And Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, [which is] the ninth [hour];
Thousands of Jews in Jerusalem had just come to faith in Christ. Now the story narrows to two of the apostles walking up to the temple at a set hour — and the question is why they were still going there at all.
Peter and John were at the front of the new work. Yet they still walked the old road to the temple. One writer sees God's patience toward Israel in that:
God is showing His long-suffering grace toward Israel, though He has begun a completely separate testimony and work in the gospel and in the church. Peter and John were second to none in the new position and testimony. Yet we see them going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth. For the time at any rate they seem the better Jews for being so blessed as Christians. Neither their standing as apostles nor the power they had just received detached them.
That was true of the whole church at first, not just of these two men:
For years all the believers were Jews. There was a great Jewish-Christian assembly in Jerusalem and many more throughout Judea. The book of Acts tells us that many thousands of Jews believed, but they were also zealous for the law. They still used the temple worship and went there at the usual hours of prayer.
The hour itself carries meaning:
The ninth hour is 3 p.m. At that moment the priests offered the evening sacrifice in the temple court, and burnt the incense at the golden altar inside the house. Both sacrifice and incense, when first appointed by God, spoke to His heart of the Christ who should come. By the day of Acts 3 these things had become meaningless. Christ had accomplished it all, and He had now gone up on high... The hour of the evening sacrifice was the time of the Saviour's death. It is striking indeed that the lame man was blessed just then. Surely this fact whispers to us that every blessing for man rests on His atonement.
That same hour had a history of God stepping in. One writer traces it back through Scripture:
At that hour Elijah was far from God's altar at Jerusalem. He had repaired the altar of the Lord on Mount Carmel. He laid the bull on it for the sacrifice and asked the Lord to burn it up with fire from heaven. As the incense, we may believe, was perfuming the holy place at Jerusalem, God answered His servant at Carmel by sending the fire from above, the sign that He was the true God (1 Kings 18:38). Centuries later, at that same hour, Daniel was praying as a captive in Babylon. Gabriel touched him and announced the welcome news that God had heard his prayer... At that same hour the Lord cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Shortly afterwards He died. Now, at that same hour of the day, Peter and John, entering the temple, were to witness for the crucified One.
Luke names two men, not one. They had a long history together:
Peter and John were clearly close friends, and the Gospels link them together again and again. They went up at the ninth hour of the day to pray. They had been business partners in earlier days, catching fish together on the Sea of Galilee. Now they were partners in a new business, and they went out together to catch not fish, but men.
Two together also served a purpose. Another writer points to the rule about witnesses:
They were working together, because Scripture requires two or three witnesses to establish a matter (Deut. 19:15). It is good for two to work together, and John and Peter were working together there.
Peter and John were going to pray at a set time. One writer draws a lesson from that for today:
In the early days the Christian life was still bound up with Jewish customs, in a way that is no longer the case today. Even so, one practical point still applies: they had set times for prayer. Praying as needs arise is good. But that is no reason to drop fixed times of day set apart for prayer.
- Patience. Peter and John still went up to the temple. God was showing His long-suffering grace to Israel, even after He had begun a new work.
- Transition. The first believers were Jews who kept the temple's usual hours of prayer. That stage passed; it is not a pattern to copy.
- Timing. The ninth hour, three in the afternoon, was the hour of the evening sacrifice — the hour of Elijah's fire, Daniel's answer, and the Saviour's death.
- Foundation. That the lame man was blessed at that exact hour points to atonement as the ground of all blessing for man.
- Company. Two old fishing partners now fish for people, and two witnesses establish a matter.
and a certain man who was lame from his mother's womb was being carried, whom they placed every day at the gate of the temple called Beautiful, to ask alms of those who were going into the temple;
Peter and John are going up into the temple. The first thing Luke shows us is not the crowd inside, but one man carried to the doorway and set down. The whole verse turns on a contrast: a gate called Beautiful, and a beggar who has never walked through it.
The name was no exaggeration.
Josephus says there were nine gates overlaid with silver and gold. But one gate outside the temple, made of Corinthian brass, far exceeded those of gold and silver. (Wars v. 5, 3) This is thought to be the gate called Beautiful in the verse above.
He is set at the gate, not inside it. Commentators stress where he lay, because that is where the blessing found him too.
There was a man, lame from his mother's womb. Every day they carried him and laid him down — not inside, but at the gate of the temple. There he begged from those who entered for prayer or worship. He asked alms of Peter and John, who were, like many others, about to go into the temple... The man, I say again, is outside the temple, and it was there — outside — that he received the blessing.
Commentators read the scene as a picture of Israel. The nation stood near God's house, praised the way in, and never went through.
He must remind us of the equally helpless man at the pool of Bethesda, on whom the Lord Himself works a like miracle of healing. And as in that case, we cannot help seeing here the condition of the nation: helpless at a door which helplessness could not enter. God's dwelling place was powerless to bless, however near it stood, and however beautiful the approach to it might be. Indeed it was now empty — only a decent formalism. They praised the gate, but no one really entered by it into the presence of God, however great the crowd of worshippers.
The words "lame from birth" are the point, not a background detail.
For fifteen centuries Israel had lived as close as possible to God's house, but no one had ever gone beyond its gate... Why? Because of the ground on which they stood with God — that of law. At Sinai and afterwards, Israel promised to keep all God's holy requirements. Their terrible failures only proved that man is lame from his mother's womb — lame in spirit, as the cripple of our chapter was lame in body. It is a great lesson to learn our lameness — our utter inability to do anything for God. Grace alone suits lame ones.
He had lain at that gate for years, and nothing had changed. Commentators do not call that an oversight. They call it timing.
He lived, it seems, on the charity of the public, given to him as they entered the temple. He was forty years old now, and every day they carried him and laid him down at that gate. Had he ever seen the Lord passing in or out? Certainly, if he had, no healing power had reached him. Not every cripple, not every sick person, received benefit from Him... Now, however, God's appointed hour had come for this one to be made whole.
The verb Luke uses here is the language of a beggar, not of an equal making a request.
Both aiteo and erotao are translated "to ask," and in many passages rightly. But some passages lose much of their force, because the translation does not keep a very real distinction between them. aiteo is the word of pleading, as of an inferior to a superior — of a beggar asking alms, Acts 3:2; of a child asking from his parents (Matt. 7:9).
He came for coins from people going in. What arrived was the strength to go in himself.
The book of Acts gives us, we cannot doubt, many types and illustrations of grace. We mention only the healing of the helpless man at the Beautiful Gate. He lay so near all the grandeur of the ritual of the law, and it had never given him power to do anything but beg. Set free by grace, he now enters into those splendours and rejoices in his new freedom. It no doubt gives a new light to all the splendour of the temple.
- Beautiful. The costliest gate of the temple was brass that outshone gold and silver. It had never once carried this man through.
- Outside. They laid him at the gate, never inside it. Outside is where the blessing reached him.
