Acts 3:8

And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) And he leaping up stood.—The verb is a compound form of that in the LXX. version of Isaiah 35:6—“The lame shall leap as a hart.” First there was the upward leap in the new consciousness of power; then the successful effort to stand for the first time in his life; then he “began to walk,” and went on step by step; then the two-fold mode of motion, what to others was the normal act of walking, alternating with the leaps of an exuberant joy. And so “he entered with them into the Temple,” i.e., into the Court of Women, upon which the Beautiful Gate opened. At this hour, the hour of the evening sacrifice, it would be naturally filled with worshippers.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-11 The apostles and the first believers attended the temple worship at the hours of prayer. Peter and John seem to have been led by a Divine direction, to work a miracle on a man above forty years old, who had been a cripple from his birth. Peter, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, bade him rise up and walk. Thus, if we would attempt to good purpose the healing of men's souls, we must go forth in the name and power of Jesus Christ, calling on helpless sinners to arise and walk in the way of holiness, by faith in Him. How sweet the thought to our souls, that in respect to all the crippled faculties of our fallen nature, the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth can make us whole! With what holy joy and rapture shall we tread the holy courts, when God the Spirit causes us to enter therein by his strength!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he, leaping up - This was a natural expression of joy, and it was a striking fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 35:6; "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart." The account here given is one that is perfectly natural. The man would be filled with joy, and would express it in this manner. He had been lame from a child; he had never walked; and there was more in the miracle than merely giving strength. The art of "walking" is one that is acquired by long practice. Children learn slowly. Caspar Hauser, discovered in one of the cities of Germany, who had been confined in prison from a child, was unable to walk in an easy way when released, but stumbled in a very awkward manner (see his Life). When, therefore, this man was able at once to walk, it was clear proof of a miracle.

Praising God - This was the natural and appropriate expression of his feelings on this occasion. His heart would be full; and he could have no doubt that this blessing had come from God alone. It is remarkable that he did not even express his gratitude to Peter and John. They had not pretended to restore him in their own name, and he would feel that man could not do it. It is remarkable that he praised God without being taught or entreated to do it. It was instinctive - the natural feeling of the heart. So a sinner. His first feelings, when he is converted, will be to ascribe the praise to God. While he may and will feel regard for the ministry by whose instrumentality he has received the blessing, yet his main expression of gratitude will be to God. And this he will do instinctively. He needs no prompter; he knows that no power of man is equal to the work of converting the soul, and will rejoice, and give all the praise to the God of grace.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. leaping up, stood … walked … entered the temple walking, leaping, and praising God—Every word here is emphatic, expressing the perfection of the cure, as Ac 3:7 its immediateness.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, Isaiah 35:6,

Then shall the lame man leap as an hart; and thus the lame man manifested that he was perfectly cured, though in an instant,

walking, and leaping, and praising God, to whom alone he attributed that sudden and perfect (and therefore miraculous) cure; nay, he attributes nothing unto the means; the apostle’s words he knew did little or nothing, but God is all in all unto him: and he leaped, to evidence the truth of the miracle that was wrought upon him, and that his soul rejoiced in God his Saviour.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he leaping up,.... From off the bed or couch, or ground on which he lay:

stood and walked; stood firm and strong upon his feet, and walked about; by which it was abundantly manifest to himself and others, that he had a perfect cure. The Ethiopic version is a very ridiculous one, "and he went with them catching fishes"; as if upon this, before they went into the temple, he and the apostles went a fishing together, which has not the least foundation in the text:

and entered with them into the temple; to join with them in divine worship, to acknowledge the goodness of God to him, and to show respect to the instruments he made use of in his cure:

and leaping; for joy of the mercy, and that it might appear to all that he was thoroughly cured of his lameness: and thus the prophecy in Isaiah 35:6 "then shall the lame man leap as an hart", was literally fulfilled:

and praising God; and not the apostles; for he knew that this was owing to the power of God, and could never have been done by man; though he might not be ungrateful to the instruments.

