Chapter 3

In 70 AD the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. The destruction of the temple by a foreign power is always indicative of the fifth cycle of discipline. It has occurred twice historically, first in 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar came into the land and conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and levelled the entire city to the ground. Then, once again in 70 AD the Romans duplicated this situation. At the time this chapter three occurs the temple will be destroyed in 40 years, but in the meantime the temple still depicts the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We might wonder why the apostles and other born-again believers would go to the temple. But it must be remembered that they had personally accepted Christ as saviour, the articles of furniture and the modus operandi of the temple was meaningful to them, they did not have the completed canon of Scripture as yet, and therefore they found it a wonderful place to go to teach and evangelise, and also to pray. As far as prayer is concerned, all prayer is addresses to God the Father but we come in the name of God the Son. God the Father is the recipient of all prayer. When Peter and John go into the temple they are saying in effect that there is only one way to have your prayers answered, and that is to come through the Lord Jesus Christ, because everything in the temple spoke of Jesus Christ.

Verse 1 – “Now Peter and John went up together.” The imperfect tense indicates that this was habitual, that they actually did this every day. They spent time in prayer and they did some of their praying actually in the temple. The temple is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are approaching God the Father through God the Son, and therefore it is normal for them to be found in the temple praying. The hour of prayer is indicated here as the ninth hour which would be three o’clock in the afternoon. Actually, there were three times of prayer every day in the temple. One was at the third hour, which is nine o’clock in the morning. Then the sixth hour, which was twelve noon, and the ninth hour.

Verse 2 – on their way into the temple on this afternoon they encounter a helpless person. “And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb.” In his helplessness he depicts the human race physically alive but spiritually dead. There is absolutely no way that any member of the human race can save himself. So the helpless man immediately sets up an analogy. The whole principle of the first half of this chapter is to demonstrate the principle: What should the church do about people who are helpless, weak, and in this case are needy. Not only was this man a case of congenital lameness but apparently he had no money or very little money and he depended upon the kindness of people in order to survive. He needs money to live and he is now begging at the gate “which is called Beautiful.” Now what is the attitude of the church toward people who are helpless, people who are without funds, people who are poor? This passage is designed to explain at the outset and to set a precedent with regard to this problem. Is the responsibility of the church in this world to alleviate suffering, to help the less fortunate? Is this the entire responsibility? Is the responsibility of the church in the field of the social gospel, or is the purpose of the church the Bible gospel—regeneration? Once and for all we get a very clear answer from the manner in which this problem is dealt with. So we have a certain man who is helpless, lame, poor, everything that could be described as needy. He even has to be carried to this particular gate of the temple, and again, the imperfect tense indicates that every day someone carried him to this point. There they laid him down and placed him, and he “kept on asking alms (money) of them that entered the temple.” This had been going on for a long time. This man had daily needs and therefore he had someone to bring him to the place where he could beg for money.

Verse 3 – the mission of the church is challenged. “Who seeing Peter and John about top go into the temple asked an alms.” In other words, just as Peter and John were about to enter for a very spiritual operation of the church—prayer—they encountered this helpless man. Immediately we have an interesting situation. It is obvious that the purpose of the church as far as its leadership is concerned involves the teaching of the Word, but here we find an additional thing. The responsibility of the church is prayer. Every born-again believer has responsibility for personal prayer as well as for collective prayer in a place of worship. Now this person specifically confronts them and asks for money. While believers often help less fortunate people the primary mission of the church with regard to someone like this is evangelisation. Their responsibility to this man is not to simply give him physical food, to provide money to him, or even to alleviate his suffering if possible. Their responsibility is to provide a permanent answer, and they have that answer in the gospel. This man’s great problem is the problem of salvation, and since it is the responsibility of Peter and John, and all born-again believers, to convey gospel information rather than anything else, how are they going to handle this problem? Obviously, Peter and John are going to do some preaching in the temple. They need a credit card, and here is the credit card all set up for them because they not only have the gift of apostleship but the accompanying gift of miracles. They can perform a miracle and alleviate the man’s problem. But the alleviation of the man’s physical problem is not going to solve his real problem. He can still be perfectly well, healed, and run around and walk around and have full use of his physical body, and still be miserable, and still be lost. He can have neither happiness in time nor eternal life for the future and be perfectly well because right now the temple is filled with such people.

