Acts 3:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Because of his good disposition and love for them, the lame man did not separate himself from them. Perhaps he also thanked and glorified them.

What does the expression mean: "as the healed lame man held on to Peter and John"? It means that he was afraid to be separated from them. He thought that he would be free from his infirmity only so long as he held on to them and touched them. He thought this especially because Peter had healed him by taking him by the hand and raising him up. This happened in the porch because that porch alone remained from Solomon's building. Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Solomon's temple, and Cyrus the Persian rebuilt it.

After the threshold of the temple, Solomon's porch holds him, which is rightly called a "peacemaker." In the kingdom of faith, who will be the pledge of peace if not Christ? He will become the defender of everyone who is received by Peter and stands under his authority and guidance.

This miraculous healing was all the more striking because the illness had been so long-lasting and incurable (cf. Acts 3:2; 4:22). The report quickly spread through the many-thousanded crowd that such an extraordinary deed had taken place in their midst. It is understandable what excitement this report must have produced. Everyone hastened to be convinced with his own eyes of the reality of the miracle. They hastened to see the lame beggar known to all. And since the healed lame man did not leave Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in amazement, to the porch called Solomon's.

“He did not leave Peter and John”: in gratitude toward his benefactors, the sick man followed the apostles without parting from them, loudly glorifying God and them. Naturally, this drew a multitude of people to the apostles and to the man who had been healed. And certainly, the more the report of this spread among the assembled worshippers, the more people flocked to the apostles. At last all the people who were in the temple ran together to them, under the influence of the deep astonishment awakened by this extraordinary event. The apostles and the healed man were at that time in the so-called Solomon’s porch, a broad covered gallery through which the Beautiful Gate led into the temple.

Miracles always attracted the attention of the Jews (see 1 Cor 1:22). But a miracle performed so openly had to attract an especially great multitude of people. Their interest could be focused equally on the apostles and on the man who had been healed. The same occurred after the raising of Lazarus, when the Jews wished to see Jesus and Lazarus with Him. The report had evidently spread, and therefore many ran even from a distance. Thus the writer says that all the people gathered, at least as many as could fit into the broad Solomon’s porch. It was ten cubits long and fifty wide, apart from the open portal that served as the entrance to the sanctuary and the covered gallery through which the Beautiful Gate led into the temple.