What is the meaning of "silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you" (Acts 3:6)?

There is the power of the name. You and I may sit and sing about Christ glorified, and gazing on Him, and it is a blessed reality; but the reality of gazing on Him is also the finding, here in this world, that it is Jesus Christ the despised One. We gaze upon Him there, and we sing of Him there; and what answers to that glory is the humiliation here in this world. And so Peter speaks to the lame man "in the name of Jesus Christ," not the glorified One, but "of Nazareth;" and he says, "Rise up and walk;" and the man rises up, and walks. And now look at the effect of that directly. Everyone is against him, and the whole world is roused. All the religious authorities and the powers of the world are set against this man - a poor man. What has he done? He has healed a man that never had walked in his life. He had brought into the midst of sorrow and weakness and pride, and hatred of God, the life-giving power of "the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth."

And 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. The possession of the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth here upon earth produces glory to God, and sets the world in a flame against the poor vessel, 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. "Such as I possess give I thee." And so we find the whole world is against Peter and what he had done. He had brought blessing to a poor lame man, but on a new ground altogether. Not the effort of man, nor anything of man, but the power and healing that comes from One who was entirely outside this world; a humility and a power the world could not gainsay or deny, but which it yet was resisting; a power that found all the world against it, and against the one that possessed it. Do you think it is a wonderful thing that, with this power, the world is against you? If you have not this power of the name of Jesus you will not find the world against you - either in animosity, or in wiles.

Here is the temple which had been built by Solomon according to God's glory, and renewed, just for a moment, that Jesus might be there. And Jesus having died upon the cross, and being risen from the dead, and now at God's right hand exalted, we find these two men going up to the temple to pray. And there is another who is brought there - a lame, helpless creature. He never had 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. No blessing comes to the powerless man laid there, except in another way. The place is desert, though it be the beautiful temple that Solomon had built, though it be the beautiful gate of that temple, and though it be Solomon's porch where the lame man is laid, it is but a desert place now. The blessing to him must come from elsewhere. And these two men, these two vessels of power and grace, these two temples of the Holy Ghost (one likes to look at it in that way, not two unknown and ignorant men) - these two temples of the Holy Ghost, these vessels of grace, full of blessing from God Himself, come up to the temple to express dependence upon God; and the poor helpless one looks at them, hoping to receive something of them. Then Peter looks upon him, and says, I have no silver, and I have no gold; but such as I have give I thee. He does not say at first what that is, but he is in the conscious possession of it. It is possible for us also to have it. It is not merely the case of an inspired apostle, but it is the Christian's possession, the possession of a power that is outside this world - the power of the name of Jesus. It was not merely that Jesus had been here, was crucified, and now risen, but Peter had in himself the power of that name - he had possession of it; and he says, I have not silver, and I have not gold; but such as I have give I thee. He was the poorest man in the world in one way, he was the richest man in another - he had possession of the power of the name of Jesus. Have you and I that power? We are - not inspired apostles - no one ever thought we were; but have we the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Have we really now the power of that name? Do we know what it is, by the grace of God, to have touched that blessed One, to be linked up with that power? Now Peter says, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." It is wonderful the way the Spirit of God puts these names together. Peter does not say the glorified Christ, and he does not say the crucified Christ, but he says, "Jesus Christ of Nazareth," the despised One here, the humiliated One, the despised Man here upon the earth. Well Peter knew Him in the glory, but when he comes to meet this man in his need, where he was, he says, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" - the despised man - "rise up and walk."

This chapter opens with the healing of the man who, lame from his birth, lay at the Beautiful gate of the temple. As the next chapter tells us he was above forty years old — the complete period of probation had been fulfilled in him. The man had not been healed by the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh, though He so frequently taught in the temple; but he was healed by the power of His Name, now that He was glorified in heaven. Peter had neither silver nor gold, but the power of the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth he could wield, and the man was instantly healed in most triumphant fashion. Today many earnest Christian folk are mostly concerned about collecting the silver and gold for the support of the work of the Lord, and the power of the Name lies largely unused. This is to our reproach.

By reason of his deformity the lame man had lain under certain disabilities according to the law; now grace had removed his deformity and with it the disability, so that he could enter the temple with freedom; and holding on to the Apostles there was no hiding those who had been the instruments of his deliverance. This gave Peter the opportunity of testimony. He at once put himself and John out of the picture, in order that the glorified Jesus might fill it.

When He performed miracles there was an ease and dignity comparable to no one else. He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43), and death itself yielded its prey, yet when Peter gave healing to the lame man he used the words, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6), and explained that “His Name, through faith in His Name has made this man strong” (v. 16), and disclaimed that it was by any power or holiness of his own by which the miracle was performed. The Lord uses no name but His own. He made no such disclaimer as Peter did. He acts as the Son of God—equal with God.

