Acts - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 of the Book of Acts shows the healing of the lame man and the Apostles Peter and John witnessing at Solomon's Porch to thousands of Jews about the Kingdom of God.

The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 3


Before we proceed into chapter 3 of the Book of Acts, there are some important religious matters that we need to know to better understand the culture of the 1st century in Israel.

The Sanhedrin Council

See the source image

Judaism was a very strict religion ranging from conservatism to liberalism, run by the Sanhedrin Council as their governing body in Israel.  It would be like the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. to us Americans today.  There were four main branches or sects of Judaism in the 1st century Israel – Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, and extremists Essenes with its followers.  Also included were the priests, scribes and the elders.  A complete Sanhedrin Council in Jerusalem included 70 members plus the high priest. 

All branches of Judaism submitted to the high priest, who carried the most power over the Sanhedrin Council.  The Council determined its interpretation of the Mosaic Laws, as well as the Oral Laws and Traditions.  Because the Sadducees and the Pharisees had varying interpretations of the Law, with the Pharisees also having its own set of interpretations, depending on which sect of Phariseeism in which they belonged - whomever the high priest was at the time played a major factor in their interpretations of the Law at that particular time. 

The Sanhedrin Council met in a room in the temple in Jerusalem where they conducted business, as well as judged over the people.   Also on the temple grounds was a prison facility where Jews often stood before the Sanhedrin Council to be judged and sentenced for various crimes that would have violated the Mosaic or Oral Law.  Sentencing could have been flogging or even as extreme as death as determined by the Sanhedrin Council. 

Duties:
The Jerusalem Sanhedrin met daily (other than the Sabbath and Feast days) in a large room connected to the Temple.  The duties of the members included:

  • Legislated matters in regards to the temple
  • Regulated the Jewish calender
  • Proclaim fast days
  • Appointed judges,
  • Applied taxation upon the people and issued laws or decrees where needed. 
  • Watched and oversaw the rabbis and teachers, often going out among the city and engaging in heated debates to make sure their laws and traditions were being observed correctly.
  • Observed the rituals of the Law. (1)

As the years continued, smaller Sanhedrin Councils of 22 members plus a local high priest was set up in nearly every town in the local synagogue throughout Israel, having its main headquarters as the Sanhedrin Council in Jerusalem.  This went on until 70 A.D. when the temple in Jerusalem was demolished by Rome and Israel was destroyed as a nation.

The Sadducees

See the source image

Aristocrats:
The Sadducees were the more aristocratic of the Sanhedrin Council.  For them, the rituals of the Temple were the main priority.  Driven by the need to keep their status over the Jews and throughout their society, many were more willing to cooperate with the ruling powers of Rome, even incorporating some of their beliefs.  The Sadducees was a smaller sect within the Sanhedrin Council, but carried the most power because of their influence over the people. 

Beliefs:
The Sadducees did not believe in the Oral Traditions, but wanted strict adherence to the written law as was written only in the Torah (Book of Moses - Gen/Ex/Lev/Numb/Deut) which makes no mention of an afterlife.  As such, the Sadducees did not believe in any resurrection or afterlife.  They refused to acknowledge the writings of the prophets or the Hagiography (other writings throughout Scripture).  As such, they outwardly followed only the Written Law of Moses to the letter, as "they" interpreted it from the Torah.  They made the most of the life they had, were the wealthy in their society, and lived very carnally.

The Sadducees claimed and boasted their descendancy all the way back to King David.  Most of the wealthy in Israel came out of the Sadducees sect, and the Sadducees made continuous deals with the Roman government to save their own necks, thus often looked upon as betrayers to the common folks throughout Israel.  Because the wealthy were Sadducees, most of your high priests in the Sanhedrin Council were Sadducees.  Obviously, money and power go together.

The Pharisees

See the source image

Phariseeism was the largest branch of Judaism.  They followed both the Written Law of Moses as is written in the Torah as well as the Traditional Oral Law of the Elders that had been passed on down through the centuries.  They supported and believed that a Messiah was coming, and there was life after death because the prophets often spoke of it.  They also supported the extra writings in Scripture called the Hagiographa.  We commonly know these extra writings as the books of Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastics, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.  This, however, differed from the Sadducees who only followed the Torah, and did not believe in any afterlife or resurrection from the dead.