- Lame from birth. His trouble dated from the womb. It pictures a nation that lived near God's house for fifteen centuries and never got in, because it stood on the ground of law.
- Begging. Luke's word for "ask" is a beggar's word: an inferior asking a superior.
- Grace. Grace alone suits lame ones. Grace set the beggar free, and he walked through the gate he had only sat beside.
who, seeing Peter and John about to enter into the temple, asked to receive alms.
It is an ordinary afternoon at the temple. Two apostles are walking in to pray, and a man lies at the gate where people have carried him every day of his adult life. He sees them and asks for the only thing he has ever asked anyone for — and commentators point out that his ask was far smaller than his need.
His daily place was the gate, never the inside. One writer sees in that detail a picture of the whole nation — a fine entrance to a house that could do nothing for the helpless.
He reminds us of another helpless man, the one lying by the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, whom the Lord Himself healed in the same way. And as in that case, we see here the condition of the nation. It stood helpless at a door no helpless person could enter. God's dwelling place was near, and the way up to it was beautiful. But it had no power to bless. By now it was empty — only a respectable form.
Another writer notes that the healing happened outside the temple, not inside it:
Note it again: the man is outside the temple, and it was there — outside — that he received the blessing. God had just formed His new house, and now the Holy Spirit shows that the blessing lies outside the old house and belongs to the new.
He asked out of habit. He wanted money, and nothing here suggests he hoped for anything else. One commentator also asks a question about the years before this day.
He was now forty years old, and every day people carried him and laid him down at that gate. Had he ever seen the Lord passing in or out? If he had, the Lord did not heal him then. Not every disabled or sick person received help from Him... But now God's set time had come for this man to be made whole. When he saw Peter and John, he asked them for money. That was what he always asked for. It was all he asked, and clearly all he expected.
He aimed low. What he received went far past what he asked for.
At the Beautiful Gate, as they were about to enter the temple, a man lame from birth asked them for money and got a far better blessing. People saw him often, because they laid him there day after day. Peter looked straight at him, with John beside him, and caught the attention of a man who expected some small gift. He may have been discouraged to hear "I have no silver and gold," but then he hears of something better.
Why this man, and why in public? Because everyone who used that gate knew his history.
The next chapter tells us that this man was forty years old... Everyone knew him. He was no longer a child, and no one could do anything for his condition. Now the power of the name of Jesus reaches him. He was forty years old and well known, so no one could deny that he had been healed. God was about to work a remarkable miracle, and He makes sure it is well attested. The poor lame beggar pictures a sinner who has nothing if he does not have Christ.
The two men he asked had no money to give him. Writers have made that fact a test for the church itself.
There is a well-known story about a Pope in the Middle Ages who showed the theologian Thomas Aquinas the splendour of the Vatican, with its huge displays of gold, silver and precious stones. The Pope smiled and said, "You see, Thomas, the Church can no longer say what it said in early days, 'I have no silver and gold.'" The reply came straight back: "No, and it cannot say either, 'Rise up and walk.'" A worldly Church has lost its spiritual power.
The healing was not an isolated kindness. It was addressed to a nation that had just crucified its Messiah.
The sign was well suited to wake the Jews up. It showed the grace of God towards people who had no strength at all. It displayed the power of the risen and glorified Messiah. And it did so all the more because the Messiah was not there in person. This was His answer from heaven to His servant on earth, who had called on the power of His name. If the name of Jesus had that instant power for the lame man, what would follow if Israel believed in that name?
- Need — the man sat at a beautiful entrance he could never walk through. Commentators see in him a whole nation, helpless at a door no helpless person could enter.
- Ask — he asked for money, because that was all he had ever asked for and all he expected. His aim was low. His need was total.
- Timing — for years people may have carried him past the Lord Himself without his being healed. God set the hour for his healing, not the beggar.
- Gift — he asked for money and got a better blessing. Grace answers the deeper need, not the one we name.
- Witness — lame for forty years and known to everyone at that gate, he became a miracle no one could deny. He is also a question to any church rich in silver but unable to say "rise up and walk."
And Peter, looking stedfastly upon him with John, said, Look on us.
Peter and John are heading into the temple when a man who has never walked asks them for money. Instead of dropping a coin, Peter fixes his eyes on the man and tells him to look — but at what?
Peter does not just answer the beggar. He takes hold of the man's attention before he gives him anything.
There at the Beautiful gate, as they were about to enter the temple, a man lame from birth asked them for money. People often saw him there, because others laid him at that gate every day. He got a better blessing. Peter, gazing at him along with John, caught the attention of a man who expected some small handout.
The man asked for far less than he received. He had settled into a routine that asked for very little.
He lived, it seems, on the charity of the public, given to him as they entered the sacred grounds. He was forty years old now. Every day others carried him and laid him down at that gate. Seeing Peter and John, he asked for money. That was what he always asked for. It was all he asked, and all he seemed to expect. He wanted a little temporary relief. He was, however, going to get healing.
The command to look lifted his hopes. The next words Peter spoke would have crushed them.
I have no doubt his heart beat fast as he heard Peter's words. No doubt he thought he would receive something from them, and he did not know what that something was. He was like many people today, looking around for money... His heart must have sunk when he heard the words, "I have no silver and gold." He thought — they are two poor men, just like me.
Peter draws the man's whole attention to himself. But he is not the one the man needs to see.
So many glories centre in that Name. The poor lame beggar proved its power, and Peter knew something of its worth. Peter, with John, said at first, "Look at us." He said it only to turn the man's attention to another. Peter was well aware of his own poverty, and he had no doubt of the riches of his Lord when he said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"
Once the man is walking, the crowd turns to stare at the apostles. Peter meets that moment with nothing of his own.
Here we find the reality of the power, and the people come crowding around Peter as if he were a wonderful man. This is the moment of danger for Peter; but how does he meet it? How does it find him? It finds him dependent, it finds him emptied of self... It has to do with us only in this way: we are vessels in His hand, empty enough of self for Him to use us. We are vessels in His hand, willing to be nothing — like a spade, a tool in the hand of the One who uses it.
Where the man lay matters. Others laid him at the temple gate, in the place of blessing, and it had done nothing for him in forty years.
There is another who is brought there — a lame, helpless creature. He had never walked. He is laid there, in his helplessness, in the place of blessing, but it was powerless to help him. No blessing comes from that place... It is the beautiful temple that Solomon built. It is the beautiful gate of that temple. Even so, it is only a desert place now. The blessing must come to him from somewhere else. These two men come up to the temple to express their dependence on God, and the poor helpless man looks at them, hoping to receive something from them.
- Look — commanded. Peter fixes his eyes on the man and cuts across his begging. He catches the attention of someone who expected only a small handout.
- Look — aimed low. He begged at that gate every day. A little temporary relief was all he asked and all he expected. He was about to get healing instead.
- Look — redirected. Peter said "Look at us" only to turn the man's attention to another. He knew his own poverty and his Lord's riches.
