Acts 3:6

ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον : the words do not suggest the idea of a complete communism amongst the believers, although Oecumenius derives from them a proof of the absolute poverty of the Apostles. They may perhaps be explained by remembering that if the Apostles had no silver or gold with them, they were literally obeying their Lord's command, Matthew 10:9, or that whatever money they had was held by them in trust for the public good, not as available for private charity. Spitta, who interprets Acts 2:45 of the Apostles alone (pp. 72 74), sees in St. Peter's words a confirmation of his view, and a further fulfilment of our Lord's words in Luke 12:33, but if our interpretation of Acts 2:44 ff. is correct, our Lord's words were fully obeyed, but as a principle of charity, and not as a rule binding to the letter. St. Chrysostom (Hom., viii.) justly notes the unassuming language of St. Peter here, so free from boasting and personal display. Compare 1 Peter 1:18 (Acts 3:3), where the Apostle sharply contrasts the corruptible gold and silver with higher and spiritual gifts (Scharfe). ὃ δὲ ἔχω : the difference between this verb and ὑπάρχει may be maintained by regarding the latter as used of worldly belongings, ἔχω of that which was lasting and most surely held. ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι : no occasion to prefix such words as λέγω σοι for the expression means “in the power of this name” (cf. Matthew 7:22; Luke 10:17; Acts 4:10; Acts 16:18; James 5:14; Mark 16:17). So too the Hebrew בְּשֵׁם in the name of any one, i.e., by his authority, Exodus 5:23, and thus “in the name of Jehovah,” i.e., by divine authority, Deuteronomy 18:22; 1 Chronicles 22:19; Jeremiah 11:21, and frequently in the Psalms, cf. also Book of Enoch, xlviii. 7 (Charles, p. 48). On the use, or possible use, of the phrase in extra-biblical literature, see Deissmann, Bibelstudien, p. 145, and also Neue Bibelstudien, p. 25 (1897). When Celsus alleged that the Christians cast out demons by the aid of evil spirits, Origen claims this power for the name of Jesus: τοσοῦτον γὰρ δύναται τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, cf. also Justin Martyr, Dial. c. Tryph., 85. Ἰ. Χ. τοῦ Ναζωραίου : the words must n themselves have tested the faith of the lame man. His part has sometimes been represented as merely passive, and as if no appeal of any kind were made to his faith contrasted with Acts 14:9 (Acts 3:16 in this chapter being interpreted only of the faith of the Apostles), but a test of faith was implied in the command which bade the man rise and walk in the power of a name which a short time before had been placed as an inscription on a malefactor's cross, but with which St. Peter now bids him to associate the dignity and power of the Messiah (see Plumptre, in loco). It is necessary from another point of view to emphasise this implied appeal to the man's faith, since Zeller and Overbeck regard the omission of faith in the recipient as designed to magnify the magic of the miracle. Zeller remarks: “Our book makes but one observation on his state of mind, which certainly indicates a receptivity, but unfortunately not a receptivity for spiritual gifts”. But nothing was more natural than that the man should at first expect to receive money, and his faith in St. Peter's words is rather enhanced by the fact that the Apostle had already declared his utter inability to satisfy his expectations. St. Luke much more frequently than the other Evangelists names our Lord from His early home Nazareth in which frequency Friedrich sees another point of likeness between St. Luke's Gospel and the Acts, Das Lucasevangelium, p. 85. Holtzmann attempts to refer the whole story to an imitation of Luke 5:18-26, but see as against such attempts Feine, Eine vorkanonische Überlieferung des Lukas, pp. 175, 199, 200.