Acts 3:16

Yea - Yes; certainly.

And his name - Jesus, the Savior: through faith in his name, as the Savior, and author of life, and all its concomitant blessings, such as health, etc. It is not quite clear whether the apostles refer to their own faith in Jesus, or to the faith of the lame man. It is true Christ had promised that they should perform miracles in his name, Mark 16:17, Mark 16:18. And that whatsoever they asked of the Father in his name, he would grant it, John 16:23. And they might have been led at this time to make request unto God to be enabled to work this miracle; and the faith they had in his unlimited power and unchangeable truth might have induced them to make this request. Or, the faith might have been that of the lame man; the apostles, in the time they desired him to look on them, might have taught him the necessity of believing in Christ in order to his healing; and the man's mind might have been prepared for this by the miracle of the gift of tongues, of which he must have heard; and heard that this mighty effusion of the Spirit had come in the name and through the power of Christ. However the faith may be understood, it was only the means to receive the blessing, which the apostles most positively attribute, not to their power or holiness, but to Jesus Christ alone. Faith always receives; never gives.

And his name - The "name" of Jesus is here put for Jesus himself, and it is the same as saying "and he," etc. In this way the word name is often used by the Hebrews, especially when speaking of God, Acts 1:15; Acts 4:12; Ephesians 1:21; Revelation 3:4. It does not mean that there was any efficacy in the mere name of Jesus that would heal the man, but that it was done by his authority and power.

Through faith in his name - By means of faith in him; that is, by the faith which Peter and John had in Jesus. It does not refer to any faith that the man had himself, for there is no evidence that he believed in him. But it was by means of the faith which the apostles exercised in him that the miracle was performed, and was thus a fulfillment of the declaration in Matthew 17:20, "If ye have faith ...ye shall to this mountain, remove hence," etc. This truth Peter repeats two or three times in the verse to impress it more distinctly on the minds of his hearers.

Whom ye see and know - There could therefore, be no mistake. He was well known to them. There was no doubt about the truth of the miracle Acts 4:16, and the only inquiry was in what way it had been done. This Peter affirms to have been accomplished only by the power of the Lord Jesus.

Perfect soundness - ὁλοκληρίαν holoklērian. This word is not used elsewhere in the New Testament. It denotes "integrity of parts, freedom from any defect"; and it here means that the cure was perfect and entire, or that he was completely restored to the use of his limbs.

In the presence of you all - You are all witnesses of it, and can judge for yourselves. This shows how confident the apostles were that a real miracle had been performed. They were willing that it should be examined; and this is conclusive proof that there was no attempt at imposture. A deceiver, or one who pretended to work miracles, would have been cautious of exposing the subject to the danger of detection.

3:16 His name - Himself: his power and love. The faith which is by him - Of which he is the giver, as well as the object.