What I Do Have I Give to You

Observation

Setting. Jerusalem, the temple, the ninth hour (about 3 p.m.), the hour of prayer (v1). A man lame from birth, more than forty years old (4:22), is carried every day to the gate called Beautiful to beg (v2). After the healing the crowd runs together at Solomon’s portico, the colonnade on the east side of the temple court (v11), and Peter preaches his second sermon (vv12–26).

Structure:

• vv1–10 — the Beautiful Gate: Peter and John go up to pray (v1); the lame man asks for alms (vv2–3); “Look at us!” (v4); “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you” — “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” (v6); Peter raises him; feet and ankles strengthened (v7); walking and leaping and praising God (v8); the people recognize him and are filled with wonder (vv9–10).
• vv11–16 — the name and the Prince: the crowd at Solomon’s portico (v11); “why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety …?” (v12); the God of Abraham has glorified His servant Jesus, whom you disowned (v13); the Holy and Righteous One vs. a murderer (v14); you put to death the Prince of life, whom God raised (v15); faith in His name has given this man perfect health (v16).
• vv17–26 — the call and the promise: you acted in ignorance (v17); God fulfilled what the prophets announced — His Christ would suffer (v18); “repent and return” — sins wiped away, times of refreshing (v19); He will send Jesus (v20); heaven must receive Him until the restoration of all things (v21); the Prophet like Moses (vv22–23); all the prophets from Samuel on (v24); sons of the covenant — Abraham’s seed (v25); “For you first” (v26).

Repeated words, with counts:

• “God” ×9 — vv8, 9, 13 (×2), 15, 18, 21, 25, 26.
• “temple” ×6 — vv1, 2 (×2), 3, 8, 10.
• “Peter” ×6 — vv1, 3, 4, 6, 11, 12; “John” ×4 — vv1, 3, 4, 11.
• “walk / walking” ×5 — vv6, 8 (×2), 9, 12.
• “prophet(s)” ×5 — vv18, 21, 23, 24, 25 (plus “A PROPHET” in v22).
• “Jesus” ×4 — vv6, 13, 16, 20; “name” ×3 — vv6, 16 (×2).
• “amazed / amazement / wonder” ×4 — vv10 (×2), 11, 12.
• “people” ×4 — vv9, 11, 12, 23.
• “raised” ×3 — vv7, 15, 26 (plus “RAISE UP,” v22); “alms” ×3 — vv2, 3, 10.
• “praising God” ×2 — vv8, 9; “leaping / leap” ×2 — v8 (×2).
• “disowned” ×2 — vv13, 14; “servant / Servant” ×2 — vv13, 26; “mouth (of the prophets)” ×2 — vv18, 21.
• “faith” ×2 — v16 (×2); “fathers” ×2 — vv13, 25.

Contrasts: Silver and gold ⟷ what I do have (v6). Lame from his mother’s womb ⟷ walking and leaping (vv2, 8). Our own power or piety ⟷ the name of Jesus (vv12, 16). You disowned ⟷ God glorified (v13). A murderer ⟷ the Holy and Righteous One (v14). You put to death ⟷ God raised (v15). Ignorance ⟷ what God announced beforehand (vv17–18). Heaven receives Him now ⟷ He will send Him (vv20–21). Heed the Prophet ⟷ utterly destroyed (vv22–23). You first ⟷ all the families of the earth (vv25–26).

Shape of the chapter: a short miracle (1–10) and a long sermon (11–26). The miracle is told slowly — the hour, the gate, the look, the word, the hand, the ankles — and then the sermon explains it: the same name that lifted one man can wipe away a nation’s sins.

Chapter theme (my words): Jesus is alive, and His name does what no silver or gold can do. The people who killed Him are not beyond His offer: if they turn around, their sins are wiped away and their Messiah will come back to restore all things.