- Look — refused. Later the crowd stared at Peter. It found him emptied of self — a vessel willing to be nothing, like a spade in the hand of the One who uses it.
- Look — elsewhere. He lay at the temple gate called Beautiful, and it could not help him. The blessing had to come from somewhere else.
And he gave heed to them, expecting to receive something from them.
The lame man does what Peter asks and fixes his eyes on the two men. But what he is watching for and what he is about to receive are two different things. That gap is where the whole story turns.
His request was not unusual, and neither was his hope. Others carried him to that gate day after day. A coin was all he thought the day could hold.
He lived, it seems, on the charity of the public, given to him as they went into the sacred grounds. He was forty years old now, and every day they carried him and laid him down at that gate. Had he ever seen the Lord passing in or out? Certainly, if he had, healing power had not been used for him. Not every disabled or sick person received help from Him. Now, however, the hour in God's plan had come for this one to be made whole. Seeing Peter and John, he asked for money. It was his usual request. It was all he asked, and clearly all he expected. He longed for a little temporary relief. He was, however, going to get healing.
Where they laid him matters. He sat at the finest entrance to God's house, and it did him no good at all — a picture, one writer notes, of the nation itself.
He cannot help but remind us of the equally helpless man at the pool of Bethesda. The Lord Himself works a similar miracle of healing on him. And as in that case, we cannot help seeing here the condition of the nation: helpless at a door that helplessness could not enter. God's dwelling place was powerless to bless, however near it stood, and however beautiful the approach to it might be. In fact it was empty now — only a religion that looked correct on the outside. They praised the gate. Yet no one really entered by it into the presence of God, however large the crowd of worshippers might be.
Peter tells the man to look at them, and the man does. But the direction of that gaze is not the destination.
While Peter, along with John, had said at the start, "Look at us," it was only to move his attention on to another. Peter was well aware of his own poverty. He had no doubt about the riches of his Lord when he said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" The people were amazed at the miracle. So he is quick to deny himself before them. He says the opposite of what he said to the lame man: "Why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?"
Watch what happens inside the man. He does what Peter asks, and his hopes rise. Then Peter's first words seem to take everything away.
I have no doubt his heart beat faster as he heard Peter's words. No doubt he thought he would receive something from them, and he did not know what that something was... How his heart must have sunk as he heard the words, "I have no silver and gold," and thought — they are two poor men, just like me.
The same writer calls the lame beggar a picture of a sinner who has nothing if he does not have Christ.
His posture at that gate is not only history. It is a picture of how the human heart lives.
The human heart is very much like the poor lame man at the temple gate in Acts 3. He was looking at every passer-by "expecting to receive something." And the heart will always be watching for some relief, some comfort or some enjoyment in passing circumstances.
Mackintosh pictures that heart sitting beside some earthly stream, waiting in vain for refreshment to flow down its channel.
- Expected. A coin was his whole horizon — all he asked, and all he expected. But God's hour to heal him had come.
- Attention. "Look at us" was a hand-off, not a destination. Peter caught the man's eye only to pass it on to Another. Later he refused the crowd's stare outright.
- Poverty. Peter's opening words sound like the end of hope: two poor men, no money. That is where the greater gift begins.
- Place. He sat at a beautiful gate that helplessness could not enter. Nearness to God's house blessed no one. The blessing had to come from outside it.
- Pattern. The heart still sits at that gate, expecting something from every passer-by. Anything will raise its hopes when Christ is not its centre.
But Peter said, Silver and gold I have not; but what I have, this give I to thee In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean rise up and walk.
Peter and John are on their way into the temple when a beggar asks them for money, and Peter answers by naming what he lacks before he gives what he has. One question hangs over his answer: what power stood behind those words?
Men carried this beggar to the same gate every day, and he had never been healed there.
He was forty years old now, and every day men carried him and laid him down at that gate. Had he ever seen the Lord passing in or out? Even if he had, no healing power had been used for him... But now, in God's own plan, the hour had come for this man to be made whole. Seeing Peter and John, he asked for money. That was what he always asked. It was all he asked, and clearly all he expected. He wanted a little relief for the moment. What he was going to get was healing.
The first half of Peter's sentence would have crushed him. A man begging for coins hears that these two have none.
I have no doubt his heart beat fast as he heard Peter's words. He surely thought he would get something from them, and he did not know what that something was. He was like many people today who are hunting for money. Look what the Lord gives him... How his heart must have sunk as he heard the words, "I have no silver and gold," and thought — they are two poor men, just like me.
Peter had no money to give. The power he did have reached further than money could.
The Lord Jesus had not healed this man while He was here on earth, though He so often taught in the temple. But the power of His Name healed him, now that He was glorified in heaven. Peter had neither silver nor gold, but he could wield the power of the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The man was healed at once, in the most triumphant way. Today many earnest Christians care mostly about collecting the silver and gold to support the Lord's work, while the power of the Name lies largely unused. This is to our shame.
Peter does not say he has nothing. He has something, and he knows it.
Holding the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth here on earth brings glory to God. It also sets the world on fire against the poor vessel who carries it, the honoured vessel. There was no poverty there. There is poverty in the silver and the gold; but there is no poverty in the name of Jesus. There is rejoicing, blessing, light, in the possession of that name.
Peter could have used any title. He chose the one men said with contempt, and that despised name now works from heaven.
So, in the next chapter, Peter speaks of Jesus of Nazareth — the name that carried every slight and scorn among men — now glorified on high, and it is by Him that Peter acts. Faith in that name heals the lame beggar at the Beautiful gate of the temple. Then the apostle declares that heaven had received this same Jesus, and would keep Him, until the time when His restored presence would bring refreshing and restoration with it.
Put Peter's words next to the way Jesus Himself healed. One difference stands out.
He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out" (John 11:43), and death itself gave up its prey. Yet when Peter healed the lame man, he used the words, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." He explained that "His name, by faith in His name, has made this man strong." And he denied that the miracle was done by any power or holiness of his own. The Lord uses no name but His own.
The healing happened in public, and it spoke to more than one man.
It was a sign well suited to wake up the Jews. It attested the grace of God toward their utter weakness, and it showed the power of the risen and glorified Messiah. It showed it all the more because this was not His presence on earth. It was His answer from on high, when His servant on earth appealed to the power of His name. If the name of Jesus had such instant power for the lame man, what would not follow if Israel believed in that name?
- Asked less. The man wanted coins and expected nothing more. He got healing he never asked for.
- Had none. Peter says straight out that he has no silver and gold. The lack stops nothing.
- Had this. He had something better and knew it. There is poverty in silver and gold; there is none in the name of Jesus.
- Named Him. Peter used the despised name, "of Nazareth" — now glorified in heaven and answering from there.
- Gave Him credit. Peter denied that his own power or holiness did it. The Lord never had to say that.
And having taken hold of him [by] the right hand he raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones were made strong.
A beggar who had never once stood asks for coins, and instead a hand closes around his and pulls him upright. The verse turns on that moment. What passed into those useless feet, and whose power was it?
