Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
the ninth hour = 3 pm, the hour associated with the evening sacrifice
"The fact is that Peter and John went to the temple at the hour of prayer because Israel had not yet been set aside and this was still God's appointed house of prayer. They were most faithful to their great commission, for under that commission (which was based upon the covenants and prophets) the conversion of the nations must begin with the conversion of the nation—Israel (See Zech 8:13; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8; 3:25-26). Nor were these men unspiritual for clinging to Judaism and its ceremonies, for no revelation had yet been given that because of the cross the Mosaic law could be set aside. In a word, the dispensation of the grace of God had not yet begun, nor had the mystery, God's unprophesied purpose concerning the Body of Christ, as yet been revealed. This was not to take place until the raising up of Paul, that other apostle." (Stam)
the gate...Beautiful - "Probably the Nicanor Gate, the eastern gate of the Temple buildings, leading from the Court of the Gentiles into the Women's Court." (Ryrie)
"We do not meet with this name elsewhere, and so it is difficult to identify the door in question. The most probable conjecture is that it is identical with the gate of Herod's temple which was known as 'the gate Nicanor'. This was on the east side of the 'Court of the Israelites' and was reached by a flight of fourteen or fifteen steps from the 'Court of the Women'. In other words, it was the main entrance from the east into the innermost court. All the temple gates to this innermost court had folding doors, covered with gold and silver; but Josephus tells us that this one was much larger than the rest, being fifty cubits high and forty cubits broad. It was made of Corinthian brass, 'adorned after a most costly manner' with thicker and richer plates of gold than the other gates. Others have supposed the 'beautiful' gate or door to be the gate 'Shushan' (lily), which appears to have been on the east of the 'Court of the Women'; through it ingress was had from the 'Court of the Gentiles'. There is however considerable uncertainty as to its exact locality. Josephus's description of the more handsome of the gates has been appropriated to this gate 'Shushan', erroneously, as it would seem." (Walker)
In the name of Jesus Christ - His power and authority are invoked.
"...At the same time a lame man, who had been in this condition from his birth, was being carried towards that beautiful gate. There they laid him down in his helpless condition that he might beg from those who entered in. Daily he was to be seen; most likely for many years He went to the temple and the miracles He did; yet this helpless beggar had not been healed. He reminds us vividly of that other lame man, who laid in the five porches and whom the Lord healed (John 5). From the chapter which follows we learn that this lame man at the temple gate was forty years old. His condition and position is typical of the moral condition of the nation. Like this man, Israel was helpless with all its beautiful religious ceremonies, laying outside, with no strength to enter in. The age of the lame man finds similar application; forty is the number of testing. The nation's condition as helpless, unable to walk in the statues and laws of God, without strength, outside, and a beggar, is therefore fully pictured in this lame man...
"But why was this miracle wrong at this time? It was wrought as another evidence for the unbelieving people that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had rejected and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, is the Messiah and their King. It was an evidence that He who hung on the cross and had been laid into the tomb is living in heaven and that God's omnipotent power was revealed in answer to that Name whom they had hated without a cause. God had promised to Israel His people a Kingdom, the blessings and glories of which prophet after prophet had announced. It was not to be a spiritual Kingdom, but a literal one, with the King of Righteousness ruling in the midst of them. One great Kingdom prophecy in the Old Testament mentions the lame man, too. 'Then shall the lame man leap as an hart' (Isiah 35:6). When the King, the Son of David, the Immanuel, had appeared in their midst, preaching the nearness of that kingdom, He manifested His kingly divine power, and the blind saw, the deaf heard and the lame walked. The people rejected Him. And now once more an offer of that Kingdom is to be made to the people. But the Lord, the rejected One, who had taken His place upon His Father's throne manifests His power once more in the healing of the lame man.
