Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 3:9-10

"And all the people saw him walking and praising God: and they took knowledge of him, that it was he that sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him." — Acts 3:9-10 (ASV)

And all the people—the people who had been accustomed to see him sit in a public place.

And they knew—in this they could not be deceived; they had seen him for a long time, and now they saw the same man expressing his praise to God for his complete recovery. The particulars in this miracle are the following, and they are as far as possible from any appearance of imposture.

1. The man had been afflicted since childhood. This was known to all the people. At this time he was forty years of age (Acts 4:22).
2. He was not an impostor. If he had pretended lameness, it is surprising that he had not been detected before, and had not been prevented from occupying such a place in the temple.
3. The apostles had no agency in placing him there. They had not seen him before. There was manifestly no collusion or agreement with him to attempt to impose on the people. The man himself was convinced of the miracle and did not doubt that the power by which he had been healed was from God.
4. The people were convinced of the same thing. They saw the effects; they had known him well; they had every opportunity to know that he was diseased; and they were now satisfied that he was restored.

There was no possibility of deception in the case.

It was not merely the friends of Jesus who saw this, nor those who had an interest in the miracle, but his enemies—those who had just previously been engaged in putting him to death.

Let this miracle be compared, in these particulars, with those pretended miracles which have been claimed to have been performed in defense of other systems of religion. It will at once be seen that here there is every appearance of sincerity, honesty, and truth, while in them there is every mark of deception, fraud, and imposition. (See Paley's Evidences of Christianity, Proposition 2, chapter 2.)