Atos 3

ARC · Chapter 3/28

1E Pedro e João subiam juntos ao templo á hora da oração, a nona.

2E era trazido um varão que desde o ventre de sua mãe era côxo, o qual cada dia punham á porta do templo, chamada Formosa, para pedir esmola aos que entravam no templo.

3O qual, vendo a Pedro e João, que iam entrando no templo, pediu que lhe déssem uma esmola.

4E Pedro, com João, fitando os olhos n'elle, disse: Olha para nós.

5E olhou para elles, esperando receber d'elles alguma coisa.

6E disse Pedro: Não tenho prata nem oiro; mas o que tenho isso te dou. Em nome de Jesus Christo, o Nazareno, levanta-te e anda.

7E, tomando-o pela mão direita, o levantou, e logo os seus pés e artelhos se firmaram.

8E, saltando elle, poz-se em pé, e andou, e entrou com elles no templo, andando, e saltando, e louvando a Deus;

9E todo o povo o viu andar e louvar a Deus;

10E conheciam-n'o, que era elle o que se assentava á esmola á porta Formosa do templo, e ficaram cheios de pasmo e assombro, pelo que lhe acontecera.

11E, apegando-se o côxo, que fôra curado, a Pedro e João, todo o povo correu attonito para junto d'elles, ao alpendre chamado de Salomão.

12E Pedro, vendo isto, disse ao povo: Varões israelitas, porque vos maravilhaes d'isto? Ou, porque olhaes tanto para nós, como se por nossa propria virtude ou sanctidade o fizessemos andar?

13O Deus d'Abrahão, e de Isaac e de Jacob, o Deus de nossos paes, glorificou a seu filho Jesus, a quem vós entregastes e perante a face de Pilatos negastes, julgando elle que devia ser solto.

14Mas vós negastes o Sancto e o Justo, e pedistes que se vos désse um homem homicida.

15E matastes o Principe da vida, ao qual Deus resuscitou dos mortos, do que nós somos testemunhas.

16E pela fé no seu nome o seu nome fortaleceu a este que vêdes e conheceis; e a fé que é por elle deu a este, na presença de todos vós, esta perfeita saude

17E agora, irmãos, eu sei que o fizestes por ignorancia, como tambem os vossos principes:

18Mas Deus assim cumpriu o que já d'antes pela bocca de todos os seus prophetas havia annunciado; que o Christo havia de padecer.

19Arrependei-vos, pois, e convertei-vos, para que sejam apagados os vossos peccados, quando vierem os tempos do refrigerio pela presença do Senhor,

20E elle enviar a Jesus Christo, que já d'antes vos foi prégado:

21O qual convem que o céu contenha até aos tempos da restauração de todas as coisas, das quaes Deus fallou pela bocca de todos os seus sanctos prophetas, desde todo o seculo.

22Porque Moysés disse aos paes: O Senhor vosso Deus levantará d'entre vossos irmãos um propheta similhante a mim: a elle ouvireis em tudo quanto vos disser.

23E acontecerá que toda a alma que não escutar esse propheta será exterminada d'entre o povo.

24E tambem todos os prophetas, desde Samuel, e todos quantos depois teem fallado, já d'antes annunciaram esses dias.

25Vós sois os filhos dos prophetas, e do concerto que Deus fez com nossos paes, dizendo a Abrahão: Na tua descendencia serão bemditas todas as familias da terra.

26Resuscitando Deus a seu Filho Jesus, primeiro o enviou a vós, para que n'isso vos abençoasse, e vos desviasse, a cada um, das vossas maldades.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Peter and John heal a man lame from birth at the temple gate called Beautiful. The crowd is amazed, and Peter takes the opportunity to preach about Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Explanation

The healing takes place at the 'ninth hour' (around 3 p.m.), the hour of prayer at the temple, showing that the apostles continued practicing Jewish devotion while proclaiming Jesus. Peter is careful not to attribute the miracle to his own power, redirecting all the glory to the name of Jesus. He also calls the people to repentance, citing Moses and the prophets to show that Jesus fulfills Jewish messianic expectation. The practical lesson: true spiritual power always points to God, never to the one exercising it.

