Acts 3:1 - Meaning and Application

We were told in general earlier that the apostles did many signs and wonders (Acts 2:43), but not all of them are recorded here. Now Luke gives one example. The miracles were not done at random or for everyone who wanted one, but as the Holy Spirit directed, so they would serve the purpose of the apostles’ mission. In the same way, only some miracles are written in this book, the ones the Holy Spirit chose to include for this sacred history.

The miracle was done through Peter and John, two leading apostles. In Christ’s time, Peter was usually the spokesman, and John was especially loved by the Master, and they still held that place now. After thousands were converted, the church may have been split into several groups, and Peter and John may have led the group Luke joined. That would help explain why Luke records their words and actions more fully, just as he later does with Paul. Peter and John each had a brother among the twelve, and they had been paired with those brothers when sent out. Yet now they seem even closer to each other than to their own brothers, for friendship can be stronger than family ties. There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Peter and John seem to have become especially close after Christ rose from the dead (John 20:2). One reason may be that John, who was full of love, showed special kindness to Peter after his fall and repentance. He may have been more tender toward Peter’s bitter tears over sin, and more eager to help restore him gently. That would have made John very dear to Peter afterward. It was also a good sign of God’s favor toward Peter that Christ’s favorite became his close friend after Peter repented. David prayed after his own fall, “Let those who fear you turn to me” (Psalm 119:79).

The time and place are also given. They went up together to the temple, because that was where the crowds were. There the gospel net was to be cast among many people, especially during the days of Pentecost, when this event likely happened. It is good to go up to the temple to take part in public worship, and it is pleasant to go together. “I was glad when they said to me, Let us go” is a fitting thought here. The best company is company in worshiping God.

It happened at the hour of prayer, one of the regular times of public worship among the Jews. Time and place are both important in every action, and they should be arranged by agreement in the way most helpful for instruction and worship. For public worship, there should be a house of prayer and an hour of prayer. The ninth hour, about three in the afternoon, was one of the Jewish prayer times. The other two were nine in the morning and twelve at noon. See (Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10). It is useful for private Christians to set prayer times for themselves, not as a burden on conscience, but as a reminder. Everything is beautiful in its season.

The man who was healed is described in verse 2. He was a poor beggar who was lame at the temple gate. He was crippled, not from an accident, but from birth. He had been lame from his mother’s womb, likely from a paralysis that weakened his limbs, since the description of his healing says that his feet and ankles became strong (Acts 3:7). There are still such sad cases at times, and we should feel for them with compassion. They also remind us what we are by nature in a spiritual sense, without strength, lame from birth, and unable to walk or work in God’s service.

He was also a beggar, because he could not earn a living. He had to live on gifts from others. Such people are among God’s poor. His friends laid him daily at one of the temple gates, where many people passed by. He sat there as a sad sight, unable to do anything for himself except ask for alms from those going into or out of the temple. There was a crowd there, a crowd of devout people from whom charity might be expected, and a crowd when people might be in their best mood to give. So they laid him there. Those who need help and cannot work should not be ashamed to beg. He would not have been brought there day after day if he had not usually received some help there.

Our prayers and our gifts to the poor should go together, as they did for Cornelius (Acts 10:4). People in need should be especially welcome when we go up to the temple to pray. It is unfortunate when common beggars at church doors are so troublesome that they discourage generosity, but they should not all be ignored. Some surely deserve help. It is better to feed many idle people, even some harmful ones, than to let one needy person starve.

The gate is named too. It was called Beautiful because of its great splendor and rich design. Dr. Lightfoot says it was the gate from the court of the Gentiles into the court of the Jews, and he thinks the cripple may have begged only from Jews, refusing to ask anything from Gentiles. Dr. Whitby thinks it was the main entrance to the temple, richly decorated as suited the front of the place where God chose to dwell. Either way, the poor man lying there did not make the gate less beautiful.

