353. THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN: SALVATION THROUGH A NAME
"In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk"
This lesson deals with the progress of the work of preaching by the apostles. Again, a miraculous happening took place and inevitably a crowd gathered, wondering at what they saw. Peter again takes the op portunity to preach. Luke records this second address because it was the direct cause of the first conflict with the authorities.
The aim of this lesson is to analyse the substance of Peter's address which has an obvious connection with the preaching of "the name of salva tion" of Peter's Pentecostal address, in which salvation was offered to "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord". Peter now identifies this name with "the name of Jesus Christ1", in which is remission of sins.
Acts 3
THE LAME MAN IS HEALED (Acts 3:1-11).
When Peter and John were making their way into the Temple to pray at the ninth hour (3.00 p.m.) they saw a lame man placed near the gate of the Temple called Beautiful. This massive gate led from the court of the Gentiles to the court of the Israelites on the eastern side of the Temple. It was 25 metres high and 20 metres wide, and was made of Corinthian brass covered with plates of gold and silver. There were two notable facts about the lame man: first, he was lame "from his mother's womb", and thus his disease was longstanding and "incurable"; and second, he was a well-known figure, having been placed in this prominent position "daily" (v.2). As Peter and John passed nearby he begged for alms and when they replied, "Look on us", he paid heed, expecting to receive something. But Peter told him he had neither silver nor gold but added, "such as I have give I thee: In the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth rise up and walk" (v.6). It seems that Peter was contrasting the inability of the Law to save (symbolised by the gate) with the name of Jesus Christ, when he said, "Silver and gold I have none . . . ". It is notable that Peter later made the same contrast: ". . . ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradi tion from your fathers: But with the precious blood of Christ . . ." (1 Pet. 1:18-19).
The effect of Peter's words was dramatic. He took the lame man by the right hand, and as he pulled him to his feet his deformed anklebones were healed and strengthened; where there was once but skin and bone, muscles and form appeared. Then, walking, leaping and praising God, he went into the Temple with Peter and John. With this miracle, attention is turned to Messiah's age: "Then shall the LAME man LEAP as an hart" . . . (Isa. 35:6). As the work of Jesus was designed to challenge men to think of the connection between what he did and Messianic prophecy, so in the apostles' ministry they also displayed the "powers of the age to come". These miracles were in themselves a witness of the age which the apostles proclaimed. They preached healing and salvation from sin and death, and illustrated their message by their works.
The change in this well-known person was immediately noticed as his relief found expression in the joyous liberty of leaping and praising God. The amazed crowd grew and grew and all he could do by way of explana tion in that moment of intense emotion was to grasp hold of those responsible, Peter and John. Peter was not slow to use this opportunity to preach the gospel.
PETER'S ADDRESS IN THE TEMPLE (Acts 3:12-13).
The first thing Peter did was to disclaim any power for himself to make the lame man to walk. It had been done through faith in the name of Jesus Christ. Then Peter proceeded to elucidate the significance of the "name", in connection with the things they had seen.
Today, names are like a label used to distinguish individuals from their fellows € no particular significance attaches to them. But Biblical names often had a deep significance, either as memorials or prophecies. Abraham's changed name ("Father of many nations", Gen. 17:5) was prophetic of the divine purpose with him. Of greatest significance is the name given to the Son of God. The name Jesus had indeed been borne by others, but from being simply an expression of faith in God, it had become a prophecy of God's work to be done in him: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: For he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
In harmony with the divine use of a name is the choice by God of a name for Himself, by which His purpose would be memorialised € Yahweh: 'He who will be.' The opening statements of Peter's address (v.13) take us back to the time of the Exodus, when God sent Moses to save His people from the bondage of Egypt. Read Ex. 3:1-16 noting the comparison between v.6 and Peter's words. The name given at that time memorialised the visit of God for the redemption of His people.
