Acts 3
DODDActs 3:1-11
Peter and John, quickly after the feast of Pentecost, cure a man who had been lame from his birth, at the temple gate, which occasions a great concourse of admiring spectators. Acts III. 1—11.
Acts III. 1.
vi. NOW while the church was in the flourishing state described above, an extraordinary circumstance happened, which tended iii. 1 still more to increase its numbers and reputa- Acts III. 1. NOW Peter and John went up
John go up to the temple at the hour of prayer.
tion: For on a certain day, about that time,ᵃ Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer, [being] the ninth hour, that is, about three o’clock in the afternoon;ᵇ which was the usual time of day when great numbers attended the evening sacrifice, and joined their prayers with those of the priest, who was burning incense before the Lord. (Compare Luke i. 10.)
And a certain man, well known among them, that frequented the place, who had been lame from his mother’s womb, by a weakness in his ancles, which rendered him incapable of walking, was carried thither by the help of others; whom they daily brought and laid down at the eastern gate of the temple, which is called the Beautiful gate,ᶜ being made of Corinthian brass, and richly adorned with the most curious workmanship; and here he lay, to ask alms of those that entered into the temple to pay their devotion there, as such charitable actions seem peculiarly suitable, when men are going to make their supplications to the God of mercy; and the relief that he obtained here was the only means he had for his subsistence. Such was the case of this poor cripple, who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, applied himself to them among the rest, and begged to receive an
ᵃAbout that time.] Thus I would choose, with Grotius, to render the words vv. to a. 7.5 at the beginning of this chapter, as it does not seem to suit so well with the original, to take them to imply no more, than that Peter and John went up together to the temple. I see no reason to suppose with Dr. Lightfoot, that this happened the same day, on which the Spirit was miraculously poured out, or to conclude with others, that it was not till the next year, or at least several months after. The time is no where determined; but it appears most probable, that it was soon after the feast of Pentecost. Compare noteᶜ on Acts iv. 4, § 8.
ᵇAt the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.] It may suffice once for all to observe, that the Jews divided the time, from the rising to the setting of the sun, into twelve hours, which were consequently, at different times of the year, of unequal length, as the days were longer or shorter. When we say therefore, (as we often do in this work) that the third hour was about nine in the morning, the ninth about three in the afternoon, &c. we are not to be under-
undestood to speak with the utmost exactness. The third hour was the middle space between sunrising and noon, which, if the sun rose at five, was half an hour after eight, if at seven, was half an hour after nine, &c. The chief hours of prayer were the third and the ninth; at which seasons the morning and evening sacrifices were offered, and incense, as a kind of emblem representing prayer, burnt on the golden altar. See Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xiv. cap. 4, [al. 8,] § 3.
ᶜCalled the Beautiful gate.] This gate, which was added by Herod to the court of the Gentiles, was thirty cubits high, and fifteen broad, and made of Corinthian brass, more pompous in its workmanship and splendour than those that were covered with silver and gold. (Joseph. Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. 5, [al. vi. 6,] § 3.) Josephus, as our present copies stand, says it was the outer gate; but Lud. Coppellus thinks, this reading is wrong, and that it was the inner gate; between the court of the Gentiles and that of Israel: and Grotius allows of his reasoning. See Grot. in loc.
eter miraculously cures a man lame rom
alms of them. But Peter, being then (as was observed before) with John the beloved disciple, felt at that time a strong emotion of soul, which intimated to him, that the Divine energy was then to be displayed in the illustrious miracle to be wrought by his means: and turning therefore to the poor man, and looking steadfastly upon him, he said, Look upon us. And accordingly he fixed his eyes upon them, as expecting to receive something from them for the relief of his necessities. But Peter, under the Divine impulse, intended him a far more important favour; and therefore said, As for silver and gold, I have none of either to impart to thee, were I ever so free to do it; but what I have in my power I willingly give thee; and thou shalt find it not less valuable: I say unto thee, therefore, in the great and prevailing name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and as a proof that he is indeed the Messiah, rise up and walk. And Peter taking him by the right hand, encouraged him to do as he had said, and raised him up: And immediately on his speaking this, and touching him, his feet and his uncle bones, which had before been disabled, were in an extraordinary manner strengthened and reduced to their proper situation. And leaping up from the place where he lay, he first stood in an erect posture, which he had never before been able to do, and then walked about with strength and steadiness, and entered with them into the court of the temple, there to offer his firstfruits of thanksgiving; sometimes walking, and sometimes leaping for joy, and in a rapture of astonishment and thankfulness, praising God for so singular a mercy manifested to him. (Compare Isa. xxxv. 6.)
