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Acts 3:1. St. Luke selects out of the number of τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα the one which was the immediate antecedent of the first persecution. “Non dicitur primum hoc miraculum fuisse, sed fuit, quanquam unum e multis, ipso loco maxime conspicuum,” Blass, as against Weiss, Hilgenfeld, Feine.—ἀνέβαινον, cf. Luke 18:10. “Two men went up into the Temple to pray,” i.e., from the lower city to Mount Moriah, the hill of the Temple, “the hill of the house,” on its site see “Jerusalem,” B.D.2. The verb is in the imperfect, because the Apostles do not enter the Temple until Acts 3:8. St. Chrysostom comments: Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἦσαν καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν εἶχον μέσον, Matthew 18:20.—ἐπὶ τὴν ὥραν τῆς προσευχῆς, not during or about, but marking a definite time, for the hour, i.e., to be there during the hour—sometimes the words are taken to mean “towards the hour”: see Plummer on Luke 10:35 (so apparently Weiss). Page renders “for, i.e., to be there at the hour” (so Felten, Lumby). In going thus to the Temple they imitated their Master, Matthew 26:55.—τὴν ἐνάτην, i.e., 3 P.M., when the evening sacrifice was offered, Jos., Ant., xiv., 4, 3. Edersheim points out that although the evening sacrifice was fixed by the Jews as “between the evenings,” i.e., between the darkness of the gloaming and that of the night, and although the words of Psalms 134, and the appointment of Levite singers for night service, 1 Chronicles 9:33; 1 Chronicles 23:30, seem to imply an evening service, yet in the time of our Lord the evening sacrifice commenced much earlier, The Temple; its Ministry and Services, pp. 115, 116. According to Schürer, followed by Blass who appeals to the authority of Hamburger, there is no ground for supposing that the third, sixth, and ninth hours of the day were regular stated times for prayer. The actual times were rather (1) early in the morning at the time of the morning sacrifice (see also Edersheim, u. s., p. 115); (2) in the afternoon about the ninth hour (three o’clock), at the time of the evening sacrifice; (3) in the evening at sunset (Jewish People, div. ii., vol. i., 290, E.T.). The third, sixth, and ninth hours were no doubt appropriated to private prayer, and some such rule might well have been derived from Psalm 55:7; cf. Daniel 6:11. This custom of prayer three times a day passed very early into the Christian Church, Didache 1, viii. 3. To Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the three daily times of prayer are traced back in the Berachoth, 26 b; Charles, Apocalypse of Baruch, p. 99.