But the name Yahweh looked to the future, and since it was linked historically with God's redemptive work, its future realization must likewise be associated with redemption. The purpose of God in its larger meaning concerns redemption from sin and death. "I will be whom I will be" epitomizes this larger purpose. In its fulfilment God will have become, not merely done, something. He will have so worked among men that the result is the embodiment of what He is Himself. Jesus was born by the Spirit's overshadowing of the virgin Mary. The result was one "full of grace and truth", the only begotten Son of God, who could rightly claim, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (Jn. 1:14; 14:9). In him God had become, but the larger purpose envisaged others also becoming namebearers of God through identification with the Son in belief and baptism: in this way they too "may be all one" (Jn. 17:21; 1:12-13; Rom. 8:29-30).
Thus Peter's allusion to the time when God gave His name to Moses at the bush is charged with significance € for that name of Yahweh, now identified with the saving name of the Lord Jesus Christ (see Acts 2:21, 36), was the source of the healing.
Peter declares that God "hath glorified his Son Jesus". The word "son" translates a word (Gk. "pais") meaning "boy", in the sense in which colonials have spoken of their coloured servants as "boys". The RSV and other modern versions have translated the word by "servant" and in so doing have provided the thought link to the way Peter explained the development of the "name". God's servant is the particular subject of a series of prophecies in Isaiah. In Luke's method of recording these addresses we have only a precis, but there are significant words and phrases used which are drawn from those Old Testament prophecies. We have to refer to them if we would unlock the substance of the address. In the "Servant Prophecies" (Isaiah 40-55) there are four songs in which the work of the servant is highlighted. They are Isaiah 42:1-6; 49:1-6; 50:4-9 and 52:13-53:12. They reveal a progression of thought: in the first there is only a suggestion that the Servant's role entails suffering ("I will. . . give thee for a covenant of the people . . ."), but in the last we find him sub jected to a violent death as the Father purposed. This was the picture which Peter drew in Acts 3:13-15. In verse 13 the statement "God hath GLORIFIED ..." refers to his resurrection to eternal life and is drawn from Isa. 55:5, while the term "delivered up" comes from Isa. 53:12 (LXX).
CONVICTED OF GUILT (Acts 3:14-16).
Peter's listeners had delivered up and denied Jesus despite Pilate's determination to release him. Peter says this in order to bring home the gravity of their sin. Peter refers to Jesus as "The Holy One" and "The Just", both of which are Messianic titles. God is the "Holy One of Israel", but Messiah in Psalm 16 is so described (see Acts 2:27). In Psalm 16 the title 'Holy One' shows that resurrection before corruption set in would be the sequel of his death, but here Peter uses this title to further emphasise their sin; they killed a Just and an Holy One. There are a number of O.T. references to Jesus as the "Righteous One" (RV), and Jesus' sinlessness is referred to as the basic qualification for rulership (cp. 2 Sam. 23:3; Isa. 32:1; 53:11; Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15; Heb. 4:15).
Peter sums up their crime by accusing them of demanding the release of a murderer (a life-taker), while in fact murdering a life-giver, "the Prince ('author', RSV) of life". But God's estimate of Jesus was dif ferent € He vindicated him by raising him from the dead. The evidence for this could not be gainsaid; the apostles were witnesses to the fact, and the lame man was too, for he was caused to walk, by faith in the name of Jesus Christ.
PETER'S APPEAL (Acts 3:17-23).
Peter's argument must have come with undeniable force, for it would seem that they were convicted of guilt. He proceeds to appeal to them in 3 stages:
1 Verse 17: He points out that the crime was committed in blind emo tion and ignorance. They were thus less responsible and now amenable to the wondrous grace referred to by the Saviour while on the cross: "Father forgive them, for they KNOW NOT what they do".
- Verse 18: Just as Joseph had encouraged his guilty brethren to see his fate as directed by God for their deliverance, so too Peter points out that the death of Jesus was an essential element in the divine scheme
of redemption, as the prophets witness (cp. the Servant Prophecies of Isaiah 40-55; Psalms 22 and 69, etc., see also Acts 2:23; 4:28). - Verse 19: Finally he calls upon them to repent (Gr. 'change your mind') and be converted (Gr. 'turn around') that their sins might be forgiven and that they might participate in the refreshing times to come from the Lord.
He then explains to them Jesus' whereabouts. God has glorified him by raising him from the dead and causing him to ascend to His right hand. Psalms 16 and 110 are again alluded to by Peter, as is evident from the fact that he says "times of refreshing shall come from the PRESENCE of the Lord", where Jesus is (cp. Psalm 16:11); and also from the fact that he places a limit upon the Lord's duration at his Father's right hand, "whom the heaven must receive UNTIL ..." (the same argument as in 2:33-35 drawn from Psalm 110:1).
