What does Acts 3:11 mean?
A lame man, healed by Peter (Acts 3:1–8), follows Peter and John away from "the Beautiful Gate" and toward Solomon's Portico. A portico is a walkway with a roof held up by columns. In the case of the porticos around the edge of the Temple Mount, the exterior sides are solid walls while the columns face inward. Solomon's portico is on the east side of the mount, facing the temple; the larger portico on the south is called the Royal Portico. The porticos seem to be a regular place for teachers to instruct their students and passers-by. The apostles teach and heal there before the persecution begins (Acts 5:12–16).The crowd of people knows the man (Acts 3:10). They know he was unable to walk and that he regularly begged in the temple area. It's unclear if they want to know how the healing miracle happened or if they want healing of their own. Peter and John learned early on from Jesus that the primary purpose of miracles is to draw attention to and validate the message of God (Mark 1:38; Acts 1:8). They will heal more—at this very spot—but right now, Peter needs to clarify whose power it was that really healed this man. He needs to explain that this same power provides spiritual healing for those who want it.
Acts 3:11–26 transcribes the sermon Peter gives at the temple. While Peter and John enter the temple to pray, Peter heals a lame beggar who has asked for alms. The man is healed and leaps up, praising God (Acts 3:1–10). When this catches the crowd's attention, Peter explains that the healing power did not come from them but from Jesus of Nazareth whom the Jews killed. The results are mixed; the Jesus-followers gain unwanted attention from the Jewish officials (Acts 4:1–3), but five thousand men plus women find faith in Jesus (Acts 4:4).
Acts 3 is comprised of two sections: the healing of a lame man and the explanation of that healing. First, a man who has been lame his whole life approaches Peter and John to beg from them at the temple. When Peter heals him in Jesus' name, a crowd gathers around. Peter gives witness to Jesus (Acts 1:8) and tells the crowd that Jesus' authority and power healed this man. Looking back as modern readers, we see how, as the man's body symbolically ''repented,'' or turned away, from its broken form into freedom of movement, so the people can repent from their broken thoughts, actions, and beliefs, and find freedom from sin.
