JANUARY 25, 2024
“This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12)
From this passage, we learn that God will overrule the devices and plans of wicked men to accomplish His purposes. What people despise and put little stock in, He deems extremely valuable in His kingdom. God regards what great and mighty men condemn as the foundation and cornerstone of the things He designs. Nothing is more remarkable than that; nothing is more contempt thrown on people’s pride. What they have rejected, God has made the very basis of His schemes, as the cornerstone was the most crucial part of building the house.
The word “salvation” properly denotes any “preservation,” or keeping anything in a “safe” state; a preserving from harm. It also signifies deliverance from the evil of pain, sickness, danger, etc. But it is applied, in the New Testament particularly, to the work which the Messiah came to do, “to seek and to save that which was lost.” This work refers primarily to the deliverance of the soul from sin.
This salvation is entrusted to the hands of Jesus the Messiah only, for there is no other name. There is no other being or person capable of providing this salvation; that is to say, there is no one who can save but Jesus Christ. There is no other Savior or Mediator between God and man. This truth is abundantly taught in the New Testament and is the main design of Biblical revelation.
This “salvation” originates from the fact that God must give a Savior for the people and that any power among people cannot initiate salvation. The Lord Jesus is thus uniformly represented as given or appointed by God for this great purpose, and therefore, Christ is called the “unspeakable gift” of God.
There is no other way of salvation; therefore, if saved, it must be in this way and by this plan. The doctrine that people can be saved only by Jesus Christ is abundantly taught in the Scriptures. To show the failure of all other schemes of religion was the grand design of the first part of the Epistle to the Romans. If the schemes of men failed, as Paul shows, then there was a need for some other plan, and that plan was Jesus Christ.
A cornerstone (also called a foundation stone or a setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of any foundation. All other stones will be set about this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. By referring to Christ’s life and work as the “cornerstone,” Paul says that is the most crucial part. We can then determine the importance and truth of all else in reference to it.
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