Acts 3:2. τις, by its position as in Luke 11:27 directs attention to this man, “the man was conspicuous both from the place and from his malady” Chrys., Hom., viii.—χωλὸς … ὑπάρχων: “a certain man that was lame” R.V., otherwise ὑπάρχων is not noticed, fittingly used here in its classical sense expressing the connection between the man’s present state and his previous state, see on Acts 2:30.—ἐβαστάζετο: imperf., expressing a customary act, the man was being carried at the hour of worship when the Temple would be filled with worshippers (Chrysostom); or the verb may mean that he was being carried in the sense that the bearers had not yet placed him in the accustomed spot for begging, cf. 2 Kings 18:14, Sir 6:25, Bel and the Dragon, ver. 36; Theod.—ὃν ἐτίθουν: the imperfect used of customary or repeated action in past time, Burton, Syntax of Moods and Tenses, etc., p. 12, on the form see Winer-Schmiedel, p. 121; Blass, Grammatik des N. G., p. 48: in Acts there are several undoubted instances of the way in which the imperfect 3rd plural of verbs in μι was often formed as if from a contract verb, cf. Acts 4:33; Acts 4:35, Acts 27:1—πρὸς τὴν θύραν: R.V. “door,” although in Acts 3:10 we have not θύρα but πύλη·—τὴν λεγ. Ὡραίαν: it may have been the gate of Nicanor (so called because Judas Maccabæus had nailed to the gate the hand of his conquered foe, 1Ma 7:47). The description given of it by Josephus, B. J., v., 5, 3, marks it as specially magnificent, cf. also Hamburger, Real-Encycl., ii., 8, p. 1198. This view was held by Wetstein, see, in loco, Nicanor’s gate. Another interpretation refers the term to the gate Shushan, which was not only close to the Porch of Solomon, but also to the market for the sale of doves and other offerings, and so a fitting spot for a beggar to choose (Zöckler). The gate may have been so called because a picture of the Persian capital Susa was placed over it (Hamburger, u. s.), i.e., Town of Lilies. Cf. Hebrew Shushan, a lily, the lily being regarded as the type of beauty. Wendt suggests that the title may be explained from the decoration on the pillars of lily work מַעֲשֵׂה שׁוּשַׁן, Mr. Wright, Some N.T. Problems, 1898, has recently argued that the eastern gate of the Court of the Women is meant, p. 304 ff. (so too Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. i., p. 180, E.T.). This court was the place of assembly for the services, and a beggar might naturally choose a position near it. The decision as to which of these gates reference is made to is rendered more difficult by the fact that, so far as we know, no gate bore the name “Beautiful”. But the decision apparently lies between these alternatives, although others have been proposed, cf. John Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., in loco, and Wright, u. s. In such notices as the mention of the Beautiful Gate, Solomon’s Porch, Feine sees indications of a true and reliable tradition.—τοῦ αἰτεῖν: genitive of the purpose, very frequent in this form, genitive of the article with the infinitive both in the N.T. and in the LXX, cf. Genesis 4:15, 1 Kings 1:35, Ezekiel 21:11; Luke 24:16, see especially Burton, Syntax of Moods and Tenses, p. 159. It is very characteristic of St. Luke, and next to him of St. Paul—probably indicates the influence of the LXX, although the construction is found in classical Greek, cf. Xen., Anab., iii., 5, see Viteau, Le Grec du N. T., p. 172 (1893). It was a common thing for beggars amongst the Jews as amongst the Christians (just as amongst the Romans, Martial, i., 112) to frequent the Temple and Churches for alms. St. Chrysostom notes the custom as common as it is today in continental cathedrals or modern mosques.—ἐλεημοσύνην: common in the LXX but not classical, sometimes used for the feeling of mercy (ἔλεος), Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 19:22, and constantly through the book; and then for mercy showing itself in acts of pity, almsgiving, Tob 1:3; Tob 12:8, cf. Acts 9:36; Acts 10:2, where it is used in the plural, as often in the LXX. Our word alms is derived from it and the German Almosen, both being corruptions of the Greek word.

Acts 3:3. ἠρώτα λαβεῖν: “asked to receive,” R.V., as other English versions except A.V. The expression is quite classical, αἰτῶν λαβεῖν, Aristoph., Plut., 240, cf. Mark 1:17, and LXX, Exodus 23:15, for similar instances of a redundant infinitive. The verb is in the imperfect, because the action of asking is imperfect until what is asked for is granted by another, Blass, in loco, and Grammatik des N. G., pp. 187, 236, and Salmon, Hermathena, xxi. p. 228.

Acts 3:4. ἀτενίσας, cf. Acts 1:10. βλέψον εἰς ἡμᾶς: it has sometimes been thought that the command was given to see whether the man was a worthless beggar or not (Nösgen), or whether he was spiritually disposed for the reception of the benefit, and would show his faith (as in our Lord’s miracles of healing), or it might mean that the man’s whole attention was to be directed towards the Apostles, as he evidently only expects an alms, Acts 3:5. At the same time, as Feine remarks, the fact that the narrative does not mention that faith was demanded of the man, forms an essential contrast to the narrative often compared with it in Acts 14:9.

Acts 3:5. ὁ δὲ ἐπεῖχεν, sc., νοῦν (not τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς); cf. Luke 14:7, 1 Timothy 4:16, Sirach 31 (34):2, 2Ma 9:25 (Job 30:26, A.S.2 al.) with dative rei; so in Polybius.