Peter did not stop at words. He reached down, and it all happened in full view.
The apostle grasped his right hand at once and raised him up. Immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. He leaped up, stood, walked, and went into the temple with them, praising God. It was not done in a corner.
The detail about feet and ankles is not decoration. Those joints had carried nothing for forty years, and the cure was total from the first second.
Lame from his mother's womb, he had never walked. His feet and ankle bones had never borne the weight of his body. Walk! How could he? Peter showed him that his words were no empty words. He took him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once the man received strength he had never known. He leaped up as quickly as someone who had always had the use of his limbs. These limbs had been powerless for forty years, and now they carried his full weight. He stood… He did not even need an arm to lean on, and no crutch either.
A hand lifted him, but no hand healed him. The timing matters: this cure came from a Christ now glorified in heaven.
The Lord Jesus did not heal this man during His days on earth, though He so often taught in the temple. The power of His Name healed him now that He is glorified in heaven. Peter had neither silver nor gold, but he could wield the power of the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and the man was healed at once, in the most triumphant way. Today many earnest Christian people care mostly about collecting silver and gold to support the Lord's work, while the power of the Name lies largely unused.
The crowd gathered round Peter as if he were the wonder. He turned their praise away, and said why.
This is the moment of danger for Peter. How does he meet it? It finds him dependent. It finds him empty of self. So he says, "What are you looking at us for? Do you think it is our own power or holiness that made this man walk?"… It is not our own power. It has nothing to do with our holiness. It has to do with us only in this way: we are vessels in His hand, empty enough of self for Him to use us. We are willing to be nothing, like a spade in the hand of the one who uses it.
One writer reads the man's lifelong condition as a mirror — first of Israel, then of everyone.
For fifteen centuries Israel lived as close as possible to God's house, but no one ever went beyond its gate… Their terrible failures proved one thing. The cripple of our chapter was lame in body from birth, and man is just as lame in spirit. It is a great lesson to learn our lameness — our utter inability to do anything for God. Grace alone suits lame ones. Anyone who gives up all claim to goodness of his own and trusts in the name of the Crucified finds salvation in that name. It is as certain as the healing the cripple of our chapter received.
The order in the verse matters. He does not gather himself and rise. Peter's hand lifts him, and only then does he move on his own.
First lifted, he then leaps up and stands, and now enters into the temple a true worshiper. What a simple and natural picture this is of someone set free from lifelong bondage. Every movement is a new joy to him, a leap of the heart to God.
The joy of it is the point, and it is the same joy the gospel brings.
The power of that Name thrills through him. He leaps up, stands, walks, and goes into the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. I understand his radiant joy. I can understand too the huge joy a sinner feels when the gospel meets him and he finds his sins forgiven… And if you were to be converted, my friend, all your friends would be amazed.
- Lame — He had never borne his own weight; the ankles named in the verse had carried nothing for forty years.
- Lifted — The strength was not summoned from inside him. A hand raised him, and only then did his own feet work.
- Named — The power belonged to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, now glorified in heaven. Peter had no silver, gold, or holiness of his own.
- Leaping — The cure was complete at once. No crutch, no arm to lean on. He walked straight into the temple, praising God.
- Ourselves — His lifelong lameness pictures our own inability before God. His cure shows what grace does for those who stop pretending they can walk.
And leaping up he stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
For years, people carried this man to the temple gate and left him there. Now he walks in on his own feet, and commentators ask what one name has done to him.
One writer weighs what this man had never done, and what he could do the moment Peter lifted him.
Lame from his mother's womb, he had never walked. His feet and ankle bones had never carried the weight of his body. Walk! How could he? Peter showed him that his words were not empty words. He took him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once he received strength such as he had never known. With the agility of someone who had always had the use of his limbs, he leaped up. Those limbs, powerless for forty years, now perfectly carried the weight of his body. He stood... He needed no arm to lean on. No crutch was called for. He did not move with any unsteady step... He held Peter and John, it is true, but not to support himself. He saw them as the men who had helped him, and so clung to them.
Peter's hand lifted him. What made him strong was a name.
But power had come into the world at last, wonder-working power, delivering power, and that power lay in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth. No better title could be given to the book of the Acts of the Apostles than "The Power of the Name." Peter and John knew its power and used it. The man leaped up out of his helplessness, his withered limbs thrilling with new life at the sound of that name, and with feet made strong he entered the temple with the apostles, "walking and leaping and praising God."
He had sat at the gate, never inside it. A writer follows the stages of his change, and names what he became once he was in.
First he is lifted; then he leaps up and stands, and now he enters the temple a true worshipper. What a simple and natural picture of someone released from a lifetime of bondage! Every movement is a new joy, a leap of the heart to God.
One commentator reads the beggar as the nation itself: beautiful religion, no strength to enter. Read that way, his leaping points forward.
The lame man, forty years old, at the gate called Beautiful is a picture of the moral condition of the nation, like the disabled man whom the Lord healed (John 5). Israel, with all its beautiful religious ceremonies, was helpless, lying outside with no strength to enter in... The miracle also showed that the promised kingdom was offered to the nation once more. Concerning that kingdom, when it comes, it is written that "then shall the lame man leap like a deer" (Isaiah 35:6). But the lame man, so wonderfully healed, leaping and praising God, is likewise a picture of what the nation will be in a future day. Then they will look on Him whom they have pierced.
One writer hears the same joy in a forgiven sinner, and puts a direct question to the reader.
The power of that Name thrills through him... I understand his radiant joy. And I can understand the immense joy a sinner feels when the gospel meets him and he finds his sins forgiven — washed away through his Saviour's blood... And if you were to be converted, my friend, all your friends would be amazed. If you appeared as a totally new man, would they not be thoroughly surprised? And what a testimony it would be to the power of Christ! I do not know anything more powerful, as a testimony to the grace of God, than the fervent, joyous life of a devoted Christian.
- Helpless. Lame from birth, he had never once carried his own weight — the cure had nothing in him to build on.
- Lifted. Peter's hand raised him. The strength came in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and one writer would title the whole book of Acts "The Power of the Name."
- Whole. No crutch, no supporting arm, no unsteady step — the restoration was instant and complete.
- Worshipping. He had lain outside the gate for years. Now he goes in as a worshipper, and every movement is a leap of the heart to God.
- Seen. The change was public. Writers read him as a picture of Israel's future joy, and as the pattern of a converted life that leaves friends amazed.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God;
The healing at the temple gate did not stay a private moment between two apostles and a beggar. Verse 9 turns to the crowd: everyone gathered for prayer sees a man they had walked past for years, now on his feet and praising God.
The setting itself ruled out any suspicion of a trick.
Notice, Peter had not called a healing meeting: it was a matter done personally outside, yet visible to all. The people too were well acquainted with the former condition of the man, so there could be no deception: they were filled with amazement.
Two things were on display at once — a body that worked and a heart that was glad. The crowd could measure both against everything they remembered of him.
