‘And when Peter saw it, he answered, saying to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? or why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him to walk?” '
Peter immediately turns the people's gaze away from himself. ‘You men of Israel.' The call is to all Israel to face up to Jesus. They had seen Him walking among them constantly doing such miracles. Why then were they marvelling? Rather they should be saying, ‘Jesus is still among us'. Why were they looking at Peter and John when they should be recognising Whose power and godliness had made this man walk? Their eyes were turned in the wrong direction.
How easily Peter and John could have basked in the admiration of the crowds. But they did not even think of that. Indeed their one concern was that the thoughts of the crowds were fixed in the wrong place. They wanted them to be fixed on the Name of Jesus.
‘Our own power or godliness.' It was believed that men who were especially pious were sometimes able to perform miracles. The word for ‘power' is dunamis, raw power revealed in action.
The words that follow reveal an interesting pattern. It is instructive to look at Peter's speech here as a whole.
a The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up,
b You denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Archegos (Author and Sustainer, one in authority who starts something and sees it through) of life, whom God raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
c And by faith in his name has his name made this man strong, whom you behold and know, yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
d And now, brethren, I know that in ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers.
d But the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
c Repent you therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, even Jesus, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been from of old.
b Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren, like unto me. To him shall you hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. And it shall be, that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.
a Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. You are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Servant, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.
It will be noted that in ‘a' he begins and closes by turning their thoughts towards Abraham, and connects Him with the Servant. That he then in ‘b' indicates that they have ignored God's holy and righteous One while in the parallel they are not to refuse to listen to the words of God's Prophet. In ‘c' he points out that what is required is a response of faith in His name which makes whole and in the parallel calls for repentance to salvation. And in ‘d' they did it in ignorance but in the parallel God foreshowed it by the mouth of His prophets.