The mission of the church is the Bible gospel, regeneration. The responsibility of the church is not the social gospel, not socialism, and not the alleviation of one’s human suffering though this sometimes becomes a by-product. So to improve the condition of this man is wonderful but it is nothing compared to providing gospel information whereby he can have eternal life. The church is not callous and indifferent of others, but there is one thing that Bible doctrine does for every believer, it makes him see that the greatest need of man is not some physical or environmental improvement but that the responsibility of the church and every born-again believer who is a member of the body of Christ is to meet the problem of eternity. Once a man is related to God such things as physical handicaps and lack of funds and the basic necessities of life becomes a detail in our relationship to God. What this man really needs is relationship to God eternally. He needs to become a child of God, he needs to be born again. The big problem right now is not to get side-tracked—to handle this man’s case, for he has confronted them, and yet at the same time not to be side-tracked by the do-goodism of life. In order to do this, Peter is the spokesman and he begins to deal with the problem. Probably one of the biggest things in verses 4-6 is the fact that Peter is without funds. This is very important for one definite reason. We are accustomed to solving many of the problems of life by the use of money. And we do solve many problems in this way, and eventually we come to think that money paying something is the solution to all the problems in life, that all you need is money, and using it properly you can solve any problem in life or you can get anything in life. Probably one of the reasons the church was so powerful at this time, in spite of their many failures, is the fact that they were without funds. Therefore their emphasis was not on money but on divine power. This passage teaches us that it is not providing money to the poor that solves the problem of the poor or the needy or the helpless. And while Peter is going to heal this man it is not healing that is the answer to his problem, and Peter will emphasise this. It is the gospel that counts.

Verse 4 – the first thing to do if you are going to help someone is get their attention. You cannot help people until they will listen to you, until you get their attention. Sometimes God has to get someone’s attention by giving them the treatment. And many times people wonder why so many difficult things are happening in their lives and it is simply because they will not pay any attention to doctrine, they will not listen to the Word of God until they are so badly beaten down that they begin to realise that maybe the Bible is the only thing they have left. They’ve tried everything else and the tough treatment from God finally brings them around to where they are willing to listen to the Word of God. This is learning the hard way. So Peter must first of all get this man’s attention. He must concentrate on Peter. “And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.” The Word of God is no good to you unless you can concentrate on it. “Look on us,” aorist active imperative. This is a verb which demands full attention. If you are going to help people you have to get tough with people, especially if they will not face the facts.

Verse 5 – “And he gave heed unto them.” He finally gave his attention—imperfect linear aktionsart, he kept on listening to them. Many of the people going into the temple not only gave him money but they gave him sympathy. One of the worst things that you can do to people in this kind of a condition is to give them sympathy. You do not solve people’s problems by sympathy. There is a principle called Bible compassion, but that is something else and that is for believers who have a little maturity. What you do when you give someone sympathy, what you do is make them feel sorry for themselves, and instead of solving their problems you put them back about 20 years in solving anything. Sympathy will not get the job done.

“expecting to receive something of them” – “expecting,” present linear aktionsart. He is really anticipating that he would receive something from them. He focuses his attention on Peter and John because he was expecting a hand-out.

Verse 6 – the first thing this man hears must have made his mouth drop open. “Silver and gold have I none.” This man has learned to associate his problems with getting some money—silver or gold. The first thing he hears is that there will be no human solution today. This man for the first time was going to come into contact with divine power. The words “have I none” is a present active indicative and the word means to possess, “I do not possess.” The present tense indicates that he probably hasn’t had any money in his pocked for several days. So if he is going to help this man he is making it clear he is not going to help by means of a donation. This doesn’t minimise the necessity of money in the life, but God did not provide Peter with funds, He provided him with divine power. Peter had this power because his emphasis was not on money but on relationship with God.

“such as I have” – present active indicative, linear aktionsart, indicating that while he didn’t have money he did have a relationship with the Lord and he was in tap with divine power; “I give” – dramatic present tense, this is a dramatic in the life of this lame man because he is going to receive something he has never received before. Money has not solved his problem. Peter does not tell him to rise up. That is not found in the original. Peter lifts him up but he does not tell him to rise up. He does tell him to walk—present active imperative, “keep on walking.” This must have shocked the man. He has never been able to walk, he was lame from his mother’s womb.