He begged from Peter and John, asking for alms (Acts 3:3). That was the most he expected from them, since they had a reputation for being generous and, though they had little, they used what they had well. Not many weeks earlier, the blind and the lame came to Christ in the temple and were healed there (Matthew 21:14). This man might have asked for more than money if he had known that Peter and John were Christ’s messengers, preaching and working miracles in his name. But God gave him more than he expected. He asked for a gift and received a cure.

The way the healing happened is also shown. First, his hope was awakened. Peter did not turn away his eyes, as many people do when they see someone in need. Instead, he looked straight at him, and even fixed his eyes on him, so his compassion would be stirred (Acts 3:4). John did the same, for both were guided by the same Spirit and joined in this miracle. Then they said, “Look at us.” Our eyes should always be turned toward the Lord in our hearts, and by that inner focus, our bodily eyes may rightly rest on those whom he uses as his servants of grace.

The man did not need to be told twice to look at the apostles. He rightly thought their attention meant he might receive something from them, so he gave them his full attention (Acts 3:5). We should come to God with the same focus, both when we hear his word and when we pray. We should look up to heaven expecting help from what God says there, and an answer of peace to the prayers we send up.

His hope of getting money was not met. Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have,” and so he had none to give. Still, Peter was showing that if he had money, he would gladly have given it, and not small coins, but silver or gold.

This reminds us that Christ’s friends and chosen servants are not usually rich in this world’s goods. The apostles were very poor, with only enough for themselves and no extra. Peter and John had received much money laid at their feet, but that money was set apart for the support of the church’s poor, and they would not use it for themselves or manage it for any other purpose than the donors intended. Public funds must be handled with strict honesty.

It also shows that many people who are willing to give to the poor still lack the means to do much. On the other hand, some people have plenty to share, but no heart to do it.

Even so, the man’s hopes were far exceeded. Peter had no money to give him, but he had something better, a power from heaven to heal him. Those who are poor in this world may still be very rich in spiritual gifts, grace, and comfort. There is something we can possess that is far better than silver and gold, and its gain is greater (Job 28:12, Proverbs 3:14).

Peter also gave him a better gift, the healing of his disease. The man would gladly have paid a great deal of silver and gold for such a cure, if it could have been bought. This healing would let him work for his own living, so he would not need to beg again. More than that, he could even become a giver to others, and it is more blessed to give than to receive. A miracle like this showed God’s favor more clearly, and gave him greater honor, than thousands of pieces of silver or gold could have done.

So Peter said, “What I do have, I give you.” Those who do not have money can still be useful and kind to the poor in other ways. If a person has no silver or gold, he still has hands, feet, eyes, and ears. With those, he can help the blind, the lame, and the sick. And if someone would not help when he has nothing to give, then he likely would not help even if he had money. “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve others.”

Now we see how the healing was done. Christ sent his word and healed him (Psalm 107:20), because healing grace comes through the word of Christ. The word is the means by which Christ’s healing power reaches people. Christ healed by his own authority, and the apostles healed in his name.

Peter told the lame man to rise up and walk, but this would have been empty talk if he had not first said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” He meant, “I speak with his authority, and the power will come from him, and all the praise will belong to him.” He calls him Jesus of Nazareth, a name once used in scorn, to show that the shame done to Christ on earth only made his glory shine brighter in heaven. However people may speak of him, his name still works wonders, because he humbled himself and was then highly exalted.

When Peter told the man to rise and walk, he was not claiming the man could do it by his own strength. He was saying that if the man tried to rise and walk, trusting God’s power to help him, he would be enabled to do it. By getting up and walking, he would show what God had done in him, and then he should take comfort while God received the praise. It is the same way with the healing of our souls, which are spiritually helpless.

Peter also gave him a helping hand, taking him by the right hand and lifting him up (Acts 3:7). That hand did not heal him by itself, but it was a clear sign of the help God would give if he acted as he was told. When God’s word calls us to rise and walk in his commands, and we believe that word, he gives his Spirit to take us by the hand and lift us up. If we do what we can, God has promised his grace to help us do what we cannot. Then we receive a new nature, and that grace will not be wasted.