And all the people who were there present, saw him, thus walking in the court of the temple and the cloister adjacent to it, and heard him praising God with this uncommon ecstasy of de-
d Silver and gold I have none.] This was after the estates were sold, (chap. ii. 45) and plainly shews, how far the apostles were from enriching themselves by the measures which passed through their hands, as Mr. Reynolds well observes in his Letters to a Deist, No. iii. p. 242.
By his mentioning gold as well as silver, (which a beggar like this could not expect to receive) he probably meant to speak of himself as continuing still a poor man, and not merely to say, that he had no gold about him.
The people are astonished at the mirac.
light: And they knew him perfectly well, that this was he who had sat so long at the Beautiful gate of the temple, to beg for alms of those that entered in and came out: And they were filled with awful astonishment, and felt in themselves likewise a kind of joyful ecstasy, something resembling his, at that miraculous event which had befallen him.
And, upon this, while the lame man who was thus worded fully healed, full of the tenderest sentiments of gratitude, still kept his hold of Peter and John, and walked on between them, sometimes taking them by the hand, and sometimes embracing them as his great benefactors and the means of his deliverance; all the people in the neighbouring parts, alarmed with so strange a story, ran together to them in great amazement, to the spacious and celebrated portico of the temple, which (for reasons elsewhere assigned) was called Solomon’s portico. And Peter observing the great concourse of people, and finding that they were exceedingly affected with the miracle which had been wrought, took that opportunity of making a very instructive discourse to them, which will be recorded in the ensuing section.
IMPROVEMENT.
HAPPY are those souls, who are so formed for devotion, that verse the proper returning seasons of it, whether public or private, are always welcome! Doubly delightful that friendship, which, like this of Peter and John, is endeared not only by taking sweet counsel together, but by going to the house of God in company! (Psal. lv. 14.)
If we desire this devotion should be acceptable, let us endeavour not only to lay aside all the malignant passions, and to lift up holy hands without wrath; (1 Tim. ii. 8) but let us stretch out our hands in works of benevolence and kindness. To our piety let us add the most diffusive charity which our circumstances will permit; and there are none, whose circumstances will forbid every exercise of it. As for those that have neither silver nor gold, such as they have let them give.
Kept his hold of Peter and John.] Perhaps fearing his lameness should return, if he lost sight of them, as Beza and others have observed.
The portico called Solomon’s] The reason why it was so called and what a
sort of building it was, may be seen in note on John x. 23, Vol. II. To which we may add, that this is said to have been only part of the temple, which was not destroyed by the Chaldeans.
Reflections on the cure of the blind man.
TEST. These holy apostles, we see, had not enriched themselves by being intrusted with the distribution of those goods which were laid at their feet; but had approved themselves faithful stewards: The members of Christ were far dearer to them than any temporal interest of their own; and fatally, sure, would the church in all ages have been mistaken, if it had measured the worth of its pastors by their wealth. They bestowed nevertheless a much more valuable bounty: And if it be more desirable to heal men’s bodies than to enrich them, how much more advantageous is it to be the instrument of healing their souls? which, if it be ever accomplished, must surely be in the same name, even that of Jesus of Nazareth: May he strengthen the feeble powers of fallen nature, while we are attempting to raise men up; and may spiritual health and vigour, when restored, be improved, like the cure wrought on this lame man, in the service of God, and a thankful acknowledgment of his goodness.
We are not to wonder, that, as the name of Jesus, their great deliverer is incomparably precious to all that truly believe, such have also some peculiarly tender friendships for the persons, by whose means he has wrought this good work upon them: May many such friendships be formed now, and be perfected in glory; and, in the mean time, may the ministers of Christ be watching every opportunity of doing good, and especially when they see men under any lively impressions which tend towards religion: May they have that holy mixture of zeal and prudence, which taught the apostles how to speak a word in season; a word which proved so remarkably good, and was owned by God in so singular a manner, for the conversion and salvation of multitudes that heard it!
Acts 3:12
Peter makes a most affectionate discourse to the people assembled in the temple, on occasion of the cure of the lame man. Acts III. 12, to the end.
Acts III. 12.
THE miraculous cure of the lame man at the Beautiful gate of the temple was presently reported in the city, and occasioned (as we have seen before) a vast concourse of people, who ran together to the temple, and gathered in crowds about Peter and John, astonished at so marvellous a cure, and eager to behold the persons who had wrought it. And Peter seeing [this] was ready to improve it as a proper opportunity of renewing his address to them.
