_Healing of the Lame Man by Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate of
the Temple,_ 1-11.
The writer of the ‘Acts,' after describing the inner life of the new
society, takes up the thread of the story again. He had spoken (Acts
2:46) of the daily attendance of the followers of Jesus in the Temple,
and... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:1. PETER AND JOHN WENT UP TOGETHER INTO THE TEMPLE. These two
apostles are constantly mentioned as being together in the later
portions of the Gospel, and the earlier ones of the ‘Acts.' They
were sent by Christ to prepare the upper room for the last Passover.
They were most probably both pre... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:2. A CERTAIN MAN LAME FROM HIS MOTHER'S WOMB WAS CARRIED, WHOM
THEY LAID DAILY AT THE GATE OF THE TEMPLE WHICH IS CALLED BEAUTIFUL,
TO ASK ALMS OF THEM THAT ENTERED INTO THE TEMPLE. Martial (i. 112)
tells us of beggars who were in the habit of sitting at the gate of
heathen temples. Chrysosto... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:3. ASKED AN ALMS. Meyer, quoting from Vajikra Rabbi, f. Acts
20:3-4, gives us some Jewish forms of begging: ‘Merere in me,' ‘In
me benefac tibi,' etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:4. AND PETER, FASTENING HIS EYES ON HIM WITH JOHN, SAID, LOOK
ON US. Calvin, commenting on this miracle about to be worked by Peter
and John, asks whether they had the power of working such miracles
when they pleased, and replies they were so exclusively ministers of
the Divine power that the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:5. AND HE GAVE HEED UNTO THEM. The sufferer, perhaps surprised
at this unusual notice from a passer-by, gazed up at Peter and John
with rapt attention (the Greek word is far stronger than the English
equivalent), _knowing_ he was about to receive some kindness, he knew
not what, from these ho... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:6. THEN PETER SAID. Recognising from something he could read in
that face, marked by years of suffering and want, that _lure_ was true
faith.
SILVER AND GOLD HAVE I NONE; BUT SUCH AS I HAVE GIVE I THEE.
Centuries after, Cornelius a Lapide beautifully relates how Thomas
Aquinas once came to P... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:7. AND HE TOOK HIM BY THE RIGHT HAND. To the word of command,
Peter, following his Master's example in such cases (see Mark 9:27),
grasps him by the right hand, thus encouraging him to obey the command
to arise. On the use of such outward instrumentality, Chrysostom
remarks: ‘So, too, Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:8. AND ENTERED WITH THEM INTO THE TEMPLE. Instead of at once
going to his home or any other place, his first thought seems to have
been: ‘He would go into the sanctuary of his God and there return
thanks for his great deliverance.' Peter and John, guided by the Holy
Ghost , when they cast the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:9-10. AND ALL THE PEOPLE SAW HIM WALKING. The crowds in the
temple-court knew him as he walked among them for that helpless beggar
whom they had seen so many times lying by the ‘Beautiful Gate;' they
saw, him now, who had never walked before, full of life and power,
praising God, and were str... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:11. AND AS THE LAME MAN WHICH WAS HEALED HELD PETER AND JOHN.
That is, while he was holding them fast or keeping near them (see De
Wette), perhaps, as Alford suggests, in the ardour of his gratitude,
that he might testify to all who his benefactors were.
IN THE PORCH THAT IS CALLED SOLOMON'... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:12. AND WHEN PETER SAW IT, HE ANSWERED UNTO THE PEOPLE, etc.
The wondering gaze of the throng in the temple-court seemed to ask,
‘What mighty power is possessed by these men? What holy men must
these be for God to have endowed them with these strange miraculous
gifts?' It was in answer to tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Second Discourse of St. Peter,_ 12-26.
This second sermon of St. Peter is even more briefly reported than the
first. Compared with the summary Divine wisdom has preserved for us in
the ‘Acts,' it must have been originally a discourse of some length.
