The Acts, Part 7

Last week we saw the creation of the New Testament church, where the inital 3,000 were saved and others added to their numbers weekly. I’ve often wondered how it would feel to keep the baptistry full every week just anticipating new converts weekly… It’s not beyond our abilities, it’s definitely not beyond God’s abilities, and we have confirmation that it did occur in the last part of Chapter 6. This week, we will see where a lame begger is healed and Peter preaching at Solomon’s portico.

The Lame Healed

Acts 3:1–10 ESV

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

This is the church’s first recorded miracle. God was now ready to reach another great harvest of souls. It was now time to attract the attention of the people, so He reached down and healed a single man, a man whom everyone knew, and filled the man so full of the Holy Spirit that he just went wild with excitement and joy. Such a miracle and behavior naturally attracted the attention of the public. Jesus was not present to do these miracles, but He was still performing miracles through His disciples.

It is the three o’clock afternoon prayer service in the temple, the Jewish ninth hour, counting from 6:00 a.m. (3:1, RSV). As shown in 2:46, the growing group of believers continue their attendance at these services. Luke turns the spotlight on two of their leading apostles, Peter and John. They enter through a gate called Beautiful, likely the one Josephus called the Nicanor Gate, covered with Corinthian bronze and “far exceeding in value those plated with silver and set in gold” (War 5.5.3). (Another possibility is the Shushan Gate, the outer one on the east side of the temple.) The Nicanor Gate is the major entrance for Jewish worshipers as they pass from the Court of the Gentiles to the inner, more sacred areas, an ideal place for beggars to ask alms of people going in to worship. Near the gate the apostles see a man crippled from birth. People are carrying him in and laying him where he can attract the attention of passersby. Apparently he is looking down out of long habit as he asks them for money, and Peter commands him to look up (3:4). The eye contact is important. But then the helpless man is told that there is no money. Expecting a nice gift, no doubt he is disappointed. At that very moment, Peter offers him something far better. He seizes the cripple’s right hand and says, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk! (3:6). Luke tells how at once the man begins to feel strength coming into his feet and ankles. Legs that have never supported his weight now straighten up, and he soon rises to full height. And then, wonder of wonders, he begins to leap in the air and praise the Lord! (3:8). As Peter and John proceed through the Court of Women, this newly healed forty-year-old goes with them, leaping and bounding for joy. Then they apparently go in and finish the prayer service, returning eastward to the Portico (or Colonnade, NIV) of Solomon. Other people begin to follow in growing numbers. Those who knew this hopeless beggar marvel that he is now perfectly healed. They are filled with wonder (thambos, a strong word ranging in meaning from astonishment to outright fear) and amazement (ekstasis, beside themselves in a mind-boggled state; 3:10). The crowd increases as they gather in the Portico, a covered walk forty-five feet wide with two rows of stone columns twenty-seven feet high and roofed over with cedar (3:11). Though named in honor of Solomon, it is of more recent construction, modeled on the stoa (porch) of Greek temples and ideal for holding public meetings. In 5:12 it becomes a place where people are converted in great numbers.

Peter Witnesses to the Crowd

Acts 3:11–26 ESV

While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

The former cripple stays close to Peter and John as people quiet down. They want to hear what the apostle is saying (3:12). There is enough of a crowd that the authorities will later complain, with obvious exaggeration, that all who live in Jerusalem have heard the gospel (4:16). Luke reports Peter’s speech at some length, about two-thirds as much as the coverage he gives the one at Pentecost. Like that day, Peter has a surprised and attentive audience. In place of over a hundred Spirit-filled people shouting the praises of God in languages they had never learned, there is now a miraculously cured lame man jumping about and blessing the Lord. Again the air is electric with expectation. This time also Peter addresses them formally, You Israelites, and hastens to answer their unspoken question (3:12a). If you are thinking about the power that could raise this cripple, he tells them, be assured right from the start that it was not from us, nor was it by our own power or piety. Focus rather on the God of Abraham … Isaac, and … Jacob, the God of our ancestors, who glorified his suffering servant (cf. Isa. 52:13). Peter identifies this servant as Jesus and begins to zero in on the fact that you (his audience) had a hand in crucifying him (3:12b–15). First you handed him over. Then when there was a chance to have him released, you rejected him and asked for a murderer instead (3:14). After that you killed this servant, the very Author of life (3:15). But God raised him from the dead, and we who stand here are witnesses of that fact (cf. 2:22). Now here is the answer to the question of power. It is faith in the name of this risen Lord that has brought about the obvious healing of this man (3:16). At this point Peter is ready to make his evangelistic appeal. He mentions the crucifixion theme again and explains that they really acted in ignorance, but there is hope for them through repentance (3:17–26). God has already foretold these events through the prophets so that evil can be overcome through the sufferings of Christ (3:18). All of them can now repent, people as well as rulers, have their sins blotted out, and get ready for a messianic time of refreshing (3:20). Actually, on one level they did know what they were doing when they crucified Jesus, but in terms of understanding God’s purposes and the depths of their own sin, they did not know. Luke has already quoted Jesus as praying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This is the ignorance in which they acted. Repentance is the way out, the only real hope (3:19). Then God can send the appointed Messiah. His name is Jesus, now ascended to heaven (1:10–11), where he will remain until all is fulfilled (3:21). The times of refreshing refer to a coming period of universal restoration foretold by the holy prophets. This was predicted by Moses, Peter says, who pointed to a prophet like himself (Deut. 18:15, 18–19), now known to be Jesus, to whom all must listen or be rooted out of the people (3:21–23). Peter’s final appeal (3:24–26) is also based on the Hebrew Bible, where all the prophets after Moses are referred to as prophesying about these days. (In the speech itself, there may have been many other quotations at this point). In closing, Peter says, You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant, and to you God first sent his servant, to turn you from your wickedness (3:26).

Faw, Chalmer Ernest. 1993. Acts. Believers Church Bible Commentary. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.