Act 3:1 And Peter and John were going up on the same day into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth.
Act 3:2 And a certain man, being lame from his mother's womb, was being carried, whom day by day they put at the door of the temple, being called Beautiful, to ask alms from those going into the temple;
Act 3:3 who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked alms.
Act 3:4 And with John, looking intently toward him, Peter said, Look to us!
Act 3:5 And he paid heed to them, expecting to receive something from them.
Act 3:6 But Peter said, There is no silver and gold to me, but what I have, this I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, rise up and walk!
Act 3:7 And taking him by the right hand, he raised him up. And immediately his feet and ankle-bones were made firm.
Act 3:8 And leaping up, he stood and walked, and went with them into the temple, walking and leaping, and praising God.
Act 3:9 And all the people saw him walking, and praising God.
Act 3:10 And they recognized him, that it was the one who was sitting for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. And they were filled with amazement and ecstasy at the thing that happened to him.
Act 3:11 And the healed lame one was holding to Peter and John, and all the people ran together to them on the porch called Solomon's, greatly amazed.
Act 3:12 And seeing this, Peter answered to the people, Men, Israelites, why do you marvel at this one? Or why do you stare at us, as if by our own power or godliness we have made him to walk?
Act 3:13 The "God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob," "the God of our fathers," (Ex. 3:15) glorified His child Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, that one having decided to set Him free.
Act 3:14 But you denied the Holy and Just One, and asked for a man, a murderer, to be granted to you.
Act 3:15 And the Author of Life you killed, whom God raised up from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
Act 3:16 And on the faith of His name, this one whom you see and know was made firm by His name, and the faith which came through Him gave to him this complete soundness before you all.
Act 3:17 And now, brothers, I know that you acted according to ignorance, as also did your rulers.
Act 3:18 But what things God before proclaimed through the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ should suffer, He fulfilled in this manner.
Act 3:19 Therefore, repent, and convert, for the blotting out of your sins, so that times of refreshing may come from the face of the Lord,
Act 3:20 and that He may send forth the One before proclaimed to you, Jesus Christ,
Act 3:21 whom Heaven truly needs to receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God spoke through the mouth of all His holy prophets from the age past.
Act 3:22 For Moses indeed said to the fathers, "The Lord your God will raise up to you a Prophet from among your brothers, One like me; you shall hear Him according to all things," whatever He may speak to you. See Deut. 18:15-16, 19
Act 3:23 And it shall be that of every soul, whoever should not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.
Act 3:24 And also all the prophets, from Samuel and those following after, as many as spoke, also before announced these days.
Act 3:25 You are sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God appointed to our fathers, saying to Abraham, "Even in your Seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Gen. 22:18
Act 3:26 Having raised up His child Jesus, God sent Him first to you, blessing you in turning away each one from your iniquities.
ACTS CHAPTER THREE - THE HOLY SPIRIT DEMONSTRATED
Verses 1-10: Peter and John notice a man begging for alms. They get his attention. Peter says to him he has no money to give him but tells him to walk in the name of Jesus the Christ. He does! He continues to follow them walking and leaping and praising God.
1. What was Peter and John doing, according to verse one? They are headed to the temple to pray (at the traditional 9th hour of the day - about 3o'clock. It's good to see that even though Jesus had been executed by those who controlled the temple, these brothers insisted on continuing to go there. That by itself took faith.
2. Describe the condition
of the beggar at the gate. He had been lame his entire life. HE was placed there daily to beg for alms. The term alms is broad but in this context means a charitable contribution.
Alms: G1654 ἐλεημοσύνη eleēmosunē el-eh-ay-mos-oo'-nay From G1656; compassionateness, that is, (as exercised towards the poor) beneficence, or (concretely) a benefaction: - alms (-deeds).
a. Where was he looking when Peter spoke to
him? We don't know, but he wasn't looking at the brothers. This would not be unusual in that this man would not feel worthy to look people in the eye while begging. Beggars/infirmed were typically viewed as being judged by God for their sin(s).
The bigger picture is him being OUTSIDE the temple before the power of God is blessed on him. Once "cleansed" he actually goes right into the temple! The miracle is too much for anyone to pass judgment on him. From a traditional sense he needed to go before the priest after his infirmity was removed to be declared "clean" enough to go in.
This action had a positive affect on the people, but there were also people there that had their feathers ruffled over this incident.
3. Could there be any
question to the validity of this miracle?
Why, or why not?
No question that this was a miracle. His condition was from birth. He was a fixture at the gate.
4. What were the results
of the miracle? In this section we read: "...
Verses 11-16: The cured man hangs on to John and Peter and everyone ran up to them marveling. Peter asks why they are so amazed. He tells them that it was Jesus who cured the man (not the apostles).
5. Who does Peter credit the miracle to? He credits it to Jesus but he takes all the way to the authority of Jehovah. This was the linchpin they misunderstood about Jesus when He was alive on earth.
6. What is Peter’s
accusation in verses 13-15?
(13) God glorified Jesus and you gave Him over to execution
(14) You denied the Holy and Just one and asked for a murderer!
(15) The author of Life....you killed
Again, like chapter two we see Peter pulling no punches in his revelation. He is telling them God sent His Son and you executed Him! It may seem harsh, but it is true and Peter is trying to break through hundreds and hundreds of years of indoctrination and misunderstanding of Jehovah and His overall plan.
7. Identify one of Peter’s
main points from verses 19 and 26. Verse nineteen says to repent and convert that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Verse twenty-six says God sent Jesus to them first - blessing them by turning them each one from their iniquities.
The implication is that they are on the wrong side of God (in sinful state). Jesus is the catalyst by which they were to turn from this lifestyle.
Convert: G1994 ἐπιστρέφω epistrephō ep-ee-stref'-o From G1909 and G4762; to revert (literally, figuratively or morally): - come (go) again, convert, (re-) turn (about, again)
Sin: G266 ἁμαρτία hamartiaham-ar-tee'-ah From G264; sin (properly abstract): - offence, sin (-ful).
Iniquity: G4189 πονηρία ponēria pon-ay-ree'-ah From G4190; depravity, that is, (specifically) malice; plural (concretely) plots, sins: - iniquity, wickedness.
a. Is repentance a one-time act, or is it continual? Be ready to discuss your thoughts on why or why not Christians (who are saved) need to repent or continue in repentance. As we see above, repentance means to think differently. That mindset never changes, or if it does, it needs fixing to stay straight with God. Once we make up our mind to follow Jesus, we do it and don't look back. The act of conversion or changing course happens when we make up our minds to repent. There might be a time when a Christian sins and because he/she is in that state of repentance (following Jesus) the realization is the need of a course correction (conversion).
Additional:
Describe Peter’s argument/teaching style in verses 17-26. What is he appealing
to? Why would he cite Moses? This is a Jewish audience, so, he uses Jewish historical references because they would have the most impact on them. He takes it back to Abraham and he includes the prophets. These were the icons Judaism used to trace their ancestry to God and His covenant.
This was absolute out-of-the-box thinking because Jesus was not the physical king they were expecting. The bigger problem for them was Peter's teaching could not be refuted. It could be challenged, but not refuted. It fit perfectly within the spiritual dimension of God, and that was new for them.
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