INSTRUCTIONS: Pray. Read the text. Then use the questions below as guides to write out what you have learned from the text. You can go as deep or as basic as you choose. You may choose to only answer based on the text you are studying, or you may decide to use other passages from the Bible, commentaries, or additional outside sources of information. You can answer in any order. You may choose to spend one day in only answering from the text and another day filling in information from other sources. You may add additional details that are not asked for in the narrative study format, such as historical context, archeological information, or questions you have for further study. Always complete your own study before reading my example so that you do not limit your own thinking.
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Characters Who is this story about? List all of the people in the story and what you know about them. In addition, there maybe animal, plant, and supernatural characters in the story. Of course, every story will include God as a main character. Sometimes, His presence is obvious, but sometimes, you must look deeper to find Him in the story.
Setting: Where and When? Check out maps to understand the relationship of ancient places to modern countries. How is this place connected to other places that you have read about? Is this place different from the locations just before this story started? Where will the characters go after this story is finished? Does this place have any spiritual significance? Part of the answer to this question might be a specific date and time of day, but a more important answer looks at what events happened before, what events happened after, and most importantly, what other events are occurring simultaneously. It is important to compare the events of the Bible with other historical events that were happening at the same time, but it is even more important to compare various Bible stories and events with each other. For example, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel all provide differing perspectives on what was happening during one specific time period, so the other two books can provide a lot of insight to explain the situations occurring in a story from one of the other books.
Plot (Problem and Solution) What is the problem happening in the story? Why is the problem happening? Could the problem have been avoided? What are the consequences that result from the problem? Was the problem resolved? If so, how was the problem resolved? What was God’s preferred solution? What solutions did humans try that were not in alignment with God’s way of handling situations?
Text-to-Text Does anything remind you of other verses that you have read in the Bible? Do you want to search deeper for more texts that speak about this subject? If so, what is the consensus of the texts that you found, i.e., what lessons were communicated by the majority of the texts and were they different from the story that you are studying?
Text-to-World What general lessons about life are in the text? What similarities do you see between the story and our modern world? What differences are there between the story and today’s world?
Text-to-Self What specific application can you find for your own life, i.e., what message is the Holy Spirit trying to give you from this story? Have you ever experienced any situation similar to the story? Would you have reacted differently than the characters? If so, why
Text-to-God What does this story reveal about God and the way that He interacts with humans? Did God approve or disapprove? How do you know? Is there anything confusing about God in this story?
My Example Bible Study
Note: You can go much deeper than this example with lots of connections and details. You can also use this narrative format for studying the Bible at a more basic level with fewer connections and skipping textual cross-references. This format can be used to suit your own needs at the present time. You may decide to fill in more information at a later date when you have more time. I recommend that you either type or write your ideas because this is an attempt to understand the Bible at a deeper level. Thus, you may want to refer back to your notes and add information as you learn more.
Narrative Bible Study—Acts 3:1-10
Characters: A man who was crippled from birth went daily to the temple to beg. He could not walk, so he was carried. Thus, there had to be one or more friends or family who were carrying him to the place. It says they laid him at the gate and later it says that his feet and ankles were made strong, so evidently his birth defect had to do more with the area around his feet than his legs. On the other hand, he was laid, so his legs may have been affected too if he could not sit up well by himself. Acts 4:22 says that the man was 40 years old. Thus, it was well-known that he could not walk by a multitude of people since they had seen him daily for a long time, and many people knew that he was born crippled.
Peter and John are apostles who made it their habit to go daily to the temple to witness about Jesus being the Messiah. Thus, they must have seen this man before also.
There were many people entering the temple at this time as it was prayer time.
Jesus is the author of the healing. Peter says that he is healing the man in the name of Jesus.
Setting (Where and When): The location is an entrance to the temple called the Beautiful Gate. It is the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.). Since the characters were on their way to pray, they would have arrived shortly before that time. This is a time when many people would have been entering the temple. Thus, a little while before 3:00 (maybe 2:30?) was the perfect time for the lame man to be carried over to beg at the gate. The passage explains that the lame man habitually sat at the Beautiful Gate to beg, so when he was healed, it was easy for people to recognize him from seeing him all the time laying at the entrance begging alms from them with his deformed feet and ankles displayed prominently as proof of his genuine need. It was not the Sabbath because the friends would not have been carrying the lame man on that day.
Peter and John were not going to sacrifice at the temple since they believed that the sacrifices were now meaningless. Acts 2:46 says that it was the habit of the believers to go to the temple daily, so chances are that Peter and John were planning to meet up with some fellow believers to teach and pray. In addition, this was the perfect time for the apostles to find large groups of unbelieving Jews gathered in one location so that the apostles could preach the gospel of Jesus, the risen Messiah.
After the healing, the two apostles and the former lame man continued on into the temple. Verse 11 says that they were at Solomon’s porch. This colonade was a covered area on the eastern side of the outer court. It was a common gathering place out of the sun where people could be taught and relax. This was also the location where unbelieving Jews had tried to stone Jesus because He claimed to be equal with the Father. On this day, the attention of the crowds gathered there was drawn to three men as they entered the colonnade because the former lame man, who was clinging to the two apostles, kept jumping around in joy and shouting out praises to God.
Plot (Problem and Solution): The problem for the lame man is that he has never been able to walk, so he must earn his way by begging. On this day, the lame man was focused on the solution of gaining as much money from the incoming worshipers as he could. This money would be needed for shelter and food and clothing, so it was essential to call out and gain the attention of as many people as possible before they entered into the temple courtyard and began praying.
