Acts 3:6

‘But Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, that give I you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” '

Peter then informed him that he had no money, no silver or gold, the things that men craved after as they sat in the dust. Those could be found in the Temple, but he had none of that. But what he did have meant that he could offer him something better. We can compare here Proverbs 23:1 where loving favour is specifically represented as better than silver and gold. What Peter carried with him was the authority of the name of Jesus the Messiah of Nazareth. He was here with all the authority of the Messiah. And by that authority he now commanded him to rise from the dust and walk. He thus turned the man's attention wholly on Jesus as Messiah (Acts 3:14; Acts 3:18; Acts 3:20) and Servant of the Lord (Acts 3:13; Acts 3:26). We are reminded here of the words of Isaiah 52:2, “Awake, awake, put on your strength --- shake yourself from the dust”. These words in Isaiah were preparatory to the description of the Servant of the Lord when He offered Himself in total self-giving (Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12).

‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.' ‘In the name' means through the power of the One Whose name it is. Peter was claiming to act in His Name and with His authority. This is the first time that ‘the name' of Jesus is called on (compare Acts 4:10; Acts 4:30; Acts 16:18). It contains within it the idea of all that Jesus is. That was why He was named ‘Yahweh is salvation'. The full name ‘Jesus Christ' was first used by Jesus Himself, either in the Upper Room or on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane (John 17:3) and then by Peter in Acts 2:38. It is a part of the transforming of ‘Jesus the Messiah' into a name, ‘Jesus Messiah', but it never loses its Messianic significance. ‘Of Nazareth' adds solemnity and identification to the name. There were many who were called Jesus (Joshua), but only One Jesus, the Messiah of Nazareth.

Luke wants all Israel, and indeed all men, to recognise that what God brings to men is not silver and gold and outward success and wealth, but the power to make men whole. Israel's problem lay in its yearning for the silver and gold of the past, for the past glory of Solomon. And it was proud of its Temple which manifested silver and gold in abundance. Here was the glory of man and of decayed religion. But what they should be doing, says Luke, is looking to the One Who offers far more than silver and gold (compare 1 Peter 1:18 where again Peter contrasts silver and gold with God's offer of life in Christ). They should be looking to the One Who can offer strength, and vigour and life.

‘Walk.' God's ways are often described as a walk, and God calls all to stand and walk in His ways. This was also to be true of the lame man. He was not only to walk into the Temple. He was to walk before the Lord in the land of the living (Psalms 116:9).