III. (1) NOW PETER AND JOHN WENT UP. — Better, _were going up._ The union of the two brings the narratives of the Gospels into an interesting connection with the Acts. They were probably about the same age (the idea that Peter was some years older than John rests mainly on the pictures which artists... [ Continue Reading ]
A CERTAIN MAN LAME FROM HIS MOTHER’S WOMB. — The careful record of the duration of his suffering is more or less characteristic of St. Luke (Luke 9:33; Luke 14:8). The minuteness in this narrative suggests the thought that St. Luke’s informant may have been the cripple himself. WAS CARRIED. — Bette... [ Continue Reading ]
PETER, FASTENING HIS EYES UPON HIM... — See Notes on Luke 4:20; Acts 1:10, where the same characteristic word is used. The gaze was one which read character in the expression of the man’s face, and discerned that he had faith to be healed (Acts 3:16). And he, in his turn, was to look on them that he... [ Continue Reading ]
SILVER AND GOLD HAVE I NONE. — The narrative of Acts 2:45 shows that the Apostles were treasurers and stewards of the sums committed to their charge by the generous self-denial of the community. Either, therefore, we must assume that the words meant that they had no silver or gold with them at the t... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS FEET. — Better, _his soles._ The precision with which the process is described is characteristic of the medical historian. Both this term and the “ankle bones” employed are more or less technical, as is also the word rendered “received strength,” literally, _were consolidated,_ the flaccid tissu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE LEAPING UP STOOD. — The verb is a compound form of that in the LXX. version of Isaiah 35:6 — “The lame shall leap as a hart.” First there was the upward leap in the new consciousness of power; then the successful effort to stand for the first time in his life; then he “began to walk,” and wen... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY KNEW. — Better, _they recognised him that it was he. _... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE PORCH THAT IS CALLED SOLOMON’S. — The porch — or better, _portico_ or _cloister_ — was outside the Temple, on the eastern side. It consisted, in the Herodian Temple, of a double row of Corinthian columns, about thirty-seven feet high, and received its name as having been in part constructed,... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY LOOK YE SO EARNESTLY ON US? — The verb is the same as that in Acts 3:4. The pronoun stands emphatically at the beginning of the verse — _Why is it on us that ye gaze?_ AS THOUGH BY OUR OWN.... HOLINESS.... — Better, _purity,_ or _devotion._ The words refer to what may be called the popular theo... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND OF ISAAC, AND OF JACOB. — Here again we have an echo of our Lord’s teaching. That Name had been uttered in the precincts of the Temple, not improbably in the self-same portico, as part of our Lord’s constructive proof of the resurrection of the dead (Matthew 22:32). Now it wa... [ Continue Reading ]
YE DENIED THE HOLY ONE AND THE JUST. — The language, though startlingly new to the hearers, had been partially anticipated. It had been used of the Christ by the demoniacs (Mark 1:24). The best MSS. give St. Peter’s confession in John 6:69 in the form, “Thou art the Holy One of God.” Pilate’s wife,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND KILLED THE PRINCE OF LIFE. — The word translated “Prince” is applied to Christ here and in Acts 5:31. In Hebrews 2:10 we meet with it in “the _Captain_ of their salvation;” in Hebrews 12:2, in “the _Author_ and Finisher of our faith.” Its primary meaning, like that of prince (_princeps_)_,_ is o... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS NAME THROUGH FAITH IN HIS NAME. — We have, in technical language, the efficient cause distinguished from the indispensable condition of its action. The Name did not work as a formula of incantation; it required, on the part both of the worker and the receiver, faith in that which the Name repres... [ Continue Reading ]
I WOT THAT THROUGH IGNORANCE YE DID IT. — The Rhemish is the only version which substitutes “I know” for the now obsolete “I wot.” St. Peter’s treatment of the relation of “ignorance” to “guilt” is in exact agreement with St. Paul’s, both in his judgment of his own past offences (1 Timothy 6:13) and... [ Continue Reading ]
THOSE THINGS, WHICH GOD BEFORE HAD SHEWED. — As in Acts 1:16; Acts 2:23, we have again an echo of the method of prophetic interpretation which the Apostles had learnt from their Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
REPENT YE THEREFORE, AND BE CONVERTED. — The latter word, though occurring both in the Gospels and Epistles, is yet pre-eminently characteristic of the Acts, in which it occurs eleven times, and, with one exception, always in its higher spiritual sense. The use of the middle voice for “be converted,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL SEND JESUS CHRIST. — Better, as before, _and that He may send._ WHICH BEFORE WAS PREACHED UNTO YOU. — The better MSS. have, _which was fore-appointed,_ or _fore-ordained_,_ for you_.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOM THE HEAVEN MUST RECEIVE. — The words have a pregnant force: “must receive and keep.” UNTIL THE TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. — The “times” seem distinguished from the “seasons” as more permanent. This is the only passage in which the word translated “restitution” is found in the New Testa... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MOSES TRULY SAID UNTO THE FATHERS. — Better, _For Moses indeed said,_ the word being one of the common conjunctions, and not the adverb which means “truthfully.” The appeal is made to Moses in his two-fold character as lawgiver and prophet. As the words stand, taken with their context, they seem... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BE DESTROYED FROM AMONG THE PEOPLE. — The original has it, “I will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18:19). The words which St. Peter substitutes are as an echo of a familiar phrase which occurs in Exodus 12:15; Exodus 12:19; Leviticus 17:4; Leviticus 17:9, _et al._ This, again, looks like a ci... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE PROPHETS FROM SAMUEL. — Samuel _is_ named, both as being the founder of the school of the prophets, and so the representative of the “goodly fellowship,” and as having uttered one of the earliest of what were regarded as the distinctively Messianic predictions (2 Samuel 7:13; Hebrews 1:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OF THE COVENANT.... — It is a significant indication of the unity of apostolic teaching, which it was St. Luke’s aim to bring before his readers, that St. Peter thus refers chiefly to the covenant made with Abraham (Genesis 12:3), with as full an emphasis as St. Paul does when he had learnt to s... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO YOU FIRST.... — Here again we note, even in the very turn of the phrase as well as of the thought, an agreement with St. Paul’s formula of the purpose of God being manifested “to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile” (Acts 13:46; Romans 1:16; Romans 2:9). St. Peter does not as yet know the co... [ Continue Reading ]