"And as this lame man had been perfectly healed, that he not alone walked, but leaped, with songs of praises on his lips, entering the temple, so the Lord was ready and willing to heal His people. The lame man so wonderfully healed, leaping and praising God, is a picture of what the whole nation will be in a future day, when they will look upon Him whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10). God's promise to them, still unfulfilled, is: 'I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep my judgment and do them' (Ezekiel 36:27). Then will the remnant of His people break forth in singing. 'In that day thous shalt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation; (Isaiah 12:1-6). 'And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away' (Isaiah 35:10). The commotion in the temple was great after this miracle had taken place. There could be no mistake about it. The man who had been healed was too well known by the multitude. They recognized him at once. It was the same familiar face, which they had seen again and again at the temple gate. What a change had taken place! His helplessness was completely removed and he leaped along. Instead of the miserable cry of the mendicant, his lips shouted the praises of God. A large multitude came together, greatly wondering. And now Peter opens his lips to speak to the people." (Gaebelein)
"Some years after the healing of the lame man, Peter wrote to the Jewish believers of his day: 'Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot' (1 Pet 1:18-19). There was the rub. Israel was seeking deliverance from her troubles but not from her sin. She would not repent. Therefore the nation was laid as a helpless beggar outside the temple, while the true worshippers, the 'little flock,' worshipped daily within! And it was this despised remnant that had what Israel needed to help her rise to her feet and enter the temple too. Indeed, the burning question now was: Would she even yet receive it?
"What a foreshadowing of millennial blessing to come, and what a sign of blessing proffered Israel then, at Pentecost, as Peter lifts the beggar by the right hand, saying: 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk!" (Verse 6). Suddenly the lame beggar has become a worshipper and he enters with them into the temple, 'walking, and leaping and praising God'! For the present Israel still remains spiritually a poor, helpless beggar, outside of the presence of God, but the blessed day will come when the chosen nation will be saved and with the resurrected remnant will enter before God with songs of rejoicing." (Stam)
wonder - "The word means more than 'wonder', and may be rendered 'amazement', as in Luke 4:36, 9, the only other passages in which it occurs. It is thus peculiar to St. Luke, and another proof of his authorship." (Walker)
amazement - "This may be translated 'astonishment' (as in Mark 16:8) or 'entrancement'. It denotes a great disturbance or distraction of mind arising from wonder or terror. It occurs again three times in the Acts (10:10; 11:5; 22:17), and is rendered 'trance'. It is cognate with the verb 'to be amazed' which we met with in 2:7, which see." (Walker)
the ninth hour = 3 pm, the hour associated with the evening sacrifice
"The fact is that Peter and John went to the temple at the hour of prayer because Israel had not yet been set aside and this was still God's appointed house of prayer. They were most faithful to their great commission, for under that commission (which was based upon the covenants and prophets) the conversion of the nations must begin with the conversion of the nation—Israel (See Zech 8:13; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8; 3:25-26). Nor were these men unspiritual for clinging to Judaism and its ceremonies, for no revelation had yet been given that because of the cross the Mosaic law could be set aside. In a word, the dispensation of the grace of God had not yet begun, nor had the mystery, God's unprophesied purpose concerning the Body of Christ, as yet been revealed. This was not to take place until the raising up of Paul, that other apostle." (Stam)
the gate...Beautiful - "Probably the Nicanor Gate, the eastern gate of the Temple buildings, leading from the Court of the Gentiles into the Women's Court." (Ryrie)
"We do not meet with this name elsewhere, and so it is difficult to identify the door in question. The most probable conjecture is that it is identical with the gate of Herod's temple which was known as 'the gate Nicanor'. This was on the east side of the 'Court of the Israelites' and was reached by a flight of fourteen or fifteen steps from the 'Court of the Women'. In other words, it was the main entrance from the east into the innermost court. All the temple gates to this innermost court had folding doors, covered with gold and silver; but Josephus tells us that this one was much larger than the rest, being fifty cubits high and forty cubits broad. It was made of Corinthian brass, 'adorned after a most costly manner' with thicker and richer plates of gold than the other gates. Others have supposed the 'beautiful' gate or door to be the gate 'Shushan' (lily), which appears to have been on the east of the 'Court of the Women'; through it ingress was had from the 'Court of the Gentiles'. There is however considerable uncertainty as to its exact locality. Josephus's description of the more handsome of the gates has been appropriated to this gate 'Shushan', erroneously, as it would seem." (Walker)
In the name of Jesus Christ - His power and authority are invoked.
