Acts 3:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Perhaps he was testing himself and trying many times to see whether this had truly happened. His legs had been weak, but not severed. Some say that he did not even know how to walk. “And he entered with them into the temple, walking.” Truly, this is worthy of wonder. They do not lead him after them; rather, he himself follows them. By following, he shows who his benefactors are, and by leaping up and praising God, he glorifies not them, but God, who acted through them. So grateful was this man. It is remarkable that the lame man quickly believed. Those who are freed from long illnesses scarcely trust even their own sight. After receiving healing, the lame man was now with the apostles and gave thanks to God.

“Walking and leaping,” that is, testing himself and becoming as certain as possible that he had truly become well. Since the healing was extraordinary and beyond expectation, it was natural for him to have doubts even about himself. Others say that he did not even know how to walk, and therefore moved his feet as though leaping. See: he does not remain still. This came partly from delight, and partly so that he might stop mouths and prevent the healing from being regarded as deception. He leaped so that in the end no one would remain who did not know of this fact. Because of his disposition and his fervent love for the apostles Peter and John, and perhaps also from gratitude to them or from a desire to give them greater pleasure, he did not leave them. As for the fact that this miracle was performed in the temple, this was for greater benefit and salvation.

After the sacred historian, in the first two chapters of his narrative, has told us how the opening of the Kingdom of God, or the Church of Christ on earth, was prepared, begun, and accomplished, he now recounts a remarkable and extraordinary event. This event had great significance for the success of the apostolic preaching, for aiding the inner condition of the first Christian community, and for its outward relations and position in Jerusalem. It was the miraculous healing by the Apostle Peter of a man lame from birth.

Leaping up, as though testing his strength, the sick man stood and began to walk like a healthy man. He entered with them into the temple, that is, into the courts of the temple. He did not go to his own house, but to the temple, to give thanks to God for his healing. "Walking and leaping," and so forth, expresses the joyful and exultant state of the healed man's soul.

The touch of the apostolic hand upon the lame man had this significance: those who saw it were to understand that the miracle had not happened by itself, but through the action of the holy apostle. His mighty words could be heard by fewer people than could see his gesture. Jesus Christ also acted in this way with those He healed, for example, when He healed the young man (see Mk 9:27). The woman with an issue of blood herself touched Jesus Christ, who perceived the power going out from Him (see Mk 5:27-30). Therefore one may say that the outward action here was necessary, for the inward spiritual power had to act upon the material. And immediately the feet and ankles of the man lame from birth were strengthened.