New Testament · History

Acts 3

Healing at the Gate

A lame beggar asks for money and receives something far better. Peter's words echo through the temple courts: silver and gold I do not have.

Berean Standard Bible BSB KJV

1One afternoon Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

2And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.

3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.

4Peter looked directly at him, as did John. “Look at us!” said Peter.

5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

6But Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

7Taking him by the right hand, Peter helped him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong.

8He sprang to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and leaping and praising God.

9When all the people saw him walking and praising God,

10they recognized him as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

11While the man clung to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and ran to them in the walkway called Solomon’s Colonnade.

12And when Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you surprised by this? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

13The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.

14You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.

15You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of this fact.

16By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know has been made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given him this complete healing in your presence.

17And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.

18But in this way God has fulfilled what He foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer.

19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,

20that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, the Christ, who has been appointed for you.

21Heaven must take Him in until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God announced long ago through His holy prophets.

22For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He tells you.

23Everyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people.’

24Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have proclaimed these days.

25And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’

26When God raised up His Servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”

Understand This

Acts 3, explained

What Acts 3 is saying

Peter and John heal a man lame from birth at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and Peter uses the occasion to deliver his second major sermon. He attributes the healing to the name (onoma) of Jesus and calls the crowd to repentance, identifying Jesus as the prophesied 'prophet like Moses' from Deuteronomy 18:15. Peter frames Israel's present moment as the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.

The background behind it

The Beautiful Gate is likely the Nicanor Gate between the Court of Women and the Court of Israel. The healed man's age (over forty, per 4:22) and lifelong condition emphasize the miraculous nature of the healing. Peter's sermon reflects the earliest Christological categories, including the archaic title 'Holy and Righteous One' (hagion kai dikaion).

Themes running underneath

The healing functions as a 'sign' (sēmeion) authenticating the apostolic message, continuing the prophetic tradition where miraculous acts validate divine messengers. Peter's use of 'the times of refreshing' (kairoi anapsyxeōs) and 'the restoration of all things' (apokatastasis pantōn) introduces eschatological concepts that would profoundly shape later Christian theology.

Why it still matters

Peter's sermon demonstrates that authentic Christian proclamation connects present experience to the grand narrative of Scripture. The healing invites reflection on whether the church today expects the 'name of Jesus' to carry the same transformative power the early church assumed.

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Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.