Fun facts

  • The temple's 'Beautiful' Gate was, according to historians like Flavius Josephus, likely made of Corinthian bronze, one of the most ornate entrances in the Jerusalem temple complex.
  • Peter quotes Deuteronomy 18:15, where Moses speaks of a 'prophet like me' whom God would raise up — a passage widely understood by the early Christians as prophecy about the Messiah.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Atos 3:1The hour of prayer mentioned, the ninth, was around 3 p.m. The temple in Jerusalem had fixed prayer times tied to the morning and evening sacrifices, and devout Jews went there at those hours even if they were not priests.
  2. Atos 3:2The “Beautiful” gate was one of the entrances to the temple complex, probably the most ornate one. Beggars positioned themselves there because it was an unavoidable passage for many people going to pray.
  3. Atos 3:3The lame man asks Peter and John for alms just as he did every day with anyone entering the temple, expecting nothing more than money.
  4. Atos 3:4Peter fixes his eyes on him and asks for his attention before acting, a gesture that prepares the man to receive something different from what he expected.
  5. Atos 3:5The lame man looks at them expecting to receive a coin, showing that he had no idea what was about to happen.
  6. Atos 3:6Peter’s words are the center of the scene: he has no money to give, but he offers healing in the name of Jesus of Nazareth—showing that the power came from Jesus, not from the apostles themselves.
  7. Atos 3:7Peter takes the man by the right hand and lifts him up; the text describes with medical detail his feet and ankle bones receiving strength immediately, reinforcing that the healing was complete and instant.
  8. Atos 3:8The man not only walks but leaps, entering the temple together with Peter and John, visibly celebrating his own healing—a striking contrast with his whole life spent sitting and begging.
  9. Atos 3:9The scene happens in full view of all the people present in the temple at that hour of prayer, giving the healing a mass witness rather than a hidden event.
  10. Atos 3:10People recognize the man as the beggar who always sat at the Beautiful gate, which makes the change even more shocking to those who saw him there every day.
  11. Atos 3:11Solomon’s porch was a covered colonnade on the east side of the temple, a remnant that tradition linked to the older temple built by Solomon. It became a fixed meeting place for the first Christians within the temple grounds.
  12. Atos 3:12Peter uses the crowd’s attention to make clear that the healing did not come from his own or John’s power or holiness, preventing people from treating them as divine figures.
  13. Atos 3:13Peter speaks to Jewish listeners who had been present or had heard about Jesus’ trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, when the crowd asked for Barabbas to be released instead of Him.
  14. Atos 3:14Peter recalls that the crowd asked for Barabbas, a murderer, to be released instead of Jesus, whom he calls “the Holy One and the Just”—a direct contrast between the two.
  15. Atos 3:15“The Prince of life” is what Peter calls Jesus, highlighting the irony that the listeners killed the very one who is the source of life, and that God raised Him from the dead soon after.
  16. Atos 3:16Peter explains that it was neither magic nor his own virtue: it was faith in the name of Jesus that brought the man complete healing, in front of everyone now witnessing the result.
  17. Atos 3:17Peter softens the accusation by saying that they acted out of ignorance, both the people and their own leaders, opening space for a call to repentance rather than mere condemnation.
  18. Atos 3:18Peter argues that the Messiah’s suffering was not an accident or a failure, but something the Old Testament prophets had already announced beforehand.
  19. Atos 3:19The call to repentance is linked to the idea of “times of refreshing,” an expression of relief and renewal that would come with the return of God’s special presence.
  20. Atos 3:20Peter ties the people’s repentance to the future sending back of Jesus Christ, the same one already announced to them before.
  21. Atos 3:21“Heaven” must receive Jesus until a time of “restitution of all things,” a prophetic idea that history is moving toward a complete renewal long announced by the prophets.
  22. Atos 3:22Peter quotes Moses speaking of a prophet “like unto me,” a passage from Deuteronomy that Jews read as the promise of a great prophet still to come. Peter is saying that this promise was fulfilled in Jesus.
  23. Atos 3:23Peter continues quoting Moses: whoever would not hear this promised prophet “shall be destroyed from among the people,” that is, cut off from the community of God’s people—a quotation from the book of Deuteronomy.
  24. Atos 3:24Peter broadens the argument, saying that not only Moses but all the prophets since Samuel had, in one way or another, already pointed to these events they were now living through.
  25. Atos 3:25Peter calls the listeners “the children of the prophets” and of the covenant God made with Abraham, recalling the ancient promise that all the families of the earth would be blessed through his descendants.
  26. Atos 3:26Peter closes his speech saying that God sent Jesus to Israel first, before the Gentiles, with the purpose of blessing them, turning each one away from their own wickedness.

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