Acts 3:1-10 (ESV)
Journal
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- Explore your fears and what’s behind them.
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- List out all that you are grateful for.
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Commentary
INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ACTS
CHAPTER 3 COMMENTARY
v.11: “Solomon’s Colonnade was the porch that ran along the east side of the Court of the Gentiles. It had rows of 27-foot-high stone columns and a roof of cedar. It was a good thirty yards wide and over five hundred yards long, so there was plenty of room for large gatherings.” [1]
v.15: “When he talked of his witness, he said, ‘We are witnesses of this’ (3:15; cf. 2:32; 5:32). Peter was not a lone voice; he had a ministry team backing him when he spoke. Peter and John ministered as a team after this incident too (8:14). When the first missionary team for Gentile evangelization was commissioned, the Holy Spirit wanted two people set apart (13:2). When this team broke up, both Paul and Barnabas took others along to form their own teams (15:39-40). We know that Paul almost never traveled alone. He had his traveling Bible school, where he trained ‘interns’ like Timothy and Titus. Even when Paul went to Rome as a prisoner, Luke was with him (27:2). In his last letter written from prison, Paul asked Timothy to join him quickly and to bring Mark along (2 Tim. 4:9,11). Only in exceptional cases, such as Philip the evangelist, do we see ministry performed alone in the New Testament.” [2]
v.19: “All they had to do to avail themselves of this salvation was to change their former attitude to Jesus and bring it into line with God’s attitude. God had clearly declared his verdict by raising him from the dead. Let them therefore repent, let them repudiate with abhorrence their acquiescence in the murder of their true Messiah, let them turn back in heart to God, and the salvation and blessing procured by their Messiah’s death would be theirs. Their sins would be blotted out, even that sin of sins which they had unwittingly committed in consenting to the death of the Author of life. Here is the heart of the gospel of grace.” [3]
Bible Text
Acts 3:1-10 (ESV)
1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Go Deeper
Acts 3:1-10
• Consider the setting: the Temple, the Beautiful Gate (famous for its imposing height and golden adornments), and the crippled beggar “lame from birth” begging for money. How are different versions of this picture played out in our world today?
• Consider the truths that emerge from the contrast between the beggar’s highest hopes for the day vs. what was actually available to him from Peter and John.
• What are some ways the elements of the passage – the beggar, silver and gold, Peter and John, the “name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” – resonate with my story, and ultimately commission me?
[1] Life Change Series: Acts.
[2] Fernando, Acts, The NIV Application Commentary Series, pp.141-142.
[3] Bruce, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, pp.83-84
Prayer