Joel M Bradshaw

1One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

6Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 

9When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.–Acts 3

1. Today’s text provides another opportunity to test the principle described in the blog a couple of days ago.
2. Miracles like this are described by some as being normal and expected for today.
3. Therefore they read the Book of Acts as prescriptive.
4. The other option is to realize that these were apostles of Jesus living in a unique time in salvation history when books of the Bible were still being written. Acts simply describes rather than prescribes.
5. There are no more apostles alive anymore, and so miraculous sign miracles like healing are therefore no longer the norm and expected in the same way as they were then.
6. God can and still does miracles. The point here is that these sign miracles would no longer be an official function of the church like they were then.
7. Have a good day, friends.–JMB