Acts 3:6. ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον: the words do not suggest the idea of a complete communism amongst the believers, although Oecumenius derives from them a proof of the absolute poverty of the Apostles. They may perhaps be explained by remembering that if the Apostles had no silver or gold with them, they were literally obeying their Lord’s command, Matthew 10:9, or that whatever money they had was held by them in trust for the public good, not as available for private charity. Spitta, who interprets Acts 2:45 of the Apostles alone (pp. 72–74), sees in St. Peter’s words a confirmation of his view, and a further fulfilment of our Lord’s words in Luke 12:33, but if our interpretation of Acts 2:44 ff. is correct, our Lord’s words were fully obeyed, but as a principle of charity, and not as a rule binding to the letter. St. Chrysostom (Hom., viii.) justly notes the unassuming language of St. Peter here, so free from boasting and personal display. Compare 1 Peter 1:18 (Acts 3:3), where the Apostle sharply contrasts the corruptible gold and silver with higher and spiritual gifts (Scharfe).—ὃ δὲ ἔχω: the difference between this verb and ὑπάρχει may be maintained by regarding the latter as used of worldly belongings, ἔχω of that which was lasting and most surely held.—ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι: no occasion to prefix such words as λέγω σοι for the expression means “in the power of this name” (cf. Matthew 7:22, Luke 10:17, Acts 4:10; Acts 16:18, Jam 5:14, Mark 16:17). So too the Hebrew בְּשֵׁם in the name of any one, i.e., by his authority, Exodus 5:23, and thus “in the name of Jehovah,” i.e., by divine authority, Deuteronomy 18:22, 1 Chronicles 22:19, Jeremiah 11:21, and frequently in the Psalms, cf. also Book of Enoch, xlviii. 7 (Charles, p. 48). On the use, or possible use, of the phrase in extra-biblical literature, see Deissmann, Bibelstudien, p. 145, and also Neue Bibelstudien, p. 25 (1897). When Celsus alleged that the Christians cast out demons by the aid of evil spirits, Origen claims this power for the name of Jesus: τοσοῦτον γὰρ δύναται τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, cf. also Justin Martyr, Dial. c. Tryph., 85.—Ἰ. Χ. τοῦ Ναζωραίου: the words must n themselves have tested the faith of the lame man. His part has sometimes been represented as merely passive, and as if no appeal of any kind were made to his faith contrasted with Acts 14:9 (Acts 3:16 in this chapter being interpreted only of the faith of the Apostles), but a test of faith was implied in the command which bade the man rise and walk in the power of a name which a short time before had been placed as an inscription on a malefactor’s cross, but with which St. Peter now bids him to associate the dignity and power of the Messiah (see Plumptre, in loco). It is necessary from another point of view to emphasise this implied appeal to the man’s faith, since Zeller and Overbeck regard the omission of faith in the recipient as designed to magnify the magic of the miracle. Zeller remarks: “Our book makes but one observation on his state of mind, which certainly indicates a receptivity, but unfortunately not a receptivity for spiritual gifts”. But nothing was more natural than that the man should at first expect to receive money, and his faith in St. Peter’s words is rather enhanced by the fact that the Apostle had already declared his utter inability to satisfy his expectations. St. Luke much more frequently than the other Evangelists names our Lord from His early home Nazareth in which frequency Friedrich sees another point of likeness between St. Luke’s Gospel and the Acts, Das Lucasevangelium, p. 85. Holtzmann attempts to refer the whole story to an imitation of Luke 5:18-26, but see as against such attempts Feine, Eine vorkanonische Überlieferung des Lukas, pp. 175, 199, 200.