It happened in broad daylight. The man who had been lame, and was well known to be lame, went in with the crowd. He showed everyone watching his new powers, for he walked; and he showed his joy, for he was praising God. He did hold on to Peter and John, but not to hold himself up. He thought of them as the men who had done him good, so he naturally stayed close to them.
The man was clinging to Peter and John, yet the verse says the crowd saw him praising God. That is where a work done in the name of Jesus always lands.
Look at the effect of that healing, how it brings glory to God. "All the people saw him walking and praising God." There was glory to God. Having the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth here on earth produces glory to God. It also sets the world ablaze against the poor vessel, the honoured vessel. There was no poverty there. There is poverty in silver and gold; but there is no poverty in the name of Jesus. There is rejoicing, blessing and light in having that name.
Christ was no longer walking the streets of Jerusalem. That absence is part of the point.
It was indeed a sign perfectly suited to wake up the Jews. It proved God's grace toward their complete weakness, and it displayed the power of the risen and glorified Messiah. It did so all the more because it was not His presence, but His answer from on high to the power of His name, called on by His servant on earth. If the name of Jesus had such instant effect for the lame man, what would not follow if Israel believed in that name?
Amazement is not the same as faith. This man's new strength turned at once into worship, and that had a message for the crowd.
First he is lifted; then he leaps up and stands; and now he enters the temple as a true worshipper. It is a simple, natural picture: released from a lifelong bondage, every movement is a new joy to him, a leap of the heart to God. The people recognise with amazement this change from helplessness to overflowing life. A sad reminder of the ruin they would rather believe they had escaped! It will be well if they let this preach to them their need of a Saviour, while they listen to the assurance that He has indeed come.
The leaping was the first burst; the walking was what everybody kept seeing. One writer sets this man beside another man healed at a pool called Bethesda.
It could be said of the man healed at the pool of Bethesda, as it was of this man in the temple courts, "All the people saw him walking and praising God." Both had been lifted up out of the mud, and the way they walked was a growing testimony to the name of the Lord Jesus.
The people who knew this man were stunned, and that has not changed.
And if you were to be converted, my friend, all your friends would be amazed. If you turned up as a completely new man, wouldn't they be thoroughly surprised? And what a testimony that would be to the power of Christ! I do not know anything more powerful, as a testimony to the grace of God, than the glad, wholehearted life of a devoted Christian.
- Seen — the cure happened outdoors, in daylight, with no meeting arranged and no chance of deception.
- Known — the crowd could name the man. He had begged at that gate for years, and now his joy was as visible as his steps.
- Praised — he held on to Peter and John, but the praise went to God. That is what the name of Jesus produces, and what turns the world against those who use it.
- Offered — the sign was Christ's answer from heaven to His own name. It proved God's grace toward Israel's weakness and invited them to believe.
- Repeated — the walk, not just the leap, is the lasting testimony. A changed life still amazes the people who knew you.
and they recognised him, that it was *he* who sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
The crowd at the temple knew this man's face. They had walked past him at the gate again and again. Verse 10 catches the moment recognition turned into shock, and that shock gave Peter his audience.
The setting made the healing impossible to explain away.
Notice, Peter had not called a healing meeting: it was a matter done personally outside, yet visible to all. The people too were well acquainted with the former condition of the man, so there could be no deception: they were filled with amazement.
The word behind "amazement" here is a strong one, used elsewhere in Scripture for states in which a person is lifted out of ordinary awareness altogether.
The word is ἔκστασις (ekstasis), "ecstasy." In it, so to speak, the mind is carried beyond the body. Mark 5:42 translates it "astonishment," and Acts 3:10 "amazement." It appears as "trance" when Peter had the vision of the sheet let down from heaven, and when Paul in the temple saw the Lord and heard Him speak to him. The Greek Old Testament uses the same word for the deep sleep of Adam and of Abram.
The verse names him by what he used to be: the man begging at the gate. That daily scene at the temple door exposed what the temple could not do.
One of the most familiar figures at the gate of the Temple was a helpless beggar. Priests and Levites passed him again and again and left him as they found him. Crowds of worshippers came to the morning and evening sacrifices, but none of them could raise him up. He was a standing witness that the Temple's ceremonies had no power to relieve human misery. His helpless state pictured the condition of Israel, and of all people. As the Scriptures say, they have no strength to give God what is His due, or to free themselves from the slavery sin has bound them in.
Commentators read the miracle as an argument aimed at the nation. What made it so pointed was that Christ was not physically present; the power came in response to His name spoken by a servant on earth.
It was a sign well suited to wake up the Jews. It bore witness to the grace of God toward their utter weakness. It showed the power of the risen and glorified Messiah. This was all the stronger because Christ was not there in person. It was His answer from heaven to the power of His name, called on by His servant on earth. If the name of Jesus had such instant power for the lame man, think what would follow if Israel believed in that name.
The crowd's amazement was real, but Peter treats it as a symptom, not a success. His first words to them ask why they are marvelling at all.
Peter noticed how the crowds were amazed, and he says to them, "Why do you wonder at this?" It was only what Christ was worthy of. Peter had this in his soul: My Master is worthy of anything, there is no limit to the power of His name. The people were amazed because they had no faith. Christians often marvel now when the Lord works with power, and the reason is the same: they have so little faith. They were looking at the instrument — a very foolish thing to do in divine things.
That misplaced gaze put the preachers themselves in real danger.
They all crowd round Peter, and they look at him. Here is a wonderful man… This is the moment of danger for Peter; but how does he meet it? It finds him dependent, it finds him self-emptied… It is not our own power. It is not about our holiness. Nothing of the kind. It has just to do with us in this way, that we are vessels in His hand, empty enough of self for Him to make use of us.
The same reaction still follows when someone becomes a different person.
And if you were to be converted, my friend, all your friends would be amazed. If you appeared as a totally new man, would they not be thoroughly surprised? And what a testimony it would be to the power of Christ! I do not know anything more powerful, as a testimony to the grace of God, than the fervent, joyful life of a devoted Christian.
- Helpless. The beggar at the gate showed that the temple's routines could not raise a single man who lay at its door.
- Named. What lifted him was not the power or holiness of the preachers. It was the name of the risen Christ, answering from heaven.
- Known. The whole city knew who he was, so no one could stage or deny the change.
- Amazed. Their wonder stopped the crowd. Yet it was wonder born of little faith, fixed on the instrument instead of Christ.
- Witness. A changed life is still one of the strongest witnesses to the grace of Christ.
And as he held Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico which is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
A crowd comes running, and the temple's covered walkway fills up. At the centre of it a man who had never walked before is holding on to Peter and John — and Peter is about to tell the crowd whose power healed him.
His grip was not the grip of a man still unsteady on his feet:
He needed no arm to lean on. He needed no crutch. He walked with no unsteady step. He had been carried to the Temple grounds, but he entered the Beautiful gate a healthy man, walking and leaping and praising God. This happened in broad daylight, in the most public place in the city, in front of a crowd who were about to pass through that gate to pray. The man everyone knew as the lame beggar walked in with them, showing all who saw him his new strength, for he walked, and his joy, for he was praising God. He held Peter and John, it is true, but not to support himself. He saw them as the men who had done him good, and so he clung to them.