The Pharisees were the experts on Jewish law, and their scribes were the lawyers of the temple.  Part of their work was to diligently check out any who called themself a prophet and to make sure their teachings were correct according to both the Written Law of Moses and the Oral Traditions of the Elders. 

Most of the Jews followed the beliefs of the Pharisees; however, the Sadducees carried the most power – at least in the Sanhedrin Council when the high priest was a Sadducee, and that was generally the case.

Like the Sadducees, the various sects of Phariseeism also had their own interpretation of certain Mosaic Laws, which often differed from the Sadducees.  Again, depending who was the high priest, determined which law was interpreted. 

The Pharisees came out of the Maccabean period (which we know took place during the 400 silent years of the intertestamental period - between the Book of Malachi and the Book of Matthew.  By the time of Jesus' arrival in the 1st century A.D., Phariseeism had broken out into four branches – each one being stricter than the other.  They called themselves separatists because they only favored their sect and they separated themselves from other Pharisee sects.  The traditions of the Oral Law had also come to carry equal authority as the Written Law of Moses (Torah) by this time as well.  Many of the Oral Law contradicted the Written Law of Moses bringing Judaism simply to be a religion of laws that most people did not follow.  Since the Sanhedrin Council disagreed on much of the laws, and the laws were continuously changing whenever a new high priest came into office, that left the people confused as to which laws to follow.

Both of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, as part of their duty to uphold the Mosaic Law, went around the city looking for anyone who may be considered violators of the Law.  As such, Jesus, was followed diligently, which these leaders eventually were the ones who brought about His death.  After Jesus' death, His followers were then targeted by those of the Sanhedrin Council as a threat as well.  These leaders considered themselves to be morally and spiritually superior, and the appointed shepherds of the Jewish people.

The Zealots

Zealot by Stéphane Lagrange | Ancient warfare, Ancient israel, Ancient ...

Zealots were a political movement among Jews who sought to overthrow the occupying Roman government.  They were highly trained, being zealous in their approach to overthrow Rome.  Jesus took on a zealot as one of his disciples – Simon the Zealot.  That tells us that Jesus did not oppose believers being politically minded.

The Essenes

See the source image

Essenes took the opposite approach of the Zealots.  They became like monks and hid themselves away from society.  One of their major accomplishments of the Essenes, however, was the copying of the Scriptures (Old Testament) that have been passed down to us. 

Most of the people throughout Israel, however, were ordinary people leading ordinary everyday lives, just trying to follow the Law of Moses/Oral Traditions (the Law) in varying degrees. They were farmers, merchants, brick layers, and other occupations, consisting of families - men, women and children who lived in a society under Roman dictatorship and rule. 

Other Sects or Religions in Israel

As divided as the Jews were even with each other, they had one thing in common - they all hated the Gentiles and the Roman rule over them.  According to the Law, they were to separate themselves from the world of Gentiles who worshipped pagan gods.  As such, they did not associate themselves with Gentiles at all.

God tells us, as Christians, to separate ourselves from the sins of this world; however,
we are to go out into the world to witness and win the lost people to the Lord.  (Matt 28:19)  

Hellenistic Jews:  These were Greek speaking Jews, who many came from other countries and cultures.  They thought more like Gentiles living in their Hellenistic Greek society; however, they practiced Judaism.  Chapter 2 tells us that Jews from as far as Rome to Mesopotamia came to the Feast of Pentecost.

Proselytes:  If a Gentile chose to become a Jew, he or she had to leave their Gentilism in every respect, including the worship of their gods, and choose to love only the One true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, obey the Mosaic Law in every detail, which included being circumcised.  In other words, they had to adopt the Jewish religion for themselves.  He or she then would be known as a proselyte, meaning stranger, to the Jewish faith and could partake in all Jewishness with all its privileges.

God-Fearers:  For those Gentiles, however, who left the worship of the Gentile gods and chose to love the Jewish God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, respected and honored the Mosaic Law, but refused to be circumcised or followed the lifestyle of Judaism – they were known as God-fearers and were allowed to worship the One true God at the synagogue. They, however, could not take advantage of the benefits of the Jewish social life or other Jewish functions. 

