Acts 3 Study Notes
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3:1 Peter and John continued to participate in Jewish rituals and worship, and early Christians regularly gathered in the temple (2:46). This is fitting, for Christianity began as a form of contemporary Judaism that accepted Jesus as Messiah. The beginning stages of the church’s separation from Judaism are recounted in Acts as Christian leaders such as Peter and Paul continued boldly to proclaim Jesus as Messiah. The full and final split of Christianity from Judaism came by the time of the first Jewish revolt against Rome (AD 66-70).
3:2 This is the first healing miracle in Acts. The man was lame from birth and was daily carried to the temple gate called Beautiful so he could beg for money. In the era before governmental aid for needy persons, it was the kindness of strangers and loved ones that kept men such as this alive.
3:3-6 It is good for the lame man that Peter and John did not have either silver or gold to hand out, for what they did have to offer was of far greater value—healing power through Jesus Christ. Rather than a temporary fix, the man was given a permanent remedy for his physical and spiritual problems.
3:7 The book of Acts recounts several healing miracles (e.g., 9:32-34,36-42). During the Hellenistic period, knowledge of science and medicine was advanced enough that the bystanders recognized without a doubt that Peter had enacted a miracle. The mention of the strengthening of the lame man’s feet and ankles may provide indirect support for the traditional view that the author, Luke, was a physician.
3:8-11 The sight attracted a great deal of attention. The response was awe and astonishment.
3:12 Recognizing that the onlookers were amazed, Peter seized the chance to testify about Jesus Christ. Signs of God’s power can point to the truth about Jesus (Jn 3:2; 14:11).
onoma
| Greek pronunciation | [AH nah mah] |
| CSB translation | name |
| Uses in Acts | 60 |
| Uses in the NT | 231 |
| Focus passage | Acts 3:6,16 |
The Greek noun onoma means name and has several uses, such as the following. (1) It is used for proper names of persons and places. (2) In Rv 3:1 onoma is rendered “reputation,” as in the expression he has made a name for. (3) It also occurs in the sense of title, as in Mt 10:41 (the literal in the name of a prophet means “because he is a prophet” or “because he has the title prophet”). In Heb 1:4 onoma refers to “Son” as the name or title that is more excellent than the angels’ (see vv. 2,5,8), and in Php 2:9 the “name that is above every name” is the title “Lord” (kurios), as explained in v. 11. (4) Finally, the NT often demands that believers act for, or in the name of, Jesus Christ. The phrase “in Jesus’s name” is not a mystical formula attached to the end of a prayer. It’s an expression of faith that identifies the person whom believers serve (Mt 18:20; Ac 2:38).
3:13-15 Peter told his hearers in Solomon’s Colonnade, which was part of the temple complex, that Jesus Christ was God’s servant. And yet the people had handed him over to Pilate and denied him, even though Pilate had judged him to be innocent (Lk 23:20-25). Peter emphasized the heinous nature of this deed by calling Jesus the Holy and Righteous One and by noting that they had asked Pilate to release a murderer in place of Jesus. Thus they killed the source of life instead of one who had taken life. But God raised Jesus from the dead, a fact to which both Peter and John were witnesses.
3:16 Peter and John had a chance to claim credit for the miraculous healing of the man, but instead insisted that it was faith in Jesus’s name that made this man strong. The apostles were merely God’s chosen instruments for conveying the miracle.
3:17 Ignorance here is not an excuse but is culpable, making repentance necessary.
3:18 The prophecy that the Messiah would suffer is an apparent reference to the Suffering Servant of Is 52:13-53:12. The suffering of the servant for sins (Is 53:10) had been fulfilled through Jesus.
3:19 On the basis of what he had said about who Jesus was, how he was treated by the Jewish people, and how God had vindicated him by raising him from the dead, Peter called on his audience to repent and turn back to God so that their sins may be wiped out.
3:20-21 Early Christians looked with expectation to the second coming of Jesus and the restoration of all things that accompanies the establishment of his earthly kingdom. God had foretold the time of “restoration” through the prophets, starting as far back as Moses (v. 22; see also Rm 8:18-25).
3:22-24 Peter appealed to Dt 18:15-19, where Moses foretold Israel that God will raise up for you a prophet like me. Over time this came to be recognized as a Messianic prophecy. Anyone who rejects the Messiah will be completely cut off from God’s people. Peter also appealed to all the prophets throughout Israel’s history, for all of them had foretold these days. Jesus himself taught the apostles to recognize this about the OT (Lk 24:27).
3:25-26 The Jews listening to Peter were sons of the prophets and inheritors of the covenant God made with Abraham. Thus they had a personal stake in the words of the prophets and the Pentateuch, but so do all the peoples of earth. After all, God’s covenant with Abraham promised that all the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s seed, a reference ultimately to Jesus Christ, God’s servant.