The problem for Peter and John was that they had no money to give to the lame man. Peter decided to heal the lame man. Why this day and not another? Was this the first time that the two apostles had had no money to give the man? Did the Spirit whisper to Peter that it was time to heal the man? We are not told. What we are told is that after asking for alms from the two apostles, the lame man must have dismissed them as possibilities and started looking around for someone else to entreat for money because it was necessary for Peter to regain the lame man’s attention so that the man would listen to what Peter had to say. Peter commanded the man to get up and walk in Jesus’ name before reaching down and pulling the man to his feet.
When he felt Peter tugging him up, the former lame man probably expected to fall flat on his face. He may have had others play cruel jokes on him before, or he may have been bumped over before. To his astonishment, he found himself standing for the first time ever. He could not contain his joy. He had thought that his solution was money, but instead, Peter gave him a much better solution—a whole healthy body.
The former cripple was not going to let the two apostles out of his sight, so as they turned to enter the temple, he clung to them and entered for the first time on his own two feet. He could not simply walk calmly in. Instead, he had to jump and shout praises to God for the miracle that he had just experienced. He entered the house of his God with praise and dancing. He was probably one of the sincerest worshippers that had entered that temple ever. When people who had known him or at least observed him for years saw the impossible happening, they were amazed, and a crowd began to form around the two apostles and the joyful man. I kind of think that God was chuckling as he watched his beloved child’s joy at being healed.
Text-to-Text: My first text is not that meaningful to me. It just struck me as a little funny when I was searching for a different text about lame people. “Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools” (Proverbs 26:7). I guess the corollary would be that when the lame man’s legs are healed, praise flows from the mouth of the wise.
This passage reminds me of Isaiah’s prophecy of the joy that we will feel when Jesus takes us with Him. “then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;” (Isaiah 35:6). The joy of this healed cripple reminds us a little of the joy that we should feel now in our Savior and we will experience at Jesus’ second coming.
Jesus healed many lame people. This was one of the signs that he gave to John the Baptist when John was doubting. “And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matthew 11:4-6).
This also reminds me of the healing at the pool of Bethesda. “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath” (John 5:2-9). The difference is that healing was on the Sabbath, and the lame man had not been born with his handicap.
This also reminds me of the healing of the man who was blind from birth in three ways. “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:1-5). The first way that this reminded me of the present passage is that they were both suffering from birth defects. Thus, there seemed to be no hope for them. From the questions asked by the disciples in John 9, I can know that the lame man had probably been the recipient of contempt by those who believed that his handicap came from either his or his parents’ sinfulness. In other words, he was under judgment from God. Secondly, the healing resulted in an inquiry from the religious authorities. However, the way that really ties these two healings together in my mind is the personalities of the healed. The blind man held his own in facing down the religious leaders and showed his sassy personality in his irony and intelligent answers. He displayed total loyalty to his healer. The lame man’s joy was so great that he could not keep it in. His gratitude and excitement was such that he had to jump and shout out praises. He would not let the two apostles out of his sight. He displayed loyalty to God and to his healers. For some reason, their strong personalities also remind me of Blind Bartimaeus. I’m not sure why. There is just something about these three men’s reactions to being healed that seems connected in my mind.
Text-to-World: There are still beggars. There are still those who suffer from birth defects. There are still people who judge those who suffer from the messiness of life. Sometimes, the relief that the suffering ask for is not the relief that they need most of all. It is not enough to simply relieve suffering; I must also point people to Jesus so that He can bring them joy.
Nowadays, those born with birth defects are not judged as being condemned by God. They are looked upon with pity. There are many modern medical procedures that can correct birth defects, so miraculous healing from God is not as big of a sign as it was in the days of Peter and John.
Text-to-Self: All too often I do not even notice those in need. I am so self-absorbed that I do not see their problems. Even when I see those begging for help, I often cynically ignore them, judging that they are con artists, or I do not give them anything because it would be difficult to do. Should I give at all times when I am asked? I don’t feel a calling to do so unlike one of my friends. I am uncomfortable giving to a person directly. I feel more comfortable giving anonymously to a situation where I am sure that there is no cheating or cons. I also prefer to give something other than money, such as food or assistance. I don’t think this passage is calling on heart to give more. Instead, it calls to me to be more thankful and full of joy for the many healings that God has worked in me. I want to be like the healed man—leaping for joy, praising God with sincerity and enthusiasm, and clinging to my Rescuer. I want to give my heart without holding anything back as the healed man did.
Text-to-God: This lame man had been unhealed for 40 years. It was wonderful that the Spirit healed him, but why wait for so long? Frequently, God waits a long time before bringing healing. Why? Other people are not healed. Why? I think sometimes God must wait for multiple actors to be ready before He can act in order to bring about the greatest possible good. I think sometimes God is limited by humans’ refusal to partner with Him to bring about healing. He will not force people to act. I know that God wants us to experience joy and health and healing, but there are times when I am just bewildered about why He does not act or why He waits so long. In this case, I can see that there was a conjunction of the greatest good happening, but there are many other situations where I just do not know why God does not act to prevent harm or to heal harm that has already occurred. I will have to trust in God’s character and wisdom that there is a desire for our healing and that there are reasons why it cannot happen when I would like.
We are not lost from God’s sight. The lame man spent 40 years without being healed, but he was not forgotten by God. God may not answer my prayers when and how I want Him to, but my prayers are not forgotten. God knows every hair on my head, and He has me in His heart. I am not overlooked or put on the back burner. I am vitally important to God, and He holds me close even while I endure sickness and pain. He is not unmoved by my circumstances, and He will not lose sight of me among the others that He loves. I am singularly important to Him, and He will always act in my best interests.