The last division especially (Acts 3:17-26) has a... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:13. THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND OF ISAAC, AND OF JACOB, THE GOD OF
OUR FATHERS. No words could have riveted the attention of the people
like these. ‘ _We_ have not done this great thing which so
astonishes you, but the Eternal of hosts, the Glory and Hope of
Israel, the covenant God, in whose roy... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:14. BUT YE DENIED THE HOLY ONE AND THE JUST. Old Testament
titles of Messiah, where He is called the Holy One, the Righteous
Branch, the Lord our Righteousness, God's Righteous Servant who should
justify many (Isaiah 53:11).... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:15. THE PRINCE OF LIFE. Life here, in its highest sense, is
intended eternal life (see John 1:4; John 5:26; John 2:25); but it
includes also physical life. Alford even suggests the possibility that
the words may contain an allusion to the great miracle [the raising of
Lazarus], which was the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:16. AND HIS NAME THROUGH FAITH IN HIS NAME HATH MADE THIS MAN
STRONG, WHOM YE SEE AND KNOW. We will take these words in the order of
the original Greek: ‘And through faith in His name.' Peter had just
related (in Acts 3:15) what was the ground of his perfect faith: _he
had been one of the wit... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:17. Peter's tone changes here. After his vivid picture of the
awful guilt incurred by the Jews as a nation in murdering the Messiah,
he now lovingly would not have them despair, but tells them they knew
Him not when they consented to that cruel death a death, too (Acts
3:18), which was necess... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:17. AND NOW, BRETHREN. Notice the apostle no longer gravely,
though courteously, addresses the people as ‘men of Israel' (Acts
3:12), but affectionately as ‘brethren.'
THROUGH IGNORANCE YE DID IT. Not recognising under that meek and
lowly form the conquering Messiah they so fondly looked fo... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:18. In reference to God, the sin of Israel, consisting in the
rejection and murder of Messiah, may be forgiven, in so far as it at
the same time involved the fulfilment of the divine decree made
mention of by all the prophets, ‘that Messiah should suffer.'
WHICH GOD SHOWED BY THE MOUTH OF AL... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:19. REPENT YE THEREFORE (οῧν). Seeing, then, that your
guilt, great though it be, does not shut you out from pardon and
reconciliation in the blood of the Messiah, whom in ignorance you
crucified, ‘repent ye therefore.'
AND BE CONVERTED that is, turn from your present way of life, receive
t... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:20. AND HE SHALL SEND JESUS CHRIST. See above, the note on the
‘times of refreshing,' with which period this Second Advent of the
Lord must be considered as contemporaneous.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:21. WHOM THE HEAVEN MUST RECEIVE. Some commentators (_e g._
Bengel, Olshausen, Stier) have adopted another rendering of the Greek
words (which makes ὅν the subject) ‘who must receive heaven.'
considering that the usually-received translation involves a statement
injurious to the nil-pervading... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:22-23. The quotation is from the LXX. Version (Deuteronomy
18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18-19). The words of the original are not
exactly given, but the paraphrase of St. Peter faithfully reproduces
the original sense. The Deuteronomy passage promises, at some future
period, that God seeing that the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:22-24. These verses are explanatory of the general statement of
Acts 3:21, ‘Which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets.' They first speak of Moses and his famous words relating to
Messiah, and then dwell on the testimony of the prophets collectively
from Samuel downwards.... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:23. AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS (ἔσται δέ). These words
do not occur in the passage quoted by St. Peter.
Every soul which will not hear that prophet. The apostle had been
excusing the people who had crucified the Lord, seeing they had done
it ignorantly. Now, in the words of the Pentateuch pro... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:24. ALL THE PROPHETS FROM SAMUEL, AND THOSE THAT FOLLOW AFTER.
Of the prophets between Moses and the days of Samuel, we possess few
recorded sayings. Samuel is mentioned as the founder of the so-called
schools of the prophets. Gloag especially notes this verse as probably
containing only an e... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:25. YE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE PROPHETS AND OF THE COVENANT.
‘Children' (υἱοί). ‘Children' in this sense is a very common
expression in Hebrew thought. So in Matthew 8:12, we read of ‘the
children of the kingdom;' in Luke 16:8, ‘children of the world' and
‘children of light.' They were childr... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 3:26. UNTO YOU FIRST GOD, etc. ‘First.' St. Peter here clearly
recognises definitely that upon others as well as Israel, the glory of
the Lord has risen (Isaiah 60). Perhaps at this moment, full of the
Holy Spirit, the fact of the glorious breadth of redemption flashed on
the speaker's mind wit... [ Continue Reading ]