Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 3:7
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted [him] up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
7. his feet and ankle bones ] The words in the original are found nowhere else in the N. T. They are of a technical character, and their use, together with the other features of exact description of the cripple’s case, indicate that we have before us the language of the physician (Col 4:14). And it is hardly possible to dwell too strongly on indications of this kind, which indirectly mark in the history something which is likewise noted in the Epistles. Those who would assign the second century as the date of the composition of the Acts, must assume for their supposed writer the keenest appreciation of every slight allusion in the letters of St Paul, and at the same time an ability to let his knowledge peep out only in hints like that which we find in this verse. Such persons, while rejecting all that is miraculous in the story as we have it, ask us to believe in such a writer as would himself be almost a miracle, for his powers of observation and the skill with which he has employed them.
received strength ] Though from want of use, they must have been withered before.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And he took him – He took hold of his hand. To take hold of the hand in such a ease was an offer of aid, an indication that Peter was sincere, and was an inducement to him to make an effort. This may be employed as a beautiful illustration of the manner of God when he commands people to repent and believe. He does not leave them alone; he extends help, and aids their efforts. If they tremble, and feel that they are weak, and needy, and helpless, his hand is stretched out and his power exerted to impart strength and grace.
His feet and ankle-bones – The fact that strength was immediately imparted; that the feet, long lame, were now made strong, was a full and clear proof of miraculous power.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength] The suddenness of the cure was the proof of the miracle: his walking and leaping were the evidences of it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He took him by the right hand; not disdaining to take hold of a poor cripple or beggar; as also being fully persuaded of Christs presence with him for his cure.
And immediately, that it might the more evidently appear that this was the work of God, who can without means, and on a sudden, bring aught to perfection,
his feet and ankle bones, whence his lameness did proceed, received strength: thus God can say unto the weak, Be strong.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. And he took . . . and lifted himupprecisely what his Lord had done to his own mother-in-law(Mr 1:31).
his feet“soles.”
and ankle bones, &c.thetechnical language of a physician (Col4:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he took him by the right hand,…. In imitation of Christ, whom he had often seen using the same action on such occasions:
and lift him up; believing he was cured, and that it might be manifest. The word him is expressed in the Alexandrian copy, and in some others, and in the Oriental versions, which is a supplement in our translation:
and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength; where, it seems, his lameness lay. The Vulgate Latin renders it, his bases and soles, which may include his legs and thighs, as well as feet; and the Syriac version, “his feet and soles”; and the Arabic version, “his soles, and the muscles adjoining to his heels”; and the Ethiopic version furthest off of all, “he was strengthened in his feet, and in his loins”; his disorder might be of the paralytic kind.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Took him by the right hand ( ). Doric form for . Genitive of the part affected. Peter had to pull him up on his feet before he would try to walk.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
He took [] . The verb means originally to press or squeeze; and hence implies taking hold with a firm grasp.
Feet [] . A peculiar, technical word, used by Luke only, and described by Galen as the part of the foot lying beneath the leg, upon which the leg directly rests, as distinguished from the tarsov, the flat of the foot between the toes and heel, and pedion, the part next the toes. Ankle – bones [] . Only here in New Testament. Also technical. Some of the best texts read sfudra, but the meaning is the same. Received strength [] . Used by Luke only. Compare ” the churches were established (ch. 16 5), and the kindred noun sterewma, steadfastness (Col 2:5). In medical language applied to the bones in particular.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And he took him by the right hand,” (kai poasas auton tes deksiascherios) “And (Peter) seizing him by (of) the right hand,” or having seized him by the right hand, to offer a gesture of help and strength; Like Paul, Peter sought “by all means to save,” deliver, or rescue some, 1Co 9:22-27; to the glory of God, 1Co 10:31.
2) “And lifted him up:” (egeiren auton) “He raised or assisted him up from the prone position,” one he had stayed in from his mother’s womb, (from birth) for a period of forty years, Act 3:2; Act 4:22.
3) “And immediately his feet and ankle bones,” (parachrema de hai baseis autou kai ta sphudra) “And at once, on the spot, in an instant both his feet and ankle-bones,” paralyzed all his forty years of life- -his ambulatory limbs were instantly changed by a miraculous deed performed by Peter.
4) “Received strength,” (estereothesan) “Were made firm or strong,” received strong ambulatory (walking) strength,” and from that moment the man made whole after forty years of infirmity was aware that in God, thru Christ he now “lived and moved, and had his being,” Act 17:27-28. The term “received strength” indicates that he was made firm, solid, no longer a medical, helpless paralytic.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(7) His feet.Better, his soles. The precision with which the process is described is characteristic of the medical historian. Both this term and the ankle bones employed are more or less technical, as is also the word rendered received strength, literally, were consolidated, the flaccid tissues and muscles being rendered firm and vigorous.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. And lifted him up This clause is of doubtful genuineness, and may well be omitted. The man was not raised up, but, according to the next verse, when touched by the apostle’s hand sprang up.