The actual circumstances here recounted agree singularly with the special form the truth assumes. God is showing His long-suffering grace toward Israel though He has commenced an entirely distinct testimony and work in the gospel and in the church. So Peter and John, who were certainly behind none in the new position and testimony, are seen 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. Not even their apostolic dignity, nor the power with which they were just clothed, detached them. There at the Beautiful gate when about to enter the temple, a man lame from his birth (often seen, being habitually laid there) asked of them alms, and got a better blessing. For Peter, gazing on him with John, arrested his attention who expected to receive some little boon. But if discouraged by 'Silver and gold have I none,' he hears of something more indeed: 'What I have, this I give thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk.' And if the apostle promptly grasped his right hand and raised him up, immediately his feet and ankle-bones received strength, so that leaping up he stood, walked, and entered with them into the temple, praising God. It was not done in a corner. All the people saw and heard, recognizing him to be the same that used to sit there begging; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had befallen him.

It was indeed a sign admirably calculated to awaken the Jews, to attest the grace of God towards their utter weakness, to manifest the power of the risen and glorified Messiah, and so much the more as it was not His presence but His answer from on high to the power of His name appealed to by His servant on earth. If such was the instant virtue of the name of Jesus for the lame man, what would not follow faith in that name if Israel believed?

As Peter and John approached the temple gate that day, a man lame from his birth, who took his station there daily, begged money of them. Instead of pence he obtained healing. In reply to his begging appeal, Peter said: "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." The next moment the poor fellow was walking, and leaping, and praising God — such was the potency of the name of the rejected Jesus.

Those were blessed days when the Church, possessed of no human patronage or worldly endowments, and when its foremost preacher had to say, "Silver and gold have I none," carried on all its operations in simple faith in the name of Jesus, and in the realization of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Why was such a condition of things ever allowed to pass away? In those days penniless men "turned the world upside down," their enemies themselves being witnesses (Acts 17:6); in these days ecclesiastical princes with limitless wealth at their command are well nigh impotent in the presence of the enemy. Such a fact should lead to great searching of heart amongst us. Something is terribly wrong in the principles and methods of our time!

The Name and power was that of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they had crucified and whom God had exalted. Psalm 118:22 had been fulfilled in Him, and Peter proceeded to widen out the testimony from that which was particular to that which is universal. The power of the Name was right before their eyes in the particular case of the lame man healed: it was no less potent for the salvation of men universally. The physical healing of the man was just a sign of the spiritual healing which the Name of Jesus brings. The despised Jesus of Nazareth is the only door into salvation.

Further proof that He is living, though absent, is the fact that His name has been the power by which the lame man had been healed, a man they knew. Peter, by faith, had used that name with such amazing results. It was not in Peter, but in the name of Jesus that tho power was. The man was presented, not only healed, but strong and in perfect soundness of health before them all.

How many glories, however, centre in that Name of which the poor lame beggar proved the virtue, and the worth of which Peter knew something; for, while Peter with John at the outset had said, "Look on us," it was only to transfer his attention to another. Peter was conscious enough 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!" So to the people greatly wondering at the miracle which had been wrought, he is quick to deny himself, saying the reverse of what he had said to the lame man, "Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?" telling them that the God of unchangeable promise, "the God of their fathers had glorified his Servant Jesus, whom they had delivered up" — the Prince and Author of life, whom they had "killed. "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). How God-glorifying is all this! Let us note the order.

As they were going up a lame man was being carried, to be laid at the gate of the Temple called Beautiful, [12] to solicit alms. He lived, it would seem, on the charity of the public, extended to him as they entered the sacred precincts. Forty years old was he now, and daily was he carried and laid down at that gate. Had he ever seen the Lord passing in or out? Certainly, if he had, healing power had not been exercised on his behalf. Every cripple, every sick one, did not receive benefit from Him. Witness the great multitude of sick folk at the Pool of Bethesda, waiting there on the day that the impotent man was cured. Now, however, the hour in the counsels of God had arrived for this one to be made whole. Seeing Peter and John, he asked an alms. It was his wonted request. It was all he asked, and evidently all he expected (Acts 3:5). A little temporal relief he craved. He was, however, to get healing . He had been indebted to the kindness and support of others to get there, and was actually at the moment being carried, an evidence of his helplessness, when, in answer to his petition for an alms, Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaræan walk" (3:6). We should here omit "rise up." The omission makes it more graphic. He was to walk.

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 vain words. For he took him by the right hand, and raised him up, and strength, such as he had never known, he received at once. With the agility of one who had always had the use of his limbs, he leaped up. The weight of his body these limbs, so powerless for forty years, now perfectly sustained. He stood. And the activity proper to man was his in common with others around. He began to walk, as we should translate. No arm even to lean on did he need. No crutch to support him was in requisition. With no tottering gait did he move. Carried as he had been to the precincts of the Temple , he entered the Beautiful gate of it a sound man, walking and leaping and praising God. In open day this occurred. In the most public place in the city, in the presence of a multitude about probably to pass through that Beautiful gate to engage in prayer, the man formerly lame, and well known to be such, passed in with the crowd, demonstrating to all beholders his new powers, for he walked, and manifesting his joy, for he was praising God. He held Peter and John, it is true, but not to support himself. His benefactors he deemed them, and so naturally clung to them.