Acts 3

Ac 3:1-26.

PETER

HEALS A

LAME

MAN AT THE

TEMPLE

GATE--HS

ADDRESS TO THE

WONDERING

MULTITUDE.

1-11. Peter and John--already associated by their Master, first with

James

(Mr 1:29; 5:37; 9:2),

then by themselves

(Lu 22:8;

and see

Joh 13:23, 24).

Now we find them constantly together, but John (yet young) only as a

silent actor.

went up--were going up, were on their way.

2. a certain man lame from his mother's womb--and now "above forty

years old"

(Ac 4:22).

was carried--was wont to be carried.

4, 5. Peter fastening his eyes on him with John, said, Look on us.

And he gave heed--that, through the eye, faith

might be aided in its birth.

6. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee--What

a lofty superiority breathes in these words!

In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk--These words,

uttered with supernatural power, doubtless begat in this poor man the

faith that sent healing virtue through his diseased members.

7. And he took . . . and lifted him up--precisely what his Lord had

done to his own mother-in-law

(Mr 1:31).

his feet--"soles."

and ankle bones, &c.--the technical language of a physician

(Col 4:14).

8. leaping up, stood . . . walked . . . entered

the temple walking, leaping, and praising God--Every word here is

emphatic, expressing the perfection of the cure, as

Ac 3:7

its immediateness.

9. all the people saw him, &c.--as they assembled at the hour of

public prayer, in the temple courts; so that the miracle had the utmost

publicity.

10. they knew that it was he which sat for alms, &c.--(Compare

Joh 9:8).

11. the lame man . . . held, &c.--This is human nature.

all the people ran together unto them in the porch, &c.--How vividly

do these graphic details bring the whole scene before us! Thus was Peter

again furnished with a vast audience, whose wonder at the spectacle of

the healed beggar clinging to his benefactors prepared them to listen

with reverence to his words.

12-16. why marvel at this?--For miracles are marvels only in

relation to the limited powers of man.

as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk--Neither the might nor the merit of the cure are due

to us, mere agents

of Him whom we preach.

13. The God of Abraham, &c.--(See on

Ac 2:22;

Ac 2:36).

hath glorified his Son Jesus--rather, "his Servant Jesus," as the

same word is rendered in

Mt 12:18,

but in that high sense in which Isaiah applies it always to Messiah

(Isa 42:1; 49:6; 52:13; 53:11).

When "Son" is intended a different word is used.

whom ye delivered up, &c.--With what heroic courage does Peter here

charge his auditors with the heaviest of all conceivable crimes, and

with what terrific strength of language are these charges clothed!

15. killed the Prince of life--Glorious paradox, but how piercing to

the conscience of the auditors.

16. his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong,

&c.--With what skill does the apostle use the miracle both to glorify

his ascended Lord and bring the guilt of His blood more resistlessly

home to his audience!

17-21. And now, brethren--Our preacher, like his Master, "will not

break the bruised reed." His heaviest charges are prompted by love,

which now hastens to assuage the wounds it was necessary to inflict.

I wot--"know."

through ignorance ye did it--(See marginal references,

Lu 23:34;

Ac 13:27; 26:9).

18. that Christ--The best manuscripts read, "that His Christ."

should suffer--The doctrine of a SUFFERING

MESSIAH was totally at

variance with the current views of the Jewish Church, and hard to digest

even by the Twelve, up to the day of their Lord's resurrection. Our

preacher himself revolted at it, and protested against it, when first

nakedly announced, for which he received a terrible rebuke. Here he

affirms it to be the fundamental truth of ancient prophecy realized

unwittingly by the Jews themselves, yet by a glorious divine ordination.

How great a change had the Pentecostal illumination wrought upon his

views!

19. when the times of refreshing shall come--rather, "in order that

the times of refreshing may come"; that long period of repose,

prosperity and joy, which all the prophets hold forth to the distracted

Church and this miserable world, as eventually to come, and which is

here, as in all the prophets, made to turn upon the national conversion

of Israel.

20. he shall send Jesus Christ--The true reading is, "He shall send

your predestinated (or foreordained) Messiah, Jesus."

21. until the times--embracing the whole period between the ascension

and the second advent of Christ.

restitution of all things--comprehending, probably, the rectification

of all the disorders of the fall.

22-26. a prophet . . . like unto me--particularly

in intimacy of communication with God

(Nu 12:6-8),

and as the mediatorial Head of a new order of things

(Heb 3:2-6).

Peter takes it for granted that, in the light of all he had just said,

it would be seen at once that One only had any claim to be that

Prophet.

him shall ye hear in all things, &c.--This part of the prediction is

emphatically added, in order to shut up the audience to the obedience of

faith, on pain of being finally "cut off" from the congregation of the

righteous

(Ps 1:1).

24. foretold of these days--of Messiah; all pointing to "the time of

reformation"

(Heb 9:10),

though with more or less distinctness.

25. Ye are the children . . . of the covenant--and so the natural

heirs of its promises.

in thy seed, &c.--(See on

Ga 3:8,

&c.).

26. God, having raised up--not from the dead, but having provided,

prepared, and given.

his Son Jesus--"His Servant Jesus" (see on

Ac 3:13).

sent him to bless you--literally, "sent Him blessing you," as if

laden with blessing.

in turning away every one of you from his iniquities--that is,

"Hitherto we have all been looking too much for a Messiah who should

shed outward blessings upon the nation generally, and through it upon

the world. But we have learned other things, and now announce to you

that the great blessing with which Messiah has come laden is the turning

away of every one of you from his iniquities." With what divine skill

does the apostle, founding on resistless facts, here drive home to the

conscience of his auditors their guilt in crucifying the Lord of Glory;

then soothe their awakened minds by assurances of forgiveness on turning

to the Lord, and a glorious future as soon as this shall come to pass,

to terminate with the Personal Return of Christ from the heavens whither

He has ascended; ending all with warnings, from their own Scriptures, to

submit to Him if they would not perish, and calls to receive from Him

the blessings of salvation.