What began as holding on became testimony:
Then you find that the man holds on to Peter and John. He knows where the power is, and I do not wonder at his keeping close to them. The next day, when they were arrested, this man went boldly into the council. He said nothing, yet he became a witness to the power of the Name of Jesus, because he was the one who had been healed.
The sign was aimed at the whole nation:
It was a sign perfectly fitted to wake the Jews up. It showed the grace of God toward their utter weakness. It showed the power of the risen and glorified Messiah. And it showed it all the more because Christ was not there in person. This was His answer from heaven to the power of His name, which His servant on earth had called on. If the name of Jesus had such instant power for the lame man, what would faith in that name not bring if Israel believed?
The porch had its own history, and crowds often gathered there:
This porch, or covered walkway, was said to be a piece of Solomon's own work that had survived destruction until then. The Lord was walking in this same porch when the Jews asked Him whether He was the Christ (John 10:23). People often gathered in this spot, and the Apostles were there again later on (Acts 5:12), before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, ordered them to be beaten.
Since He last walked there, Christ's place had changed:
And the porch that had seen the rejection of the grace of a humbled Christ now sees the grace of an exalted One. Ah! His place had changed and His circumstances had altered, but His heart remained the same. He had made the lame to walk when here on earth; He does the same for them now that He has gone to heaven!
The man's refusal to leave the apostles' side is what makes the preaching possible:
Because of his deformity the lame man had been under certain restrictions in the law. Now grace had removed his deformity, and with it the restriction, so he could enter the temple freely. And as he held on to the Apostles, no one could miss the men through whom his deliverance had come. This gave Peter the opportunity of testimony. He at once put himself and John out of the picture, so that the glorified Jesus might fill it.
The name behind the healing was the name they had rejected:
God was publicly honouring the name of the One they had murdered! God and man were openly at odds about Jesus. Nothing has changed to this hour. The world has not changed its mind about the Crucified One. If it had, it would stop being "the world." The world always despises and hates the One whom God loves and exalts.
- Cure. The healing happened in broad daylight, at a crowded temple gate. It was a sign to wake a nation up to what the name of the risen Christ can do for their weakness.
- Cling. The man held on to Peter and John out of gratitude, not for support. He knew where the power was.
- Crowd. His grip made the apostles impossible to overlook. The crowd that ran into Solomon's porch became the audience for Peter's sermon.
- Contrast. In that same porch people once rejected Christ's claim as He walked there in humility. Now the exalted Christ shows the same mercy from heaven.
- Christ. Peter stepped out of the picture so the glorified Jesus could fill it. God was honouring in public the name the people had condemned.
And Peter, seeing it, answered the people, Men of Israel, why are ye astonished at this? or why do ye gaze on us as if we had by our own power or piety made him to walk?
A crowd has just run together in Solomon's Porch, staring at the two men who had healed a beggar lame from birth. His first words do not explain the miracle. They turn the crowd's eyes away from him, and his question touches the place where people so often get stuck.
The healing had made Peter the centre of attention. That is the moment when a servant of God is most at risk. The verse shows how Peter met it.
Now look at the twelfth verse. There is the great point of it all, where people so often get stuck. They all crowd round Peter, and they look at him. Here is a wonderful man... This is the moment of danger for Peter; but how does he meet it? How does it find him? It finds him dependent, it finds him self-emptied... It is not our own power, it is not anything to do with our holiness, nothing of the kind. It has to do with us only in this way: we are vessels in His hand, empty enough of self for Him to use us. We are vessels in His hand, willing to be nothing — like a spade, an instrument in the hand of the One who uses it.
Only minutes earlier Peter had told the beggar to look at him and John. Now he says the opposite.
At the start Peter and John had said, "Look at us," but only to turn the man's attention to another. Peter knew his own poverty well, and he had no doubt of the riches of his Lord when he said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" The people were full of wonder at the miracle, and he is quick to deny himself.
The verse pairs power with "piety." Older translations say "holiness" here, but the Greek word behind it has a different sense.
The words eusebeia and eusebeo mean "to exercise piety, reverence." They point to a reverential sense of having to do with God. The creature should show it to the Creator, and it should mark the saints above all towards God their Father and towards the Lord Jesus... It is rendered "holiness" in Acts 3:12 and "worship" in Acts 17:23. In all other places it is "godliness." "Piety" is a better translation.
So Peter turns down both halves of the credit: the power and the devotion. One writer sets him beside Simon Magus, a magician who appears later in Acts.
They would take no credit for themselves. They would not let the people think, even for a moment, that they were something extraordinary. How different this was from Simon Magus, who used satanic power and made himself out to be someone great.
Peter's first question is not modesty alone. Given the name he had called on, a healing like this is no surprise.
Peter says to them, "Why do you wonder at this?" It was only what Christ was worthy of. Peter had this in his soul: My Master is worthy of anything, and there is no limit to the power of His name. The people wondered because they had no faith. Christians often wonder in the same way now, when the Lord works with power, and the reason is that they have so little faith. They were looking at the instrument — a very foolish thing to do in divine things.
With himself out of the picture, Peter points to the God of Israel's fathers. The title he gives Jesus here is worth noticing.
There was nothing unclear about this. And it all fits together. It is the God of our fathers who glorified the Messiah, His Servant Jesus. "Son" is not the thought here, but Jehovah's "Servant" as in Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 52, 53. The Jews had denied Him before the Roman judge, at the very time that judge was willing, and even determined, to let Him go.
What Peter refused in the porch is a standing rule for anyone God uses.
The truth, we judge, is this. The power that really does God's work comes from God and not from us. So the first thing that matters is that the work should plainly come by God's power and go to God's glory. Ability, gift and intelligence in the servant are good things, and we should not despise them. But if a servant with them is at all tempted to lean on them, or, worse still, to show them off, God will pass him by. He will use some foolish or unimportant instrument instead, to our astonishment.
- Danger — Public success is the servant's most dangerous moment. The crowd's stare found Peter already self-emptied and dependent.
- Denial — He turns down both halves of the credit: not his power, and not his piety. "Piety" reads that word better than "holiness."
- Direction — The man who had said "Look at us" now says the reverse. He moves every eye from the instrument to his Lord.
- Deficit — Their amazement exposed their unbelief. Nothing done in that name is more than Christ is worthy of.
- Displacement — Peter names the God of the fathers as the One who glorified His Servant Jesus. And God still passes by the servant who parades his gift.
The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom *ye* delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when *he* had judged that he should be let go.
Peter has just healed a lame man, and a crowd runs to him in the temple. His first move is to turn every eye off himself and onto the One God has glorified. The verse ties three things together: the God of Israel's ancestors, the title "servant," and the crowd's part in handing Jesus to Pilate.