Geneva Study Bible

And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 3:8. ἐξαλλόμενος: not leaping out of his couch (as has sometimes been supposed), of which there is no mention, but leaping up for joy (cf. Isaiah 55:12, Joel 2:5) (on the spelling with one λ see Blass, p. 51); cf. also Isaiah 35:6. This seems more natural than to suppose that he leaped because he was incredulous, or because he did not know how to walk, or to avoid the suspicion of hypocrisy (Chrys., Hom., viii., so too Oecumenius). St. Chrysostom remarks that it was no less than if they saw Christ risen from the dead to hear Peter saying: “In the name,” etc., and if Christ is not raised, how account for it, he asks, that those who fled whilst He was alive, now dared a thousand perils for Him when dead?—ἔστη καὶ περιεπάτει: “he stood and began to walk” R.V., thus marking the difference between the aorist and the imperfect. Such vivid details may have been derived from St. Peter himself, and they are given here with a vividness characteristic of St. Mark’s Gospel, of which St. Peter may reasonably be regarded as the main source. If St. Luke did not derive the narrative directly from St. Peter, he may easily have done so from the same Evangelist, John Mark, see on chap. 12, and Scharfe, Die petrinische Strömung der N. T. Literatur, pp. 59, 60 (1893).—αἰνῶν τὸν θεόν: commentators from the days of St. Chrysostom have noted that by no act or in no place could the man have shown his gratitude more appropriately; characteristic of St. Luke, to note not only fear, but the ascription of praise to God as the result of miraculous deeds; cf., e.g., Luke 19:37; Luke 24:53, Acts 3:9; Acts 4:21; Acts 11:18, and other instances in Friedrich (Das Lucasevangelium, pp. 77, 78). On the word see further, p. 97. Spitta regards Acts 3:8 as modelled after Acts 14:10, a passage attributed by him to his inferior source B. But on the other hand both Feine and Jüngst regard the first part of Acts 3:8 as belonging to the original source.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. and he leaping up stood] There is no hesitation in the man’s manner; he does not question the power, but obeys at once.

entered with them into the temple] He doubtless felt that this was the best visit he could make with his new powers, and he would be the more anxious to go there as Peter and John were going too.

leaping] For delight at his new strength he cannot put it too much in exercise. This exultant use of the gift was a part of his “praising God.”

We can hardly fail to see, if we compare the narrative of this miracle with that of the similar one wrought at Lystra by St Paul (14), to which we have already referred, that St Luke has used faithfully the materials with which he was furnished by “eye-witnesses,” and has given the accounts as he received them without any colouring of his own. In this chapter we have a description such as a painter would desire; the scene is brought vividly before us, and all the characters are in lively action. It is just such an account as we find in St Mark’s Gospel of the cure of the demoniac child (Mark 9:14-27), and both are quite in accord with all that we know of St Peter’s mode of speaking, and from St Peter it is most probable that the narrative in this chapter is derived. On the contrary, the story of the cure wrought at Lystra by St Paul is told in the fewest possible words and with no touch of the graphic power of which this description is so full. The difference bespeaks the faithfulness of the writer of the Acts, and shews us that he has left the narratives as they came to his hand, without any attempt to stamp on them an individuality of his own.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 3:8. Καὶ περιεπάτει, and he walked about) although he had never learned to walk. A new part of (feature in) the miracle.—ἀλλόμενος, leaping) Praiseworthy alacrity [put forth in honour of GOD.—V. g.]: Isaiah 35:6, “Then shall the lame man leap as an hart.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - And leaping up, he stood, and began to walk, for and he, leaping up, stood and walked, A.V.; he entered for entered, A.V. Into the temple (τὸ ἱερόν). He passed through the gate, and mounted the fifteen steps which led into the ἄγιον (see note to ver. 2). Acts 3:8

Vincent's Word Studies

Leaping up (ἐξαλλόμενος)

Strictly, leaping forth. Only here in New Testament. Used in medical language of the sudden starting of a bone from the socket, of starting from sleep, or of the sudden bound of the pulse.

Walked (περιεπάτει)

The imperfect. Correctly, as Rev., began to walk; or, perhaps, continued walking about, testing his newly acquired power.

The medical notes of the case are, that the disease was congenital, had lasted over forty years (Acts 4:22), and the progressive steps of the recovery - leaped up, stood, walked.