Acts 3 (Wednesday Evening Bible Study)

Acts 3

• Acts 3:1-10
• Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. 2 A man who was lame from birth was being carried there. He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money. 4 Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.” 5 So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” 7 Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong. 8 So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.
  • The healing of the lame man follow the paragraph which describes the many wonders and miraculous signs done by the apostles in 2:43
  • Acts continues to focus on the conversions of those who might be considered unlikely prospects for God’s favor—first the crowd in Jerusalem, which was responsible for eh crucifixion of Jesus, and now a lame man whose life seemed to be hopelessly ruined. Many Jews probably considered the man as suffering from the punishment of God. But the apostles were ready to proclaim the gospel to all who would hear them
  • Peter and John walked up to the temple, since the temple was located on a highly elevated stone platform in Jerusalem. As was mentioned in 2:46 the believers continued to meet in the temple courts. The word for “temple” used here describes the temple precincts rather than suggesting that the apostles went into the holy place itself
  • Going to the temple at the time of prayer was not unusual for the early Christians. Three times for prayer had been established. The first was at the time of sacrifice in the early morning and then again at about 3 pm. The last time for prayer was at sunset. Peter and John were there for the afternoon prayer time
  • Entering through the large gateway to the temple courts, they arrived about the same time that a man was being carried to a place beside the entrance
    • Their location was at a “gate called Beautiful,” a name unknown in any Jewish literature from the time. It is usually identified with the gate called Nicanor located on the eastern wall of the temple court. This gate may be the one Josephus describes as being made not of silver and gold overlays, but of “Corinthian bronze” which “far exceeded in value those plated with silver and set in gold.”
  • The lame man was placed here because Jewish worshipers would be extremely conscious of their duty to obey the law, to worship God, and to show charity to the needy
    • His friends and family brought him here every day to beg. It was well know that his affliction had been present since birth. Those Jews entering through the gateway would pass by him on their way from the court of the Gentiles up the steps and past the barrier which warned Gentiles not to go further on pain of death
    • There he sat conspicuously, repeating over and over, “alms, alms.” No doubt many other beggars were seen around the temple courts as well
  • The lame man noticed Peter and John and quickly directed his request to them
    • Peter and John “looked straight at him,” as if to emphasize the pointed significance of this communication. Peter commands the same attention from the beggar when he said, “Look at us.” The man responded with his full attention, shining this might be the day he would receive a significant contribution from such interested worshipers
  • Peter’s unexpected admission must have caught the lame man by surprise. Not to have silver or gold meant disappointment for a beggar
    • Peter quickly assured the man that he possessed something more valuable and then commanded the lame man to walk
    • To give this command in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth refers to something done in the power and authority of Christ. This point will be important later in this account (4:17)
  • The cure was miraculous and instantaneous. The affliction carried by the lame man for years was removed in an instant
    • His joy an gratitude expressed themselves in his “walking, jumping, and praising God,” actions which the Greek tense portrays as going on continuously. He went with the apostles as they moved through the court o the women to the court of Israel. Other worshipers saw him and realized that this was the man who used to sit begging at the temple gate, and they couldn’t believe their eyes
• Acts 3:11-16
• 11 While he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon’s Colonnade. 12 When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you. 15 You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in front of all of you.