The lame man is going to be healed, and this has an analogy—salvation, entrance into phase one. The lame man is going to walk all over the place—a picture of the operation of phase two, the Christian way of life. The principle behind this is that the man will do his own walking. Every believer must live his own life. Peter can’t walk for the man, the man must walk for himself. Peter can give him information but the man must do his own walking. The mission of the church is to get man to walk for himself by entering into the plan of God. Our responsibility is not to alleviate human suffering, our responsibility is to get people into the plan of God where the problems can and will be solved, in time and in eternity.

Verse 7 – “And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.” Apparently the reason this man had congenital lameness was because of his ankles and his feet. He had never been able to walk and all of a sudden he has the ability to walk.

Verse 8 – he learned to walk in a hurry. “And he leaping up stood,” present linear aktionsart, dramatic; “stood” is an aorist tense, which means he stood on his feet for a moment for the first time in his life; “and walked” – imperfect tense, he not only started to walk but he kept on walking.

“and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” He is using his legs and voice, and everyone recognises him. This is the hour of prayer, very quiet, and all of a sudden everyone looks up while they are praying this man comes in walking, jumping, and praising God. This miracle establishes an analogy to the fifth cycle of discipline and its termination at the second advent. This man is a picture of Jews under the 5^th cycle of discipline in a hopeless, helpless situation; and there is a time coming when the Jews will walk again when Christ returns to the earth. At that time there will be the restoration of the unconditional covenants. Peter in his second message will emphasise the Abrahamic covenant as being fulfilled in the future.

Verses 9-11, public reaction.

Verse 9 – “And all the people saw him.” The aorist tense for the word “saw” means that they looked up. They were all praying and they looked up and they see him as he runs through the temple; “walking and praising God” – constantly walking and constantly praising God.

Verse 10 – “And they knew,” imperfect linear aktionsart, they kept on knowing “that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were all filled with wonder and amazement.” The word “wonder” is actually a word for shock. They were absolutely astounded at this thing “which had happened unto him,” perfect tense. It had happened in the past, a little while ago, with the result that it continued forever. It was quite apparent that this man was permanently healed.

Verse 11 – “And as the lame man who was healed kept on clinging to Peter and John.” He would run up and down the temple and then hug Peter and John.

“all the people ran together unto them” – what he actually did was to gather everyone in the temple so that Peter can preach the gospel; “in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.” The reason that they all ran together was because they all wanted to see what this was all about. This was worth investigating, and this was the background for Peter’s sermon.

Verse 12 – Peter’s second sermon. Immediately it became important for Peter to explain something: that the fact that this man has health for the first time in his life, has the use of his limbs and can run and walk, does not in itself mean anything. The miracle is not important. There is something that happened to this man at the same time which is infinitely more important than the miracle—eternal life. Peter is now going to explain that the most important thing that happened to this man that day was the fact that he was now a child of God, a member of the family of God, and the possessor of eternal life, and about the best thing his health could do on that day is to express this. Now Peter begins the message which comes out of this miracle, a message which is delivered in the temple to religious people and a message which was so successful that five thousand religious people were born again as a result of it.

“And when Peter saw it” – he saw the way the crowd was going. He saw that they were more impressed with the miracle than that which accompanied the miracle which is eternal salvation. Realising immediately that there was going to be a misunderstanding and that the miracle was going to be blown out of its proper proportions he took steps to rectify the situation and he begins to speak; “he answered” – this is an answer to the people who thought that the miracle was the important thing rather than the salvation of this young man.

“Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this?” These are religious people who are amazed at the miracle; “or why look ye so earnestly on us?” Looking earnestly means to stare intently, to look at them as though they were super men. They were already developing a case of hero-worship for Peter because he was responsible for the miracle, along with the apostle John; “as though by our own power or holiness we have made this man walk” – in other words, they were saying that Peter accomplished this in his own power, therefore he had a supernatural power, and this power must undoubtedly be accompanied by his holiness, i.e. Peter could do this thing because he was so holy, because he was such a wonderful person. He now makes it clear that it was not because of his holiness, of which he had none, and it was not because of his power, it was actually a matter of divine power. So the miracle depended on who and what God was, never who and what Peter is. Immediately we see a change in Peter, he is oriented to the grace of God. He understands that he does not perform miracles because of some greatness in himself but all of it has to do with God Himself. It is strictly a matter of the grace of God. It becomes important immediately to present the Lord Jesus Christ. How different from the so-called modern ‘healers’! There is no such thing as a healer today. No one has the power of healing. This is a spiritual gift which died with the apostles.