ACTS III. 12.
AND when Peter saw it, he an-
’s discourse on this occasion to the people.
pon that important errand with which, as an apostle of Jesus, he was charged; accordingly he answered those of the people who were there assembled, and were earnestly inquiring into the circumstances of the fact, in the following manner.
Te men of Israel, why do ye wonder so at this which has now happened, when so much greater miracles have lately been performed among you? or why do ye fix your eyes so earnestly on us, with that astonishment which your looks express, as if it were by our own power, or by any peculiar piety and holiness of ours, that we had made this poor man able to walk? We would by no means take the honour of this miracle to ourselves, but would direct your views unto the great original of all, even the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, whom we adore and reverence as the God of our fathers; and would have you to consider what has now happened, as a signal proof that he hath glorified his Son Jesus, and given all power into his hands; even that Jesus whom you, kind as his design and exemplary as his life was, ungratefully delivered up to the Roman power as a criminal, and treated with such a vile contempt, as that you openly renounced and refused to accept of him in the presence of Pilate, when he was satisfied of his innocence, and determined to release him. But you, I say, renounced the Holy and Righteous One, declaring that you would not own him as your king, nor even be contented to admit of his discharge, when it was offered by the Roman governor, and pressed upon you; and were so set against him, that with outrageous clamour you desired rather that Barabbas, one of the most infamous of mankind, a robber and a murderer, might be granted and released unto you: And while you asked for the deliverance of so vile a wretch, you inhumanly and insolently killed him who is the great author and Prince of life, the only person who had power to conduct you to it: Whom nevertheless God has amply
a The God of our Fathers.] This was wisely introduced here in the beginning of his discourse, that it might appear, they taught no new religion, inconsistent with the Mosaic, and were far from having the least design to divert their regards from the God of VOL. 3. Israel. For the force of the word Ignorable, which we have rendered renounced, see Heins. Exercit. Sacr. p. 254, 255. b Killed the Prince of life.] Even him, to whom the Father had given to have life himself (John v. 26), and whom he had
The cure of the lame man was wrought by all vindicated, having raised him up from the dead; of which we his apostles are witnesses, upon a repeated testimony of our own senses, in circumstances in which it was impossible that they should be deceived. And God is still continuing to heap new honours upon him, whom you have treated with so much infamy; for be it known unto you, it is by faith in his name that he hath strengthened this poor man, whom you see here before you, and whom you know to have been unable from his birth to walk: [Yea,] I repeat it again, as what highly concerns you all to know and regard, It is his name, and the faith which is centered in him, and which derives its efficacy from his power, that has given him this perfect strength and soundness, which he now manifests before you all.
And now, brethren, while I am urging this for your conviction, that I may lead you to repent of your great wickedness in crucifying so excellent and so divine a person, I would not aggravate the crime you have been guilty of beyond due bounds, so as to drive you to despair; as I know that it was through ignorance of his true character that you did [it,] as [did] also your rulers, by whom you were led on and prompted to it: For surely, if the dignity and greatness of his person, and his divine authority and mission had been known, both you and they must have treated him in a very different manner. (Compare 1 Cor. ii. 8.) But God permitted this that you have done, and overruled it for wise and gracious purposes; and hath thus fulfilled those things, which he so plainly had foretold by the mouth of all his prophets in the various ages of the world: even that Christ should suffer, as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of his people. (Compare Acts xiii. 27.)
appointed to conduct his followers to life and glory. The contrast between their killing such a person, and interceding for the pardon of a murderer, a destroyer of life, has a peculiar energy.
*And by faith in his name he hath strengthened, &c.] The construction of the original, as it is commonly pointed, is so exceedingly perplexed, that Heinsius’s manner of pointing seems greatly to be preferred. He places a period after 1500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
referring that verb to o &c. in the preceding verse, and To 1500,000 to 1500,000 in the latter clause of this.
Through ignorance you did it, &c.] Probably, if it had not been so, they would have been immediately destroyed, or reserved to vengeance without any offer of pardon. Yet it is plain, their ignorance, being in itself highly criminal amidst such means of information, did not excuse them from great guilt.
refreshment would come, if they repented.