Peter points out that the "restitution of all things" € the subject mat ter of all the prophets € would have to await the Lord's advent from heaven. In effect he answers the question of all the apostles in Acts 1:5, "Lord, wilt thou at this time RESTORE AGAIN the kingdom to Israel?" The prophets all speak of the restoration of the throne of David and the kingdom of Israel (cp. Jer. 23:8; 24:6; Hos. 3:5; 11:11; Amos 9:11-12).
Next Peter quotes from the words of Moses to show that God envisag ed a new covenant to be established through a new mediator raised up from their brethren (vv.22, 23; Deut. 18:18-19). This new covenant was in fact the Abrahamic covenant, for the last words of verse 23 are drawn, not from Deut. 18:18, but Gen. 17:14 (LXX), in which the uncircumcised are cut off from Israel.
In effect Peter is saying that failure to accept Jesus Christ is to be ex cluded from the Abrahamic covenant, now sealed in the blood of his seed, and not to enjoy the restitution of Israel in Messiah's Age.
A FINAL APPEAL (Acts 3:24-26).
Peter concluded by drawing attention to the fact that all the prophets from Samuel, the first of a new era of prophets (1 Sam. 3:1, 20; Acts 13:20; Heb. 11:32), spoke with one voice about these things. Samuel had foretold the uprise of the Faithful priest € Zadok ("the Just One", 1 Sam. 2:35). Seeing Israel had a special relationship to God in His pur pose, it was only right that they should be "first" informed and invited to partake of the blessings now offered through Abraham's seed: "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, 'And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed'. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son (servant) Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (w.25-26). It is quite clear that in the primary sense the blessings of Abraham concern "turning away" from sins, or justifica tion (Gal 3:8). Before any could inherit the land of promise forever, there had to be conversion and justification, and this was only available in Abraham's seed through baptism (Gal. 3:26-29).
In view of Peter's reluctance to go to the Gentiles later on (Acts 10), one wonders whether the apostle at that stage comprehended the full im plication of the Spirit's grand message here that "all kindreds of the earth would be blessed."
LESSONS FOR US:
- There is much food for thought in the speeches recorded by Luke in Acts. We must be alert for words and phrases drawn from the O.T. for their contexts there serve to amplify the message. This is Luke's method.
- Peter grasped the opportunity offered to speak the Truth € so should we be careful not to let an opportunity slip.
- The name of Jesus Christ is the name of salvation, and through him God's purpose, made known at the Exodus, will proceed to fulfil ment.
- In his preaching Peter convicted his audience of guilt, called for repentance and proved that Christ would come to restore all things.
- The prophets were quoted as absolute authorities and are still such for us.
- The blessing of Abraham concerns both justification and inheritance, through his seed, the Lord Jesus Christ.
REFERENCE LIBRARY:
"Story of the Bible" (H. P. Mansfield) € Vol. 13, Pages 23-27
"The Christadelphian" (J. Carter) € Vol. 93 (1956), Pages 377-381
PARAGRAPH QUESTIONS:
- How did Peter appeal to his audience when he addressed them after healing the lame man?
- When Peter spoke to the people after he had healed the lame man, he quoted words taken from the incident of Moses at the Bush. Why did he do that?
- How are the Servant Prophecies of Isaiah (Isa. 40-55) referred to in Peter's address after healing the lame man?
- What was the blessing referred to when Peter, after healing the lame man, quoted God's words to Abraham: "And in thy seed shall all kindreds of the earth be blessed"?
- In one sentence each, answer the following questions about Peter's speech recorded in Acts 3:
- Through what name was the lame man healed?
- What did Peter accuse the Jews of?
- What did he tell them to do?
- What are the "times of refreshing"?
- What use did Peter make of Moses' words?
- What part of the promises to Abraham did he quote?
ESSAY QUESTIONS:
- Recount the healing of the lame man and how Peter used this occa sion to preach the Gospel (Acts 3).
- Briefly outline Peter's address folio wing the healing of the lame man.