Verse 13 – immediately the emphasis of Peter is on salvation, and to show his emphasis he speaks immediately of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When he says Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he is discussing immediately the foundation of the Jewish race which is a great arrow pointing toward the principle of salvation. The thing that made Abraham a Jew was not physical birth. Abraham was born a Gentile but he became a Jew by means of regeneration; he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Genesis 15:6. Abraham has a number of sons. His first one, Ishmael, will always remain a Gentile because he was an unbeliever. But his second son, Isaac, became the line of the Jews because he was born again. The difference between Ishmael and Isaac was a difference of attitude toward the cross. Isaac had twins: Esau who was a Gentile and Jacob who was a Jew. So the line goes down through Jacob. Esau and Jacob were twins, and yet one is a Gentile and one is a Jew. The difference between them was the cross. When he says the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Peter immediately emphasises the cross because Abraham was born again, Isaac was born again, and Jacob was born again. This is the story of Romans 9:6-14, and this tells us why all Israel is not Israel. It explains, then, the principle of regeneration as the basis of the foundation of the Jewish race. The reason for regeneration as the foundation of the Jewish race is because God had a special mission for them in the Old Testament. You have to be born again to proclaim the gospel, you have to be born again to evangelise.

In this case it was God the Father whose plan it was to send the Son, and this is emphasised in this verse: “hath glorified his Son Jesus.” He mentions something that has happened within just a few weeks. The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. Three days later He rose again from the dead. Fifty days after the resurrection, on the day of Pentecost, the Church began. Now, just a few days after Pentecost, here is Peter standing in the temple proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember that on the night before He died it was Peter who denied Jesus Christ three times. Now he stands boldly before a large crowd, and it has to be an exceedingly large crowd because as a result of this message 5000 people are going to believe in Jesus Christ. This is a great thing. These are religious, legalistic people, the results of the teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees, those who had been condemned by Jesus Himself. These are the ones who in the religious attitude have rejected Christ as Messiah and saviour and who have been responsible in part for His crucifixion. So when Peter stands up before them and says the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he is emphasising something that is being lost by the performance of this miracle. He immediately gets back to the right emphasis. He mentions these three as being alive. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob means that they are alive right now. It is true that they are physically dead but their souls and spirits are in the presence of God the Father, and they are waiting there for the resurrection.

“the God of our fathers” – the word “fathers” refers to all Jew of the past who have believed in Jesus Christ. Peter is making a contrast between Jews in the past who were born again and the Jews who were standing in the temple, thousands of them, listening to him; “hath glorified his Son Jesus” – Jesus is the Son of God, deity and also true humanity; “whom ye delivered up” – and immediately Peter accuses those who were listening as having a part in the betrayal of Jesus. The word “delivered up” means to betray. It wasn’t merely Judas who betrayed Him. Judas could not have betrayed Him were it not for the attitude of the people. They betrayed Him, and in that sense Peter is saying to the thousands of religious Jews gathered in the temple, You have betrayed Him.

“and denied him” – the mental attitude behind their betrayal. They have rejected Him as saviour and the word “denied” is used. The aorist tense refers to the time when they heard Jesus; it refers to every time that they had the opportunity of understanding who and what He was. Many of the people who were standing there saw Jesus performing miracles, they had heard the messages of Jesus, they had watched Him as He went through the streets of Jerusalem so that He could go to the cross and bear their sins. Therefore this was a very shocking thing for them to be called traitors. They betrayed Jesus and Peter tells them why.

“in the presence of Pilate” – Pontius Pilate who was the procurator of the province of Judea, while he was a weak man he was a fair man. He gave Jesus a fair trial and pronounced Him innocent. When he pronounced Him innocent these people who are now gathered in the temple were the ones who cried, “Crucify Him.” And 5000 of those people who cried out those words are going to believe in Him before the sun goes down that evening. Peter calls a spade a spade. He lays it on the line. He doesn’t mince any words with these people, he tells them the truth.