The miracle carried no credit for the men through whom it came. One writer says what the miracles were for, and who they pointed to.
These miracles brought no honour at all to the men who performed them, though of course they proved the divine character of their ministry. They were wholly a testimony borne to the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, and all He taught... So in Acts 3:13, Peter refuses all regard for himself or John, putting Jesus alone forward. The Lord's power and resurrection are what the miracles testified to.
Peter names God by the three ancestors every listener revered. The point is continuity: the God of their fathers is at work in front of them, and now He works for Jesus.
The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of their fathers, was working still among them. But now He was working for the glory of His servant Jesus. Peter is bold indeed. In the temple court he stated that Jesus, the rejected and crucified One, was Jehovah's servant.
Some older translations read "His Son Jesus" here. Commentators say the word is "Servant" — the title Isaiah used.
It is the God of our fathers who glorified the Messiah, His Servant Jesus. "Son" is not the thought, but Jehovah's "Servant," as in Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 52, 53. The Jews had denied Him before the Roman judge, who was willing, in fact determined, to let Him go.
This was not a gap in Peter's knowledge. God unfolded the glory of Christ by stages, and this sermon stands at an early one.
We know Him — and the Spirit of God, who wrote this book, knew Him infinitely better — to be the Son of God. But we must always hold to what God says. God's testimony had not yet set out all the glory of Christ, above all in dealing with the Jews. He brought it out by stages. The more man's unbelief grew, the more God defended the Lord's glory.
"Glorified" is not a compliment paid to a dead teacher. It describes where Jesus now is, and it explains where the lame man's strength came from.
Everything is now connected with the glory of the Lord Jesus. He entered that glory after His sufferings and death, and because of them... Peter credits the healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple to the power of Jesus glorified. This marks the whole teaching of the apostles. A glorified Christ is the source of every blessing, and of the power that shows it, through the Holy Spirit.
Pilate wanted to let Jesus go; the crowd would not have it. One writer weighs the guilt of everyone involved and finds it uneven.
All are guilty, but there are degrees of guilt. Herod was a vile, pleasure-loving man. He would mock the Lord and treat Him as nothing, yet he finds nothing in Him deserving death. Pilate will go further than Herod. He will hand Christ over to the murderous hatred of the Jews. But he has no personal hatred, and he will at least make some weak effort to save One he knows is innocent from death.
Notice who Peter does not blame. He passes over the obvious culprit and speaks to the people standing in front of him.
He does not speak of Judas, though no doubt Judas was the immediate instrument of handing Him over... they denied the One whom he declares to be the Messiah, and whom God declares to be the Holy One and the Just.
There is one more layer. The man who charged Israel with denying Jesus had denied Him himself.
What a living picture Peter gives in Acts 3:13 of a worshipper once purged, with a clear conscience! How else could he charge the men of Israel with denying Jesus? Had he not denied Him openly, recently, and repeatedly with oaths? Now he was so completely cleansed by the Saviour's blood that he boldly charged them with that sin. If it had not been wiped away, he would have been ashamed to whisper the words.
- Name: Peter lets no one credit him or John. The miracle points to Jesus.
- Covenant: The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is still at work among Israel. Now He works for the glory of Jesus.
- Servant: Commentators read "Servant" here, not "Son" — the title Isaiah used. God unfolded the glory of Christ by stages.
- Glory: A glorified Christ is the source of every blessing and of the power that shows it. That is why a lame man walks.
- Grace: The man who made this charge had denied Jesus himself. The Saviour's blood had cleansed him, so he could name the sin out loud.
But *ye* denied the holy and righteous one, and asked that a man [that was] a murderer should be granted to you;
Peter is speaking to a crowd at the temple, where a lame man has just been healed. He turns their wonder into a charge: the God of their fathers glorified Jesus, and they disowned Him. The verse names what they did by naming who He was — and it names the man they wanted instead.
Heaven had used the first of these titles for Jesus before Peter did, and so had His enemies:
He Himself was the Holy One. "The child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God," the angel said to Mary (Luke 1:35). The very demons in Capernaum said to Him, "I know who you are — the Holy One of God." And what charge did Peter lay against the Jews after Pentecost? "You denied the Holy and Righteous One" (Acts 3:14). The fact was that the Lord Jesus had been presented to His people as the Holy One.
The verse adds a second title: Righteous. Kelly sets both titles against what Israel asked for, and against what God then did:
How desperate their position! They denied the Holy and Righteous One (Isaiah 53:11). They asked for a murderer as a favour. God was clearly against them, for He raised from the dead the Author of life whom they killed.
Peter does not soften the swap. He sets the man they asked for against the One they refused:
The apostle put their guilty deed in the strongest form. They had deliberately preferred a taker of life, in the person of Barabbas, to the divine Author of life — the Son of God!
The murderer they asked for was Barabbas, and his record was public:
John 18:40 describes him as a "robber," and Matthew 27:16-26 calls him "a notorious prisoner." He had started an uprising and had committed murder (Mark 15:7-15). Yet the Jews, led by the chief priests and elders, asked for this man to be released instead of the Lord Jesus. Why they asked for this particular prisoner is not known. But their choice shows their ungodliness in the clearest way. They could choose such a notorious criminal over the Lord of life and glory, their Messiah.
The man making this charge had denied Jesus with oaths only weeks earlier:
And who is this that so boldly charged the Jews with denying their own Messiah? The very man who not many weeks before had denied Him with oaths. But Peter broke down at once in a sorrow that produced repentance according to God. He judged not only the ripe fruit but the root of his sin. Now restored, his feet washed, he is fully cleansed from the defilement. So he can charge the men of Israel with the very sin he had so recently been freed from himself, without a blush or a waver... None can preach, any more than worship, like a soul once cleansed, having no more conscience of sins.
The choice made in front of Pilate was not only Jerusalem's crime:
Pilate might wash his hands. The people might say, "His blood be on us and on our children." But the fact remains: the world united to murder Him. The world, therefore, to this day stands charged with the murder of the Son of God.
Peter piles the charge high, but not to close the door:
Israel broke and despised everything that should have bound them. Their act held everything that could magnify their rejection of Him. And yet, as the whole passage shows, this very sin of theirs, this very killing of the Prince of life, was only the occasion of fresh grace. The rock in the wilderness, when struck, poured out the refreshing streams the people needed. In the same way, this murdered Prince of life now stands before them as the One who brings more than gifts of healing. Through Him God offers Israel here and now all the things He had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
- Denied. They refused Him as the Holy and Righteous One — the very One heaven, and even demons, had already named.
- Preferred. They asked for a man guilty of uprising and murder as a favour, and they killed the Author of life. That was the trade.
- Exposed. The choice made at Pilate's seat was not Jerusalem's alone — the world united in it and still stands charged.
- Cleansed. Peter could press this home without flinching. He had judged the root of his own denial, and he stood restored and clean.