Fulfilled Jews:  All Jews who had accepted Jesus Christ as their Messiah now considered themselves as “fulfilled Jews,” meaning their Messiah had come to save them.  The fulfilled Jews continued to be Jewish in every respect, which meant they still honored the Sabbath as a holy day, observed their prayer hours, sacrifices, festivals, and continued life as a Jews as they did before Pentecost.  In addition; however, they celebrated the 1st day of the week as Resurrection Day where all believers in Christ got together to celebrate their new-found faith in Christ Jesus.  Many also met daily and went from house to house to support and encourage one another, as we saw in chapter 2 and will continue to see in chapter 3.

Orthodox Jews:  All other Jews who refused to accept Jesus were and are called Orthodox Jews, consequently were and still are awaiting the arrival of their Messiah.  Again, there were many branches or sects of Orthodox Judaism in varying degrees of commitment.

Gentile Believers:  The Gentile believers in Christ, as few as they were at this time in history, did not choose to become a Jew, but simply wanted to become a believer and follower of Jesus Christ.  Gentile believers did not honor the Sabbath nor observe any customs of Judaism, but only celebrated the Resurrection Day on the 1st day of the week (Sunday), and then many joined other believers going house to house to encourange one another and learn more about Jesus the Christ.

Proselytes Turned Believer:   The Gentile proselyte who had tured to Judaism, but once hearing about Christ - often they left the Jewish faith and simply became a believer in Jesus.  Some Gentile proselytes, however, remained within Judaism, believing them to be a fulfilled proslyte, while others left Judaism to simply be a Gentile follower of Jesus Christ. 

Gentile God-Fearers Turned Believer in Christ:  There were Gentile God-fearers who left their paganism to believe in the One true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who respected and honored the Mosaic, but refused to be circumcized - but after hearing the Gospel, came to believe in Christ and then considered themselves a Gentile believer in Christ along with other Gentile believers in Christ.  Few continued to follow the Mosaic Law as a God fearer while others simply became believers in Christ, leaving the Mosaic Law. There are some biblical scholars who believe Luke, the author of this book fell into this category.

Everyone had a little different twist on what they believed….and they all separated themselves to some degree from one another.  Is it any different today with all the different Christian denominations?  Give any belief system enough time, the people will disagree with one another on something and separate themselves from the others, thinking they are the only ones with the truth.  That is why it is so critical that we stay with the Bible on what belief system we follow.  God’s Word is truth – eternal truth.

Chapter 3

Two Years After Pentecost

The year was around 31-32 A.D., around two years after Pentecost/two years after the entry of the Church.  The Church was beginning to be recognized throughout Jerusalem. 

Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
 
The 9th hour of prayer was 3:00 in the afternoon.  The reason they waited until that hour of prayer was that was when most people congregated on the temple grounds.    Many came at an earlier hour of prayer, but lingered on praying, bringing their sacrifices, or just visiting with other Jews.  Second, this hour of prayer time was called the Minchah prayer time, meaning a time of repentance reciting Psalm 145, which was the shortest prayer time, which also drew more people. 

Since more people were on the temple grounds at this 9th hour of prayer, it was the ideal time to reach the most people to witness for the Kingdom of God.  Walking up the familiar road to the temple grounds, the Apostle Peter and John entered through the Golden Gate entrance toward the Gate Beautiful that led into the court of the temple, they were confronted by a man lame from birth sitting on the ground at the gate who could not walk begging for alms.

The Lame Man Healed

2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.

See the source image

Daily this lame man had to be carried to sit at the gate by others to beg for alms (money) to hopefully provide a few coins for food.   If he was laid at the gate at the most busy time of day, this lame man had a better chance of getting more alms.  This was also the best time, being the busyness of the hour, to witness to more people, which was why Peter and John chose to go to the temple at this hour of prayer.  As they passed through the Gate Beautiful, eye contact happened between the lame man and Peter and God was ready to bring on a miracle.

