it to faith in the name of Jesus. It shows that Peter’s message in chapter 4 is a continuation of what he preached at the temple the day before.
