Acts 3:1-10

Last evening we covered the healing of a lame man. What is obvious, is that Peter, through God's power, healed the man who had been lame from birth. We noted some possible meanings of the text.


One, is the fulfillment of John 14:12, which informs us that we will do 'greater works' than Jesus, because he goes to the Father. This would point us to what some have coined 'power evangelism', demonstrated by greater numeric displays of signs and wonders than Jesus had previously performed. Peter now begins the "greater works" announced by our Lord (Jn 14:12).


Another road, instead of an ostensible display of 'more and greater miracles', what we have here is an affirmation of Christian service. Peter replied to the lame man who was begging for donations, by saying, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you..." (Acts 3:6) So the lesson becomes some sort of spiritual stewardship. We are not to focus on what we don't have, but rather, on what we do have!


I think both merit discussion of significance, but both, in my opinion, miss the mark as to the MEANING of the text. In an earlier study we found that Ephesians 2:20 was capable of being rendered "apostles WHO ARE prophets," rather than "apostles and prophets." The significance is the clarity by which Jesus explains the 'authority transfer' from himself, who has left the earth, to his apostles, who now remain. Jesus was the greatest prophet, surpassing Moses, who had been up to this time, the greatest. God spoke to Moses "mouth to mouth" and not through visions & dreams (Nu 12:6-8). Now the prophet whom Moses foretold (Deut 18:15ff) has arrived in the person of Jesus, and he transfers this power to his apostles. That is the essential meaning of Pentecost.


Since prophets bring God's living word, i.e., a direct message from God, then after Jesus' ascension, the business of the apostles is to proclaim the teachings of Jesus the Christ. As prophets, their task is to, "call God's people to account and to reinforce the prescribed boundaries of the community while reestablishing or reinforcing the divine-human relationship" (Witherington).  This is precisely what we find going on in Acts: event followed by apostolic interpretation and then a call to respond. There's even a sort of rhythm to it all: event (Acts 2:1-13) apostolic interpretation (Acts 2:14-21), and a call to respond (Acts 2:22-41). Chapter three continues with this same rhythm: event (3:1-10) apostolic interpretation (3:11-18), and a call to respond (3:19-26).


Given this pattern: event > interpretation > call to respond, the meaning of this text will be found in the apostolic interpretation that follows (3:12-13), which says the miracle ATTESTS to the person of Jesus and his glorified reign (3:12-13). This kind of hermeneutic is what theologians have called "Christocentric." Scriptures proclaim Christ - his person - his work - and his reign. So while Luke does not make specific mention of further possible meanings, Luke's summary; i.e., "The God of Abraham ... has glorified his servant, Jesus,... (3:13), enables us to search the old testament to unearth further possible meanings.


Many are confused by the rules and regulations found in the Old Testament. One in particular is that of Lev 21 where Moses is given instructions that any son of Aaron (where priests must come from) cannot be a priest if he has a defect, e.g., a LAME person, injured foot or hand, sight problems, itching disease, a dwarf, et. al. (Lev 21:16-24). Why? Not exactly in keeping with the American Disabilities Act; in fact, it seems downright cruel. The answer of course lies in the holiness of God; defection cannot be allowed because God is holy and sin cannot be present. So the healing of the lame man in Acts demonstrates that the 'defect' problem has now been resolved.  Hebrews tells us, "We have ... a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf..." (Hebrews 6:19-20). We were LAME in our sin; we all possess a DEFECT that does not allow entrance into God's presence, but now because of Jesus' person and work, we have access to THE INNER PLACE BEHIND THE CURTAIN! The very presence of God is ours, which is what makes the transference of Jesus' authority to us possible; the spirit of Holiness now rests on us!  As children by adoption, we now can be assured of his love and divine presence each and every day!


Hallelujah!!!