Acts 3:16

His name. Repeatedly in the NT, and especially in the Acts, the name of Jesus is set forth as the means by which miracles are worked and salvation is gained (Acts 3:6; 4:10, 12, 17, 18; 16:18; Mark 9:38; Luke 10:17). The use of the word “name” in this connection is to be understood in terms of the rich connotation it carries in the NT. See on Acts 2:21.

Scholars have pointed out that in ancient times certain names were thought to have special holiness and particular efficacy. Thus among the Jews of the postexilic period, the divine name Yahweh (Jehovah) was kept as a secret known only to the high priest, and its true pronunciation was finally lost altogether. The declaration of other names was thought to be particularly potent in working miracles. Josephus (Antiquities viii. 2. 5 [46-49]) recounts seeing a man named Eleazar allegedly cast out demons by the use of the name of Solomon. The use of the name of Jesus for the same purpose was attempted by the seven sons of Sceva at Ephesus (ch. 19:13, 14). They thought there was magical power simply in the use of the name. Doubtless many of those who observed the miracles that Jesus’ disciples worked in His name thought that the efficacy of these miracles lay merely in the employment of a magic name. See Vol. I, pp. 170-173.

However, it is clear beyond question, that the disciples, in working miracles, did not use Christ’s name with any idea that magical power resided in the utterance of it. In the OT the Hebrew word shem, “name,” is sometimes used in the sense of “character” (see Jer. 14:7, 21), and may be almost synonymous with the person himself (see Ps. 18:49). This close connection between name and character is illustrated by the wealth of names in the OT that indicate the character of their bearers or the anticipation that parents expressed for the personalities of their children. This same idea of “character” is probably the meaning of the word “name” in the apocryphal work, Enoch (ch. 48:7), where of the Son of man it is said: “For in his name they [the righteous] are saved.”

A further aspect of this development is seen in NT times when the Greek word for “name” (onoma) might mean “person.” Thus in an Egyptian papyrus of A.D. 13 occurs the phrase, “from the name written below,” meaning, of course, “from the undersigned person.” A similar usage occurs in Acts 1:15; Rev. 3:4; 11:18.

All this indicates that in using the name of Jesus in working miracles and in proclaiming salvation, the apostles were declaring that healing and saving power were exercised in vital connection with the person and character of Jesus Christ. Peter’s declaration in the present passage that “his name . . . hath made this man strong” was an assertion that it was Christ Himself who had wrought the miracle, not a magical incantation working mechanically upon the lame man. The power of Christ is available to all, but it must be accepted by vital faith in Him.

Ye see and know. There was no obscurity here, no chance of trickery. There was no substitution of a well man, under pretense that a lame man had been healed. Everyone knew the man had been lame, and now they saw him healed.

By him. Or, “through him,” that is, Christ. See 1 Peter 1:21. The faith that was both in the healer Peter and in the man healed, was itself wrought in each of them by the power of Christ. Peter was a recipient of the power of God by faith; the man also received faith, which made him capable of accepting bodily healing. Healing faith is itself a gift (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 12:9).

Perfect soundness. Or, “completeness.”