That is what happened here. His feet and ankle bones became strong, and they would not have done so if he had not first tried to rise and had not been helped up. He did his part, Peter did his part, and yet Christ did all the work, giving him strength. As bread was multiplied while it was broken, and water became wine as it was poured out, so strength came to the cripple’s feet as he tried to use them.

This cure made a strong impression on the man himself, and we can understand it best by putting ourselves in his place.

He leaped up in obedience to the command, “Rise.” He felt such strength in his feet and ankle bones that he did not slowly rise with fear and caution, as weak people often do when they begin to recover. He sprang up like someone refreshed from sleep, bold and quick, with great ease. The strength came suddenly, and he showed it at once. He leaped as one glad to leave the bed or mat of straw where he had lain lame so long.

Then he stood and walked. He stood without leaning or shaking, standing straight, and he walked without a staff. He walked firmly and steadily, and this showed that the cure was real and complete. Those who have experienced God’s work in them should make that work visible in their lives. Has God put strength into us? Then let us stand before him in worship, and walk before him in faithful conduct. Let us stand firmly for him and walk gladly with him, using the strength we receive from him.

Then he held Peter and John (Acts 3:11). We do not need to ask why he held them.

I think he barely knew what he was doing. In his joy, he clung to them as the best helpers he had ever met, and he held on so closely that it almost seemed rude. He would not let them go on their way, but wanted them to stay while he told everyone around him what God had done for him through them. In this way, he showed his love for them. He held them fast and would not let them go. Some think he clung to them because he was afraid that, if they left, his lameness might come back. Those whom God heals often love the people he used as tools in their healing, and they also see their need for more help.

4. He went with them into the temple. His strong affection for them held them back for a moment, but it could not keep them from the temple, where they were going to preach Christ. We should never let even the warm kindness of friends pull us away from our duty. But if they would not stay with him, he was determined to go with them, especially since they were going into the temple, from which his weakness and begging had kept him for so long. Like the man whom Christ healed, he was soon found in the temple (John 5:14). He went in not only to give God thanks and praise, but also to hear more from the apostles about Jesus, in whose name he had been healed. Those who have felt Christ’s power should deeply want to know Christ better.

5. There he was, walking, leaping, and praising God. We should use the strength God gives us, in both body and mind, to praise him, and we should look for ways to honor him with it. Those healed in his name should walk about in his name and by his strength (Zechariah 10:12). As soon as this man could leap, he leaped for joy in God and praised him. This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “Then the lame man will leap like a deer” (Isaiah 35:6). Since he had just been healed, his joy and gratitude were overflowing. All true believers walk and praise God, but young believers may show even more eagerness in praising him.

VI. We are next told how the people who saw this miracle were affected by it. 1. They were fully convinced that the miracle was real and had nothing to say against it. They knew it was the same man who had sat begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple (Acts 3:10). He had been there so long that everyone knew him, and that was part of why God chose him as the object of this mercy. They were not so stubborn as to question whether he was the same man, as the Pharisees had done about the blind man Christ healed (John 9:9, John 9:18). They saw him walking and praising God (Acts 3:9), and they may also have noticed the change in his mind, since he was now as loud in praising God as he had once been in asking for help. The clearest proof that he was truly cured was that he now praised God for it. Blessings are only complete when they are made holy, that is, when they lead us to God.

2. They were amazed. They were filled with wonder and shock (Acts 3:10), and were greatly amazed (Acts 3:11). They were overwhelmed. It seems that the pouring out of the Spirit had this effect, at least in Jerusalem: people were much more moved by the miracles the apostles did than they had been by the same kinds of miracles done by Christ himself. This helped the miracles achieve their purpose.

3. They gathered around Peter and John. All the people ran to them in Solomon’s Porch, some out of curiosity to see men with such power, others wanting to hear them preach, since they concluded that teaching backed by such a miracle must be from God. They crowded together in Solomon’s Porch, a part of the court of the Gentiles, where Solomon had built the outer porch of the temple, or perhaps in the covered walkways that Herod had built on the same foundation as Solomon’s great porch. Herod wanted to be seen as a second Solomon in this work. There the people gathered to see this great sight.