Interpretation

Why did Peter and John still go to the temple? They were Jewish believers in Israel’s Messiah, and the temple was still the house of prayer. Guzik: “Apparently Peter and John saw no problem in continuing their Jewish custom of prayer at certain hours of the day.” Spurgeon sees the old giving way only gradually: “It will be time to destroy the old when the new is quite ready.”

Why heal this man now, when Jesus had passed him? Guzik: “Jesus must have passed him by many times without healing him.” The healing came at God’s time and under the Spirit’s prompting, not by technique — Peter acted “under the specific prompting of the Holy Spirit” (Guzik). It also became the doorway to a sermon and an arrest (4:1–4).

What did Peter actually give? Not money but the authority of Jesus’ name. Guzik: the man “simply wanted to be supported in the condition that he was in,” but “God had something better in mind.” Henry: “Those who are poor in the world may yet be rich, very rich, in spiritual gifts, graces, and comforts.”

What does “the name” mean (vv6, 16)? Not a magic word but the person and authority of Jesus Himself, received by faith — “the faith which comes through Him” (v16). Spurgeon: “at the mention of the great and glorious name of Jesus, his feet and ankle-bones immediately received strength.”

Why does Peter refuse the credit? Because the miracle points away from the apostles to the risen Christ. Guzik: “Peter knew that it was all of Jesus and nothing was of him.” Henry: “The instruments of God’s favour to us, though they must be respected, must not be idolized.”

Did ignorance excuse them (v17)? Peter is gentle, and Spurgeon notes he puts the truth “thus mildly.” But Sproul insists “It was evincible ignorance” — they had the Scriptures — and repentance is still required (v19). Both are true: God is kind in how He calls, and the call is still “repent.”

What are “times of refreshing” and “the restoration of all things” (vv19–21)? Here the teachers differ in emphasis. Guzik reads them chiefly as the coming kingdom: “Peter referred to the time when Jesus will return and rule the earth in righteousness,” and “there is some sense in which the return of Jesus in glory will not happen until Israel repents” (Matt 23:39; Rom 11:26). Spurgeon finds refreshing in pardon, revival and the second coming. Henry dwells on the comfort Christ gives while He is away. I read it the way Guzik does: Peter is answering the question of 1:6. The kingdom will be restored to Israel when the nation turns to its Messiah, and in the meantime God refreshes every one who repents. Heaven holds Jesus “until” — there is a day on God’s calendar.

Who is the Prophet like Moses (vv22–23)? Jesus. Guzik: the Jews expected both a Prophet and a Messiah, and “Peter made it clear that they are one and the same.” Henry: “Whenever he has a mouth to speak, you must have an ear to hear.”

Why “for you first” (v26)? God keeps His order — to the Jew first (Rom 1:16) — and the promise to Abraham reaches “all the families of the earth” (v25). Guzik hears in it “the undeveloped theme of the extension of the gospel to all the world.”

Word study (Greek):

• Beautiful — hōraios (G5611): timely, lovely; Rom 10:15, “how beautiful are the feet.”
• fixed his gaze — atenizō (G816): to look steadily (vv4, 12).
• with a leap — exallomai (G1814) / leaping — hallomai (G242): Isa 35:6; John 4:14; Acts 14:10.
• piety — eusebeia (G2150): godliness (v12).
• servant — pais (G3816): Isaiah’s Servant (vv13, 26; 4:27, 30); KJV “Son.”
• Prince — archēgos (G747): pioneer, author; 3:15; 5:31; Heb 2:10; 12:2.
• ignorance — agnoia (G52): v17.
• repent — metanoeō (G3340); return — epistrephō (G1994): a changed mind and a turned life (v19).
• wiped away — exaleiphō (G1813): erase; Col 2:14; Rev 7:17; 21:4.
• refreshing — anapsyxis (G403): breathing again; only here.
• restoration — apokatastasis (G605): setting right; only here (cf. 1:6).

Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):

1. Jesus had walked past him — God’s timing, God’s hour (Guzik).
2. He wanted support; God wanted change (Guzik).
3. No silver, no gold, all Christ (Henry).
4. The lame leap — Isaiah 35:6 fulfilled (3:8).
5. Praise proves the cure (Henry).
6. Get out of the way — all of Jesus, nothing of Peter (Guzik, Henry).
7. They killed the Prince of life — and are still alive (Sproul).
8. Ignorance explains; it does not excuse (Sproul).
9. Repent is a U-turn (Guzik, Spurgeon).
10. Heaven holds Him until — the restoration of all things (3:21).

Cross-references: Gen 12:3; 22:18; Exod 3:6, 15; Lev 21:18; Deut 18:15–19; Ps 16:10; 118:22; Isa 35:6; 52:13–53:12; Zech 12:10; Matt 23:37–39; Luke 24:25–27; John 10:23; Acts 1:6; 2:22–24, 38; 5:12, 31; 14:8–10; Rom 1:16; 10:15; 11:25–27; Col 2:14; Heb 2:10; 12:2; Rev 21:4.

Application

Example to follow — Peter and John at the gate. They were on their way to pray, and they stopped for a man everyone else had learned not to see. Peter “fixed his gaze on him” and said, “Look at us!” The men I serve know what it is to be looked past. This week I will stop, look a man in the eye, and give him what I do have — the name of Jesus, my time, a prayer, a ride.

Sin to confess — wanting support instead of change. Like the lame man, I have asked God to make my condition bearable when He wanted to make me walk. I have settled for coins at the gate. I confess that I have been comfortable with what is broken in me, and I ask Him to lift me up.

Sin to confess — taking the credit. When God uses me, I like the people to “gaze at us.” Peter would not have it: “why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” Every crown goes at the feet of Christ.

Command to obey — repent and return. Not just sorry — turned around (v19). Peter offered this to the men who had shouted for Barabbas. If there is forgiveness for the people who killed the Prince of life, there is forgiveness for what I have done. I will name the thing I need to turn from, and turn.

Promise to trust — sins wiped away, times of refreshing, and He is coming back. God does not just cover my record; He wipes it clean. He sends refreshing now, and heaven holds Jesus only “until the period of restoration of all things.” I will live this week as a man waiting for his King.

Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):

1. The lame man asked for coins and got his feet. Where am I asking God only to make my present condition bearable, when He wants to change it? (3:2–6) He simply wanted to be supported in the condition he was in (Guzik).
2. Peter said, “What I do have I give to you.” I may not have money — what do I have from Jesus that I could give someone this week? (3:6; 2 Cor 6:10) Poor in the world, rich in spiritual gifts (Henry).
3. The healed man went in “walking and leaping and praising God.” When did I last praise God out loud for what He did for me? (3:8–9) Praise is the best evidence of a complete cure (Henry).
4. Peter refused the credit: “why do you gaze at us?” Where am I tempted to take credit for what God has done through me? (3:12–16) It was all of Jesus and nothing of him (Guzik).
5. Peter says repentance is turning around, not just feeling sorry. What would turning around actually look like for me this week? (3:19; 26:20) Repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away.
6. Jesus is in heaven “until the period of restoration of all things.” How does knowing He is coming back change the way I live now? (3:19–21; Titus 2:13) Times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.

Worship. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has glorified His Servant Jesus. He is the Holy and Righteous One, the Prince of life, the Prophet like Moses, the Seed of Abraham in whom all the families of the earth are blessed. Men put Him to death; God raised Him up; and in His name a man who had never walked went leaping into the house of God.

Prayer. Lord Jesus, I have no silver and gold to bring You, and You do not need it. Take my lame places and lift me up by the hand. Forgive me for settling for coins at the gate, and for wanting the credit when You work. I turn around today — wipe my sins away, and send me times of refreshing from Your presence. Keep me looking for the day You come back to restore all things. Amen.