See to it therefore, that it be your immediate care to secure an interest in the benefits purchased by his death: And to this purpose let us exhort you to repent of your iniquities, and with a sense of what you have done amiss to turn to God in the way of sincere and universal obedience, that so your sins may be blotted out, and you may be delivered from the heavy burden of your guilt; that seasons of sacred refreshment and delight may come upon you from the presence of the Lord; And that in consequence of your complying with this important counsel, you may not only be received to all the joys of a state of pardon and divine acceptance, but he may at length send unto you this Jesus Christ, who was so long before appointed by God to this blessed purpose, and represented and proclaimed under such a variety of symbols as the great Saviour of lost sinners; that having triumphed over all his enemies, and accomplished all the prophecies as to the prosperity and glory of his church on earth, he may finally receive you and all his faithful servants to complete an eternal happiness above. Submit yourselves this day then to this glorious Redeemer, whom you must not indeed expect, as immediately to appear in person among you; for heaven must continue to receive and retain him, till the long expected and happy times of the regulation of
- That seasons of refreshment may come, &c.] So it is that Tertullian, Luther, Heinsius, Lightfoot, De Dieu, and Raphelius (ex Herod. p. 329), I think very reasonably, render the words σπωτ αν ελθωσιν, &c. as the same phrase is used, Luke ii. 35, σπωτ αν αποκαλυφθωσιν, &c. that the thoughts may be revealed; and Mat. vi. 5, σπωτ αν φανωσιν, that they may be seen. (See also Acts xv. 17; and Rom. iii. 4.) Erasmus and Piscator render it, Seeing times of refreshment are come; and Beza, After that, or when they shall come: But the authorities produced in favour of this version seem not sufficient to justify it; nor was the blotting out the sins of penitents deferred to any distant time. Divine refreshment would, no doubt, immediately mingle itself with a sense of pardon, and eternal happiness would certainly at length suc-
ceed: but the following clause seems to intimate, that Peter apprehended the conversion of the Jews, as a people, would be attended with some extraordinary scene of prosperity and joy, and open a speedy way to Christ’s descent from heaven, in order to the restitution of all things. I have the pleasure, since I wrote this, to find that the learned Vitringa agrees with me in this interpretation. Vitring. Observ. Sacr. lib. v. cap. 6, § 14.
[Before appointed.] Instead of προκαταχωριστο, before preached, I here follow Beza in reading προκαταχωριστο as Tertullian and several of the fathers quote it, and the Alexandrian and several other valuable manuscripts, and ancient versions likewise, have it; and then υμιν must, (as in this version) be referred to αποχωριον, shall see to you, &c.
These things had been foretold by Moses and the prophets.
szer. all things,⁶ that is, till the great appointed day, vii. when God will rectify all the seeming irregularities of his present dispensations, and make Acts the cause of righteousness and truth for every iii. 21 triumphant and glorious: Concerning which [great events] (that is, that such a Saviour should be raised up, and should at length be fixed in universal dominion, and the like) God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets *from the beginning of time.*⁶
22 For Moses, the first of these prophets whose writings are come down to us, has in the plainest terms, described him, when he said to the fathers in his early days⁷ (Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19), “Surely a prophet shall the Lord your God in after times raise up unto you, out of the families of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear and hearken to in all things what-
23 soever he shall say unto you: And it shall come to pass, [that] every soul who will not hearken to that prophet, and be obedient to him, shall be cut off from among the people without *mercy,*⁸ and be made an example of the severest punishment due to such aggravated and
24 ungrateful rebellion.” Tea, and those that succeeded Moses, even all the prophets from *Samuel,*⁹ and those that follow after, as many
⁶ The regulation of all things.] This ἀποκάλυψε may so well be explained of regulating the present disorders, in the moral world, and the seeming inequalities of Providential dispensations, that it is sur- prising to find Dr Thomas Burnet, Mr. Whiston, and other learned writers, urg- ing it for such a restoration of the paradisa- ical state of the earth, as they on their dif- ferent hypothesis have ventured to assert, without any clear warrant from Scripture, and amidst a thousand difficulties which clog our conceptions of it. (Compare note on Mat. xvii. 11, Vol. II.)
⁶ From the beginning of time.] See note ⁶ on Luke i. 70, Vol. I.
⁶ Moses said to the fathers ] This quota- tion from Deut. xviii. 15, 17 seq. does in its primary sense refer to the Messiah, as Dr. Bullock and Mr. Jeffery have excellently shewn; he being, like Moses, not only a Prophet, but a Saviour, and a Lawgiver too. On this Scripture does Limborch chiefly build in that noble controversy of his with Orobio, most justly called Amica Collatio-
cum erudito Jude, which not only contains a variety of beautiful, and some of them very uncommon arguments, but is also on both sides so fine a model of a genteel and amicable manner of debating the most momentous question, as it would have been much for the credit of their religion and of *themselves, if all other advocates for Christi- *ianity had followed. Justin Martyr’s Dia- logue with Trypho is written with much of the same decent spirit, though by no means with equal compass and solidity of thought.
