And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. (Acts 3:16)

The Name appears in four associations in the sermon of Peter.

First, there is the phrase “faith in his name.” (Acts 3:16.) Here “the Name” is the object of trust and devotion. Indeed, the occasion of the whole sermon in Acts 3 is to announce that it is faith in the Name which has brought healing.

Second, the Name is associated with healing. (Acts 3:16; 4:10.) As in Acts 2 the power of the Spirit is said to be manifested by speaking with tongues and prophecy, so in Acts 3 the power of the Name is manifested by active deeds. It was not any power of the disciples which healed the lame man. It was the power of Jesus’ name. The idea of healing through a name seems curious and magical in the twentieth century. It is true to the thought of the first. When Jesus’ disciples protested that one not of their number was casting out devils in Jesus’ name there is no surprise that the use of this name was effective. The only objection was to its unauthorized use. (Mark 9:38.) A second-century synagogue ruling forbade the use of the name of Jesus to cast out devils or to heal. “It was effective, but it was wrong.” Jesus was still for the early church the Great Physician.

A third association of “the Name” is with baptism. (Acts 2:38.) Here again one feels Luke’s accuracy as a historian. Clearly, baptism was the custom of the Christian church from the beginning. John 4:1-2 even states that the custom began before Jesus’ death. Certainly it would appear that Paul was baptized, probably as early as A.D. 33. (1 Corinthians 12:13; compare Acts 9:18.) His Epistles presuppose the practice as universal in the church and associate baptism with the name of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 12:13; 1:13; 6:11.)

Fourth, the Name is associated with forgiveness and salvation. Baptism in the name of Jesus is the sign of this forgiveness. “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12.)

(William M. Ramsay, The Christ of the Earliest Christians, Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1959, 92-93; Excerpt from Chapter 7, Jesus, A Living and Present Power)