“when he [Pilate] was determined to let him go” – Pilate wanted to release Him, because Pilate gave a fair trial and in it he pronounced Him innocent.

Verse 14 – “But,” conjunction of contrast, “ye denied” – once again he emphasises the fact that they have denied Him and rejected Him. But they are not dead yet, and the very fact that they are still alive and hearing this message is a fantastic thing, and thousands of those people who cried for His crucifixion are actually going to be born again.

“the Holy One” – means the separated One. God the Father had separated Jesus Christ to be the saviour. Holy One means saviour in the sense that He was separated unto God for this purpose; “and the Just” means that He was perfect. God the Father found Him just. Pontius Pilate found Him innocent. He was examined by Rome and found to be innocent; He was examined by God and found to be just; He was qualified, therefore, to become the saviour of the world.

“and they desired a murderer to be granted unto them” – instead of Jesus Christ being released they wanted the release of Barabbas who was a gangster and a murderer.

Verse 15 – “And [you] killed the Prince of life” – He is called the Prince of life for a reason, 1 John 5:11, 12. He was called the crown Prince of life because He provides eternal life.

“whom God hath raised from the dead” – here is God’s answer to the fact that they killed Him physically. Resurrection is the answer, and resurrection means divine approval of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. While religion does everything to obliterate Christ, religion is incapable of obliterating Christ under God’s plan. God’s plan called for His physical, bodily resurrection. Religion does not have the power to suppress Jesus Christ. “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” He that is in the world is Satan who is the father of all religion.

“ whereof we are witnesses” – present linear aktionsart, ‘we keep on being witnesses.’ He now tells them that this is the responsibility of witnessing for Christ. He is saying, We have actually seen Him in resurrection; we have seen the plan of God as it continues.

Verse 16 – is erroneously translated in the KJV. It is actually, “And on the basis of faith in his name.” “His name” is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith has to do with the way of salvation. There is only one way of salvation: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” He is now telling what happened to the man who was crippled and healed. This is the explanation. The miracle is nothing; the salvation is everything. The miracle is incidental; the salvation is permanent.

“this one” – reference to the cripple man; “whom ye see and know” – they have all seen him and known him for years as he has been crippled, and as he sits at the gate called Beautiful; “has been strengthened” – that strengthening is more than meets the eye. Peter is so excited about this himself that we have a dash in the punctuation, the rest of the sentence is elliptical; “his name” – he’s talking about Jesus Christ again; “and the faith which is through him has given this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

“And on the basis of his name this one whom you see and know has been strengthened: and the faith which is through him has given this [man] perfect health in the presence of you all.”

We can conclude that this man was probably saved prior to or coterminous with the miracle of healing. The emphasis on the faith here is what it did for salvation. The matter of healing was simply a matter of the decision of Peter. Behind that healing is what the Lord can do—eternal salvation.

Verses 17-19, an invitation.

Verse 17 – “And now, brethren [racial brethren: Jews], I know that through ignorance you did it.” Peter softens the blow a little. This is probably true of most of the people. The religious leaders, however, did it deliberately; they knew what they were doing. But the masses of religious people are caught by a system, they are victims of a system.

“as did also your rulers” – the rulers can be saved, and Peter is going to give them the benefit of the doubt. If they did it deliberately, that is between them and God. Peter, in getting out the gospel, tells what has happened by way of facts; but he does not take the place of God and judge them. His job is not to judge them but to declare the gospel. He gives the facts: they betrayed Christ, they delivered up the Prince of life; but when it comes to judging their motivation he backs off because you must make the issue clear. No matter who the people are or what they have done—and there is no one more obnoxious than the religious Jews who cried Crucify Him—they can be forgiven, they can be cleansed, they can have eternal life. And so at this point when he is going to bring home the issue of the gospel in faith, he must do so by getting off their back. He does not judge them, he shows them the way of salvation. Peter does not make an issue of their personal sins, he makes an issue of the person of Christ.

Verse 18 – this is one of those verses which tells us that Jesus Christ was clearly revealed in the books of the Old Testament. There is practically no book in the Old Testament which somehow does not reveal Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only saviour. He is revealed through the animal sacrifices, and we understand this from John 1:29. He is revealed through the various types of feasts which were held in the Old Testament, and this is revealed in 1 Corinthians 5 where Jesus is called “Christ our Passover.” But since Jesus Christ had not died historically most of the revelation concerning Him was in shadow form. This is confirmed by Hebrews 10:1 where the shadow spoke of the Son of God who finally came in the flesh.