  • As worshipers came streaming from all directions, Peter began his address
    • There are six themes found in this address, as well as Peter’s Pentecost address, and his sermon in the home of Cornelius. Each of them mentions the appointment of Jesus by God; His signs, wonders, and mighty works; His death and resurrection; the harmony of all thees details with Scripture; Christ’s exaltation in heaven; and the position of the apostles as eyewitnesses
    • His first objective was to interpret the miracle which had been witnessed by the Jewish crowd. He emphasized that only by the power of Jesus’ name could such a remarkable thing occur
    • His second objective was to move the Jews toward sincere repentance of their rejection of Chris and a willingness to accept Him as God’s appointed savior
  • Passing from the court of Israel back again through the court of women and the Beautiful Gate, Peter and John came with the healed man to the court of the Gentiles
    • On the easter side of the court of the Gentiles was located Solomon’s Colonnade. It was a porch along the inside of the wall with rows of stone columns 27 ft high supporting a cedar roof. Evidently the Christinas met here frequently. The Jewish traditions which credited the porch to Solomon was inaccurate
    • Peter met the astonishment of the crowd with an explanation of what they had seen. No human virtue could explain the healing
    • Instead the credit should go to “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” the patriarchal formula for God that was important in the OT and in Judaism. This is the same God who “glorified His servant Jesus.” The “servant” described in Isaiah’s “servant psalms” was Jesus. Through the ministry of God’s appointed servant the lame man was now walking around
  • God’s initiative, however, had been met with opposition from the citizens of Jerusalem
    • As Peter had done in his Pentecost address, he laid blame at the feet of the Jews in Jerusalem. you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14 You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you. 15 You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead;
    • These were historical facts. They had resisted the action of God as witnessed by even the demons who acknowledged Jesus as “the Holy One of God”. They managed to murder the author of life, but God thwarted their wickedness by raising Him from the dead to this event the apostles were eyewitnesses, and Peter repeated this fact
  • Thus the Jewish worshipers should not wonder about the cause of the miracle. The power came through “faith in the name of Jesus.” Though Peter did not specify whose faith—the lame man’s or the apostles’—his words drew attention to a risen Lord whose spiritual activity continued to be obvious among believers
• Acts 3:17-21
• 17 “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders also did. 18 In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets—that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning.
  • In the same way that Peter had called the Pentecost crowd to repentance, he said to this crowd, “repent and turn back.” Though the verb “turn” does not have the object “to God in the Greek text, the thought is true to the idea of repentance
    • Repentance is a turning away from sin. Turning to God completes the transformation. The results which would follow, declare Peter, were the forgiveness of sins and times of refreshing from the Lord
      • The verb “wiped out” was sometimes used of the canceling of a debt. The “refreshing” would be like a breeze which brings relief from scorching heat. The term corresponds to the “restoration of all things” in 3:21 and includes the new world order established eternally by the Messiah
  • One different in this sermon and Peter’s Pentecost sermon is his mention of the ignorance of the Jews. From the cross Jesus prayed for their forgiveness, for they knew not what they were doing. Peter attributed their actions in the crucifixion to ignorance on their part and on the part of their national leaders. Meanwhile, he again drew the contrast between the misguided decisions of the Jews and the powerful action of God
  • In addition, Peter noted that this event had been “foretold through all the prophets.” Later passages in Acts will point to these prophecies again and again. The substance of the prophecies was that the Messiah would suffer, but that God would establish through Him a kingdom of righteousness
  • The demand of God was that Israel repent
    • Then God would send the Messiah in order “to restore everything,” a term used in 1:6 when the disciples asked Jesus about the restoration of the kingdom. Here Peter reflects on the return of the Christ from His position in heaven, an event which will be followed by the fulfillment of God’s promise “through His holy prophets”
• Acts 3:22-26
• 22 Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you. 23 And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be completely cut off from the people. 24 “In addition, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those after him, have also foretold these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, And all the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring. 26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”
  • Peter concluded his message with specifics regarding the prophecies
    • Turning attention to Deuteronomy 18:15-19, Peter pointed out that Moses had described the prophet whom God would raise up among the people. God had fulfilled this promise by sending Jesus Christ
      • There is evidence that this prophecy was understood as Messianic even before the time of Jesus
    • Moses was not the only prophet, Peter insisted, who spoke of the coming Messiah
      • From the prophet Samuel on there had been an unbroken succession of God’s spokesmen promising that the Messiah was coming. These promises were the possession of Israel and thus Peter called his Jewish audience “sons of the prophets and of the covenant” God had made with their forefathers
      • Peter then referred to the specific promise repeated to Abraham and recorded in Genesis
        • Offspring here, as in Pul’s discussion in Galatians 3:16, is singular rather than plural. Paul contended in that discussion that offspring refers to Christ. Peter made the same point to the audience in the temple. The Messiah came “first to the Jews when God “raised Him up,” a phrase which hints at the resurrection of Christ
        • Peter’s conclusion speaks of repentance. Christ’s mission included the repentance of the Jews. But the Jews were not Hi sonly target. The word “first” implies that the gospel had a wider objective than just the Jews, and events later in Acts will make this point again and again