Acts 3:6 Meaning and Explanation
“Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →First recorded miracle of the young church, and it happens at a temple gate over a request for spare change. The scene raises a question every generation of believers faces: what do we actually have to give when material help runs short? Peter's answer names a specific person and a specific authority, and Luke records the result in the same breath.
Peter answers a beggar's request for money with something he did not ask for. Lacking coins, the apostle offers healing in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and the man stands.
The Context of Acts 3:6
Acts 3 follows the Pentecost sermon and the description of the earliest community breaking bread and sharing goods. Peter and John go up to the temple at the ninth hour of prayer. A man lame from birth, carried daily to the gate called Beautiful, asks them for alms. Peter fixes his eyes on him and tells him to look. Verse 6 is the reply. Peter then takes his right hand and raises him, the man's ankle bones receive strength, and he enters the temple leaping and praising God. The crowd's astonishment gives Peter his second sermon.
What Does Acts 3:6 Mean?
Peter begins with an honest inventory. Silver and gold have I none states his poverty plainly, without apology or embarrassment. Such as I have give I thee turns the sentence toward what remains, and the giving is immediate. The gift arrives as a command: rise up and walk. Peter attaches that command to a name spelled out in full, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, joining the title with the village anyone in the crowd could place on a map. Luke keeps the name central throughout the chapter, and Peter will insist in verse 16 that the name, through faith in the name, made this man strong. The whole reply takes only seconds to speak.
Luke places the healing at a temple gate during the hour of prayer, which locates the church's first public sign inside Israel's ordinary worship. Peter and John are going up to pray like any devout pair of Galileans, and the power that flows through them belongs to the house of prayer they are entering. The man's restoration also fulfills prophetic expectation about the lame leaping, which Isaiah had promised for the day of God's coming. Luke reported the same kind of healings during Jesus' ministry, so the pattern continues without a break. Verse 8 shows the man entering that same temple on his own feet.
Peter is careful about credit. When the crowd stares at the two apostles in verse 12, he asks why they look as though his own power or holiness had made the man walk, and he redirects everything to the God of Abraham who has glorified his Son Jesus. The whole episode therefore functions as a sermon before a word of the sermon is preached. The one crucified outside the city is alive and acting inside it. Verse 16 makes the logic explicit, tying the strength in the man's ankles to the name and to faith in that name. Christ works through the poverty of his witnesses.
Acts 3:6 in the Original Language
onoma (ὄνομα), 'name' -- far more than a label; in Scripture a name carries the person's authority and presence, so acting in the name of Jesus Christ means acting on his commission. Luke repeats the word through this chapter, anchoring the healing to the risen Lord himself.
Bible Verses Related to Acts 3:6
“And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”
- Acts 3:16
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
- Acts 4:12
“Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.”
- Isaiah 35:6
“Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.”
- Luke 7:22
Where Acts 3:6 Echoes in Scripture
Isaiah 35:6 promised a day when the lame man would leap as a hart, and Luke's very next verses describe this man walking and leaping and praising God. The verbal overlap is hard to miss and was surely intended. Luke 7:22 had already used the same catalogue when Jesus sent word to John the Baptist about what was happening in Galilee. Acts 3 shows those signs continuing after the ascension, worked through the name Peter speaks at the gate.
How to Apply Acts 3:6 Today
Most of us feel the shortage before we feel the supply. We cannot fix a friend's finances, cure a diagnosis, or undo a loss, and the temptation is to withdraw because the gift seems too small. Peter models a different move: give what is actually in hand, in the name of Christ. That may be an afternoon, a meal, a steady presence in a hospital room, or a prayer spoken aloud with someone who cannot pray. Peter also looked directly at a man everyone else stepped over. Attention itself is a gift, and it usually precedes every other one.
Reflection & Prayer
Who have we walked past because we assumed we had nothing useful to offer? Ask what is in hand today, and offer that. A prayer: Lord Jesus, your name carried more help to the gate than any purse could have. Teach me to see the person in front of me, to give what I have without waiting until it feels sufficient, and to point every good result back to you. Amen.