John Calvin Commentary Acts 3:6

"But Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." — Acts 3:6 (ASV)

Silver and gold. Peter truly excuses himself that he lacks the help which the lame man required. And therefore he declares that if he were able to relieve his poverty, he would willingly do it, just as everyone ought to consider what the Lord has given him, so that he may help his neighbors with it.

For whatever resources God gives to every person, He intends for them to be an instrument and help to exercise love. Therefore Peter says that he gives what he has. At first, this seemed like a mockery, in that Peter begins to speak of his poverty after he had brought the lame man to a remarkable hope, as if he meant to mock someone gaping in expectation; but he comforts him immediately, so that the miracle might be held in greater esteem by the comparison.

It is horrible wickedness that the Pope, when he is installed, most shamelessly abuses this passage, making a comical, or rather a mocking, play of it. There are two cells, or places made of stone; in one of which, when he sits and the people ask for alms, using these words of Peter, he casts crosses in the air with his fingers. When he is brought into the next cell, or place, he has bags full of money. Then his attendants cry to him,

“He has dispersed, he has given to the poor,”
(Psalms 112:9).

I have mentioned this so that all may see that Satan undoubtedly reigns there, where they so openly mock the sacred Word of God. And to return to the previous point, it is clear enough that Peter was instructed by a certain and sure revelation when he says that he has the gift of healing.

In the name of Jesus. He says that this is the work and benefit of Christ, that He restores to the cripple the use of his feet, for name is taken for power and dominion, or government. Nor must we imagine that there is any magical force in the sound or pronunciation of the word, as the Jews do foolishly fixate on the word Jehovah.

In short, Peter meant to declare that he was only a minister, and that Christ was the author of the miracle. For this ought to have been, and was, his concern: that Christ might be made known to the world, and that His name might be sanctified.

But why does he give Christ this epithet, or title, of Nazareth? I leave to others their own judgment, but I think this: Since Christ was called this in contempt, Peter deliberately meant to express that this Jesus of Nazareth whom they had crucified, and whose name was despised and without honor among the Jews, and was detestable to most of them, was nevertheless the Messiah promised by God, and that all power was given to Him all the more; as Paul says, that he preaches Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Arise and walk. This might seem to be a very ridiculous thing. For the cripple might have readily objected, “Why have you not first given me legs and feet?” For this is a plain mockery when you bid a man without feet to go. But he believed Peter’s words; and he, who was at first so hesitant, now with a ready and joyful mind embraces God’s benefit.

By this appears both the power of the word and also the fruit of faith. The power of the word is twofold: both in that the cripple is so touched that he immediately obeys without delay, and in that it gives strength to his lifeless limbs and does, in a way, renew the man.

And faith also has its reward, in that the cripple obeys Him who commands him to rise, not in vain. Therefore we see how God works by His Word: namely, when He gives success to its preaching, so that it may pierce into the minds of people; secondly, when He gives with His hand those things which are promised there.

Moreover, He does not allow faith to be empty, but she indeed truly enjoys all those good things which she looks for and which are offered to her in the same Word.

And we must remember what I have already said: that we have in this story a type or figure of our spiritual restoration. Namely, that as the Word, laid hold of by faith, restored the cripple’s limbs, so the Lord pierces into our souls by the Word, that He may restore them.

And, first of all, He speaks by a person’s mouth and urges us forward to the obedience of faith; after that, He moves our hearts inwardly by His Spirit, so that the Word may take living root in us; finally, He reaches out His hand, and by all means He finishes His work in us. We gather from Matthew that miracles must be handled in this way.