⁶ Shall be cut off from among the people.] One cannot imagine a more masterly address than this, to warn the Jews of the dreadful consequence of their infidelity, in the very words of Moses, their favourite prophet, out of a pretended zeal for whom they were ready to reject Christianity, and to attempt its destruction. See above, sect. 4, note ⁶.
⁶ All the prophets from Samuel.] As Samuel is the earliest prophet next to Moses, whose writings are come down to us, and as the books which go under his name,
of the covenant, Jesus was first sent to them.
as spoke any thing largely concerning the future purposes and schemes of Divine Providence, have also foretold these important days, which, by the singular favour of God to you, ye are now so happy as to see.
Let us now, therefore, solemnly entreat you to regard and improve these declarations in a becoming manner: for you have peculiar obligations to do it, as you are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God constituted of old with our fathers, saying to Abraham again and again, (Gen. xii. 3; xviii. 18; xxii. 18) “And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” And accordingly this Messiah who was promised as so extensive and universal a blessing, has sprung from him; and to you first, God having raised up his child Jesus from the loins of this pious patriarch, has sent him with ample demonstrations of his divine mission, lately in his own person, and now by our ministry and the effusion of his Spirit, to offer pardon and salvation to you, and to bless you, every one of you turning from your iniquities; in which, though by profession you are God’s people, you have been so long indulging yourselves; nor are the vilest and most aggravated sinners among you excepted from the grace of such an invitation. Let it therefore be your most solicitous care, that this gracious message may not be addressed to you in vain.
and were probably begun by his pen, speak very expressly of the Messiah, (1 Sam. ii. 10; 2 Sam. xxiii. 3-5) nothing can be more unnecessary, and hardly any thing more unnatural, than to draw an argument from this passage to support the notion of Samuel’s being the author of the Pentateuch, which many texts in the Old and New Testament seem most directly to contradict. (See Lord Barrington’s Essay on Var. Dispensat. Appendix, No. ii.) It would be trifling to argue from this expression of all the prophets, that every one of them, and particularly Jonah and Obadiah, must have said somewhat of the Messiah. It is abundantly sufficient, that it is true of the prophets in general.
“To you first.] Accordingly the gospel was (by the astonishing grace of our blessed Redeemer ever where offered first to
the Jews. Had it been otherwise, human speaking, many who were converted in this method might have been exasperated and lost.
Reflections on Peter’s discourse to the people.
IMPROVEMENT.
HAPPY the minister whose heart is thus intent upon all opportunities of doing good, as these holy apostles were! Happy that faithful servant, who, like them, arrogates nothing to himself, but centres the praise of all in him who is the great source from whom every good and perfect gift proceeds! Happy the man who is himself willing to be forgotten and overlooked, that God may be remembered and owned! He, like this wise masterbuilder, will lay the foundation deep in a sense of sin, and will charge it with all its aggravations on the sinner, that he may thereby render the tidings of a Saviour welcome; which they can never be till this burden has been felt. Yet will he, like Peter, conduct the charge with tenderness and respect, and be cautious not to overload even the greatest offender.
We see the absolute necessity of repentance, which therefore is to be solemnly charged upon the consciences of all who desire that their sins may be blotted out of the book of God’s remembrance, and that they may share in that refreshment which nothing but the sense of his pardoning love can afford. Blessed souls are they who have experienced it; for they may look upon all their present comforts as the dawning of eternal glory; and having seen Christ with an eye of faith, and received that important cure, which nothing but his powerful and gracious name can effect, may be assured that God will send him again to complete the work he has so graciously begun, and to reduce the seeming irregularities of the present state into everlasting harmony, order, and beauty.
In the mean time, let us adore the wisdom of his providence, and the fidelity of his grace, which has overruled the folly and wickedness of men, to subserve his own holy purposes, and has accomplished the promises so long since made of a prophet to be raised up to Israel like Moses, and indeed gloriously superior to him, both in the dignity of his character and office, and in the great salvation he was sent to procure. This salvation was first offered to Israel, which had rendered itself so peculiarly unworthy by killing the Prince of life. Let us rejoice that he is now published to us, and that God has condescended to send his Son to bless us sinners of the Gentiles, in turning us from our iniquities. Let us view this salvation in its true light, and remember that if we are not willing to turn from iniquity, from all iniquity, from those iniquities that have been peculiarly our own, it is impossible we should have any share in it.
s and Sadducees lay hol on Peter and John.