Acts 3:2-10 - Peter and John

3:2-10 - Peter and John

Next are Peter and John. As noted earlier, they followed the Jewish customs. Why does it mention that they “looked straight at him [the beggar]”. Perhaps people would tend to look away from such a man. After this they told the man to look at them. This would be a change in the way things normally played out for the beggar. Though the beggar was still expecting money at this stage, things were going to play out in an even more radically different fashion. Peter then speaks to the man and commands him “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” to get up and walk. Peter takes the beggar by the right hand to help him up and the miracle occurs.

3:2-10 - The crowd

Finally we have the people, i.e. the rest of the people in the temple courts. They had seen the man many times, and knew that he had been lame from birth. They saw the man walking and leaping about. So the miracle was indeed a miracle. The man had been lame from birth, and there were many who saw that he was now fully healed. The people “were filled with wonder and amazement”. They saw that something great and unusual had happened. At this stage they had no understanding of just what had happened, of what it meant. This would follow as Peter would speak to them all.