- Offered. That same sin became the occasion of fresh grace. God held out to the guilty everything the prophets had promised.
but the originator of life ye slew, whom God raised from among [the] dead, whereof *we* are witnesses.
Peter stands in the temple courts after healing a lame man. He tells the crowd what they did to Jesus, what God did in reply, and who saw it.
Older translations read "Prince of life" where newer ones read "Author of life," and the writers quoted below use the older wording. The word behind that title also describes Christ in two other places.
The Greek word archēgos means "beginner, leader." In Acts 3:15 older translations say "prince," with "author" in the margin: the Lord Jesus is the originator of life. In Hebrews 12:2, the Lord Jesus is the "leader" and completer of faith: He began and finished the whole course. In Hebrews 2:10 older translations say "captain": He was the "leader" of their salvation through suffering.
Peter's charge has weight because of the choice behind it.
They had had before them "the Prince [Author] of life" and "a murderer;" that is, a taker of life. They killed the One and chose the other. Yet God had raised the One they killed, so they were caught red-handed in rebellion against God.
That choice was not a one-off failure by one crowd. One writer reads it as a test of the human heart itself:
It is the deep, full sifting of the heart of man, and it tells me that the heart of man in Luke 23 is exactly what it was in Genesis 3. Man in Genesis 3 preferred the lie of the serpent to the truth of God. Man here preferred a murderer to the Prince of Life!
The second half of the verse is not extra information. It is God taking a side.
When Peter says, You "killed the Prince of Life," I can imagine their souls trembling, because they knew it was true. No one could deny this charge from the Holy Spirit. True, He allowed Himself to be slain; but Peter says, You killed Him. Now look at the gulf between the world and God. See how the thoughts of the world stand against God's thoughts of Jesus, "whom God raised from the dead." Could there be a greater contrast? — You killed Him, but God raised Him from the dead.
"To this we are witnesses" was not a closing formality. It names the theme the first preachers kept returning to.
The apostles especially drew the earnest attention of those outside to His resurrection. It was one of the great subjects of early apostolic preaching (Acts 1:22; 2:24-32; 3:15; 4:2-10; 5:30). Much hangs on it. If the Lord is risen, it is because God has raised Him from the dead, and has thus openly taken up His cause. He is risen, not like Lazarus, Jairus' daughter, and others, to return to corruption, but never again to die (Acts 13:34). Death has no more power over Him. He is alive, then, forever — the living One. He was raised because it was not possible for death to hold Him. He was holy and righteous, and His resurrection proclaims that.
Notice who is making this charge.
And who is this that so boldly charged the Jews with denying their own Messiah? The very man who not many weeks before had denied Him with oaths. But Peter broke down at once. His sorrow produced repentance according to God, because he judged not only the ripe fruit of his sin but its root. Now he is restored, his feet washed. He is so completely cleansed from that defilement that he can charge the men of Israel with the very sin he had only just been freed from himself — without a blush or a waver. No one can preach, or worship, like a soul once cleansed, with no more conscience of sins.
The charge sounds crushing. One writer finds the ground of assurance inside it.
The certainty of salvation is something God reveals to me as a result of the work of Christ. If God says to me, You have killed the Prince of life, then by this very means I know that all my sins are washed out. God says, This is what I have done: I have washed out all your sins by the sin you committed in killing the Prince of life. Faith alone can make me understand that. The heart torments itself while the thing is simple.
- Author — The word means beginner or originator. Jesus starts life, and the same word names Him leader of faith and of salvation.
- Exchange — They chose a taker of life and killed the giver of life. Commentators see in that swap the human heart itself, not just one crowd.
- Answer — God raised the One they killed. The world's verdict on Jesus and God's verdict now stand in open opposition.
- Witness — The resurrection was the main theme of the first preaching. This risen One will never die again.
- Outcome — The charge is not the end. God washes sins away by that very sin — the killing of the Author of life. And the man preaching it had denied Him too.
And, by faith in his name, his name has made this [man] strong whom ye behold and know; and the faith which is by him has given him this complete soundness in the presence of you all.
Peter and John had just healed a man lame from birth. The crowd came running and stared at the two men as if the power were theirs. This verse is Peter's answer. In one sentence he moves the credit from the apostles to a Name, and to the faith that rested on it.
Peter had the whole crowd's attention. He used it to point away from himself.
God has fulfilled His word. God has given His Son. And Peter says, "Do not look at us, as if it had anything to do with our power or holiness." It is a wonderful thing to find a man actually in the presence of God in days like these. Here is a man in the presence of God, and as soon as God used him for blessing, he says, "Don't look at me. Look up there. Look at Him, the glorified One there, the despised One here. I am only the vessel through which it came."
Peter healed by calling on a name. Jesus never did.
When our Lord performed miracles He invoked no name as His authority for performing them. By contrast, Peter cured the lame beggar at the Beautiful gate of the temple by saying, "In the NAME of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." He also took pains to tell the people that the miracle came not by his own power, but in "His [Christ's] NAME, … by faith in His NAME" (Acts 3:6, 16). At the raising of Lazarus our Lord cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." … He acted as a Divine Person.
Where the miracle happened mattered as much as how.
Inside the courts of the Lord's house, a miracle had taken place in the open, in the name of the One whom the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, had judged not long before to be a blasphemer worthy of death. And this is the God who never gave His glory to another. The controversy about His claim to be a Divine Person was more than settled, but in a way the Jews never expected. God had glorified His servant, Jesus of Nazareth, by allowing a miracle in His own house in that name. Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the only one Peter had named to the lame man. So if His name had power in that holy place, with no mention of the God of Abraham, then the crucified One must be more than a mere man. By what had happened, God plainly owned Him as His equal.
The verse does not stop at the Name. It also says where the faith came from: it is "through Jesus." One writer names the source of that faith.
Second, faith in its own proper place, the gift of God, not of self.
One man stood up. Peter was speaking to a whole nation.
It was a sign perfectly suited to wake the Jews up. It proved the grace of God toward their utter weakness. It showed the power of the risen and glorified Messiah. And it did so all the more because Christ was not there in person. This was His answer from heaven to the power of His name, which His servant on earth had called on. If such was the instant power of the name of Jesus for the lame man, what would not follow faith in that name if Israel believed?
One writer turns from the healed man to the reader.
Only faith in His name can do anything now for you, my friend. It is His name, and faith in His name alone, that secures blessing for the soul. This man rose up and walked in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And I say to you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise out of your bed of sins and come to Him. You may be saved this very moment if you have faith in the name of Jesus.
- The Name first. The power was not in Peter or John, but in the name of Jesus called on from earth and answered from heaven.
- The Name despised. The rulers had condemned Jesus of Nazareth. God honoured His name inside His own house.
- The Name received by faith. Faith comes second, in its proper place: the gift of God, not something produced from self.
- The Name proved. The result stood in front of everyone: a man once lame, now strong and in perfect health.
- The Name offered. One lame man walked. The same Name went out to a whole nation, and it still reaches anyone who trusts it.