4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 

Did Peter pray over the lame man?  This vere tells us that Peter said to the lame man…”Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you:  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."  Then Peter took the right hand of the lame man and lifted him up.  Instantly the lame man’s feet and ankle bones received strength and the man rose up – meaning he made the choice to get up.  Think about it.  He could have said, "I have never walked.  I can’t get up."  But when Peter took his hand and pulled him up, the lame man did what he could to hoist himself up.  He made the choice to walk - and he did. It took action on his part, and he chose to get up no matter how hard it was to hoist himself up.

When it comes to healing, God works in many ways.  The Bible says we can pray healing for people, lay hands on people, or simply command healing into a person - all in the name of Jesus.  This is where we need to be spirit led when we administer healing to someone. This is where the Apostle Peter was leaning on the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit who had come to and in him two years earlier.
Let’s move on!
 

See the source image

8 So he, meaning the lame man, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

This man who was lame, who never walked in his life, didn’t limp along once he got up, but he was walking, leaping and praising God.  That was not only a healing, but a miracle had taken place.  All the people around them saw him walking and praising God.

10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.  

The people knew it was the lame man.  They saw him sitting at the gate every day – day in and day out.  They were filled with amazement, wondering what had  happened to him?

Witnessing the Gospel in Solomon's Porch

11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. 


See the source image 
Solomon's Portico (Porch) rested under the outer wall of the temple grounds
on the wall of the Golden Gate in front of the Gate Beautiful. 
               

There is an old saying:  Healing is the dinner bell to witness fhe Gospel to peopleThat’s exactly what happened here at Solomon's Porch.  Peter took that “now healed man” with them for everyone to see.  The healed man excitedly kept praising God for his healing.  Peter and John then left the temple area with a crowd of people following them, and headed off to Solomon’s porch.  There in Solomon’s porch was where thousands of Jewish men congregated to pray or just “hang out” so to speak as Peter, John and the healed man entered the area.  All eyes were upon them as they witnessed the lame man healed, walking, leaping and praising God.  Because he had laid lame at the Gate Beautiful for so many years, most of the people knew who he was.

See the source image

God was about to do something big on that day as the three men entered into Solomon’s Porch.   Peter and John and the now healed man then left the temple area with a crowd of people following them, and headed off to Solomon’s porch where thousands and thousands of Jewish men were praying or simply visiting with one another.  All eyes were upon them as they witnessed the lame man healed, walking, leaping and praising God.  For they all recognized the lame man who had laid at the gate for years lame begging for alm.   Now he was walking, leaping and praising God.  This was God's opening to preaching the Gospel to this crowd of Jewish men. 

See the source image 

12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?  13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Just like the last huge gathering at Pentecost two years earlier, outside of the upperroom, Peter accused the crowd of killing their Messiah.  If it wasn’t done by their aggressive actions, as many were involved, it was done by their silence or ignorance.  But God….God raised Him from the dead, and Peter and John were there to testify.  And now these thousands of people are witnessing a miracle of this man’s healing done by God through these followers  of Jesus.  He was leaping, praising God, his legs were now strong and his mind was sound.  They all could see that.

17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. 

This had to be done, Peter proclaimed, because it was prophesied by the prophets of old that their Messiah would suffer and die.  We know that from the writings of Isaiah in particular.  Even if you killed Him in ignorance, Peter continues, you still need to repent before God and be converted.  You have to change.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that your sins will be cleansed from you.  And when you do, you will be released and relieved by God of killing your Messiah.  Until your Messiah does comes back to restore everything, as was also prophesied in the Scriptures, you need to repent and believe in Him now.  For He will return again.

22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

As far back as the time of Moses, Moses claimed that God would raise up someone like him for the people to follow.  And for those who refuse to listen to this One that God will raise up, will be destroyed.  This has been foretold by all the other prophets.  Even God made a covenant with Abraham saying that in his seed all the families of the earth will be bless.  This One that God raised up, called Jesus, had to come.  And when you turn away from your iniquities, He will bless you and forgive you of all your sins. 

So ends chapter 3

Click here for Acts - Chapter 4

(1) The Cautionary Tale of the Sanhedrin in the Bible (biblestudytools.com)

 

Written by Pastor Joyce A. Erickson

Believers Bible School, Founder https://believersbibleschool.com/