NOTES for Act 3:1-10

We see the first healing performed by the apostles after Christ’s ascension into heaven. A lame beggar who begged at the gates of the Temple is healed, a man like the millions of his fellows who would likewise beg at the gates of other temples for thousands of years. But the point is that this beggar had not been brought there by the apostles; he had long been visible to everyone who came to the Temple.

It is well known that, among beggars, besides people who have been cast aside and are genuinely in need, there have always been many professionals who earn their living this way and have no intention of changing their way of life. The apostles risked encountering one of those who did not need healing or who, even after being healed, would not bear public witness to the healing but would continue begging while pretending to suffer from his former illness. The beggar, however, acts “impractically,” and this means that he intends to change his way of life.

The man who was healed praises God, not the apostles, and there is no ingratitude in this. The apostles themselves bear witness that the healing comes from God. In this way, the healed man testified to his faith that the power by which they could heal had been given to them by God.