“But those things” refers to the doctrines pertaining to the Lord Jesus Christ: how He must come the first time and die on the cross for the sins of the world, and how He must be resurrected, how He must ascend and then return at a later date.

“which God had before showed by the mouth of all his prophets” – the phrase “before showed” is one word in the Greek. It is a simple compound made up of three different words. The first one of pro, which is a preposition, and in this case it means “before.” The next word is kata, a second preposition which means a norm or a standard. Then the word which is usually translated “angel,” a)ggelw which means to announce, to tell, or to declare. So we have this triple-compound word meaning to tell according to a norm or standard before it happened. In other words, Jesus Christ was told according to the norm of the Word of God before Jesus Christ came the first time. Put together the word is prokataggelw, and it tells us that Jesus Christ was revealed in Old Testament times. And the place by which He was revealed: “by the mouth of all his prophets.” These men were directed by God the Holy Spirit.

“that Christ should suffer” – this is a reference to His death on the cross; “he hath so fulfilled” – everything that the prophets of the Old Testament discussed about Christ’s suffering have already been fulfilled. In other words, Peter was announcing now to the Sanhedrin, to the religious people, to those who came into the temple as a result of the healing ministry, that Jesus Christ has come and has actually fulfilled every declaration regarding His suffering and death portrayed in the Old Testament. The Passover Lamb has been once and for all slain. The ministry of Christ has been fulfilled as far as salvation is concerned. The reason why so many people responded to this message was because Peter related the ministry of Jesus Christ in its historical fulfilment to the prophecies of the Old Testament. And since many of these people had accepted the Old Testament as the Word of God without accepting the person who was revealed they now had the final link on the chain: the person who was revealed in the Old Testament was Jesus Christ. Peter has declared this and this was the breakthrough with religion. Notice that Peter does not spend a lot of time condemning religion. He showed them that they put Christ on the cross, but instead he makes the issue clear, and he makes the issue clear from their own frame of reference from the Old Testament Scripture.

Verse 19 – “Repent ye therefore.” Many times in the book of Acts the word “repent” is used instead of “believe” for the principle of salvation. The reason for that is very simple. Many times in the book of Acts the dealing is with religious Jews, and these religious Jews have already understood from the Old Testament Scripture that Messiah, the Christ, would come. Now, whenever the word “repent” is used it means to change your mind about Jesus Christ. It never means to feel sorry for sins. The Greek word is metanoew and it always means a complete change of mental attitude, it has absolutely no emotional connotation connected with it. Peter uses this word because “repent” and “believe” are two sides of the same coin. Repent and believe are the same thing. When Paul speaks to a Gentile jailer in Acts chapter 16, he says “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” But when Peter is speaking to religious Jews he says, “Repent.” They are saying the same thing but they are dealing with different people, with a different culture, with a different frame of reference. To the Gentile it is “believe”; to the Jew it is “repent.” Whichever way it is expressed it is saying the same thing. Repent does not mean to feel sorry for sins. The object of repentance in this case is the Lord Jesus Christ. When Peter says to repent, this is an aorist active imperative. The aorist tense: you repent right now. The active voice: you have to do it. Every person has to make the decision for himself. The imperative mood is a command.

“and be converted” – this means to be walking one way and to turn around and walk in another way. It is only used with religious people. They were walking in Judaism with all of its fallacies; now they can walk in the Spirit with all of its accuracies. It means to do an about-face out of their religious rut.

“that” introduces a purpose clause; “your sins” – here we have to be careful. Twice in this particular section we have a word in the plural which refers to a singular activity. We have the word “sins” which refers to the one sin for which Christ did not die, i.e. unbelief or rejection of Christ. Later on we have the word “iniquities” which refers to the old sin nature involved, but here we have the word “sins.” When Christ died on the cross all of the sins of the world were poured out upon Him and the Father judged them. But there is one sin for which Christ could not die: rejection of Himself—John 16:8-9. The sins here refers to the unbelief of those who are standing around; “your sins may be blotted out” – there is only one sin that is blotted out at the point of salvation, the rest of them were blotted out on the cross. The one sin that was blotted out when you believed in Christ is unbelief or rejection. That is the one sin that is blotted out at the point of salvation, the rest of them have been blotted out by means of the cross. Aorist tense: point of time in which you believe. Passive voice: you receive this. The infinitive indicates that it is God’s purpose to destroy this one sin at the point at which you believe. That is phase one; next is phase two.