‘And he took him by the right hand, and raised him up, and immediately his feet and his ankle-bones received strength. And leaping up, he stood, and began to walk; and he entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.’
Then Peter reached out and, taking him by the right hand, raised him up. And the man immediately felt the strength entering his ankle-bones, and in faith he leaped up and stood and began to walk. The detailed descriptions bring out each step of faith as he responded to the word of Peter. He allowed himself to be raised up (an act of faltering faith), his ankle-bones received strength, he leaped up (exultant faith), he stood (confident faith), he began to walk (persevering faith). And then he walked with them into the Temple, leaping and praising God.
Note that the strength came immediately after he responded to Peter’s first raising of him up. His first response was a primary act of faith. It was only then that there came the sense of strengthening and the final total response of faith.
‘Leaping.’ The word is used in Isa 35:6 LXX of the leaping of the lame when they are healed in the new age. Thus his leaping indicated that the new age was here. It was also the natural reaction of a man who had the use of his legs for the first time. He just could not believe that he was walking, and every few seconds he had to give a little leap in order to express his joy over it and savour what for him was a totally new experience. He did not care what anyone thought, he simply had to experiment. This simple description bears all the evidence of being the description of an eyewitness. ‘Praising God.’ His response was the right one. He gave the glory where it was due.
The completeness of the healing is brought out by three sets of threefold verbs, three intensified. ‘Took him’, ‘raised — up’, ‘received strength’. ‘Leaping up — stood — began to walk’. ‘Walking — leaping — praising God’.
Act 3:7-8 . ] comp. Mar 9:27 , and see Valckenaer, ad Theocr. iv. 35.
] his feet were strengthened , so that they now performed their function, for which they had been incapacitated in the state of lameness, of supporting the body in its movements.
are the feet , as in Wis 13:18 ; Joseph. Antt. vii. 5. 5; Plat. Tim. p. 92 A, and in later Greek writers.
: the anklebones, tali (very frequent in the classics), after the general expression subjoining the particular.
] springing up , leaping into the air. Xen. Cyr. vii. 1. 32; Anab. vii. 3. 33; LXX. Isa 55:12 . Not: exsiliens , videlicet e grabbato (Casaubon), of which last there is no mention.
] This behaviour bears the most natural impress of grateful attachment (comp. Act 3:11 ), lively joy ( . , at the same time as an involuntary proof of his complete cure for himself and for others), and religious elevation. The view of Thiess that the beggar was only a pretended cripple who was terrified by the threatening address of Peter into using his feet, and afterwards, for fear of the rage of the people, prudently attached himself to the apostles changes the entire narrative, and makes the apostle himself (Act 3:12 ; Act 3:16 ; Act 4:9-10 ) the deceiver. Peter had wrought the cure in the possession of that miraculous power of healing which Jesus had imparted to His apostles (Luk 9:1 ), and the supernatural result cannot in that case, any more than in any other miracle, warrant us to deny its historical character , as is done by Zeller, who supposes that the general , Luk 7:22 , Mat 15:31 , has here been illustrated in an individual instance.
7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Ver. 7. His feet and ankle bones ] “The Lord raiseth them that are crooked,” but (as a further favour, and far better than that former) “he loveth the righteous,” Psa 146:8 , as he did this cripple, whom he healed on the inside also.
7. ] , , , . Chrys. in Act. Hom. viii. p. 63. See Mar 9:27 .
are the soles of the feet, , the ankles . Luke, the physician, had made himself acquainted with the peculiar kind of weakness, and described it accordingly.
