But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?”
— Acts 3:12
This scene follows one of the most striking miracles recorded in the book of Acts. Peter and John had encountered a lame man at the gate called Beautiful — a man who had never walked and was known by everyone in the area. When he asked them for money, Peter’s response was direct: silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give to you — in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. And the man did exactly that. He stood up, walked, and entered the temple courts leaping and praising God, to the astonishment of everyone who saw him.
It is at this moment of widespread amazement that Peter turns to the crowd and asks — why are you gazing at us, as if by our own power or piety we made him walk?
The Temptation That Was Resisted
What we see immediately is that Peter and John were not willing to receive the glory for this miracle for themselves — and we should not underestimate how strong the temptation must have been to do otherwise.
This was not an ambiguous or unclear event. There were no tricks, no sleight of hand, no uncertainty about what had happened. This was a clear, undeniable miracle — something that went against the natural order — performed visibly, publicly, by the hands of the apostles. Every person present had known this man was lame. Every person present had just watched him walk.
The temptation would have been enormous — to present themselves as special, as chosen, as men endowed with divine power to heal the sick and make the lame walk. The temptation would have been to feed their pride and pursue the fame that such a moment could bring.
This is not unlike what we observe in many who claim to work miracles today. In those circles, it is striking how quickly the attention shifts from God to the miracle worker himself. The faith healer becomes the focus. Yes, God may be mentioned — but the true glory gravitates toward the man on the stage. And in doing so, they fail the very test that Peter and John passed so decisively here.
God makes His position on this matter unmistakably clear in Isaiah:
I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another.
— Isaiah 42:8
God does not share His glory. If He does something that defies the laws of nature, it is so that He would be exalted — and it is only right and proper that we acknowledge the miracle as His work and His alone.
Pointing Straight to Christ
What Peter and John did instead is a model for all of us. The moment they saw the crowd’s amazement, they did not pause to accept the adoration — they immediately redirected every eye to Christ. The verses that follow show us the gospel being proclaimed without hesitation. The healing was attributed not to the apostles but to the risen Jesus of Nazareth, whom God had raised from the dead. All glory went to God the Father, who sent God the Son to redeem dead sinners.
Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
— Acts 3:19For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.
— Acts 3:26
Glory Belongs to God Alone
May we be convicted whenever we find ourselves reaching for glory that belongs to God. May the fear of God burn in our hearts with the settled conviction that no person is to receive any glory that is due to Him alone — and that whenever He works through us, our first and only impulse is to point every watching eye back to Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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