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Was the begger healed because of the Apostle's faith or because his own faith ?
Acts 3:16
ESV - 16 And his name - by faith in his name - has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
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Asked March 05 2015
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T. OBrien
Supporter
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Deon A
Supporter
The first thing to realize is that we should not overhype what is define as faith in many circles. We should not attribute intrinsic power to faith. Faith can only be as 'powerful' as God's response to it, and that was why Peter was silent about his faith or the lame man's faith. God was the one who did it for the definite purpose of drawing the temple goers to the Gospel. Historically, Jesus Himself passed thought that gate, and if we consider that the lame man had been doing business there for years, that means Jesus Himself did not heal the man. But now it was time for that miracle, and God was the one who determine it. Peter did what He did because he was led by God. If God did not arrange that event, His 'faith' could not have worked. Faith for miracles is not something we manually stir up in us. It is God's imparted gift, and a fruit of righteousness. "The just shall live by faith", yet this faith is "the faith of the Son of God", not our faith. Paul made it clear: "The life that I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God." (Read Gal. 2:20-21.). The lame man did not exercise any faith as far as we can tell from the passage. Peter exercised faith, but that faith was not something that belonged to him in the way we think, or he would have healed all lame men in Palestine. It was not Peter's faith, but like Peter himself pointed out, "Faith in His name."
Frederick Thomas
Supporter
My opinion is this: Peter was just responding to the leading of the Spirit because it was at that time God’s will (Luke 5:17) to accept the man’s faith. Acts 3 verse 5 says the man was “expecting to receive something.” We must have faith in God at all times but God will determine distribution as He won’t feed greed (James 4:3) or anything that will be harmful to you. Even a good thing can be harmful if given at the wrong time. God knows all things past, present and future. Whose faith? The norm is the faith of the beggar, sick, lame, poor and all who are weary and heavy laden Mat 11:28 and all those with anxiety. (1 Pet 5:7) There was another instance where the sick person was maybe unable to have faith (Mark 2:5) his friend’s faith counted and another where the person was dead Mt 9:18 the friends and families faith was accepted and another where the preacher or prayer giver’s faith was counted (John 11:38) because the person was dead. All this is subject to our All Knowing God's will (1 John 5:14)
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