Act 3:7 . , cf. Act 12:4 : so in LXX, Son 2:15 , Sir 23:21 , A. al . very similar to, if not exactly, a partitive genitive, found after verbs of touching, etc., inasmuch as the touching affects only a part of the object (Mar 5:30 ), and so too often after verbs of taking hold of , the part or the limit grasped is put in the genitive, Mar 5:41 (accusative being used when the whole person is seized, Mat 14:3 ), Blass, Grammatik des N. G. , p. 100, cf. classical use in Eurip., Hec. , 523. The meaning of in N.T. and in the LXX has passed into modern Greek = = seize, apprehend (Kennedy). For a similar use see also 2Co 11:32 , Rev 19:20 , and Joh 7:30 ; Joh 7:32-33 ; Joh 7:44 ; Joh 8:20 ; Joh 10:39 ; Joh 11:57 ; Joh 21:3 ; Joh 21:10 . , i.e. , , forthwith, immediately, auf der Stelle , on the spot, specially characteristic of St. Luke, both in Gospel and Acts ( cf. of St. Mark). It is found no less than ten times in the Gospel, and six to seven times in Acts, elsewhere in N.T. only twice, Mat 21:19-20 ; several times in LXX, Wis 18:17 , Tob 8:3 , ., 2Ma 4:34 ; 2Ma 4:38 , etc., 4Ma 14:9 , Bel and the Dragon, ver. 39, 42, Theod., and in Num 6:9 ; Num 12:4 , [138] [139] [140] ., Isa 29:5 , for Hebrew, ; frequent in Attic prose; see also Dalman, Die Worte Jesu , pp. 22, 29. But as the word is so manifestly characteristic of St. Luke it is noteworthy that in the large majority of instances it is employed by him in connection with miracles of healing or the infliction of disease and death, and this frequency of use and application may be paralleled by the constant employment of the word in an analogous way in medical writers; see, e.g. , Hobart, Medical Language of St. Luke , and instances in Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides. : = to make firm or solid; it cannot by any means be regarded only as a technical medical term, but as a matter of fact it was often employed in medical language (so also the adjective ), and this use of the word makes it a natural one for a medical man to employ here, especially in connection with and . It is used only by St. Luke in the N.T. (Act 3:16 and Act 16:5 ), but very frequently in the LXX. The nearest approach to a medical use of the word is given perhaps by Wetstein, in loco , Xen., Pd. , viii. , “the feet” ( ). The word is constantly used in LXX, but for the most part in the sense of something upon which a thing may rest, but it is found in the same sense as here in Wis 13:18 ; cf. also Jos., Ant. , vii., 3, 5, so in Plato, Timus , 92, A. It was in frequent use amongst medical men, and its employment here, and here only in the N.T., with the mention of the other details, e.g. , the more precise , “anklebones,” also only found in this one passage in N.T., has been justly held to point to the technical description of a medical man; see not only Hobart, p. 34 ff., u. s. , and Belcher’s Miracles of Healing , p. 41, but Bengel, Zckler, Rendall, Zahn.
[138] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).
[139] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
[140] Codex Cryptoferratensis (sc. vii.), a palimpsest fragment containing chap. Act 11:9-19 , edited by Cozza in 1867, and cited by Tischendorf.
took. Greek. piazo. See note on Joh 11:57.
lifted = raised, as in Act 3:6.
immediately. Greek. parachrema. Occurs nineteen times, of which ten are in Luke and seven in Acts.
feet. Greek. basis, a step, then that with which one steps, &c. Only here.
ankle bones. Greek. sphuron. Only here.
received strength = were strengthened. Greek. stereoo. Only here, Act 3:16, and Act 16:5.
7. ] , , , . Chrys. in Act. Hom. viii. p. 63. See Mar 9:27.
are the soles of the feet,-, the ankles. Luke, the physician, had made himself acquainted with the peculiar kind of weakness, and described it accordingly.
Act 3:7. , him) It was the part of the blind man merely to give himself up to the power which was entering into him.- ) As to both Greek words there is much disputation. Luke implies that all the parts in the lame man were strengthened, so as to enable him to walk. are the Feet, which have their principal strength in the knees: , by a catachresis, are used to express the ankles, as in Callimachus, : strictly, little mallets, or the lowest parts of the leg. Luke, as being a physician, expressed himself accurately. Comp. Psa 18:36, Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet (margin, ankles) did not slip.
Act 9:41, Mar 1:31, Mar 5:41, Mar 9:27, Luk 13:13
Reciprocal: Gen 41:16 – It is not Mat 12:13 – and it Joh 5:9 – immediately Act 4:9 – the good Act 5:12 – by Act 8:7 – lame
7
Act 3:7. Miraculous cures may be performed with or without any outward cooperation on the part of the patient. Jesus required the blind man to go wash the clay off his eyes, but He previously had put the anointment on the eyes of the patient. Peter commanded the lame man to rise up and walk, but he encouraged him by taking the initiative and grasping his hand and helping him to arise. This verse tells us in what way the man was lame; it was a weakness in his feet. The mere act of taking him by the hand did not heal him, for any other person could have done that; there had to be some miraculous power exerted by the apostle. It is stated that the healing was immediate, which was always the case with genuine miraculous cures. Professed divine healers of today always require “time and patience” for their cases, which proves they are frauds.
Act 3:7. And he took him by the right hand. To the word of command, Peter, following his Masters example in such cases (see Mar 9:27), grasps him by the right hand, thus encouraging him to obey the command to arise. On the use of such outward instrumentality, Chrysostom remarks: So, too, Christ did; ofttimes would He heal with a word, ofttimes with an act; frequently, too, He would stretch out His hand where their faith was too weak, that it (the miracle of healing) might not seem to have worked of itself. (Chrysostom, quoted in Alford).
His feet and ankle bones received strength. Commentators remark on the accuracy and exactness of the description. They are the words of one who had received the professional training of a physician.
See notes on verse 1
Peter evidently did not touch the lame man to heal him as much as to help him to his feet. God healed this man completely and instantaneously. The healed beggar began to test the capability of his strengthened limbs immediately. He evidently followed Peter and John into whatever part of the temple they were entering praising God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)