Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 3:1

"Now Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, [being] the ninth [hour]." — Acts 3:1 (ASV)

The story of the healing of the crippled beggar begins with the straightforward statement that Peter and John went up to the temple at the time of prayer. That the apostles had been living in Jerusalem immediately after Jesus’ ascension was in accord with his instructions that they stay in the city until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4) and begin their mission there (Acts 1:8; cf. Lk 24:47). But what kept these Galilean disciples in Jerusalem after Pentecost, and why did Jewish Christianity become centered in Jerusalem rather than Galilee? While there were Christians in Galilee who formed themselves into congregations there (cf. 9:31), the earliest extant Christian writings, the Pauline letters, take into account only the Jerusalem community and associate the Galilean apostles directly with that (cf. Galatians 1:2–18:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:14). In other words, as God’s righteous remnant within Israel and as members of the Messiah’s eschatological community, the apostles centered their activities in Jerusalem, the central city of Judaism. Along with that went their continued adherence to Israel’s institutions and forms of worship.

Peter and John are presented as “going up to the temple at the time of prayer —at three in the afternoon.” The stated times for prayer in Judaism were (1) early in the morning, in connection with the morning sacrifice; (2) at the ninth hour of the day (about three o’clock), in connection with the evening sacrifice; and (3) at sunset. The verb “going up” conveys a vivid visual impression of the apostles’ movement toward Jerusalem. Going to the temple is always spoken of in terms of “going up”—principally out of reverential respect, though also because of location (Acts 11:2; cf. 15:2; Acts 18:22).