Acts 3:7. πιάσας, cf. Acts 12:4 : so in LXX, Song of Solomon 2:15, Sir 23:21, A. al. χειρὸς very similar to, if not exactly, a partitive genitive, found after verbs of touching, etc., inasmuch as the touching affects only a part of the object (Mark 5:30), and so too often after verbs of taking hold of, the part or the limit grasped is put in the genitive, Mark 5:41 (accusative being used when the whole person is seized, Matthew 14:3), Blass, Grammatik des N. G., p. 100, cf. classical use in Eurip., Hec., 523. The meaning of πιάζω in N.T. and in the LXX has passed into modern Greek = πιάνω = seize, apprehend (Kennedy). For a similar use see also 2 Corinthians 11:32, Revelation 19:20, and John 7:30; John 7:32-33; John 7:44; John 8:20; John 10:39; John 11:57; John 21:3; John 21:10.—παραχρῆμα, i.e., παρὰ τὸ χρῆμα, forthwith, immediately, auf der Stelle, on the spot, specially characteristic of St. Luke, both in Gospel and Acts (cf. εὐθύς of St. Mark). It is found no less than ten times in the Gospel, and six to seven times in Acts, elsewhere in N.T. only twice, Matthew 21:19-20; several times in LXX, Wis 18:17, Tob 8:3, ., 2Ma 4:34; 2Ma 4:38, etc., 4Ma 14:9, Bel and the Dragon, ver. 39, 42, Theod., and in Numbers 6:9; Numbers 12:4, [138] [139] [140]., Isaiah 29:5, for Hebrew, פִּתְאֹם; frequent in Attic prose; see also Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, pp. 22, 29. But as the word is so manifestly characteristic of St. Luke it is noteworthy that in the large majority of instances it is employed by him in connection with miracles of healing or the infliction of disease and death, and this frequency of use and application may be paralleled by the constant employment of the word in an analogous way in medical writers; see, e.g., Hobart, Medical Language of St. Luke, and instances in Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides.—ἐστερεώθησαν: στερεόω = to make firm or solid; it cannot by any means be regarded only as a technical medical term, but as a matter of fact it was often employed in medical language (so also the adjective στερεός), and this use of the word makes it a natural one for a medical man to employ here, especially in connection with βάσεις and σφυρά. It is used only by St. Luke in the N.T. (Acts 3:16 and Acts 16:5), but very frequently in the LXX. The nearest approach to a medical use of the word is given perhaps by Wetstein, in loco, Xen., Pæd., viii.—αἱ βάσεις, “the feet” (βαίνω). The word is constantly used in LXX, but for the most part in the sense of something upon which a thing may rest, but it is found in the same sense as here in Wis 13:18; cf. also Jos., Ant., vii., 3, 5, so in Plato, Timæus, 92, A. It was in frequent use amongst medical men, and its employment here, and here only in the N.T., with the mention of the other details, e.g., the more precise σφυρά, “anklebones,” also only found in this one passage in N.T., has been justly held to point to the technical description of a medical man; see not only Hobart, p. 34 ff., u. s., and Belcher’s Miracles of Healing, p. 41, but Bengel, Zöckler, Rendall, Zahn.

[138] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[139] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

[140] Codex Cryptoferratensis (sæc. vii.), a palimpsest fragment containing chap. Acts 11:9-19, edited by Cozza in 1867, and cited by Tischendorf.

Acts 3:8. ἐξαλλόμενος: not leaping out of his couch (as has sometimes been supposed), of which there is no mention, but leaping up for joy (cf. Isaiah 55:12, Joel 2:5) (on the spelling with one λ see Blass, p. 51); cf. also Isaiah 35:6. This seems more natural than to suppose that he leaped because he was incredulous, or because he did not know how to walk, or to avoid the suspicion of hypocrisy (Chrys., Hom., viii., so too Oecumenius). St. Chrysostom remarks that it was no less than if they saw Christ risen from the dead to hear Peter saying: “In the name,” etc., and if Christ is not raised, how account for it, he asks, that those who fled whilst He was alive, now dared a thousand perils for Him when dead?—ἔστη καὶ περιεπάτει: “he stood and began to walk” R.V., thus marking the difference between the aorist and the imperfect. Such vivid details may have been derived from St. Peter himself, and they are given here with a vividness characteristic of St. Mark’s Gospel, of which St. Peter may reasonably be regarded as the main source. If St. Luke did not derive the narrative directly from St. Peter, he may easily have done so from the same Evangelist, John Mark, see on chap. 12, and Scharfe, Die petrinische Strömung der N. T. Literatur, pp. 59, 60 (1893).—αἰνῶν τὸν θεόν: commentators from the days of St. Chrysostom have noted that by no act or in no place could the man have shown his gratitude more appropriately; characteristic of St. Luke, to note not only fear, but the ascription of praise to God as the result of miraculous deeds; cf., e.g., Luke 19:37; Luke 24:53, Acts 3:9; Acts 4:21; Acts 11:18, and other instances in Friedrich (Das Lucasevangelium, pp. 77, 78). On the word see further, p. 97. Spitta regards Acts 3:8 as modelled after Acts 14:10, a passage attributed by him to his inferior source B. But on the other hand both Feine and Jüngst regard the first part of Acts 3:8 as belonging to the original source.