"...At the same time a lame man, who had been in this condition from his birth, was being carried towards that beautiful gate. There they laid him down in his helpless condition that he might beg from those who entered in. Daily he was to be seen; most likely for many years He went to the temple and the miracles He did; yet this helpless beggar had not been healed. He reminds us vividly of that other lame man, who laid in the five porches and whom the Lord healed (John 5). From the chapter which follows we learn that this lame man at the temple gate was forty years old. His condition and position is typical of the moral condition of the nation. Like this man, Israel was helpless with all its beautiful religious ceremonies, laying outside, with no strength to enter in. The age of the lame man finds similar application; forty is the number of testing. The nation's condition as helpless, unable to walk in the statues and laws of God, without strength, outside, and a beggar, is therefore fully pictured in this lame man...
"But why was this miracle wrong at this time? It was wrought as another evidence for the unbelieving people that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had rejected and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, is the Messiah and their King. It was an evidence that He who hung on the cross and had been laid into the tomb is living in heaven and that God's omnipotent power was revealed in answer to that Name whom they had hated without a cause. God had promised to Israel His people a Kingdom, the blessings and glories of which prophet after prophet had announced. It was not to be a spiritual Kingdom, but a literal one, with the King of Righteousness ruling in the midst of them. One great Kingdom prophecy in the Old Testament mentions the lame man, too. 'Then shall the lame man leap as an hart' (Isiah 35:6). When the King, the Son of David, the Immanuel, had appeared in their midst, preaching the nearness of that kingdom, He manifested His kingly divine power, and the blind saw, the deaf heard and the lame walked. The people rejected Him. And now once more an offer of that Kingdom is to be made to the people. But the Lord, the rejected One, who had taken His place upon His Father's throne manifests His power once more in the healing of the lame man.
"And as this lame man had been perfectly healed, that he not alone walked, but leaped, with songs of praises on his lips, entering the temple, so the Lord was ready and willing to heal His people. The lame man so wonderfully healed, leaping and praising God, is a picture of what the whole nation will be in a future day, when they will look upon Him whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10). God's promise to them, still unfulfilled, is: 'I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep my judgment and do them' (Ezekiel 36:27). Then will the remnant of His people break forth in singing. 'In that day thous shalt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation; (Isaiah 12:1-6). 'And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away' (Isaiah 35:10). The commotion in the temple was great after this miracle had taken place. There could be no mistake about it. The man who had been healed was too well known by the multitude. They recognized him at once. It was the same familiar face, which they had seen again and again at the temple gate. What a change had taken place! His helplessness was completely removed and he leaped along. Instead of the miserable cry of the mendicant, his lips shouted the praises of God. A large multitude came together, greatly wondering. And now Peter opens his lips to speak to the people." (Gaebelein)
"Some years after the healing of the lame man, Peter wrote to the Jewish believers of his day: 'Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot' (1 Pet 1:18-19). There was the rub. Israel was seeking deliverance from her troubles but not from her sin. She would not repent. Therefore the nation was laid as a helpless beggar outside the temple, while the true worshippers, the 'little flock,' worshipped daily within! And it was this despised remnant that had what Israel needed to help her rise to her feet and enter the temple too. Indeed, the burning question now was: Would she even yet receive it?
"What a foreshadowing of millennial blessing to come, and what a sign of blessing proffered Israel then, at Pentecost, as Peter lifts the beggar by the right hand, saying: 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk!" (Verse 6). Suddenly the lame beggar has become a worshipper and he enters with them into the temple, 'walking, and leaping and praising God'! For the present Israel still remains spiritually a poor, helpless beggar, outside of the presence of God, but the blessed day will come when the chosen nation will be saved and with the resurrected remnant will enter before God with songs of rejoicing." (Stam)
wonder - "The word means more than 'wonder', and may be rendered 'amazement', as in Luke 4:36, 9, the only other passages in which it occurs. It is thus peculiar to St. Luke, and another proof of his authorship." (Walker)
amazement - "This may be translated 'astonishment' (as in Mark 16:8) or 'entrancement'. It denotes a great disturbance or distraction of mind arising from wonder or terror. It occurs again three times in the Acts (10:10; 11:5; 22:17), and is rendered 'trance'. It is cognate with the verb 'to be amazed' which we met with in 2:7, which see." (Walker)
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