“when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” – “when” is literally, “by which means.” The times of refreshing refer to phase two, because in phase two you have the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the filling of the Holy Spirit is a reference to times of refreshing. “Shall come” refers to the point at which anyone believes in Jesus Christ because the moment we believe we are not only indwelt by the Spirit but we all start out the same way—filled with the Spirit.

This verse is a hay-day for people who can be easily confused, but it is about the simplest verse in the world if you understand that the language for salvation and things pertaining to it was often couched in technical phrases, especially for religious type people. Actually, the words that are used here are the words which Peter has found in Judaism, a religion. He is using technical religious language to indicate the way of salvation.

Verse 20 – a reference to the termination of the fifth cycle of discipline. “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” In other words, Jesus Christ is coming back. In the previous verse we have the result of the first advent; here in this verse, Jesus Christ is going to be sent again, reference to the Second Advent. When Christ returns there are four things which have to be accomplished. First, the unconditional covenants to Israel will be fulfilled. Secondly, Jesus Christ will terminate the fifth cycle of discipline. Thirdly, Israel will be regathered. Fourthly, the temple will be restored.

Verse 21 – “Whom heaven [ref. to 3^rd heaven] must receive until the times of restitution.” The Greek says, “the times of restoration” referring to the termination of the fifth cycle of discipline; “which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Once again we have the fact that in the Old Testament the fifth cycle of discipline is declared, and the fifth cycle of discipline’s conclusion is also prophesied in every passage that deals with the Second Advent.

Verses 22-25, Old Testament documentation. Peter’s hearers, religious Jews in the temple, are utterly astounded. They’ve never heard anything like this.

Verse 22 – quotation from Deuteronomy 18:18, 19. “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you.” The prophet is the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Moses spoke. “Shall raise up” means to bring on the scene, reference to the first advent. This is God the Father sending God the Son; “from your brethren, like unto me” – He is a unique prophet as Moses was a unique prophet.

“him [Jesus Christ] shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he [God the Father] shall say unto you.” This same passage is quoted by Stephen in Acts 7:37.

Verse 23 – “every soul” refers to these religious Jews; “which will not hear that prophet [Jesus] shall be destroyed from among the people.” He is declaring to them judgment for rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour. This will be fulfilled in the baptism of fire which takes place at the Second Advent.

Verse 24 – again he declares the principle: “Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel (who started the school of the prophets) and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold these days” – the days of the crucifixion, the days of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 25 – Peter’s conclusion. “Ye are the children of the prophets,” i.e. they are the recipients of the Old Testament Scriptures, they have the heritage of the Old Testament Scriptures. They have enough information by simply reading their Bible to be saved, but now Peter is helping them by explaining these things to them. He is actually saying that these people can go home and read their Bibles and find Christ. Cf. Acts 4:4. This does not mean that they all believed in the temple as soon as Peter finished. Undoubtedly many of the people believed right where they stood listening to what Peter said. Others went home and read the Scriptures and found the Lord. All this passage is saying is that as a result of that one sermon 5000 people were saved.

“And in they seed” – Abraham has a physical seed and also a spiritual seed. Here is the spiritual seed of Abraham, those that are born again: “shall all the kindreds [nations] of the earth be blessed” – Jesus Christ Himself is the seed of Abraham, and as the seed of Abraham He is the source of blessing to all of the earth. All the nations are blessed through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Verse 26 – when Peter says all the nations of the earth will be blessed he is saying Gentiles will be saved. But he also makes it clear that “Unto you first” – God is starting with you. You Jews have the first chance.

“God, having raised up [brought on to the scene] his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you” – this goes with the phrase in the previous verse, “all kindreds of the earth be blessed.”

“and in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” – the iniquity here is the old sin nature. Jesus Christ has solved the problem of the old sin nature. The word “iniquity” simply means “evil.” Turning away from evil is simply a reference/title to the old sin nature—def. article, “the evil.”